Glee recap/review: Sadie Hawkins

Glee, Actually recap/review

I always dread Glee coming back on screen after a break but this time I really enjoyed its return. Sadie Hawkins was a fun, and funny, episode - it made me smile a lot, even through the ridiculous parts. And surely having fun while watching television is the sign of a successful episode?

There were a lot of crushes in this episode, and I thought they all fit perfectly. Yes, there are couples on Glee who are endgame, but that doesn't mean that if those couples aren't together, the individuals can't be crushing on other people. It's normal, it's healthy, and in the case of Glee, not surprising, since these people spend so much time with each other.

Tina, partially back to her season one feminist self, proposed the school hold a Sadie Hawkins dance, thereby giving the girls the power in McKinley's relationships. Unfortunately for her, her crush rejected her, then accepted her offer, then ran off with a boy, then came back, then spent the rest of the night making moon eyes at the boy he previously ran off with. If this was anyone else, womenkind would be crucifying him, but Tina's crush is Blaine, and we all love him, and we can see why Tina would be crushing on him - he's kind, clever, yes, he has a great arse. Aside from Blaine being gay, Tina should have realised it would never work when their ship name was Blatina, which sort of sounds like a sound people might make when throwing up.

Blaine rejecting Tina's proposal in the locker room in front of New Directions was incredibly awkward, and I watched part of it from behind my hands. But the apology from Tina was lovely, and reminded everyone of Blaine's previous bad experience at a Sadie Hawkins dance. Still, I would have liked Glee to have delved into the impact of the gay bashing on Blaine, rather than gloss over it with Blaine saying he expected to be traumatised by going to another Sadie Hawkins dance, but wasn't. Still, Glee did exactly the same thing with Kurt and prom, so it shouldn't surprise me.

I've been missing Tina this season. She's got a great voice, as demonstrated when she sang I Don't Know How to Love Him, and she's an interesting character. Her relationships with her fellow glee clubbers are always good to watch, whether it's friendship, crushes or love. I wish we saw more of her beyond as a background player. Perhaps then some of her motivations or reactions would seem a little less out there, since we'd know her better.

Tina's apology led to the revelation of Blaine's own unrequited crush - on Sam. Having spent so much time with Sam, Blaine was finding his feelings sort of developing. I say sort of, because a crush doesn't mean a great love affair, and it's clear from the way that Blaine looks at Sam that it's a crush - it's different to the heart eyes he gives Kurt, which are all love. Blaine realised his crush was hopeless for a number of reasons, which doesn't stop him crushing, but also makes it pretty much harmless. And having a crush on Sam isn't unrealistic. Sam and Blaine are best friends, they have similar interests, they spend a lot of time together, Sam makes Blaine laugh - this hasn't come out of nowhere. But I think Blaine's crush is partially down to his feelings of loneliness, and to missing Kurt. He's projecting a little bit on to Sam, since Sam displays so many of the things that Blaine loved about Kurt (humour, easy to talk to, and yes, good looking).

In New York, Kurt was developing a crush on an older NYADA student - Adam. I'm going to just come out and say it: I like Adam, I like that he makes Kurt laugh, I'm happy that Kurt's crushing on him, I think Adam will be a good friend to Kurt, I still think Kurt and Blaine are forever. Bear in mind Kurt is in a new school in a new city, his best friend Rachel is too busy volumising her hair and putting on stacks of eyeliner and mascara, he's broken up with his long-term boyfriend who cheated on him and who he's trying to be friends with again, and his dad has cancer. Why shouldn't Kurt have a crush, and someone have a crush on him, to make him feel good? Why shouldn't Kurt and Adam go on a few dates and become friends? Asking Adam out made Kurt happy, and it made him more confident. How is that a bad thing? Disagree? Come at me fandom, I can take you.

Kurt is trying to find himself, and discovering that college is much like school. He's trying to find a place to be himself, and finds that in Adam and the Apples, an utterly ridiculous college version of a glee club who introduce themselves with a hilarious version of Baby Got Back. Like Kurt, I laughed throughout, and that made me feel good, and laughing also made Kurt feel good. They are funny, and while they may not be in Kurt's life forever, for now they're good for him.

Meanwhile Rachel is running around New York constantly meeting up with Brody. Rachel and Brody used to have an interesting dynamic, with Rachel trying to work out her love life post-Finn, and Brody being a grown up. Now, they've become completely dull. Their ridiculous fight, Rachel's cliched ignored wife routine, the make-up dance, and then Brody saying he would move across town for Rachel - seriously? And then Rachel asking Brody to move in - seriously? Aside from being way too fast, did Rachel not want to ask her housemate if he minded her very new boyfriend moving in? There was a moment earlier in the episode when Rachel was crossing the road, on a no walking sign, where I thought maybe her getting not-so-seriously injured and having her out of Glee for a few episodes would be a good thing. I'm a bitch, I know.

Back at McKinley, the Sadie Hawkins dance was in full swing. The musical highlight this week was Artie, Blaine, Sam, Joe and Ryder singing No Scrubs. This rocked, from the vocals to the dance moves to the attitude they displayed.

I loved seeing Lauren Zizes back. Her mojo was gone for most of the episode, but when it came back, it really came back. I really feel she and Joe could be the new power couple of McKinley if they tried. And it was good to see Coach Bieste back, encouraging the girls to be confident in themselves and to go after what they wanted. And the Too Young to be Bitter club? While I'm glad it's disbanded, I can't help but wanting to be a part of it.

What didn't rock so much was Jake and Marley - they're so dull. And Ryder's crush on Marley is dull as well. I feel like we're just rehashing Rachel-Finn-Quinn ground, but not even half as compelling, and that love triangle was boring at times. It was refreshing, however, to see a nicer side of Kitty during her final scene with Puck, and she became much more interesting because of that. I don't see it lasting long though.

As a final observation, Glee's directing was a bit different this week. There were lots of sequences cutting between scenes of characters in the present and remembering, and scenes cutting between New York and McKinley. It was all a bit dream-like at times, and the episode felt very different to me.

Best moments
So, you'll have noticed I didn't mention Sam's theory about the Warblers cheating at Sectionals, but that's because I was saving it for this bit. I love that Sam is the one who's determined to get New Directions back in the game - surely Finn should be doing this? I loved that he managed to convince Blaine so much (and obviously this is partially to do with Blaine's crush) that it caused Blaine to shout out the cutest "Blam" ever, I loved that Trent was back, and was ready to turn in the Warblers because they'd betrayed all their old values. Go Team Blam!