Glee: I Kissed A Girl

What Happened, Yo!:

-Following up on Mash Off's cliffhanger slap, Santana is about to be suspended for two weeks under the school's "Zero Tolerance on Violence" policy, when Finn claims she only stage slapped him and gets her off. He intends to get the New Directions and Troubletones together on an assignment to help Santana.
-Sue is worried about how the forthcoming attack ad will affect her, so she looks up one of her booty calls so people won't think she's a "friend of Ellen".
-The Senior Class President Election is almost here (finally) and Brittany seems like a sure thing to win. A worried Kurt considers rigging the election, JFK-style much to Rachel's alarm.
-Finn proposes Lady Music Week, where they do songs by ladies for ladies in order to get Santana to come to terms with herself and show how much they support her.
-Santana initially thinks the idea is stupid, but she quickly warms up to it by the end of the first half of the episode.
-Quinn invites Puck over because she wants to sleep with him. Puck tells her off and declines.
-Beiste is shocked to find out that her love interest Cooter is Sue's booty call. Cooter says he's still not sure what she wants, but he wants more than just a buddy.
-The student council elections are happening at the same time as the congress elections. People vote and stuff.
-The Glee girls come to Santana's defense when the Sophmore Rugby Captain tries to hit on her, because he sees her as a challenge.
-After the girls all sing I Kissed A Girl, Santana announces that she's come out to her parents who support her, and all she has to do now is come out to her grandmother.
-Kurt hears he won the election, but only because someone rigged it. He's the prime suspect for this.
-We find out that Rachel was the one who rigged the election. Finn tells her she has to come clean.
-When Beth hurts herself, Shelby calls Puck to the hospital/ Afterwards, they hook up but Shelby regrets it. Puck gets mad at her and tells her she missed out on something special, before leaving.
-Santana comes out to her grandmother, who rejects her because she didn't keep it a secret and basically disowns her. Santana is devastated.
-Beiste comes to challenge Sue for Cooter, but Sue has lost the election and decides she doesn't want to let go of Cooter. Beiste declares her love for him though and won't go down without a fight.
-Puck goes to Quinn who wants to get pregnant again. Puck refuses, and realizes that while everyone helped Santana with her non-secret, no one helped Quinn, who is a real mess. He holds Quinn and assumedly tells her his secret about him and Shelby. Really, Puck?
-Burt is now congressman. Kurt congratulates Brittany on her victory, even though he's devastated over his loss.
-Santana sings Constant Craving, which she says reminds her to stay strong. As she sings, we see Shelby regrets giving up Puck, and Kurt celebrates his dad's victory, even though he regrets his own loss, and we also see him finish his application to NYADA, even though he probably doesn't have a shot at getting in now.
-Rachel reveals to the room that she came clean about rigging the election and has put Kurt in the clear, but has been suspended for a week, is having this all put in her permanent record and is banned from competing in Sectionals. Twist!

I Liked This: Honestly, I Kissed A Girl worked the most for me when it was being downright poignant. Kurt losing the election, meaning his chances of getting into NYADA are pretty much zero, Santana getting rejected by the one family member she cares about the most, Rachel getting banned from Sectionals, Quinn being so desperate, she tries to get pregnant again, and even Beiste realizing she's losing her man to Sue (who feels he's the only good thing about her life after she loses the election). Moments like these were when the episode was at it's best. There's fascinating television in all of those moments. I'm glad Glee had Kurt lose the election (I'm even more glad he didn't lose because he was gay.), because it's realistic. The idealist doesn't always win. Dreams don't always come true. It's sad, but it's compelling and I'm actually finding myself interested in Kurt again. Rachel getting suspended and banned from sectionals is a good twist too, and a nice way to create more suspense for Sectionals. And once again, Naya Rivera had some terrific acting in this episode. Oh, and the whole Puck/Quinn/Shelby storyline didn't really bug me this week.

But...: All those moments of poignancy I liked were just moments in the midst of an episode with some real problems in it. For one thing, the show did a lot of telling but not showing with a couple big plot points. Why couldn't we see Santana getting support from her parents, instead of just hearing about it? Why was the congress election brushed to the side for much of the episode? I didn't even realize it was the week of the election until we saw the polling booth. Even with that ad, Sue losing so much support and Burt suddenly getting lots of support weren't even alluded to until Sue pulls out that paper showing she lost.

I also had issues with the assignment this episode. It's good that the clubs are showing Santana that they care about her, but Finn's idea for Lady Music Week seemed ill-conceived (though I imagine Glee will sell lots of singles through their song choices this week) and I don't really believe that Santana would've warmed up to that idea by the third song sung (an acoustic cover of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun? Really, Finn?). The episode also just didn't seem to spend as much time on Santana's journey as it could've. And lastly, they may have explained why the bullies got away with slushy-ing people with a zero-tolerance violence policy, but there's still plenty of instances of violence on the show that they haven't justified, so I didn't believe that Santana should've been at risk of suspension.

The Bottom Line: I Kissed A Girl had some really good moments and ideas in it, but it was also kind of a mess of an episode that could've been better executed. The good stuff still manages to elevate the episode, but for grade-wise, I still feel like this episode was merely...

Grade: Enjoyable Enough (Pretty Good)

Memorable Moments

-Oh yeah. What was up with Puck's hair this week? It looks weird.
-Best Musical Number: I was a big fan of Constant Craving, because it was well done and worked well for the closing montage.
-Worst Musical Number: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun just didn't work for me.
-Somewhere along the line, Brittany turned from a legitimate candidate who was all about female empowerment, to Crazy Brittany Running For President and Winning Because She's Popular and Bribed People With Candy. And that's a bit of a shame. She's still funny though, so that's good.
-Sue was actually really funny this week between her not understanding why somebody might think she's a lesbian, and her book of booty calls.
-Santana was mainly showing her soft side this week, but I loved her claims that she has an evil alter-ego named Snix, whose actions she can't control.
-Santana: "Thank you, guys. Thanks, Finn. You know, with all the horrible things in my life, now I get to add that."
-Sue: "Why would someone assume I'm a friend of Ellen just because I'm mannish and highly aggressive and have short hair and I only wear track suits and I coach a girls' sport and I married myself? It just doesn't make sense."
-Artie: "Where's Rachel? She never misses applause."