Glee: On My Way

Son of a bitch, Glee! Son of a bitch! OK, full disclosure: I inadvertantly had the big cliffhanger ending of last night's Glee spoiled to me right before I watched it. So I wasn't caught off guard when it happened, which was a bit of a bummer (Though, even if I hadn't known, I would've caught on before it happened. I always keep my eyes out for the warning signs of a car crash in TV/movies.). However, even knowing what was going to happen, Quinn getting in a bad car crash was still an effective ending (And I still yelled at my television) as Glee goes on hiatus for seven weeks. But of course, that ending wasn't the only thing that happened so let's touch on...

What Happened, Yo!

-It's the week before Regionals and Sebastian schemes to get Rachel out of the picture by blackmailing her with a fake nude photo of Finn in high heels. Rachel won't give in to his demands, which upsets Finn.

-Karofsky is outed and humiliated at his school. After seeing a series of hateful facebook messages, he attempts suicide and hangs himself. He doesn't die, but the news of his suicide attempt greatly affects all of our characters, causing Kurt to feel guilty because he ignored Karofsky's calls, Will to recount the time he almost killed himself, Sebastian (who knew Karofsky from the gay bar and wasn't particularly helpful to him) to call off the attack on New Directions (and use the Warblers performance to raise money for Lady GaGa's charity), and Rachel and Finn to decide they want to get married after regionals.

-Regionals happen and New Directions win (I know. Big surprise.).

-Sue is pregnant but won't reveal the identity of the father. She sees Regionals and decides she actually wants to help New Directions win Nationals, much to Will's surprise.

-After Regionals, Kurt visits Karofsky, where he helps him to see that his problems won't last forever and helps him envision a happy future. They become friends, finally giving their running storyline the closure I always wanted.

-Quinn wants to get back on the Cheerios but Sue doesn't think it'd be fair to all the others who've practiced all year. Quinn thinks the God Squad should pray for Karofsky's family rather than Karofsky because Karofsky acted selfishly, upsetting Kurt who tells her that even with all her troubles, she has no idea what it's like. Quinn gets back on the Cheerios after all, because Sue admires the way she turned her life around. Quinn decides that she wants to go to Rachel's wedding and after regionals, she runs home to get her dress.

-Rachel's Dad's and Burt are opposed to the wedding (Carole, not so much) and try to figure out how to stop it from happening. Everyone (but Quinn) is present and the wedding looks like it'll happen. Rachel doesn't want to start without Quinn and texts her frantic messages.

-Quinn is driving and decides to respond to the messages. As she texts On My Way (Hey! That's the title of the episode. That couldn't possibly be a bad sign), she is sideswiped by a car and the screen goes black. To be continued in seven weeks.

-Son of a bitch, Glee!

I Like This:

We'll talk more about that ending (and how my knowing of the twist affected my viewing of the episode) in a second, but first let's talk about Karofsky. Since at this stage in the game, every competition until National's is robbed of it's suspense because there was no way they'd have them lose at Regional's, the show needed a story to make up for an unsuspenseful Regionals and Karofsky trying to kill himself definitely made up for knowing who was going to win. I wasn't spoiled on this in advance, but the moment we started cutting between Karofsky going through the worst day of his life and Blaine singing Cough Syrup, which repeats the phrase Life's Too Short multiple times, I knew where this was headed (as did everyone watching, I assume). The scene is beautifully put together and is one of the most emotionally powerful things Glee has ever done. It punched me in the gut with feelings and then did it again when they showed Karofsky's dad finding his unconscious body. I stated last fall (at least I think I did) that I had always felt miffed on how Karofsky and Kurt's storyline had just sort of ended last year without a real conclusion and that Karofsky's tearful apology in Prom Queen felt incredibly unearned. Well, I finally got the conclusion I wanted (Though I'm gonna assume we see Karofsky at least one more time after this) and it was beautiful. The scene at the end with Kurt and Karofsky at the hospital was lovely.

I also liked how the show was pretty grounded and realistic in both the suicide attempt, and everyone's reactions to it. When something like this happens, you can't just carry on like nothing's happened and I liked how the suicide attempt was the catalyst for much of what happened next. As for other things I liked, I liked how Rachel and Finn rushing the wedding made sense (and how the show still recognizes that this isn't a good idea). I'm also glad that Sue has finally stopped targeting Glee (like she was supposed to after season 2 ended) and is now helping them. I'm also excited to see how her pregnancy is handled.

Now let's talk about the ending. All throughout the episode, we are being reminded of how Quinn has turned her life around and how she has her whole life ahead of her. She rejoins the Cheerios and decides to support Rachel and Quinn. She also has a confrontation with Kurt, which as far as we know, was never resolved, which will give Kurt something to feel guilty about in seven weeks. Really, it's obvious that something bad is going to happen to her once you already know that something bad happens, but I still like how it was handled. The show has taken a lot of time to make us care about Quinn turning her life around and it should be interesting to see if the show actually kills her off or not.

But...: All the Regional's stuff felt like they were just getting it out of the way, rather than actuall getting us to invest on whether or not they'll win Regionals and even though I knew they would win Regionals, I still felt a little miffed (That's my word of the day). And Will's personal story felt out of place and superfluous to the scene where he gets the kids to promise they'll never try to kill themselves.

The Bottom Line: On My Way was a powerful episode that sort of ignored Regionals, but has left me excited for the return of the show in seven weeks.

Grade: 80% (Great)

Memorable Moments

-Best Musical Number: Cough Syrup. Beautifully performed, beautifully staged.

-Worst Musical Number: Glad You Came, the second Dalton number, because it felt like filler. If you don't have a major character on the other team (Sebastian's not a regular yet) or if you can't make an emotional connection with something going on with the episode, you don't need to give the rival team 2 numbers.

-Theory Time: Here's my prediction for how the cliffhanger will be resolved when we get back. Quinn doesn't die (at least not immediately) but becomes comatose for an episode or two, allowing Rachel's (and possibly Kurt if the two never resolved their argument this week) guilt space to play out. Should Quinn awake, we won't see her back at school for another couple episodes so she has time to recover. Should she die... I have no idea what might happen. So that's my theory.