Recap: 'Glee' - 'Heart'
An episode that aims for past greatness but only wades through its current muddiness
Jeff Goldblum, Lea Michele and Brian Stokes Mitchell of "Glee"
Credit: FOX
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Look, that wasn’t horrible. Sure, FOX isn’t going to use that sentence as a pull quote anytime soon in its advertising. But “Heart” worked in intermittent spurts, cutting through the narrative clutter and usual silliness to produce some solid musical moments. As an episode of television, it was as bad as the show has been all season. But there were a few things that weren’t intolerable. (Again: not a good pull quote.)
As per usual, the show went for about eight things when only two would have not only sufficed, but actually enhanced the hour. Having Will assign his students to find the greatest love songs of all time was impossibly vague, but also opened up the room for some creative interpretations. Plus, the show generally does melodramatic teenage love fairly well in musical terms, so while I didn’t expect something as great as “Silly Love Songs,” I definitely didn’t fear this episode as much as last week’s debacle. The reference to “Songs” is intentional: that was last year’s Valentine’s Day episode, and it’s clear the show tried to repeat that formula twelve months later. The gap between the two episodes shows how muddled things have gotten at McKinley High.
And there’s no reason for this. As ill-conceived as the Rachel/Finn engagement is, it’s ill-conceived in a way the show actively recognizes. The show doesn’t condemn this relationship, but it’s certainly not blindly bestowing their blessing to the couple, either. I’m on board with that attitude, since it’s often unclear if a show knows a character is doing something awful or not. (I’m looking at you, “Weeds.”) Having Finn and Rachel come out as an engaged couple to the group could have been the engine that drove every other person in New Directions to question their own stance towards romance. Instead, the Rachel/Finn material got equal footing as a bizarre Sugar/Artie/Rory love triangle. The fact that I just typed out “Sugar/Artie/Rory love triangle” confirms my belief that there’s a hat in the writer’s room from which they randomly select romantic pairings. Because what…the…hell?
Then again, it’s not like this new trio is any more or less developed than other nominally established relationships on display tonight. It’s hard to hate on Amber Riley’s “I Will Always Love You” as a performance. But as a character-motivated piece of music, it would have worked better had we ever gotten the impression at any time that she had EVER loved him. It’s the kind of emotional shortcut that “Glee” takes all the time, and continually can’t understand why we don’t roll with it. Another case in point: I quite loved the Mike/Tina duet for “L-O-V-E,” since any screen time they get is precious and I choose to hold it tightly against my cold, dark heart. But we’ve barely seen this pair since Mike’s dad had a “come to Jesus” moment about the arts, and we know almost nothing about this duo except they like to cuddle during rehearsal.
Speaking of Jesus, he appeared in tonight’s episode. Well, a tree hugging hippie home-school version of him, in the form of new student Joseph Hart. He joins the God Squad, resurrected just in time for an awkward debate about religion and sexuality. You see, Santana and Brittany (newly allowed to speak again) have been smooching up a storm, and people have been complaining. Because if teenagers like to complain about anything, it’s two hot girls making out in public. They straight up HATE THAT. Santana makes a big stink about this perceived double-standard (she thinks straight couples get a free pass on this), and so pays the God Squad to sing a telegram to Brittany. You can guess what happens: the crazy Pope from “American Horror Story” hears about this, Mrs. Coach delivers a demon baby, and then the demon baby sings AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell.” AND SCENE.
Actually, it doesn’t really go anywhere, because as per usual, there’s no time for it to go anywhere. Just as there’s an entire episode to be made about the realities of Finn/Rachel getting hitched, there’s a fantastic episode just waiting to be made about the pressures/realities/similarities for gay teen couples around Valentine’s Day. Twinning Santana’s desire to share PDA with Brittany with Dave Karofsky hiding behind a literal mask in order to express his feelings for Kurt might have been a spectacular, spectacular episode. I would have rather seen a ten-minute version of Karofsky’s conversation with Kurt at Breadsticks than have Rachel tell Finn where he can drop a deuce. The limits to which these characters can express their feelings for one another is potent, timely, and just the type of thing “Glee” tends to actually handle with a modicum of sensitivity. So, naturally, this took up about four minutes of the overall episode to make room for Blaine to yell at the love shack. A lot. Man, that dude hates that shack.
I’ve made it this far into the review without mentioning the debut of Rachel’s dads, played by Jeff Goldblum and Brian Stokes Mitchell. They were perfectly fine. Goldblum did what Goldblum does, and he and Mitchell felt like a couple that had been together since meeting on “Up With People.” Their plan to trick Rachel and Finn felt rushed beyond the pale, but that’s not the fault of the actors but rather a script that brought them out in the opening minutes and then shoved the two offstage for the majority of the episode. Whereas I usually loathe spending time with the adults on this show, more time with the Berrys would have been appreciated. (And I want to see Carol after three glasses of wine, darnit.)
But absolutely nothing I’ve described really related to the “greatest love songs” theme laid out at the beginning of the hour. Instead, the episode dealt with teenage marriage, the separation of church and state, and a really bizarre (but apparently facetious) foray into immigration reform. (Rory lied about deportation to mack on Sugar? I’d give him props, but I had to look up his name because he’s said two words all season.) “Glee” tries to be about everything and ends up being about nothing. The individual elements are often strong, but cancel each other out within an episode. The beauty of “Silly Love Songs”, and other strong episodes like “Duets” and “Furt,” lies in a central spine of a story onto which various people can attach themselves. New Directions is supposed to be a unified group. But in so many ways, they are more detached from one another than ever. If this was by design, I’d applaud the show. But it’s not the glee club that has lost its way. It’s “Glee.”
What did you think of “Heart”? Better than recent episodes, or still on the same downward trajectory? Did Rachel’s dads meet/beat your expectations? And what great love song are you glad the show didn’t ruin in tonight’s ep? Sound off below!
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupAmanda
February 14, 2012 at 11:44PM EST Reply to Comment"Glee tries to be about everything and ends up being about nothing."
That is the most succinct, accurate description of what is wrong with this show that I have ever read. Well put.
Natalia
February 15, 2012 at 12:13AM EST Reply to CommentI wish they would have cut out some of the unnecessary bits and made the Kurt/Karofsky Breadstix scene longer. Or given Karofsky another scene in the episode. They were the most interesting part of this episode in my opinion. I hope he's back for more episodes...
pamelajaye
February 15, 2012 at 12:18AM EST Reply to CommentI just like it for the songs. Emotionally, it rarely does a thing for me. Except when it comes to Emma.
But someone somewhere asked if I Will Always Love You "overshadowed" everything else, and, since I am so spoiler-free that I didn't know it would be there till it was - nope. I did look at my Twitter feed and realize that everyone but me must have known already. It was nice though (if kind of weird due to the timing) cause for days, people have been playing bits of it at me and even at the Grammys, a bit of it was cut out, so it was the only time I've heard the whole thing. (since)
I'm still trying to believe that Finn and Rachel love each other. It never looks that way to me... as you say, Mike and Tina, yes. Even maybe Artie and ...was it Britney? But I've never felt it with Rachel and Finn, so it's weird.
Vicky
February 15, 2012 at 12:23AM EST Reply to CommentI don't understand what the point of the PDA discussion with Figgins was, because no one did anything to reverse it, and we didn't even find out who had complained.
Arthur
February 15, 2012 at 2:44AM EST Reply to CommentThe two standouts of this episode for me were Rachel's dads (finally! And hilarious, at that. Jeff Goldblum and Brian Stokes Mitchell need to be in every episode) and Love Shack, which reminded me of why I love Glee and continue to put up with it.
The woobie-fication of Karofsky was just cringe-inducing, on the other hand. I can already spot everything a mile away when it comes to his storyline.
Melany
February 15, 2012 at 3:20AM EST Reply to CommentWhile I agree with most of what you say and often wonder why I still watch Glee, I feel like the Sam/Mercedes arc is one of the few that is actually well-handled this season, it doesn't feel rushed and although Mercedes never said she loved Sam, they suggested it pretty often with all the looks and other hints. At least they talk about it for more than one episode, which is an impressive achievement for Glee
Ella
February 15, 2012 at 5:31AM EST Reply to CommentI don't understand why on earth Karofsky is still on Glee. Boring, unnecessary, and not gonna lie, it's more than a little horrifying to see someone who threatened to kill Kurt declare his love for him a year later because, what they met up at a bar and had a martini? No thanks. Especially since bro doesn't really seem to get what he has to apologize for. Every appearance is dragging down the show. Other than that, loved the Misters Berry, wish we could have cut the entire Kurt plot as well as the Sugar/Artie/Rory plot and make room for more of them.
Flora
February 15, 2012 at 6:39AM EST Reply to CommentAll the Karofsky scene made me feel was uncomfortable. After everything he has put Kurt through I just can't feel empathy for him when he continues to stalk him.
I loved Rachel's dads and Sugar so much and overall it was an enjoyable episode.
Erika 'Stalk him' Dave never stalked Kurt when he bullied him and he certainly didn't stalk Kurt this episode. He was just trying to be romantic. It was sweet in a sad way because It was obvious Kurt was going to turn him down...
February 15, 2012 at 7:11AM ESTE. I mean, following someone around for a week in disguise is pretty much stalking. Especially if that someone had threatened to kill me and had sexually harassed me in the past? I would be so horrified.
February 15, 2012 at 7:26AM ESTYann What's really creepy is that some people post the same exact comment ( ctrl-V is faster when you want to troll ) in all the Glee recaps around the web under different aliases, to make sure their narrow-minded view is heard of.
February 15, 2012 at 7:53AM ESTAnd I second everything Erika said... My only gripe is the characters would need more time to be really fleshed out.
Melanie
February 15, 2012 at 2:06PM EST Reply to CommentGod I hope next week gives us more Karofsky scenes! Preferably ones that last longer than 10 minutes? There is so much history between him and Kurt, and Max and Chris have such amazing chemistry; it'd be a shame not to capitalize on all that potential and talent. Fingers crossed he's back after the hiatus too.
charcus
February 15, 2012 at 7:57PM EST Reply to Commenti HATE the idea of Karofsky with Kurt and i think anyone who has ever been the target of bullying or hate would feel the same way i doo!!
Frank
February 15, 2012 at 10:28PM EST Reply to CommentAt some point in the Glee past, Rachel shows a picture of her two dads. One of them is Jewish and one is black. She even makes a joke about not knowing who's sperm actually inseminated the egg. Now it's two totally different dudes? WTF?
Laura
February 15, 2012 at 11:18PM EST Reply to CommentI absolutely hated the way they brought back Dave Karofsky. Following Kurt around in a gorilla suit when he's supposed to be in another school, sending him letters saying 'be mine forever?' when he hasn't even come out of the closet? It only hearkened back to his behavior in early season 2, where he would touch Kurt in the hallways and make him feel terrified. If they wanted viewers to feel sympathy for him, perhaps they shouldn't have brought him back as a stalker, and, once again, told victims that it is up to them to forgive their bullies. Where is the Glee that said that it's okay to be yourself, because your friends will help you? Now what we're getting is 'if the guy who threatened to kill you says he only did it because he thinks he's in love with you, obviously the thing to do is drop an already loving relationship you have to be with someone in secret, or else he'll storm off crying'. Wow, thanks for making all bullying victims feel awful, Glee. Thanks a lot. That sure is empowering to all the kids out there being bullied right now, being told that they need to forgive, and not only forgive, but welcome their bullies back with open arms, because, after-all, death threats and assault are expressions of love. Boys will be boys and all that.
Sorry to say, but if Glee continues with this absurd and inappropriate message of romance between Kurt and Karofsky, I will stop watching--I will not support a show that places all blame on the victim without ever showing a bully receiving proper consequences for their actions. Hopefully, Glee can wrap up this ridiculous and ill-conceived story next week and get back to teaching lessons that will actually help kids instead of hurting them. Let us see Karofsky come to terms with himself without trying to force an unhealthy relationship onto Kurt, who has already done far more than any regular human being would have done to help the person who made him so terrified that he transferred schools. Please, let him be rehabilitated without dragging another character down, and lay this story line to rest before you manage to wreck it even more. Truly disappointed--over a year of build-up only to have it culminate in a fantastically creepy gorilla mask.
Kaykay
February 18, 2012 at 8:19PM EST Reply to CommentHere's hoping Glee doesn't fuck up the Brittina storyline...at least britts allowed to talk again and Santana gets to be well her awesome self ;)