Glee Review: World War Glee
Chris O'Hara at .It may or may not be the modern day version of stoning, but the dodgeball scene in this week's Glee episode, "Mash Off," smacked the taste right out of my mouth!
From the beginning of the scene - where Kurt brushed aside Rachel's olive branch and reminded her of her "borderline sociopathic climb to the top" - the stage was set for an epic battle.
This was madness you say? THIS WAS DODGEBALL!
Any time you have actors performing athletic acts, chances are you can expect to see some awkwardness (see Tom Cruise throwing a baseball in 2005's War Of The Worlds).
The cast of Glee, however, impressed the heck out of me. For those on both teams who lacked the arm strength, the two-handed soccer throw-in style looked very effective, but nothing was more impressive than Brittany's spinning cyclone sling of death. Is there anything that girl can't do?
Okay, math comes to mind, but you know what I mean.
Artie looked like an old contestant on Double Dare with those goggles on and Rachel guarding her nose was just classic.
While the Hit Me With Your Best Shot/One Way Or Another mash-up was as hot as the gym class uniforms the Trouble Tones sported, and despite a lifelong love of Hall & Oates, the best song of the night, hands down, had to be the take on Adele.
Mercedes was stellar as usual, but after initially missing her first cue, Santana gave me chills when she finally took center stage and let all her pent up pain and emotion burst forth in what had to be her best performance to date.
As much as I always love the sharp-tongued taunts that spew forth from our Lima Heights Lolita, I could not have gushed harder when it looked like Heather Morris actually made Naya Rivera laugh for real when she quietly sang "stop the violence" to her in the choir room.
Watch the scene again. I think it was a totally natural laugh that was spared from the trash bin because of how real it was, despite Rivera's voice momentarily falling out of character. A small but amazing scene I thought.
It might be the last time we see Santana smile for awhile as her life looks to get flip turned upside down in coming weeks.
Lastly, Puck was hot for teacher and who could blame him? While his attempts to charm Shelby - such as when he brought her the gourd because they were out of apples in the cafeteria - were steak-headed yet suave, where he really proved irresistible were his interactions with his little monkey faced Beth.
If not for the whole teacher/student legal issue, I found myself almost rooting for it to happen, if for no one else but little Beth... but then it looks like in the scenes for next episode, Puck tells Quinn about his extra curricular activities with their rival coach.
Is it possible Puck has been playing both sides of the mohawk the whole time, seducing Shelby only to expose her and get Beth back for Quinn?
Can't wait to hear what you all think. Matt will be back to review the next episode in two weeks, but I hope "You and I" saw eye to eye this week or at least had a few favorite Glee quotes in common.