Onto the song I was looking forward to seeing/hearing on the episode the most: “Papa, Can You Hear Me?” Lea Michele can baaaaaaasically do no wrong. At least to me. She tackles Barbra very well once again. Rachel and Finn sit on a blanket in the park at night, and Rachel lights a candle, explaining how they need to be alone with God while she sings this song. They’re outside ‘cause Yentle was outside when she sang it in the movie. They transition from this scene to Burt’s hospital room. Rachel, Finn, his mom, Mercedes, and Quinn all sit around the room while Rachel finishes up the song and Kurt creepily watches from outside. He’s kind of mad that they’re all there. He has a woman coming to give Burt acupuncture, hoping it’ll help the blood flow to his brain. He kicks them out. 

On the football field, Sam is taken down by a ginormous dude and gets his shoulder dislocated. We find out later that the guy was 300 pounds, on steroids and was 23 years old. What is it with super-super-seniors on this show? First the 24 year old in Vocal Adrenaline, now this other guy. I would happily still go to high school as a 24 year old. I’m still not over the fact that I graduated like, a year and a half ago. :[ But anyway. Finn gets his spot as Quartback back. We can tell he’s not as happy as he thought he’d be. He seems to feel bad that Sam got hurt. Poor little blonde dude with the huge lips. If he got hit in the mouth instead of the shoulder I think he’s be perfectly fine. They’re like little, voluptuous airbags of flesh. 

Now, I was skeptical when I heard Chris’ version of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” before the show aired. I’m not a huge fan of his voice all the time, and his version just didn’t really do much for me. My dad is pretty much the biggest Beatles fan alive. My middle name is Jude. Figure that out. But yeah, I assumed Kurt would sing the song while holding Burt’s hand and the audience would feel awkward, but the performance was pleasantly, surprisingly, over-emotionally good. Kurt stands in front of the club and tells them that when his mother died and his world was falling apart, Burt held his hand and it comforted him. “AsKnowing those hands were there to take care of me…that was enough.” Very emotional scene, including short flashbacks of Burt and lil’ Kurt while bigger Kurt sings. The actor who plays lil’ Kurt is seriously Chris Colfer’s doppleganger. That was insanely great casting. It almost looks like they got a time machine. 

Mercedes approaches Kurt at his locker, and admits that she doesn’t really know how to be around him anymore. By not being religious, he’s closing himself off to a world of experiences that might surprise him. Am I missing stuff, then? He apologizes. He shouldn’t be pushing his friends away. Especially friends as fabulous as her. She invites him to go to church with her that Sunday because they’ve dedicated their service to Kurt’s father. He’s reluctant, of course, but agrees when Mercedes introduces the prospect of wearing a fabulous church hat. The teenage gay boy stereotype always works its magic on this show. 

Finn sits in Emma’s office, telling her that the Grilled Cheesus has magical powers. He wished for three things and all three things came true! She tries to explain that all of those things happening for him weren’t done by the sandwich - they were simply coincidences. The football team won the game because their new coach pays attention. (I still miss Ken Tanaka. Hmph.) Rachel let Finn touch her boobs because they talked about feelings and she felt close to him. Sam got hurt because of the steroid guy I talked about above. Finn is deeply saddened by the realization that the magic of the Grilled Cheesus wasn’t real. He felt special having a direct line to God, but now he just feels like everybody else.

Then he bursts into song. Sigh. I don’t like how people just burst into song now in the hallways and library and whatnot. That’s not what Glee was supposed to be! Even so, Cory sang R.E.M’s “Losing My Religion” really well. It’s cool how I sometimes have no interest in a song until it’s on Glee. They just make everything awesome. Finn finishes his song, and Tina and Mercedes are pissed. They can’t sing songs about faith, but can sing about losing it? 

Mercedes and Kurt in church. He has on a crazy, feathery hat. Naturally. She gets up in front of everyone, standing with her choir. Amber was cute. “Hi, church!” Aww. She tells everyone Kurt’s dad is in the hospital and asks everyone to pray for him. She also says that she knows Kurt doesn’t believe in God, but he’s gotta believe in something. Life is too hard to go through without having something to hold on to. Something sacred. I would feel so awkward if I were Kurt. Sitting in a church and being singled out for not believing in God or prayer? That’s an invitation for people to judge you and give you dirty eyes, is it not? Everything she said was really nice though. She’s a nice girl. She and the choir whip out “Bridge Over Troubled Water”, in dedication of Kurt. 

Someone pass me a box of tissues. Or ten. Sue and Jean scene. Just a recipe of disaster for my tear ducts. They’re playing checkers. “You’re letting me win, Sue! …you’re letting me win.” She’s adorable. Sue asks her if she believes in God. She asks if Sue does. “No, I don’t.” she says. “‘Cause when we were little girls, you were perfect in my eyes. And I watched the world be cruel to you.” *bawls* You still are perfect, Jeanie. Jean says God never makes mistakes. *bawls more* She asks Sue if she wants her to pray for her. Jane Lynch getting emotional kills me. “Yeah, that’d be nice.” *blows nose* 

Kurt buttons up Burt’s hospital gown. He sits at the side of his bed, telling him the story of a memory he has from when he was little. He says he’s sorry about the other day, and he should have let everyone pray for him. It was all about Burt, and it was nice. He starts crying. He then says he doesn’t believe in God, but he believes in him, and them, and that’s what he considers sacred. He breaks down more and the camera shows Burt’s pointer finger start to move against Kurt’s hand. Here’s where I get some good Glee chills. The guitar from “One of Us” kicks in as Kurt calls the nurse in and tells Burt he’s not going anywhere. 

I love that they let Jenna sing the opening. LOVE. New Directions is on stage. They’re all wearing white, performing the song for Will. Is it just me or do some of them look like they’re posing? They have the song go along with a sequence of Finn taking the Grilled Cheesus out of the fridge and eating it. Excuse me while I think about possibly eating a soggy, week-old sandwich. *dry heave* So gross, but I guess it’s symbolic. Sue sits by Will and watches the performance. He says that the kids wanted to do this song, so he let them do it. “Are you gonna get me fired? Report me?” She says no. Change of heart, Sue? Finn tosses his napkin onto the empty paper plate. The end.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just being honest. This was probably one of my favorite episodes of the entire series so far. I really enjoyed it. I know the episode is getting a lot of hate, and I can see some reasons why, but I still really liked it. I laughed, I cried, I had some Glee chills going on. It felt like the old Glee again. No fancy guest stars. Actual plot. And I liked how almost all of the characters were involved. Tina sang. Mercedes sang. Finn sang. Puck sang. Kurt sang. Rachel sang. They all sang together in the end. I like when there is a balance of focus on everyone, even if one or two characters seem to be in the forefront of the episode. Although, I do wish Artie would have mentioned his views on God, considering he got into a bad car accident and was put in a wheelchair. 

I also feel like the controversial subject of religion was handled well. There was a good balance of characters who strongly believed in God and others who strongly didn’t. I felt like the audience wasn’t swayed into believing or not believing in God. The message was that it doesn’t really matter what or who you believe in, as long as you believe in SOMETHING. Good stuff. 

Favorites Quotes/Parts of the Episode:

~ “Hes coming out!” - Puck

~ “Oh, I’ve got no problem with the guy. I’m a total Jew for Jesus. He’s my number one Heb.” - Puck

~ Entire Finn/Rachel bedroom scene. Her speech, the kissing and hilarity. 

~”I need to know what’s going on with that Glee club. Brittany…Jugs, the clown…go.” - Sue

~ “I made him a card that said heart attacks are just from loving too much.” - Brittany

Next week looks interesting. Excited for some duet-age. Hope I can bang out that review faster than this one. :]

- B