Alas, my day-to-day life does not typically feature elaborate and spontaneous choreographed musical numbers. As someone who lives vicariously through the "Glee" kids, I was very excited for the show to come back after its excruciatingly long winter hiatus, returning to television on Sunday with a special post-Superbowl episode.
I will admit the second season of "Glee" has been somewhat disappointing so far. Whereas the first season was light and fun, the second season has plodded along with no real focus. In the second season, Finn and Rachel's on-again, off-again relationship and the new prominence of Karofsky (Max Adler, playing a closeted gay football player who harasses the guys in the New Directions) have caused the show to lose some of its appeal.
However, unlike the rest of the second season, Sunday's zombie-filled episode left me dying for more. The episode, titled "The Sue Sylvester Bowl Shuffle," finally resolved the escalating conflict between the Glee club, the football team and the cheerleaders.
Instead of falling into the trap of creating yet another preachy episode, "Shuffle" manages to balance serious subjects like bullying with one of the show's signature far-etched storylines. In order to force the Glee club and football players to bond, the football players are forced to join the New Directions for one week and perform with them during half time of the championship game. Not only does this forced bonding bring out the major issues the two groups have with each other, but it leads to an awesome rendition of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" complete with zombie costumes and makeup.
Perhaps now it will be possible for the show's plot to move beyond constant warring between cliques.
Of course, no episode of "Glee" would be complete without cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester's (Jane Lynch) crazy antics. This episode features an impressive temper tantrum from Sue when the high school principal won't allow her to shoot cheerleader Brittany (Heather Morris) out of a human cannon without Brittany's consent. The ever manipulative Sue eventually convinces Brittany to go along with the stunt, telling the dense cheerleader that the cannon's two children will go hungry if she doesn't agree.
Although nothing could match "Thriller," all of the songs featured in the episode were catchy and entertaining, especially Rachel and Puck's rendition of Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now." Newcomer Darren Criss reprised his role as Blaine leader of the Dalton Academy Warblers and Kurt's potential love interest in this episode, taking on Destiny's Child's "Bills, Bills, Bills." Although the song was slightly random (as in, it had absolutely nothing to do with the plot of the episode), Criss' amazing performance and the gravity-defying dance moves of the other Warblers made the song amazing.
In both plot and musical numbers, "Shuffle" stands out as one of the best episodes "Glee" has produced in quite a while, giving me hope that writers will get the second season back on track.
