Last week on Glee: Rachel lost her voice! Kurt tried to be straight!
Will goes to the Principal’s office and is introduced to Neil Patrick Harris (Brian Ryan). NPH and Will went to school together. We flashback to Glee way back then, with NPH singing “Daydream Believer” and he does magic! Like Barney! NPH says they may cut the Glee club because of budget worries. NPH was in Glee, he did shows and the cruise ship circuit. But he became a has-been, met Jesus—his social worker, turned his life around, and now runs a support group. We see Brenda (Molly Shannon) who turned to drugs after a bad audition. NPH says “Show choir kills.” NPH just wants to talk to the kids and the Principal forces him to. NPH tells the kids to write down their biggest dreams. He rips out Artie’s and throws it out. He tells them they will never happen and will never leave their town. As he mentions show biz dreams, Rachel and Kurt share a look. NPH uses Will as an example. NPH makes Tina cry! Will throws him out but not before NPH threatens to cut the Glee club.
In the library, Tina helps Artie get a book. He says he’s now considering a career behind the camera. She saw Artie’s dream—“dancer.” Tina tells Artie they should do an assignment on their own since Will was distracted by the awesomeness that is NPH to assign them one. And it’ll include dancing! Speaking of dancing, we see Rachel in the ballet studio. Jesse’s back! And talking to her! Rachel wants to play Evita, Funny Girl and Laurie from Oklahoma! She was practicing Laurie’s Dream Ballet. Jesse tells Rachel her performance of “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” is an inevitability. They are back together again! He asks her what her dream is, what’s missing. Rachel says her mom. She doesn’t need to meet her, but just wants to know her name. The Dads never told her and Rachel never asked them. But Jesse pushes her to find her mom.
We see Tina and Artie practicing. Tina is very good a tap. He asks for some crutches he borrowed from a kid with cerebal palsy. He can stand up and then drags himself a few feet before falling. Artie kicks Tina out. Meanwhile, Will finds NPH, who is taking stock of Home Ec supplies. Will wants to convince NPH he’s wrong about Glee, take him out for a beer. For old time’s sake. NPH considers this. Can they go to New York to visit MacLaren’s? Can Brian Ryan be Barney’s doppelganger?
Rachel whispers that she found her mother in the library. She believes her mother is Patti Lupone. Rachel tracks Lupone’s movements in 1994 to discover she was in Ohio. Jesse is able to shoot it down so Rachel asks if he wants to hear how Bernadette Peters is her mother. Jesse asks why she’s scared and Rachel reveals her fathers’ kept everything about her. Jesse knows they have a starting point.
NPH and Will bond over beers. NPH says Terri was the one that got away. Will reveals they got married and divorced. You dodged a bullet there, NPH. Will credits Glee as giving him the strength and drive to get out of the marriage and something to live for. He fortune cookies about expressing yourself through Glee and NPH admits he’s living a lie. He misses performing. He sneaks off to see Broadway shows and a box of Playbills hidden, like porn. If this was Barney, it would be porn disguised as a box of Playbills. Will starts Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” and sings along. NPH joins in. Can we bring NPH back to Broadway? Please? Will tells NPH they are both trying out for a production of Les Mis.
Twilight. Blah.
Artie rolls along as Tina runs up alongside him. She apologizes, he apologizes. He says he’s hopeless, Tina doesn’t agree. She’s done research. She tells him not to give up on his dream. Aww. They kiss as the sun shines behind them and it’s sweet.
Rachel brings up several boxes to investigate. She finds her baby teeth, Jesse finds her sonogram, Rachel finds her first singing trophy. Jesse is surprised it was when she was 8 months old. As Rachel is distracted, Jesse takes out a tape from his pocket. It says “From Mother to Daughter.” He tries to play it but Rachel freaks out. We cut from that to a woman singing “Big Spender” from Sweet Charity. Will meets with NPH. Both are trying out for Jean Valjean, first with “The Impossible Dream” from Man of La Mancha but now with Aerosmith’s “Dream On.” They argue until the director tells them to sing it together. And they do. They prance around what I assume will be the barricade scene and kill the song. The director rushes out.
Artie and Tina go shopping where Artie bought tap shoes. She goes to get pretzels but needs to leave him there. He says his doctor has started him on the therapy Tina suggested. He says they’re working, stands up and starts dancing. About time that got Kevin McHale out of that chair. He sings and dances to the “Safety Dance” in a mall. Is this a tribute to all the flash mobs Glee’s promotion teams sent out? They even have people taping it! It is a tribute to all the flash mobs! Wait, did I see Mercedes in one scene? The song ends and Artie’s in his chair, alone, as Tina gives him a pretzel. He says he’s going to dance someday.
NPH meets with Sue, saying he is going to be in Les Mis next month. He tells Sue that the Cheerios’ budget is crazy. NPH brings out research showing that the arts helps intellect while Sue argues that the country is obese and that sports help with teamwork and confidence. NPH is turned on, as is Sue. Even though he is still cutting half her budget.
What would Barney say?
Jesse runs in the rain to a car where Idina is waiting. He tells her he gave her the tape but she won’t listen to it. Jesse asks why she just doesn’t walk up to her and say, “Hi, I’m your mom.” A million fans are now screaming “I KNEW IT!” at their TV. She said she answered the ad, hoping to go to New York to become an actress. She never held Rachel and that’s her one regret. She signed a contract not to have any contact with her until she’s 18 but if she hears the tape, Rachel will try to find her.
Artie goes to speak to Emma to get therapy to adjust to his life walking. She tries to let him down gently, saying he may not walk for a long time. She agrees to let him see her once a week for a while. He leaves without Tina’s research. NPH announces that the arts matter and he gives him jackets, dance wear and sheet music from every Broadway show ever. Sue comes to congratulate the boys—Will got the role of Valjean while NPH is just a townsman. NPH reverses everything he just said and cuts the program.
NPH practices his one line, saying he is saving the kids from becoming bitter. Because cutting the one thing they have is taken from there. He tells NPH that these kids were labeled from the moment they entered the building. But he sees beyond that and sees stars. When stars die, they become black holes that suck everything. He tells NPH he’s creating thirteen black holes by cutting Glee. Will also gives up his role and lets NPH play Jean Valjean to remember what the arts can do for a person. NPH agrees to the swap and to not cut the Glee club. NPH ambushes the director.
Rachel goes home and Jesse plays the tape. And we here Idina Menzel’s voice start singing “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Mis. We cut to her singing it on a stark stage. Rachel joins her. This is slightly meta because Lea did play Young Cosette in the Broadway production of Les Mis. They slightly rewrote the song so that it’s not about a guy who left her, but her mother. At least it’s still keeping with the song’s theme. Aretha Franklin’s version? Completely missed the mark. She made it a “I will survive” song that it isn’t. The song ends as we see Idina in her car, rain beating against the window and Rachel crying in her room.
Tina and Artie talk. He pulls out of the routine. He fortune cookies he needs to focus on dreams he can make come true. Tina asks him to at least sing the song. Will announces Glee is saved. Puck asks if he died but NPH was going to be distracted by his lead role of Les Mis. He says he’s trading his one dream for their thirteen ones. Her dance partner is Mike, one of the other football players we never really see. Artie sings the song, “Dream a Little Dream of Me.” You should hear Miss Piggy’s rendition in MuppetVision down in Disney. Tina and Mike dance. Quinn offers support as they dance and Artie sings.
Next week: The Lady Gaga episode. And Finn moving in with Kurt.
That was legend…NPH was great, but when isn’t he? Even in the How I Met Your Mother episodes where Barney merely puts in an appearance. He and Matthew Morrison were great playing old rivals who could be friends, if they wanted to. Or weren’t so competitive. And I’m glad Idina is really Rachel’s mother and this isn’t really some ploy to bring down New Directions like I worried it was when Jesse first took out the tape. And everyone had been commenting on the similarities between Lea Michele and Idina Menzel before Idina was even cast! Also good character development for Tina and Archie. Now, we need to bring on some of Matthew Morrison’s Broadway co-stars. Marissa Jaret Winokur, Harvey Fierstein, Laura Bell Bundy, and/or Kerry Butler from “Hairspray” or Victoria Clarke and/or Kelli O’Hara from “Light in the Piazza.”
Also, today, the third Glee CD was released! I need to go order it and I encourage everyone else to do so as well. And yes, it is available for download on iTunes.
Quote of the Episode:
“I sound like someone put tap shoes on a horse and then shot it.” –Artie
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