Glee!
“Individuality” homework with “Signed, Sealed, Delivered.”
The group is gathered as Lindsay says we are going to meet the guest judge. Who is ominously carrying a slushy. And it’s Darren Criss AKA Blaine. He sadly doesn’t throw the slushy at the Gleek wannabes. Hmm, I hereby dub them the Gleekabes. Anyway, Darren enters with Robert Ulrich, Glee’s casting director. Darren welcomes the final twelve and explains their first challenge—to show their personality while singing “Signed, Sealed, Delivered.” Who sings the best in the challenge will get to be the star of the video with the chance to work with Darren. Emily starts before Alex out sings her. I like Cameron’s voice, not so much Bryce’s. Matheus hits the high notes before everyone sings the chorus of “Signed, Sealed and Delivered.”
That…wasn’t enough to judge anything on. Each got maybe a line. Darren goes to Ellis, who looks younger. I have the same thing. You wouldn’t believe how many times people have assumed I’m in the teen club. Their reaction when they find out I’m one of the adult leaders is priceless though. Oh well, raise your ID with pride, Ellis, because you are going to get carded EVERYWHERE. Trust me. Next, Darren goes to Emily who flirts a bit. She says she’s a flirt and then confesses her greatest talent is flipping her hair. And her tone of voice…I’ve been stuck on the bus or the train with girls using that tone of voice and have had to crank the volume up on my iPod to prevent myself from committing murder. Darren says she exudes “sass” and calls her magnetic. Darren is impressed with Matheus’ vocal work.
The winner of the challenge is Matheus. If you’re like me and have seen the “Firework” video a thousand times, you already knew this. He’s excited. The gang learns their big group number—“Firework” by Katy Perry. Duh. Lindsay is in love with the choice. Darren tells the Gleekabes to solidify the character they want to be in the Glee universe. He tells them to create their character and bring it to the number.
They will work with choreography Zach Woodlee and vocal producer Nikki Anders. They will observe the contestants during the entire process to determine who will fit into Glee. After the video, Zach, Nikki and Robert will determine who will get to sing off in front of creator Ryan Murphy. Someone will be eliminated.
So…Choreography with Zach!
Zach introduces himself and Brooke, his assistant, to the Gleekabes. He asks Hannah for several poses and then tells everyone to do it. He tells them they have the least time for choreography and need to lock it quickly. Bryce bumps into Damian and Zach calls him on it. Bryce falls behind and Zach calls him on it. He is tough on them.
Coming up: Recording session.
Vocals with Nikki
Hannah loves the lamp and confesses this is the first time she’s been in a professional recording studio. Nikki Anders enters and introduces herself to the Gleekabes. She says it’s important but the cast has little time to record it. She says Lea may only have forty-five minutes to an hour to record a whole song. You may think that’s enough time, but not really. The actor needs to get into it and then it may take a few times to get the sound the producers want.
Nikki asks Marissa to emote, to connect with the song. Cameron really rocks it. Damian says he loves that Nikki gives them notes to improve. Lindsay impresses Nikki as well and says she has one of the best voices there. Okay, so she’s not modest. Nikki and Ellis talk about her chest voice. She admits she’s sick. Ellis has some difficulty as they switch to Hannah. Nikki asks for intensity and Hannah doesn’t think she impresses her. She talks to Emily about it and Emily tries to console her.
Time for the video shoot!
Erik White introduces himself as the Gleekabe’s music video director. He will be making all their videos and promises to make them look good. He tells them they will work hard but have fun. We see Hannah filming her part and she fears she will be in the bottom three. She asks Erik for tips and he tells her to be relatable. Zach directs Alex and says he has confidence, knows he’s good. We see Matheus working with Darren. Dang, Matheus is tiny. Darren tells him to be confident and people will like him.
Zach tells Emily to play up her strengths—namely the flirting. Bryce is told to push away Emily, who is to walk away. Bryce doesn’t know how that relates to his character and says that he’s supposed to be the heartbreaker. He suggests that maybe Emily leaves because another girl walks up. Zach and Erik take that into consideration. Ellis meanwhile practices and says that hers was “Most Likely to be a Child Forever.” Zach and Robert have some concerns about her and Zach decides to talk to her. Robert tells her not play on her young face because she is awesome. Zach tells them to sharpen their choreography so it’ll be like they could ship in Nigel Barker to take individual shots of them.
Meanwhile, the judges worry about Damian. Robert thinks he’s fading into the background and struggling. Zach is still waiting for him to blossom and impress them. I’m a little worried for our Damo here, CT fans. I think he’s struggling with the new surroundings without the other lads to support him.
However, Zach’s comment made me think about the very first cycle of America’s Next Top Model that I recapped. It was Cycle 11. Marjorie, one of the wannabes, was born in France and lived there for her early childhood. Naturally, her parents continued to raise her like they were even once they moved to America. The other girls noticed that Marjorie wasn’t as positive as they were. Paulina, also European, explained this to the girls. Her explanation (or my recap of it) can be found here. The Glee Project’s page on Oxygen says Damian brings a different cultural attitude to the competition. I fear that like Marjorie, it may be his downfall.
Anyhoo…Robert says it’ll be difficult to determine the bottom three. And now we have the “Firework” video that I’ve seen a million times.
Coming Up: Someone has to go home.
Extra Footage: Samuel says each Glee cast member has their own strengths and weaknesses. He and Cameron dance around while Damian tries to figure out what they are doing.
We come back to the “Boys Dorm” on Callback Day. The female Gleekabes are there too. Samuel thinks that someone who may have done amazing may end up in the bottom three to see how they handle the pressure. Matheus asks Cameron who is the weakest and McKynleigh tells him not pick himself. He picks Hannah and apologizes. Samuel and Matheus goof off with Damian as Samuel reminds us this is a competition. Too bad this isn’t like America’s Next Top Model where the wannabes like to come up with what the show isn’t…America’s Next Top Best Friend, for example.
Robert tells the Gleekabes that they were asked to show their individuality and why they would be a good fit for Glee. Three people have to be in the bottom three, though. Cameron, Matheus, Lindsay, Emily, Alex and Samuel are told they made the callback list and are dismissed. Marissa, McKynleigh and Hannah are then told that while they need to put in some work, they have made it to the callback list. Ellis is there because of her personality and her contradictions. She has to sing “Big Spender” from “Sweet Charity.” Bryce is there for his attitude. He has to sing “Just the Way You Are” by Bruno Mars. Robert loved Damian’s personality but he needs to show it in a group. He has to sing “Jessie’s Girl” by Rick Springsteen.
We see Damian singing it—and it’s the first time he heard it. Wait, seriously? I guess “Jessie’s Girl” gets more radio play on American oldies stations. Of course, I was probably the only 21 years old celebrating the return of CBS’s oldie station. Ellis and Bryce practice while Damian gets some help from Zach, who tells him to use the vulnerability from the fact he doesn’t know the song. Robert coaches Ellis, tells her to wow them like she did in Chicago. Ellis confesses she took a leave from school and doesn’t want to go back. Nikki checks up on Bryce and he breaks down. Nikki tells him that they love him but it’s a test. He needs to get out of his head and deliver.
Coming Up: The bottom three sing.
Time for the final sing off! Robert says that they are looking for someone who will inspire the writers to write for them. Ellis is nervous while Bryce thinks Nikki helped. Damian isn’t sure if this is a bad thing if he can perform for Ryan Murphy. Damian is up first. I think he’s going to have diction lessons if they want him to continue singing in an American accent. He screws up the chorus a bit, singing about “wishing [he] was Jessie’s Girl” rather than “wishing [he] had Jessie’s girl.” Otherwise, a decent performance. I’m not circulating any petitions to get Sharon to include it in the next go-round of “It’s Entertainment” though.
Ryan points out Damian’s mistake but likes how he went with it. Ryan asks him to critique his performance and Ryan likes how Damian laughs off his mistakes. But he tells Damian to sell it and not be nervous. He doesn’t think the charm came across in the song, but he loves it while talking. Zach points out that Damian is uncomfortable dancing and tries to fade when it comes to that. Robert points out that Damian has a gorgeous voice and sang a beautiful Irish ballad a cappella. Ryan notes he always wanted to do a Riverdance episode.
Robert says that Bryce looked amazing on camera but had attitude problems. Bryce comes to perform. Is he on tempo? In tune? Off-key? I’m not thrilled with how the performance started. Then again, I don’t really listen to Bruno Mars so I could be the one who heard it wrong. But it didn’t sound right to me.
Ryan didn’t like the beginning like me. Bryce says that he never heard anyone sing like him or look like him. Ryan liked that statement.
Robert says that Ellis was told to scale back and not come across like Shirley Temple. I like how she’s working the microphone. Her manner, her facial expressions are all making her look older now.
Ryan asks about her week. Ellis admits she was sick and knew it wasn’t entirely about vocal performance but felt she had a handicap. Ryan tells Ellis that she needs to be who she is and not who she thinks they want. As the bottom three return to the group, Ryan confers with the other two. Ryan liked Damian's character but Robert isn’t sure about his confidence. Ryan isn’t sure about working with Bryce every day while he isn’t sure how he would write Ellis in. They admit it’s tough to decide.
Ellis says she started crying for twenty minutes and wishes she did better in front of Ryan Murphy. Damian says it finally hit him that it’s a competition and that someone has to go home. Bryce thinks he’s going home.
Robert posts the call back sheet. He announces this to the room as the bottom three leave to see the list. Damian wishes the other Gleekabes luck as they all say good-bye. Bryce admits he wasn’t himself this week while Ellis once again says she doesn’t want to go home. Damian checks the list and celebrates that he is on it. Ellis sighs in relief as Bryce realizes he is not called back. He says this was one of the best weeks of his life and is upset it has to end. But that’s just for the competition. He promises to go on and loves the group he was with.
The group backs Bryce up as he sings “Keep Holding On.”
The Glee Project:
Alex
Cameron
Damian
Ellis
Emily
Marissa
Hannah
Lindsay
Matheus
McKynleigh
Samuel
I wasn’t too thrilled with Bryce so I am not sorry to see him go. I am worried for Damian, though. Otherwise, wished we saw more of Cameron and Lindsay.
Next week: Bad Romance! Ellis has to kiss someone and doesn’t like Lindsay. Neither does Hannah.
Quote of the Episode:
“I’m eighteen, I swear. I am not ten.”—Ellis, who has the same problem as me.
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