Glee enters 2013 with “Sadie Hawkins,” where McKinley hosts a Sadie Hawkins dance. Inappropriate crushes ensue, while in New York City, both Kurt and Rachel take some initiative within their own love lives. Also, there’s still no Schuester! Yes!
On their way to a student council meeting, Sam bombards Blaine with his conspiracy theory that the Warblers cheated to achieve their win at Sectionals. Blaine’s more interested in staring at Sam’s lips when Sam borrows his Chapstick, and we can’t see where this is going at all. In the meeting, Blaine is running things in his usual anal-retentive way when he is interrupted by Tina, who, after a very snarky speech about the stresses and dissatisfaction of prom for those ladies not deemed to be hot or sort-of-hot (“for the record I think you’re totally sort-of hot! Like, if was like, in a bunker with you I would totally hit that,” Sam reassures Tina helpfully) pitches a Sadie Hawkins dance, where the girls ask the guys. Apparently, the topic came up at the last meeting of McKinley’s ‘Too Young To Be Bitter’ club – consisting of Tina, Sugar, Becky, Lauren Zizes, Dottie Kazatori, and the Neck-Brace Cheerio – and because it’s apparently the Fifties or 18th Century or something in Ohio, a special occasion has to be organised in order for the young ladies to feel empowered enough to ask out the gentlemen. Blaine doesn’t think the dance is a good idea, but we never find out why, as he is unanimously outvoted by the rest of the council.
Kurt begins the winter semester at NYADA and soon discovers that college, like high school, has a clique hierarchy and that he is very alone. He’d expected to stay glued to Rachel, but finds her very caught up in helping Brody remove his shirt (Magic Mike: The Musical? Really?) and Kurt accepts that he needs to make some new friends. He turns to his old faithful method – joining extracurriculars – and as he reads through the options, he discovers a sign-up sheet for Adam’s Apples. When he muses a question to himself, he’s answered by a gorgeous blur walking past in the background. “NYADA’s show choir. You should join! It’s super-fun,” says the blur in the sweetest British accent to grace American screens since they were introduced to Joseph Morgan.
Kurt’s quite keen on the plan, but when he tells Rachel about it the next morning – after discovering that she saucily invited Brody to stay over, mind you, and that he’s sleeping in her bedroom – she pretty much laughs in his face. She advises him that at NYADA, show choir is “beneath stage managers and carpenters,” managing to offend anyone who has ever appreciated a good crew – the lowest of the low in the social scene, fit only for future chorus kids, those who will end up playing a dancing teapot at Disneyland. She tells him that they’re not underdogs anymore and to join any other club – just not that one. Kurt looks a bit crushed.
The Sadie Hawkins vibe in the air has the glee club guys feeling nervous and “totally powerless” as they walk through the halls, viewing the girls as potential threats. They discuss what’s worse – the fact that any girl could come up and ask them out at any moment and that they’ll feel pressured into saying yes, or the idea that they won’t get asked to the dance at all. I am not sure if this scene is meant to be funny or empowering, because I found it pretty offensive, if what they’re implying is that the girls feel like all the time.
Coach Beiste puts it a little better when she speaks to Finn in the staff lounge about his lack of a choir room, a competition, and a weekly lesson plan. He looks adorably adult and has learnt to drink coffee without spitting it up. Beiste advises Finn to use the Sadie Hawkins theme for the glee club. “Sadie Hawkins is a metaphor for empowerment. And not just for women – for everyone who is sick and tired of the status quo.” This is a really nice message and it’s a shame the episode doesn’t actually live up to it, and goes on to paint a girl asking out a guy as the biggest achievement in the history of time and that a girl needs to do this to have confidence in all other areas of her life.
Underneath the astronomy ceiling mobile that has witnessed so much heavy petting in its time, Finn pitches the plan to his glee club, announcing that the girls will sing songs to whoever they want to take to the dance. Kitty snakes in, saying that she loves this idea, because she’s got a special song to sing to somebody. She catches Jake’s eye and Marley looks panicked. At a later meeting – in the boys locker room – Tina is first up with her invitational solo, “I Don’t Know How To Love Him” from Jesus Christ Superstar. Artie quietly and confidently theorises that she’s going to pick him, but as Tina begins the song, a montage shows the true object of her affections – Blaine.
The montage progresses from adorable (Blaine charmingly stealing extra tater-tots for her and Sam and getting smacked around the head by a cafeteria lady while protesting his innocence) to creepy (lingering ass-shots) and in real-time, Blaine placidly sways and smiles, enjoying his friend’s performance but remaining oblivious even when Tina gets right up in his face. Everyone else gets it, though, and there are some brilliant side-eye shots of Ryder, Finn, Artie, Unique and Marley. Blaine is literally frozen mid-clap at the end of the number when Tina asks him to the dance and the penny finally drops. Stressed smile fixed in place, looking around for someone to save him from the awkwardness, he turns her down. “Wow, Tina, I don’t know what to say… No? Thank you. But no thank you.”
Despite Rachel’s warning, Kurt finds himself drawn back to the Adam’s Apples sign-up sheet where he is accosted by the gorgeous, friendly, British blur – Adam, who’s a senior and the group’s founder. Adam sweeps Kurt off his feet with words, spelling out everything that had been going through Kurt’s head about wanting to join the Apples but fearing it’s a step backwards – “I’m not a mind-reader, I’m just astute. Like you.” Kurt is charmed but says he doesn’t think so, but allows himself to be taken along to hear the group sing, no strings attached.
Adam and his Apples are a group of unique individuals who seem to be primarily concerned with loving life and having fun. They have the vibe of existing not at the bottom of NYADA’s food chain, but outside of it completely – totally carefree and without much concern for competition and coolness. They seem like genuinely good people and it’s a pity that it was their entrance that had to be scarred with shameful and scandalous behaviour on Glee‘s part as they perform Jonathan Coulton’s very distinct cover and original melody of Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back.” It sounds awesome, and I am both already in love with Ollie Kieran-Jones (he is a doll on Facebook) and obviously have investment in the Apples as they feature a couple of my StarKids. But I am still so, so not on Glee‘s side in regards to this, so I really hope to see more of Adam soon, without an ethical drama surrounding his performance. Kurt gapes in delight and disbelief at the performance, and I really want him to be friends with these people. He could use some carefree time in his life.
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