We find New Directions at Nationals in L.A. in Glee season 5, episode 11, “City of Angels.” Check out our recap as well as the promo for next week’s episode.
We open up this episode with Will calling Sam into his office. Will gives Sam a talk about stepping up as the leader of New Directions and that he needs to be the “new” Finn. Sam seems pretty hesitant but Will insists that he can do it.
Finn’s parents, Burt and Carole, drop by the glee club to give them some words of wisdom before they head out to L.A. They speak of Finn and it’s clear that his presence is going to be huge during this episode. The camera quickly pans to Sam and the anxiety is plastered on his face and we know he’s going to struggle to find his place as a leader throughout the episode.
Burt says some touching words and says that if Finn were here he would say, “This is the time of your lives, right now. You’re never gonna forget it and in a moment it’s all gonna be over.”
Will and the students begin to sing “I Love L.A.” by Randy Newman and they are instantly transported to the land of sunshine along with a really cute montage of the kids taking a tour bus through the city.
It is at the hotel that we get our first glamorous appearance by Mercedes with her faux-huahua (her fake chihuahua). Our girl seems to have made it big after Kanye West’s housekeeper bought her CD “Hell 2 the No” in a parking lot and passed it along to Ryan Seacrest. And the rest was history.
While waiting to get their rooms, New Directions comes in first contact with Throat Explosion, their leader Jean Baptiste and a whole lot of turtle necks.
Sam takes this opportunity to take the lead by making one of the lamest, but cutest, threats ever about Throat Explosion being really good but that will only “get them out of their comfort zones and send them over the top.” He’s obviously embarrassed and it’s adorable.
In the hotel, Ryder knocks on Marley’s door to talk about her Facebook occupation status. Marley confesses that she doesn’t think she can be a singer/songwriter anymore because she never wins any of the competitions she enters and it’s just become too disheartening at this point to continue. She lets Ryder know that this will be her last performance with the glee club and throws around the idea of joining accounting club.
The night before the competition, Blaine brings the club to sneak onto the stage so they can get the feel for the stage. While many of the members don’t see the point of it, Sam launches into his first inspirational speech of the episode. He talks about Finn’s dream for the club and presents the rest of the members with Finn’s plaque, saying that now he will be there with them the entire time.
The speech is interrupted by Jean who uses this as an opportunity to let them know that just because of Finn’s death they won’t be showing them any mercy during the competition.
On the day of the competition, Burt and Carole are helping Sam and Tina get ready. Tina is complaining about her life like only she knows how to and Carole pipes in with “Well, at least you get to have a life.” The rooms tenses but the kids think it is best to give Finn’s parents some time. Carole pours out her feelings to Burt and says that when these seniors leave McKinley, it will really feel like it’s all finally over and that will be the absolute last of Finn.
It’s really amazing how gracefully Glee has been handling the death of Cory Monteith and continue to honor his memory by still mourning him just like people do in real life.
We jump to the group boarding the bus for the theater and Sam finds out that Finn’s plaque is missing. Sam automatically assumes it is Throat Explosion and gets right into Jean’s face accusing him of being the one to steal it.
Sam hops onto the bus and gives his second inspirational speech of the episode. He tries to reassure everyone that despite the plaque being gone he still feels Finn’s presence around them holding their hands and cheering them on as they win Nationals for the second time.
While it’s great that Sam is using Finn’s memory, we hope that by the end of the episode he realizes he doesn’t need to follow Finn’s footsteps but can make his own path as a leader.
It’s competition time and the Orpheum Theater is filling up. Everyone seems to be there except for Burt and Carole. The first club, The Amazonians, are up and perform “Vacation” by The Go Go’s dressed as Vegas showgirls and all have giant balls as their props. During the performance we see Burt and Carole leaving the hotel, not being able to handle going to the competition.
Throat Explosion is up next and perform “Mr. Roboto” by STYX and we can’t tell if they are dressed as robots or the Oni from Teen Wolf. The first half was just alright, which could be because we weren’t crazy about the song choice. When the song turns into “Counting Stars” by One Republic, though, the whole performance is really amped up.
Watching Skylar Astin is sending such flashbacks to Pitch Perfect it’s ridiculous. Sam and Blaine look worried and we can’t blame them. It was pretty great.
It’s New Directions turn to go but when Sam takes a peak out into the crowd he can’t find Finn’s parents. As the group all accepts that they won’t be there, Will begins a pretty vanilla speech about how they aren’t there to win but to “sing and dance their hearts out.” Please Shue, you all want to win, just say it! Luckily, Burt and Carole choose the right time to show and saying that not wanting to win is complete “horse poop.” Even Will agrees with it and the group gets into the winning spirit.
New Directions takes the stage and performs “More Than A Feeling” by Boston. All the boys look handsome and the girls are stunning as they knock it out of the park with a beautiful and classy performance. From there, they go right into “America” by Neil Diamond where they amp up the fun and it’s clear that their finally having a good time up on that stage. They end it with “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” by U2 and Carole starts to cry saying, “This was one of Finn’s favorite songs.” Shots of Finn flash across the screen as the group gives a truly inspirational rendition of the song. And now we’re crying too.
The four seniors have the spotlight during the song and while none of them are necessarily powerhouses like their predecessors, they’re still pretty amazing in their own ways.
After the show, Will finds Sam in the corner crying and just saying “I did my best.” It’s hard for him to not break your heart when it’s so obvious he truly believes he’ll never be able to live up to Finn’s legacy.
Mercedes confronts Marley and says that Ryder and Jake secretly sent her Marley’s songs. Mercedes says that she will give Marley three minutes to throw herself a pity party but after that she has to get over it. She tells her that she’s going to fail a lot but the fact is that her songs are good and that she has to keep trying.
Mercedes, you are fabulous and we miss you! Side note: how cool is Marley’s blue eyeliner?
Now it’s time for the results. In fourth place we have Vicious Harmony, The Amazonians take their spot in third place and just when we thought this episode couldn’t get anymore heartbreaking, New Directions wins second place with Throat Explosion taking the top prize.
Maybe it’s just because we’re biased but we really do think that New Directions had the better performance overall. It doesn’t make it any easier knowing that this is the last Nationals we’re going to see as an audience. We can’t say we’re surprised, though, since this will lead to the end of the glee club and the show can begin the move to New York City full time.
Back in good, old Ohio, we find out that Jean Baptiste sent back Finn’s plaque after he discovered that one of his members stole it. We find out that he’s not 100% awful considering he had a zero tolerance for that behavior and kicked the member out of Throat Explosion.
Burt and Carole give one last touching speech about how New Directions has nothing to be disappointed about and that while Finn would’ve been upset by second place he would have stood up and been proud of them all no matter what.
What really brought the point across, as well as bringing tears to everyone’s eyes, was Burt’s final words about Finn saying, “He brought out the best in himself and in others and he always managed to find a way to feel like he won.”
The moment is interrupted when Becky brings Will to Sue’s office where we find out that the Cheerios have won another national trophy. Sue admits that even though she likes Will, she has to disband the glee club and that there’s really nothing that can be done. Sue seems genuinely sad to see the club go and tells him that he “didn’t lose, the game’s just over.”
Flash to New York where we find Kurt rushing to tell Rachel and Santana that the glee club is officially over.
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