Despite Kurt’s outright slut-shaming and Quinn and Santana’s more reasonable approach, Rachel has stuck with the film project, and is on set filming what looks to be a truly terrible piece of art. Electra, the hipster director, is guiding Rachel through the scene in which she will go topless, but Rachel is suddenly unable to go through with it. She explains her anxiety about all the people around, and asks, in a way that’s actually not that diva-ish and seems kind of reasonable, if the crew could get naked too so that she can feel more normal and less spotlighted. The director is frustrated, but the crew agrees like it’s no big thing, and they all take their shirts off.
Rachel begins shooting the scene again, but is once again unable to follow through when Electra tells her to get naked. Rachel apologises, saying that she has total respect for the project but that she herself is not ready to go naked on film. “I think it’s okay for actresses to be naked and maybe someday I’ll be ready but I just realised that I’m not ready to be naked now.” Electra throws Rachel off the set and Rachel blinks in a little way that kind of acknowledges that she’s realised how ridiculous the project was and how confident she felt in her decision, as the naked piano player begins to play Sara Bareilles’ “Love Song,” which Rachel sings to herself while walking through NYADA’s halls in her bathrobe, before joining Quinn and Santana in one of NYADA’s small auditoriums and finishing the song as a gorgeous trio. Rachel squeals and hugs the girls, begging them to stay in New York a little longer, and Santana drops some heavy foreshadowing as she says that she’s in no rush to get back to her college in Kentucky, and that NYC is more her speed.
Blaine finds Sam struggling with the personal essay for his college scholarship, because, as previously stated, Sam thinks that there is nothing of value to himself besides impressing people with his abs. Blaine seemed to know something like this may happen, as he’s compiled a bit of a gift for Sam – he’s gone around and spoken to glee members past and present, interviewing them about how they felt about Sam and what he’s done for them. The collection of videos makes us remember Sam returning to McKinley to save their previous Sectionals competition, rescuing their Nationals trophy, and his success at saving their Sectionals this year as well by cracking the Warblers case. Santana’s sent in a clip reminding Sam that he was the person who inspired her to try songwriting, and sings a bit of the always-welcome “Trouty Mouth,” and Mercedes, more seriously, reminds Sam that he was the one who got her noticed as a singer and was the reason she moved to LA. Finn, perhaps most importantly, recounts how Sam supported his whole family when his father lost his job and the Evanses became homeless. Sam sits there, watching the videos with silent tears dripping down his face, and Blaine tells him that this is what should be going into his essay. He turns to leave, and Sam grabs him in a hug, still crying as Blaine comforts him.
Having had a change of heart, and feeling more his normal self again, Sam then approaches Artie to apologise for the way he’d acted and to ask him to please be in the calendar, as they still have two spare months. He says that Artie can totally not be shirtless, and Artie accepts this with a smile but explains that it is still going to feel awkward that he is the only one wearing clothes, that this will highlight his insecurities about his body and wheelchair even more. Sam assures Artie that he won’t, in fact, be the only one in clothes, and we then see the finished product of the calendar and while most of the guys are shirtless, both Artie – for March and November, and Sam, for August and September, are in full (yet still cute) thematic costumes.
The calendar is a hit and all the girls in the school line up to buy one and to get the glee club guys to sign their copy. Jake spots Marley waiting in line and pulls her aside, telling her that he’s already made out a calender to her. He hands it over and she opens it. On his Halloween picture, it says, “I LOVE YOU.” She quickly and happily tells him that she loves him back, after they have been officially dating for approximately two weeks. But all is well, they kiss, and Artie and Sam affirm that they feel good about the new start to the year. The episode ends with a final musical number, “This is the New Year,” which starts off in an odd, breaking-the-fourth-wall music video, as the glee club sings and jumps around against a white studio background, acknowledging the camera, before turning into a traditional on-stage-in-the-auditorium ending.
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