A very chic Rachel and Kurt stroll past the New York Public Library arm in arm, re-affirming their decision to stay in NYC for the holiday weekend. Though they miss home, especially their parents, Rachel claims that every time they go back, it’s sad and stops them moving forward. Chipper, she exclaims about how though they don’t have their boyfriends, they still have their dreams and ambitions. And each other. “You are the only significant other I need in my life,” she says, squeezing him, and anyone who follows my Glee coverage on Twitter or on Glee Chat should have been able to predict that this statement put into those exact words caused me to sob into a pillow. They say a big eff-you to guys who break hearts, and pinky promise that this will be the best Thanksgiving ever.
At McKinley, Mike is teaching the 2.0 boys – Sam, Artie, Joe, Ryder and Jake – the basics for “Gangnam Style” as Puck and Finn circle the group, judging technique. Sam’s a bit exuberant – “Toes, bro!” Joe cries, to which the blond snaps back “wear some shoes!” Jake’s moves are lackluster, and he’s called out on it by both Finn and Puck. Ryder’s general competence ends up scoring him the lead dance role, and as Jake nods happily at this, we know that he was holding back on purpose to help Ryder win. Oh, no. I’m such a sucker for stupid acts of nobility like that. These boys might kill me. Meanwhile, the girls are having their own mentoring session with the Unholy Trinity – Santana, Brittany and Quinn. The veteran ladies explain about how well they’d worked together – “We knew each other so well that I could tell from the slightest quiver in Santana’s upper lip which way we were going to move,” claims Quinn, and you guys, this explains so much about the impromptu performances, right? Right? The original New Directions were so close that they could read each other’s body queues! That’s how they did it all the time! Right? No, no, what are you doing? Don’t wrench those straws away from me, I’m grabbing at them!
Anyway, the students ask for an example of the synchronicity and Quinn smiles, saying she’s sure they can put together something on the fly. “Do my favorite one!” Sugar cries as the Trinity moves into position, and see, yes, unlike the first number of the episode, this makes sense to me. Sugar’s little throwaway line, plus Quinn’s explanation, make this on-the-spot performance totally feasible – something that they’ve canonically sung before, off-screen, and have a basic routine to. The trio perform “Come See About Me” by The Supremes. It’s not perfect, but it’s realistically flawed, it is charming and it’s also very reminiscent of their “Say A Little Prayer” audition back in season 1. Unique mouths along, she knows all the words because of course she does. We get a shot of Marley reeling and blinking, and when Santana asks after the performance whether Marley is alright, the younger girl says that she’s just tired from rehearsals and promptly makes a run for it.
After the lesson, Kitty – who’s worn a massive crazy fangirl expression ever since she set eyes on Quinn – admits to her mentor that she is, in fact, a massive crazy fangirl, in case no one could tell. She shows Quinn the shrine she keeps in her locker, and Kitty gets super intense about how she wants to peel off Quinn’s skin and wear it as a cloak in order to be more like her. When Quinn breaks Kitty’s heart by changing the topic to Marley, Kitty proves that not even her idol is above using in her schemes, because she tells Quinn that dating Jake is messing with Marley’s head, pressuring her for sex, and that no one knows the dangers of mixing with a Puckerman better than Lady Fabray. As Quinn and Kitty watch from afar, we cut to Marley and Jake’s conversation, where she’s berating him for not getting the “Gangnam” lead, because she knows that he’s the better dancer. He admits that it’s an ‘honor amongst bros’ thing with Ryder, and promises to help Ryder be brilliant. He asks Marley to come to lunch with him, but she blows him off, citing rehearsal and playfully jibing him that she, unlike him, is not going to be the one to let the team down.
At NYADA, Rachel bristles when Brody comes in to teach her Dance 101 class, due to Cassie’s inability to be in the same room as their mediocrity, or her hangover, one of those. Rachel starts packing up to leave, and snarks at Brody about being at the college to learn from a professional, not a TA. He’s confused at her anger, but when she snaps at him about sleeping with Cassie, he neither grovels or defends himself as he pulls her around the room in a foxtrot. He reminds Rachel that he came on to her, and then she blew him off to see Finn. How was Brody to know that she’d ended things with the other guy? He tells Rachel not to be “that crazy girl who expects people to read her mind,” which is pretty sound advice, if a bit mean. “Did it at least suck?” she hisses, and he still doesn’t bend. “Are you kidding? It was amazing, have you seen her ass?” I don’t think I’d like this conversation very much if I was having it, but I feel like it’s good for Rachel – Brody’s treating her matter-of-factly, and it kind of reminds me of when a child falls over and you tell her “oh no, you’re not hurt, that’s no big deal,” and they don’t cry, but if you make a big fuss, they start wailing because they know something is wrong. Brody treats Rachel as if nothing is wrong, and it works, as she responds in kind. Brody doesn’t want to hurt Rachel, though, as a friend, so he promises that he and Cassie won’t happen again. Brody invites himself over to cook for Rachel and Kurt’s sad little ‘orphan’s Thanksgiving,’ and Rachel happily accepts. “Do you mind if I bring Cassie?” he teases. “Shut up and dance with me,” Rachel commands, and yeah, this functions, I think. Over at Vogue, Kurt adds another attendee to their guest list – Isabelle, who gives him some advice about Blaine. Kurt states his intention to let the relationship go, stop thinking about it and worrying over it, and Isabelle gently tells him that he may need to talk to Blaine in order to do that: “In my experience, it’s always easier for me to move on if I’ve had my apology accepted, or in your case, accepted an apology. Sometimes it’s the not forgiving that holds us back.”
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