The episode takes a turn for the even-more-morally-questionable when Rachel finds Brody at NYADA and decides to confront the situation by sarcastically slipping him some money to pay for his services. This approach sends the issue from what it should be, “it’s terrible that he lied to Rachel,” to slut-shaming pretty fast, so I kind of tune out, but I’m pretty sure that Brody says “don’t cast judgement” and tells her that Finn was the one who came and broke his face. He apologises for the lying, but tells her that how he felt was real, and that she hadn’t been honest about her feelings for him and for Finn. Rachel admits that this may be true.
They both say the relationship is over, and when Brody, a bit broken, tells Rachel, “Seeing you around is really gonna suck,” they begin to sing Radiohead’s “Creep” as they walk away from each other in slow motion. It’s a really weird performance and the main thing that I take from it is that Rachel is finally wearing some college-appropriate clothes, jeans and a blue-and-black t-shirt, as opposed to all those insanely tiny skirts.
The pair drift through their day, singing the song in grief, but as an actual Radiohead fan I just can no longer take it when they get to “running out the door” and they are actually. Running. Out. Doors. The performance ends in a fantasy on-stage moment with Rachel and Brody in dramatic, funeral clothing – a suit, a long black sleeved dress – and I just don’t know why they chose this song. Like… this song is… not what this situation is about.
Right, back to something that makes sense, and is well-handled – Sam finds Blaine alone in the auditorium, still messing around on the piano. Blaine’s experimenting with another Phil Collins song to finish up with before, to quote, “they make us put our guilty pleasures back in the closet.” Sam tells him that maybe they don’t have to – that everyone feels better with it out on the table, that life is better that way. Blaine denies this, saying that if they always indulge themselves in that kind of thing, they would make people uncomfortable. He’s not talking about Phil Collins, but that’s okay. Neither is Sam. Sam looks straight at Blaine and tells him that he doesn’t have to be uncomfortable – that he knows Blaine’s shameful secret is that he is attracted to Sam. Blaine shakes his head, but stares at Sam when Sam says he’s known all year and doesn’t care – in fact, because Sam knows he’s hot, he would have been offended if Blaine wasn’t into him.
Poor Blaine doesn’t quite know how to process this, and asks Sam in disbelief if he’s not freaked out. He begins to explain in earnest that he doesn’t want to jeopardise their friendship and how they’ve been there for each other but Sam shushes him, cutting him off and telling him that nothing is going to change – that they’re like brothers (well, no, Sam), that he trusts Blaine, and that the attention is kind of flattering. I cannot fathom how much this – especially the statement about trust – must mean to Blaine, a character who spends so much time being polite and repressed for the sake of other people’s feelings, creating a ‘safe’ and de-sexualised image of himself in order to come across well.
Sam demands that they hug it out, and Blaine is taken aback by the force Sam holds him with, then leans into it, enjoying it. Of course, this is Glee, so the moment is ruined by a typical “is that a box of breath mints in your pocket or are you just happy to see me” gag, though they do slightly subvert it by actually making it an innocent situation where Blaine is like “oh, yeah, here, you want one?” The pair go off together to teach their final class – Sam has an idea for a song that everyone will love.
In New York, Kurt and Santana are cuddling their pillow-partners and planning a Facts of Life musical. Rachel comes home and tentatively asks to be included – “That depends on what happened with you and the American Pyscho,” Santana asks curiously, and, okay, I get it, Brody lied. He lied about a having a job that’s very taboo and quite shady. I don’t adore him, but I’m kind of starting to feel sorry for him and the vitriol getting slung at his character for this situation – he’s not creepy or psycho or a “weirdo manwhore” or anything like that. He’s a guy who has sex for money, and he hid it because he was ashamed of it, and in my opinion that’s a lot less bad than being a drug dealer. But whatever.
Rachel explains that they had a mature conversation ending their relationship, and she thanks Santana for not giving up and trying to look after her. She also thanks Santana for bringing Finn to NYC to “defend her honor,” which, oh my god, Rachel, Brody being a prostitute is so far from being anything to do with your honor that it is almost painful to explain.
Rachel sits down sadly, and Kurt tells her to smile; she’s still got her hot boyfriend pillow, Colin – “I named him Colin after that non-threatening boy in The Secret Garden, because I know you loved it.” Fun fact: Colin Craven, the non-threatening boy in The Secret Garden, was so possessive of his cousin Mary Lennox that he wouldn’t let her talk to any other guys and ended up marrying her. So… that’s cool. Anyway, Rachel says that she’s not sad, that she feels good inside, but that she gets to play the wallowing-in-pity card for one night, and picks out a feel-good guilty pleasure movie – Mamma Mia. She holds up the DVD case, sitting on the back of the couch and starting to sing the title song to her friends, who watch her lovingly. She wanders over to the open space in the apartment and the other two join her on the chorus when the song speeds up.
The song then cuts to McKinley, where New Directions are also performing “Mamma Mia” for their final guilty pleasure number, lead by Marley, Unique and Kitty, on a completely white set with costumes and choreography that are an homage to the original ABBA music video, as opposed to Rachel, Santana and Kurt’s re-enactment of the musical. Both versions are good, though I probably would have preferred a full version of one location or the other, just for consistency on the vocals, but I especially like Rachel and Unique – and I will admit that this number is the first time in season 4 that I have full-on sung along, at full volume, with an episode of Glee while it aired. But there’s this weird Klaine moment where both parties are using hula hoops as props and Kurt tosses one and Blaine catches it, which I’m sure is meant to be some sort of symbolism, and also, don’t think I missed that moment of Kitty pulling Artie’s shell-shocked face into her breasts, Glee. Don’t you dare try to make this a thing.
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