Some of our favorite faces were back on Glee last night, including Mercedes, who proved how valuable of a friend she is. Check out our recap of last night’s episode “What The World Needs Now.”
The episode opens with a weird exchange between Sam and Rachel in the hallways of McKinley, before they start walking around performing “I’ll Never Fall In Love.”
Brittany’s parents, Ken Jeong and Jennifer Coolidge, barge into her room to tell her that her father isn’t really her real father and that her real father is Stephen Hawking. We also randomly find out that Brittany was born in a barn in Indiana. At the end of the weird conversation, Brittany tells them that she’s getting married to Santana which comes as a surprise to both of them.
Kurt and Rachel tell the glee club that they’ll be performing songs by Burt Bacharach. They announce there’s a secret weapon — which turns out to be Mercedes. After glee rehearsal, Mercedes asks Rachel what’s going on between her and Sam. Mercedes says she loves Sam but she’s over it. Mercedes changes the subject and says that she needs to go back to Broadway but Rachel is understandably reluctant. Mercedes performs “Baby It’s You” by The Shirelles with Rachel, Santana and Brittany in the best pink sequined dresses you’ve ever seen. After the performance Rachel admits she misses New York but that she can’t go back.
Brittany and Artie hang out at Brittany’s house and she tell him that she wants him to be the wedding planner for her and Santana’s wedding. They run over some ideas and land on the theme of heaven for the wedding. Brittany goes into a performance of “Wishin’ And Hopin’” as an angel on a tacky stage, with Sam and Blaine swinging on swings as they sing.
Santana and Brittany were looking over the crayon-written wedding invites, when Santana asks why Brittany invited her abuela. Santana admits that she has always envisioned her grandmother being in the front row of her wedding but can’t imagine her being there for this — a lesbian wedding. Moments later Brittany shows up at Santana’s abuela’s house as a nurse and panders to her interests by saying she loves Telenovelas. Abuela comments on Brittany’s engagement ring and asks very heteronormative questions about her romantic life, unaware that she’s asking her granddaughter’s fiancé. Brittany invites Abuela on to Fondue for Two, which has changed to Queso por Dos and was sold to Univision. Abuela insists that they shouldn’t elope and that they should definitely celebrate with family and friends — all while Santana is watching on her computer.
Related: Check our our recap of last week’s episode “The Hurt Locker – Part 2”
Mercedes sets up a performance with all of the dudes singing “Arthur’s Theme (Best You Can Do),” which features flashbacks of Rachel in New York City. This is the first time we get a good listen to Spencer’s voice, which is predictably amazing (the actor was a finalist on Canadian Idol). After the performance, Blaine asks what Rachel thought, and Rachel says she’s just not ready to go back to New York just yet.
Back at McKinley, Brittany is being treated like a celebrity when she meets with her latino fans. Santana doesn’t find it funny or interesting that Brittany went behind her back to talk to her abuela about their situation. Brittany convinces her that it may be their job to educate her and that maybe she would understand. Santana, still annoyed by the situation, reluctantly agrees.
Sam performs “They Long To Be Close To You” in the locker room with just a guitar. Throughout the performance Sam sneaks peeks of Mercedes throughout the school before ending in the auditorium. Mercedes admits that she is seeing someone and that they have to trust that they can be friends. She also implores Sam to date Rachel in particular. It feels like these might be the final moments for Samcedes on the series, but never say never.
Meanwhile, back in the choir room, a panicked Rachel tells Mercedes that she is going to audition in NYC and that she needs to take over the glee club even though Kurt is there (she doesn’t want the kids singing Into the Woods and Paula Cole). Rachel has a bit of a breakdown and she admits that she’s scared and that she hasn’t been this scared her whole life. Mercedes pumps her up and motivates her to audition. Rachel sings “Promises Promises” as she leaves McKinley and arrives back in New York City and then eventually right on stage as she auditions.
Back at the McKinley auditorium, Brittany shows up with abuela and surprises her with a performance by Santana and all the new and old New Directions singing “Alfie.” At the end of the performance abuela walks on stage to talk to Santana. Brittany tells abuela that Santana is her fiancé which abuela isn’t happy to discover. “You taught me to be a strong latina woman,” says Santana to abuela. “Please, please just come to the wedding,” pleads Brittany. But abuela denes the situation. “No! Right is right. Girls marry boys not other girls.” Brittany says she’s actually glad that abuela isn’t coming to the wedding because it’s old people like her who are holding the rest of the world back.
Rachel has returned from her NYC audition and she’s telling Mercedes and Sam about how awesome it was, before she and Sam finally make a date for Breadstix. Santana and Brittany talk about how much they love each other before being escorted to their seats in the auditorium by Spencer. Blaine, Sam, Will, Kitty, Schue, Mercedes and Rachel ask to be a part of the wedding party and sing “What The World Needs Now” back at Shue’s house. Notably, Emma is there, but her back is turned to the camera the entire time – another trick of the camera from Glee as Jayma Mays is not credited as appearing in this episode.
After two weeks of Sue overdosing, it was nice to not see her one single time in this entire episode. Fans who were mixed about “The Hurt Locker Part 1” and “The Hurt Locker Part 2” will likely be happy to see Glee get back to its humble roots in this episode as well.
What were your thoughts about “What The World Needs Now?”