I cannot begin to express how pleasantly surprised I was with this weeks episode of Glee, "The Substitute". At first, I was really apprehensive because the show hasn't been at its best lately and also they were tackling Singing in the Rain which is one of my favorite musicals! But the episode was PERFECT from start to finish. The jokes were executed perfectly the dramatic moments really hit hard and the musical numbers were impeccably chosen and I can't stop listening to them on repeat as they are on my ipod already.
The plot revolved around Mr. Shuester being home sick and substitue Holly Holiday (Gwyneth Paltrow) trying to take over his Glee Club. First of all, leaving Mr. Shue out of this episode for the most part was a fantastic choice being how awful he came off in the Rocky Horror episode. The moments were he was depicted as a Glee Club tyrant rather than director were fantastically funny and when he slips into his old unhealthy relationship with his ex wife Terry who takes advantage of Will in a time of need you feel bad for Will.
Now moving onto our musical numbers. I couldn't have been more happy with the choice for this episode. Gwyneth Paltrow's version of "Forget You" was super fun and her "Umbrella" mash up with Will was genius. She hands down stole the show as the quirky Spanish substitute. Normally, Paltrow plays such melancholy roles but in Glee she reminded me a lot of Cameron Diaz's earlier performances like Something About Mary and Charlie's Angels.
Glee really seems to understand what it does well and I just hope it continues to do so. And with the recent news that they won't be doing a themed episode for their episode airing the Super Bowl is hopefully an indication that the show is back on track! I give the episode a solid A. What do you guys think?? Check out the performance of "Forget You" and "Umbrella/Singing in the Rain" after the break.
