Episode Review: GLEE, "Mash-Up"

I've probably already written this, but "Mash-Up" was a good example of what Glee does best and worst all at the same time. We got more non-sense from the adults while the kids seemed more grounded in comparison to their elders, and that would become problematic down the road.

Since Emma decided to marry Ken because she felt that she would never be with Will and decided to settle rather than be alone, they had to plan an actual ceremony and they could not agree on a wedding song. She wanted "I Could Have Danced All Night" while he insisted on "Thong Song." They were at an impasse, so they asked Will if he could somehow mash them together, and reluctantly decided to help. In order to make sure that she could dance in her dress, Emma wore it to Will's rehearsal of "Thong Song" which ended in the two playfully rolling around on the floor after he tripped over her train. Unfortunately, Ken witnessed it all and didn't think it was so innocent so he threw down the gauntlet and forced Finn, Puck et al. to pick football or glee.

The decision was not easy for Finn or Puck to make. Ever since joining New Directions, Finn and Quinn's popularity had taken a nose dive, and they were looking at ways to improve their rankings amongst McKinley's hierarchy. Nothing seemed to work, so Finn figured the only way to get back into his peers' good graces was to ditch glee for football. Puck on the other hand, was also conflicted because he had started up a fling with Rachel and was torn. After getting a slushie facial, Noah also decided to go with football. There was a catch though. The male glee clubbers had until 3:30 on Thursday afternoon to make their choices. When push came to shove, the football players picked New Directions except for Finn.

Fed up with having to choose, Finn talked to Coach Tanaka and told him that forcing them to pick one over the other wasn't cool and how he believed that someday people could do both without getting mocked and bullied. Ken realized the error of his ways and made it so the football players could do both. Meanwhile, Rachel broke it off with Puck because she knew that he was only in glee to be closer to Quinn, but he made sure she understood that there was no way Finn and Quinn would break up.

In a minor C-plot, Sue was in a better move because she was in love with news anchor Rod Remington. When she found out that he was not a one-woman kind of guy, she took her rage out on Will and Quinn whom she cut from the Cheerios because of her pregnancy.

For the most part, everything that involved the teenagers worked. It was nice to see Puck get some development even though the pairing with Rachel came out of nowhere. Speaking of things that came out of nowhere, we somehow ended up with a love pentagon as both Quinn and Santana  realized that they had feelings for Puck. Maybe I wasn't paying attention, but Rachel and Quinn getting all hot and bothered over Noah didn't quite work for me, but it was fine since none of the relationships lasted more than an episode.

While I can understand teenagers blazing through various couples, it didn't work as well when the same concept was applied to the adults. Sure, it was nice to see Sue take a break from her evil ways, but it lasted just as long as Puck and Rachel, which meant that it didn't matter because nothing changed. Any attempt at character development was tossed out the window the second Sue went back to picking on Will. As for the other adults, I no longer cared about their problems because they made even less sense than the kids'. I can excuse teenagers for acting immaturely, but I draw the line at so-called adults being the same way. Yes, these people are flawed and cannot help but trip themselves up, which could be interesting, but the way they go about things has become aimless.

On the Music Front: While I always enjoy watching Will rap, Puck's version of "Sweet Caroline" was by far the stand out number and everything else paled in comparison.

Other Odds and Ends

• If you want to see character development, just look at what happened to Karofsky between this episode and where he ended up in Season 3.
• I don't buy that someone could be so lonely that he or she would agree to marry someone they could barely stand.
• I know that it's totally wrong, but I started shipping "Quill" after watching "Bust a Move."
• Seriously, this show started going down hill when Matthew Morrison stopped rapping. Just look at the track record.
• Speaking of, do you remember when Will used to be fun?
• What's with the yarmulke?
• Kurt taking the bullet for Finn was one of his finer moments. 
• "We're a couple of good looking Jews."
• "Are you questioning my bad-assness. Have you seen my guns?"
• "Bros before heigh-hos, dude. Don't forget that."
• "I really don't want to, honestly. I know how picky you are about what products you use on your face."
• "Someone get me to a day spa, stat!"
• "I will go to the animal shelter and get you a kitty cat. I will let you fall in love with that kitty cat, and then on some dark, cold night, I will steal away into your home and punch you in the face."

If you stripped away the grown ups acting like children and focus on the children trying to act like adults, "Mash-Up" could've ended up being one of Glee's best episodes, but it's so hard to overlook some of its flaws. While it was still entertaining, it could have been great.

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