GLEE Episode 10 - Ballad

What's going down?

Once again we see Will inject a little dose of competition into the club as he pairs the glee kids up and asks them to produce a ballad which they will sing to one another. How are these pairs to be chosen? Out of a hat, of course. Puck picks Mercedes, Artie picks Quinn, and Finn, much to his dismay, picks Kurt. With one of the glee clubbers absent from rehearsal due to an incident involving a spider in his ear, Rachel is left with Schue as her partner.

When Artie asks Will to clarify what songs he wants them to sing Rachel suggests that she and Will show them how it's done and the two sing the classic "Endless Love," her "favourite duet." Will protests that he doesn't feel it's "appropriate": turns out he was right as Rachel basically chases him around the piano. It would appear that it's no longer Finn who she wants to be her leading man through a series of comedy voiceovers in which Will realises that he should not have sung with her - though Finn has another admirer in his partner, as Kurt comments that the two could have song the song just as well but adds, "Screw him if he thinks he's taking the Diana Ross part from me."

We finally get to meet Quinn's parents, as she tries on her dress for the upcoming Chastity Ball. It's no surprise that her dress doesn't fit quite so perfectly and her Mum comments that she's gotten out of shape since she quit the Cheerios and decided to "spend all her time sitting on a stool in the dark singing show tunes". Her father then drops the bombshell that they're inviting Finn over for dinner. It also turns out that her parents are quite Heavy Drinkers despite their conservative outlook.

Rachel bounds into Will's office to check their rehearsal schedule for their ballad. She also comes bearing gifts, a blue tie with a stars and a treble clef on. "I figure every time you wear it you can think of me and the star you're helping me become," she tells him. You gotta give it to her, the girl has balls. Later, in Emma's office he tells her of previous student/teacher crushes, saying, "It always starts with the novelty gift." Meet Susie Pepper. If you thought Terri was crazy, this girl just about beats her in the psycho stakes, she even started to call him late at night. When Will told her out right that nothing would happen between the two, she decided to eat the world's hottest pepper, as you do and ended up in a coma for three days. Emma thinks that the easiest way to let Rachel down gently and avoid a repeat is through a song and hope that she gets the hint.

Finn is having problems truly expressing himself as Kurt asks him to sing to him "everything he feels" at their personal rehearsal. When he lashes out, Kurt tells him that it's obvious that girls are the root of all his problems. Finn ends up confiding in him that he doesn't want his daughter to think that she was abandoned by her father and how it hurts him that she'll never know how he will spend his whole life loving her. Kurt tells him that he "needs to let it all out" and should do so by singing. At home we see him sing "I'll Stand By You" while watching a sonogram of the baby. Unfortunately his Mum walks in, leading to him tearfully having to tell her about Quinn's pregnancy.

The next day, Quinn starts to panic that his Mum is going to tell her parents. Kurt decides to stir The Situation by telling Finn that girls are nothing but trouble. "It's enough to want to give up women all together," he jokes. I'm not quite sure that Finn is really noticing your hints, Kurt. Flashback to the first time the two met, as he reveals that ever since he's been madly in love with him. We see Finn remind Puck about "impulse control" as he smacks him into a locker, prompting Kurt to call him his "knight in shining armour." "I know it's weird that I'm helping Finn with Quinn," he says, but it's all part of his bigger plan. He hopes that when Quinn breaks Finn's heart he'll come running straight into his arms.

The time has come for Will and Rachel to rehearse their ballad. Will brings Emma along for some moral support in letting Rachel down gently. Will sings a mash-up of "Young Girl" and "Don't Stand So Close to Me," hoping that Rachel will get the hint that she really shouldn't have a crush on her teacher. Unfortunately Rachel gets completely the wrong end of the stick and instead thinks he's singing because she's "very young and it's hard for you to stand close to me." Emma isn't so great with backup either as she likes his performance a little too much. As rehearsal ends we see that psycho Susie Pepper looking less than impressed.

Finn goes over to Kurt's house to get some fashion advice on what to wear to his dinner with Quinn's parents. The two share a moment as they talk about what it was like growing up without one of their parents, while hunting through Finn's Dad's old clothes. Kurt tells him to use "his greatest weapon" at the dinner, his voice.

When Will arrives home, he does so to find Rachel there helping out. Will is angry at Terri for even letting her through the door but she finds it rather funny as she tells him she's "been dealing with these schoo girl crushes for years" so why shouldn't she get to take advantage? When Will drives Rachel home, she's upset because she's been demoted to the backseat. She promptly whips out a CD and begins to belt out "Crush" by Jennifer Paige, only to be stopped by Will after the first few lines. He tries to change the subject by asking her about Puck but Rachel makes it very clear that there's no longer anything going on between the two and tells him she has her "sights set much higher."

The next day Susie Pepper hunts down Rachel and tells her to stay away from Will or she's gonna get hurt, badly. In typical Rachel fashion she tells her she isn't frightened of her. However she later corners "Barbra Streisand" in her toilets but Rachel declares that the love she and Will share is a "love for the ages" and that there's nothing the "school crazy" can do about that. Susie also tells her that she should learn from her experiences and realise that it'll never work between the two. Finally Rachel see this and admits to Will that she's been acting mad, bringing flowers and the offer of singing "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word." Will tells her that he understands and the two finally get back on track, deciding to ditch rehearsal.

The Glee kids' ballads are going so great. Why? They're all so distracted by the baby drama. Puck says he doesn't care but Mercedes tells him he'd better, as the whole club are going to "sing them a ballad to show that we've got their backs." Angry, Pucks tells Mercedes that he's the real father of Quinn's baby. She promptly puts him in his place as she tells him the "role of the father has already been cast" and that Quinn chose Finn. Looks like he's just going to have to get over it and real quick.

Things are going well at the Fabray dinner until her Dad proposes a toast about how lucky he is to be blessed with good, Christian daughters and Finn starts to feel the heat, running off into the bathroom. After a quick pep talk with Kurt he returns to the dinner and promptly sings "You're Having My Baby", leaving us with much second hand embarrassment. The power of the ballad would appear to be strong as her parents are finally let in on the secret. Despite her protestations, they throw their daughter out of the house, saying they don't know who she is any more. Luckily for her, Finn's Mum accepts her with open arms.

At the final rehearsal, Kurt finally comes to terms with that fact that his love for Finn is always going to be unrequited. With Artie on lead the whole of the Glee club sing "Lean on Me" for Finn and Quinn to show their support. While both Kurt and Puck throw in a slightly inappropriate "call me" the song is heartfelt and brings both Quinn and me to tears.

11 o'clock number

We started off with Will and Rachel singing "Endless Love" and while the performance may have been slightly creepy the vocals unsurprisingly were spot on from the pair and Finn singing "I'll Stand By You" to a sonogram of his unborn daughter has to be one of the sweetest moments of the show so far. Where to start with "Lean On Me"? Performances from the whole club are always my favourite and this one so perfectly summed up the way they feel towards Finn and Quinn, warming everyone's hearts. As a side note, as in "Proud Mary" last week Artie's and Mercedes' voices work really well together.

Quote of the week

Terri to Susie Pepper: "Listen, you little psycho, this is Will's wife and if I don't get enough sleep my anti-depressants don't work, and then I'll go crazy and I'll kill you."

Final thoughts

Biggest question of the night: how long can Mercedes go without telling anyone that Puck is really the father of Quinn's baby? There was a distinct lack of Sue tonight and as horrible as she is I just can't get enough of the totally un-PC things that she comes out with. While Rachel's crush on Will was never going to happen it made a change from her constantly moping over Finn. Tearjerking moment of the night was when we realised that Quinn was right in earlier saying that her parents "would burn her like a witch" if they ever found out about the pregnancy. Could they be even more heartless than Sue Sylvester herself?

 

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