“I don’t believe in denying who you are, but I don’t believe in outing either.” – Kurt
Glee went supersized for “Born This Way,” an anthem with the theme of accepting who you are and being proud of it. There was a lot happening in this episode and at times it was hard to keep up with everything. While rehearsing dance moves for nationals, Finn hits Rachel in the face and breaks her nose. She goes to the doctor and he suggests she would be able to fix her deviated septum. Rachel went back to tell the other Gleeks and this introduced the night’s lesson of accepting who you are.
Santana decided to be herself by pointing out everyone else’s flaws, including the constant making fun of Sam’s mouth. Side note: I love Sam, please give him something else to do besides being Santan’s punching bag. Mr. Schue didn’t like what everybody was saying about themselves so he decided that the week’s assignment would be to sing songs about acceptance. He also wanted them to make t-shirts with the one thing they didn’t like about themselves on them. He goes to Emma for help and she makes her own t-shirt to show to the Glee club that says “Ginger.” Mr. Schue tells Emma he is disappointed in her because he thought she would choose OCD as her shirt. He even tries to make her eat unwashed fruit to show her that she needs help, but she denies it.
Quinn continued her quest to become prom queen but Santana and Lauren had ideas for one of their own choosing. While out with Kurt and Blaine, Santana got the idea that if she brought Kurt back to McKinley she would be a hero and probably get Brittany back. She came up with the plan to enlist Karofsky after she realized that he was the answer to bringing Kurt back and she realized he was gay after witnessing him checking out Sam.
While out to have coffee with Karofsky, Santana tells him she knows about him and wants his help. She tells him that she is a lesbian and that they could help each other by fake dating. When he argues, she threatens to tell his secret if he doesn’t help her become prom queen and get Kurt back. My favorite line of the night was Santana’s “the only straight I am is straight-up b—-.” Karofsky agrees and goes to the glee club to apologize, but the members don’t buy it. He tells them that Santana helped him see the light and they even wanted to start a club to stop bullying called “The Bully Whips.” He tells them that he wants to apologize to Kurt so he can come back to McKinley.
Mr. Schue has a meeting with Kurt, Burt, Principal Figgins, Karofsky, and his dad to get the situation resolved. Burt doesn’t want Kurt back at McKinley due to Karofsky’s death threat and Karofsky’s dad tells him that Karofsky has changed. Kurt talks to Karofsky alone and they work out a deal. Kurt says he won’t tell anybody about him if he starts a PFLAG (parents, families and friends of lesbians and gays) with Kurt and gets educated. He agrees and Kurt is back at McKinley. It made me sad though to see the Warblers’ goodbye to him. I hope they stick around and hope they keep the Blaine/Kurt pairing together.
Things get personal for Quinn when Lauren starts to put prom queen campaign posters up and Lauren decides to dig some dirt up on her. Lauren finds a junior high yearbook photo of Quinn with brown hair, glasses and she is chubby. Quinn admits her name was Lucy, but changed it to her middle name of Quinn because of the cruel nickname of Lucy caboosey that was given to her by other students. She also had a nose job and lost weight because she didn’t like how she looked. Lauren ended up putting the picture on the bulletin board and Quinn was exposed to the whole school.
Finn shows Quinn that he has this old photo of her in his wallet because he doesn’t care what she looks like and this makes her feel better. Two things I had issues with this sub plot. One being it is frustrating how the writers keep changing the character of Quinn, between nice and mean and two I thought this stunt was out of character for Lauren. I was glad that she apologized quickly and Quinn admits that she admires Lauren for not caring about what other people think.
Rachel wouldn’t change her mind and had Quinn go to the doctor with her because she wanted a nose just like Quinn’s. She showed the composite pictures to the glee club (less Hebraic and more Fabray-ic) and they still didn’t like the idea. Even Finn telling her that she was beautiful didn’t help. Puck wanted to talk one hot Jew to another and wanted Rachel to meet him at the mall. She found both Puck and Kurt who got a flash mob going to show that Rachel was one in a billion, just like Barbara Streisand. Apparently, this weird stunt got her to change her mind and she decided to forgo the nose job.
Before the group song, Santana shows Brittany her shirt that says “b—-.” Brittany is disappointed and says she was hoping that Santana would wear the one that Brittany made saying “Lebanese” (lesbian in Brittany talk). Brittany tells her she made it because she was proud of how Santana revealed her feelings, but Santana wouldn’t wear it since Brittany was still with Artie.
Glee club got together to sing “Born This Way” and to reveal their shirts. It took me a while to figure them out and Artie’s was the only one I couldn’t tell, but Finn’s read “can’t dance, Mike was “can’t sing,” Tina’s said “brown eyes,” Mercedes was “no weave,” Rachel had “nose,” Quinn’s said “Lucy caboose,” Brittany’s said “I am with stooped” pointing to her face and Puck’s was “I am with stupid” pointing to his crotch. After talking to a therapist, Emma changed her shirt to OCD. Santana did change into the “Lebanese” shirt but didn’t perform with the group. My favorite of the night though was Mr. Schue’s that said “butt chin.” Hilarious, because he does have a butt chin!
Overall, this was an okay episode, but didn’t need to be an extra half an hour though. It is good that Kurt is back at McKinley, but sad to see the Warblers gone. They need to figure out who Quinn really is and they need to install a little more confidence into Rachel. The music choices this week were good with Rachel and Quinn doing a duet to the mash up of “I Feel Pretty/Unpretty” and the Warblers giving Kurt a farewell with “Somewhere Only We Know.” There were just some random things like Quinn’s secret, Mercedes’ out of nowhere no weave” complex, and the episode being more about Barbara Streisand and not Lady Gaga, like it seemed it was supposed to be. No Sue this week either, but she looks to be up to her old tricks for next week.
Some stats and info about Glee, “Born This Way”
TV SHOW – Glee
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 2, Episode 18
AIRED ON – April 26th, 2011
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – FOX/Hulu
GENRE – Drama, Musicals, Comedy
CREATED BY – Ian Brennan, Brad Falchuk, Ryan Murphy
CAST – Chris Colfer, Jane Lynch, Lea Michele, Matthew Morrison, Kevin McHale, Naya Rivera, Jenna Ushkowitz, Amber Riley, Mark Salling, Heather Elizabeth Morris, Chord Overstreet, Darren Criss, Harry Shum Jr., Cory Monteith, Jayma Mays, Dianna Agron
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.