Glee: Ballad Review

Week after week Glee has always brought a level of enjoyment to me. From the musical choices to the individual stories, I'm not one to complain. This week's episode is no different. I think that this is my favorite episode by far, taken Throwdown off my number one spot. What makes this episode so good you ask? Let me tell you.



With Sectionals ever approaching, Mr. Schuester pairs off everyone in Glee so that they can perform a ballad to the other person. Everyone seems to pair off ok, until Finn gets paired with Kirk. For Kirk this is a dream come true, but for Finn he doesn't think he can "Sing a ballad to another dude." Rachel is the last to go, and due to Michael being in the hospital, puts her without a partner. Mr. Schuester says that he'll be her partner for the ballad, because what could go wrong? Rachel starts things off by singing "Endless Love" with Mr. Schue and that's where we get our first story arc in the episode. After the touching duet it seems as though Rachel has formed a crush on Mr. Schuester, much to his dismay.

With this new found love for Mr. Shoe we get one of my favorite scenes with him singing "Don't Stand So Close to Me" to Rachel, with Emma.  This song was picked by Will to help let Rachel down easy and to shed light on the situation for her.  At the end of the song both girls are stunned and Rachel's crush grows even stronger.  Epic Fail Mr. Shoe!


The second story arc involved Quinn, Finn, and Kirk. Kirk is trying to win over Finn by helping him out with meeting Quinn's parents later that week. Finn being the ingnorant football jock type he is, just assumes that Kirk wants to help him and not try to worm his way into his jock strap. This story has quite a few touching moments to it including seeing Finn sing "I'll Stand By You" to the sonagram he has of what he thinks is his baby.


Near the end of the episode things got a little heavy. After Finn reveals to Quinn's parents that she's pregnant - through the song "(You're) Having My Baby" - things take a dark turn for the worst. In what was the darkest moment in Glee yet, we see Quinn's father saying some very hurtful things towards Quinn to the point where she's in tears. We also get to meet Suzie Peppers, the first girl to get a crush on Mr. Schue. She shows up here and there throughout the episode following Rachel around but not in a "he's my man don't you step my way" manner. Suzie actually serves as a grim future for Rachel should she keep trying to win Schuester over. This helps Rachel realize she's just gaga over Schue, and quickly goes to make up with him about her behavior.

One thing I really want to ask is, "Why did you sing that song Finn?"  He couldn't sing a more obscure song that got the same point across.  I mean the Fabray's are an uber-religious family, of course singing "You're Having My Baby" is gonna end up badly.  However this move makes me agree with one thing Mr. Fabray said, "He does wear a helmet on the field doesn't he?"


Overall and as I've said, this is one of my favorite episodes yet. It had a total of five songs throughout it, which I think is the most yet. The only real problem I had was a scene of Mercedes and Puck talking about Quinn and Finn. Puck reveals to her that he is actually the baby's father. Mercedes than tells him that that's tough luck because Quinn has chosen Finn to father the child, and that he should just face the facts. To be honest, I expected her to act more shocked about such a twist. I could even see her telling the other Glee clubbers by "accident" so that more people would know. I'm not sure what the writers were thinking in that scene, but it didn't really work with the Mercedes I've come to know.

I agree on the whole Mercedes' thing because she acts way to calm for something this shocking.  I was really expecting her to say, "for real?" and run outside and tell everyone that it's Puck's baby, but instead we got her telling Puck pull it together and sing.  This might get good with her being the only one who knows but for now it was kind of dissapointing. 



See Ya & Till Next Time,

Mike & Razz