In a way, ‘Mattress’ marks the first episode that we’ve all been waiting for. While Glee has been coasting along with its few primary stories thus far, this one really lets the steam out with major revelations.
Flipping the Coin
When done properly, the redemption moments of a television series can be incredibly rewarding. For Rachel and Quinn, this episode has given them some much needed reprieve and redeeming, even courageous moments. While Rachel borders on shrill at every turn, the episode takes a moment to focus on her comaraderie in addition to determination. The way she takes a stand for the Glee club when no one else will (not to mention the ill intentions behind her pedestal in the first place) gives her an almost martyr-like likeability.
While I’m not a big fan of Quinn, combining her ruthless cunning and her acceptance of Glee club is probably the smartest move the show has made all season. Where as before Quinn stands as the confused, bipolar character, now she can proudly wear her Sue Sylvester apprenticeship without sacrificing her friends. Finally, the character can stop fighting itself and focus on the pregnancy drama that is bound to explode next week…
The Reveal
Since there’s only so much dramatic irony I can handle, the fake pregnancy revelation comes as a great relief for me. It finally gives Terri the reprimand she deserves and Will can stop looking like the fool husband who doesn’t know her wife is not pregnant (even now I find it absurd, but I will let it slide).
The intensity of the scene where Will confronts Terri plays out exactly as I had hoped. There’s no glossy, humorous musical cover-up, and both Jessalyn Gilsig and Matthew Morrison deliver their best performances yet. As of now, my guess of Terri remaining on the show after the hiatus is about 50/50. I’m not sure if the character is fully redeemable, but the continuing fallout of this storyline is a major reason to catch the mid-season finale.
The Downside
With only one episode to go, I can now point out some long-running glitches I see in the show. Despite my love for Sue and Jane Lynch, her character is about as static as it gets at this point. Functionally, she has the tone of a recurring guest star and not a full fledged character, which is something the show should either address or alter. Quinn’s pair of cheerleading subordinates (Brittany and Santana) should also be explored further. The more Quinn develops her relationship with Glee club, the less believable her counterparts become. While they all start off as spies for Sue, it’s unclear why these two are still sticking around.
Aside from that, ‘Mattress’ really satisfies my thirst for storyline development and character redemption. My only wish is that Glee can stay this focused for every episode, but nonetheless, the sectionals for these unique blend of high school misfits has really the television event of the season.
Rating: 9.5/10
Popularity: 34% [?]
Terri, redeemable? Are you kidding me? She wasn’t even redeemable for her general behaviour in the PILOT, which was before her insanely despicable pregnancy debacle.
That said, the confrontation, as you say, was brilliantly well done. And they did leave the door open for her to stay on in the scene between Will and his work-crush whose name I can’t recall right now – wouldn’t be the first time a character I found ridiculously stupid and obnoxious was kept around just to spite me, either.
Sue is static, yes. I don’t see that as a problem though. If this was episode 13, season 2, sure. But after 13 episodes, I honestly don’t expect the main antagonist to be noticeably evolved. Takes the first three-four just to establish a status quo, and the couple of handfuls after that need to spend time on and develop each of the many, many protagonists. They need a foil, and Sue’s character can’t really go in any direction except more likable. And if they did that too soon, they’d have to find some new antagonist. Show’s got insanely many characters and plots to service as is. In fact, I’m incredibly thrilled and surprised they’ve given Sue as much development as they have – a major plot in one episode about her blooming love-life changing her outlook temporarily and a minor plot in another one revealing her soft spot for her Down’s Syndrome-suffering sister have given us two big reasons to treat her less like a two-dimensional cardboard cut-out than she usually seems to be. And I honestly find that two redeemable qualities/insights are two more than I could really have expected in the antagonist at this point in so great an ensemble show.
Completely agree on the remaining two cheerleaders, who together with the non-Puck and non-Flynn footballers are the big losers in Glee’s never-ending struggle for giving everybody screentime. They obviously won’t get much in the midseason finale, but hopefully they’ll all be given some focus in the back nine. Honestly, there’s no reason to think they won’t – the show’s so far been superb at dividing out the little time the show’s had so far between their many, many secondary and tertiary characters.
A personal wish would also be to see a few scenes of the principal’s outside of his office. Preferably with someone not Sue or Will. The actor is great, the character is both funny and sympathetic, and while I totally get he is not at all a priority, I think a subplot about him could be very interesting and funny indeed.
The absolute surprise among my TV-shows this fall, Glee. I’m really, really loving it. Shows rarely have this much charm. And I’m so pleased to see that twelve episodes in, they’re really keeping most of their qualities just as up and running as ever. I’m looking a lot forward to “Sectionals”.
The funny thing is, Jane Lynch was only supposed to be recurring, but her other pilot deal fell through, so they bumped her to series regular. You definitely feel it once in a while, but I agree, her entertainment comes from her maliciousness, and changing that anytime soon would be way too soon. I hear some plans for the second half regarding Vocal Adrenaline, which would be cool.
I don’t have too much to complain about this show. The storytelling has to compromise to fit the musical aspects, but without that, there would be no good music to begin with.