Glee Season 1 Episode 17 Review
This episode opens with Kurt, Artie, Mercedes, and Tina laughing as they look at a video in the practice room. The video that they are watching is of Sue Sylvester reenacting the Olivia Newton-John video for “Physical“! During the video Finn, Rachel, and Jesse walk in. After seeing it Finn thinks it’s a good idea to post it on Youtube. The others agree and Rachel seems to be the only one that has a problem with it. Finn posts the video anyway.
Later in the hall… By now the video has become viral and spread all over. As Coach Sylvester walks the halls different students make comments or elude to the video. When one of them does one of the dances she did in the video *the Cabbage Patch* she realizes what has happened.
In Principal Figgins’ Office… Will is sitting with Principal Figgins as Coach Sylvester tells them that the Glee club stole her private property and posted it on the internet, it had already received over 170,000 comments. when Mr. Scheuster tells her that his kids wouldn’t do this she hits them with a “Glist”, a Glee list that rates the members on their hotness on a weekly basis. Principal Figgins thinks that this is very serious and he doesn’t find out who did it then he will have no choice but to expel the entire Glee Club.
In the Practice Room… Mr. Scheuster shows them the list and sternly asks who did it, informing them that if they don’t tell them Principal Figgins will disband the club. They first believe that it’s Puck because his girlfriend is at the top of the list and Rachel is at the bottom. They feel like their bad reputation is actually helping them because people don’t bother them as much. He gives them their assignment of the week. Find songs similar to “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice * Which sold millions by the way. You know you had that song on tape or CD and you probably know all the words too!!! I can’t front, I know I had it and know it word for word!!*, find out how they work and to make them great. He then performs his version of the song.
In The Teacher’s lounge… As Coach Sylvester makes her grand entrance into the teacher’s lounge she is greeted by the other teacher and faculty pointing and laughing. She tries to motivate herself by saying how great she is only to be interrupted by a new teacher. Brenda Castle, being played by Saturday Night Live Alum Molly Shannon. She just transferred from a school in Indiana because she is not allowed to teach there because of her drug problem. she begins to clown Coach Sylvester because of her video. She then joins the other staff as they continue to laugh at coach Sylvester until she angrily storms out.
Later in the hall… As Artie and Rachel are walking to class she tells him she needs some help from the A/V club. Since she is at the bottom of the “Glist” she wants to reevaluate her image. She wants to change her image from a good girl to the Worst.
Later on… Kurt calls a meeting with Artie, Tina, and Mercedes to talk about their reputations. They decide that since they aren’t even on the list they should do like a normal “C” list celebrity would do and cause a scandal so extreme that they can no longer be ignored. They decide to stage a disruption in the library.
After School… Sue Sylvester is talking to her sister about being humiliated at school and how horrible she felt. Her sister reminds her that when they felt bad as kids they would help at the animal shelter, because there is always someone who has it worse than you *Message!!*
In Miss Pillsbury’s Office… Coach Sylvester decides that she will become Miss Pillsbury’s new therapist. This is her attempt to give back to someone less fortunate. She then goes on to point out all her faults as well as tell her that Mr. Scheuster made out with the teacher from Vocal Adrenaline and about April’s Sleepover sessions. How does she know? She put baby monitors under his couch and bed! Of course, Miss Pillsbury is crushed. Before she can even gather herself from this news coach Sylvester stands up and tells her that she sucks and that she needs to grow a pair. She does this to help her stand up for herself. She tells her that she needs to tell Mr. Scheuster how she feels in a public place so that he can’t escape or manipulate her.
In Rachel’s Room… Rachel tells Puck that she wants him to help her with her assignment. She wants them to act out “Run Joey Run” by David Geddes. He then asks her if she believes that he made the Glist and goes on to say how he’s tired of people stereotyping him for a few mistakes that he’s made. As they compare stories, they begin to make out but Rachel stops. Puck then says that whoever made the list will put her at number 1 for cheating on her boyfriend Jesse *which makes me believe that Puck made the Glist all along* he then lays it on thick when he says that Jesse will never fully understand her because he’s not Jewish. She stops again so Puck decides to leave but she asks him to stay and work on the project so he agrees.
The next day at School… Coach Sylvester drags Miss Pillsbury to the teacher’s lounge to confront Mr. Scheuster but she isn’t able to go in out of fear of them laughing at her again. At they stand in the hall Ms. Castle comes out to poke even more fun at Coach Sylvester. As Emma looks on nervously, they begin to argue back and forth. After the confrontation, Emma goes in to talk to Will. He is talking to an older faculty member when she interrupts. He asks her to give him a second. Emma then loudly says that she will not give him a second and he will have to reschedule his heavy petting session for a later time! Will is shocked! Seems that the older faculty member was just telling him how her husband had just died and he was consoling her. *oops!!* Emma just keeps going as she suggests that he’s trying to get with this lady “fresh off the rebound” and how “nobody’s safe!!” He says he wants to talk to her in private but she doesn’t want to and proceeds to put all of their business out there for everyone to hear. About how she has been seeing a therapist about her OCD so that they can be together only to find out about the different women that he has been messing around with. She says that she is putting her foot down and will not take it anymore then proceeds to call him a slut over and over and says it’s over. After this outburst she says she is very sorry to the older lady for her loss and then walks out leaving Will standing there embarrassed and confused.
later on in the Library… They show Kurt, Artie, Tina, Mercedes, and the dumb Cheerio spy dressed in hammer pants as they sneak into the library. What do they plan to do? Yep, MC Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This” Utter hilarity!! The idea was kind of dumb though. the funny thing is that they thought they would get in trouble but the old librarian lady thought is was cute and is going to talk to her pastor about them performing that at Sunday service.
Later at school… Mr. Scheuster is interrogating Finn about who made the list and how to stop a new one from coming out. Finn is all fidgety and nervous as he tells him that he doesn’t know anything. He goes one to interrogate each member of the club. Afterwards, the Hammer crew comes to terms that they can’t shake their reputation and need to come clean about posting the video. If they get suspended for it then the entire student body will then see them as bad asses.
In Coach Sylvester’s Office… Coach Sylvester is writing in her diary about how her video has just surpassed 3 milion hits and she doesn’t know how much longer she can deal with the humiliation. She then wonders if this is karma from the way she treated people. As she pauses to think about it, she gets a phone call. The person on the other end is Olivia Newton -John! At first Sue doesn’t believe it, hangs up on her and continues to write i her diary about how she is going to play nice full time. The phone rings again. With a little apprehension, she answers the phone. It is Olivia Newton – John, once again Sue doesn’t believe her and tells her to sing something. After singing a piece of “Physical”, Coach Sylvester realizes that it is really her. She goes on to tell Coach Sylvester that she saw her video and wanted to know why she made it. she then tells Coach Sylvester that she botched the original video and thinks that Coach Sylvester can save it. She plans to be in Ohio the next day for an event and wants to meet up with her.
Later in the hall… Will is walking down the hall and the students are pointing and making different types of gestures at him. He looks confused as Coach Sylvester walks past him calling him a man-whore. The new teacher, Ms. Castle, then walks up to him to introduce herself and offers to have sex with him. Even the principal is praying for him and his situation. Coach Sylvester walks by him again calling him a slut.
In front of Coach Sylvester’s office… The others are giving Kurt a pep talk right before he goes in to tell that they leaked the video. He then walks up to Coach Sylvester to tell her that they are the ones who leaked the tape. He is overwhelmed when instead of berating him she says she can’t thank him enough and walks off. Later they try and figure out why she didn’t get mad. As they search for the video they posted they come across another video. This time it’s the Physical video but redone with Sue Sylvester and Olivia Newton-John doing a duet! *Oh and a lil autotune as well* Check it out here. They are pleasantly surprised and watch the video again and again.
At Practice… Mr. Scheuster tells them that it has been a week and no one has come forward. If they don’t then it is out of his hands and they will have to deal with Principal Figgins. No one fesses up so he moves on to the assignments. Rachel goes first. She then proceeds to show the video she made with Puck for “Run Joey Run” this is supposed to give her a bad reputation as being promiscuous as it stars Puck, Jesse, as well as Finn. The thing is, the guys didn’t know that the other was in it. They are pissed and her plan backfires as the three of them walk out in disgust. Mr. Scheuster just gives her this ‘what were you thinking’ look.
Later that day… Sue is talking with her sister about the video that she did with Olivia Newton-John. She tells her that she forgot how good it feels to give back . She then tells her how she explained to the staff that she doesn’t need their approval anymore *by gloating and boasting on how she is a top 700 recording artist!* She has decided to give her share of the profits to the nursing home that her sister is in. She then reads her sister a story and tells her that she will always love her.
In Miss. Pillsbury’s office.. Will comes in with a large bouquet of flowers and apologizes for his behavior. She can’t forgive him for what he did and tries to remain strong as he pleads. She thanks him for the flowers. as he gets up and leaves her office he sees Quinn coming down the hall from her locker. Then it all makes sense. He calls her into the practice room and tells her that he knows that she is behind the glist. At first she refutes it but then has a break down of sorts. She goes on to say that she has lost her popularity, body, and might as well throw away her education too. He realized it was her when he was humiliated and had to walk in her shoes. She is the one that lost the most so she had the most to gain from the list. She begins to cry as she explains that she never meant to hurt anyone. He gives her a pep talk telling her that she is better than that and she will be back on top soon. When Principal Figgins approaches to see if Will has found the culprit he tells the principal that he has talked to all of his students and no told on anyone. He then says that since the glists have been stopped then his point has been made and they should just move on. Prinicpal Figgins agrees.
In the Hall… Jesse approaches Rachel at her locker. She asks if he was mad at her and he goes on to say how before he transferred he asked around about her reputation. Most people didn’t know her or thought she was weird but they thought she could be trusted. He can’t seem to get past what she did and thinks that he should have been enough for her. She broke his heart.
the final performance of the show is “Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Bonnie Taylor. They sing this as they show a montage of Rachel in the practice room singing the lead, Ballet rehearsal with Jesse, as well as additional vocals from Jesse and Finn. As the song comes to an end, they all leave the practice room in disgust, leaving Rachel standing in the middle of the room alone and heartbroken.
