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Gleecap: The World According to Born This Way

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Posted by Rae Votta on 04/27/2011 at 11:44 AM Recaps

The Popdust Files: glee, glee

Santana > “As If We Never Said Goodbye” > “Born This Way” > Kurt Hummel’s Bondage Fashion > Karofsky’s Redemption Continues > TLC > Saying Bye To The Dalton Warlber Boys > All The T-Shirts > Finn’s Dancing > Quinn’s “Dark” Past > Rachel’s Nose

While the cast and crew of Glee invaded New York City this week to film the group’s upcoming trip to nationals, in the world of Glee it’s still midyear and time to explore the theme of self-acceptance in a 90-minute episode that came off both wanting and overstuffed at the same time. While many of the scenes were brilliant on their own, they didn’t add up to a great episode. There were four separate plotlines that could be filed in the bulging folder tabbed “Self-Acceptance,” but only one that truly made Popdust’s heart swell.

The least interesting plotline involved Emma finally seeking professional help for her OCD. Mostly we’re relieved, both for Emma and for us. And for Schue, who no longer has to clean her grapes one by one, adorable as that was.

Rachel Berry, after getting smacked in the face by a clumsy Finn, ends up at a somewhat sleazy doctor who advises her to get a nose job. This plot drags on the entire episode, and since we all know Rachel won’t be going under the knife, it’s mostly pointless. It did lead us to two nice numbers: Finn’s song-and-dance routine with Mike to “I’ve Gotta Be Me,” where he tries to embrace his bad dancing and work on improving it; and later, a group dance to Duck Sauce’s “Barbara Streisand,” Rachel’s heroine for all matters showbiz-and-probiscis-related.

Which brings us to Quinn. Quinn’s inconsistency throughout Glee is well documented. Her motivations are muddled and her character bounces around from sympathetic to mean. This week she continues on her Prom Queen quest, all while befriending Rachel in her plastic surgery hour of need. Quinn serves as the nose model for Rachel’s future face, and the two sing a mashup of “I Feel Pretty” from West Side Story and “Unpretty” by TLC, a song I had completely forgot existed until this track appeared online last week (can we have more TLC on Glee? I call for “No Scrubs” as soon as possible). Both girls sound great on this track. However the song is set early in the episode, more in Rachel’s plot than Quinn’s, so it doesn’t make much sense why she’s joining Rachel in her self-hating until her story unfolds more.

Quinn, we learn, has a secret past that has nothing to do with her pregnancy. In middle school, Quinn was overweight, with a big nose and acne, and went by her legal name, Lucy. (No one found out her legal name before when she was in the hospital giving birth? Really? I am pretty sure doctors write down those sorts of things.) She hated herself, and went through a transformation of acne meds, ballet and a nose job before coming to high school and switching to her middle name to avoid any possible association. After taking drastic steps to hide all this, Lauren undoes it all with one poster on the bulletin board—not that you can really tell it’s Quinn, it looks more like those Fatface Facebook program manipulations than anything else. Of course, this backfires and now the same girls who once looked up Lauren have switched allegiance to Quinn. A quick apology from Lauren and the two are suddenly walking down the hall arms around each other, but like with all of Quinn’s friendships I am sure this will be aborted by the next episode.

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