Hollywood Crush
'Glee' Recap: 'Sweet Dreams'
by Melissa Albert
All this season, "Glee" has been presenting a seriously warped vision of life after high school: Santana went to college for a while, got bored, then dropped out; Mercedes chucked it in for life in a West Coast recording studio; Puck...is still working on his screenplay; and absolutely every graduate is on constant call to appear back at McKinley, if you just click your heels together and say their name twice.
So it’s refreshing when Finn experiences something that resembles actual college life. He enrolls to get his teaching degree and moves into a freshman dorm, where he appears in Harlem Shake videos, sweet talks girls into taking off their tops and bros up with an ever-resilient Puckerman, who has finally figured out that the girls get easier when you leave high school.
Then Schue shows up. Regionals are fast approaching (aren’t they always?), and he can’t handle the pressure without Finn by his side. But Finn’s not having it. “As you can see, I’m pretty busy with college,” he says smarmily, before ripping off his shirt and jetting down a slip ‘n’ slide.
But he’s never too busy for Rachel, who calls him to ask how college is going. No, wait, she doesn’t actually care. She just wants advice on her “Funny Girl” audition. She’s sworn off men, worshiped at her Streisand shrine and taken advice from her absentee mom, Shelby, who shows up to advise that she not try to out-Barbra Barbra. In other words, don’t audition with a Barbra song.
The two of them duet on “Next to Me," inspiring Rachel to reach deep inside for her perfect tryout song. There, she finds...Journey. In a great “Glee” throwback moment, she tries out with “Don’t Stop Believin’,” while the ghosts of her glee club besties manifest on the stage around her. Will Berry win a callback? (Yes. Yes, she will.)
The McKinley kids are dealing with their post-“shooting” PTSD in different ways, some weirder than others: Sam splits into two personalities, himself and his “twin,” Evan Evans, who for some (smokin’ hot) reason has an Australian accent. Kitty becomes a bitch again, Unique doubles down on birth control pills in an effort to grow breasts, and Marley decides it’s finally time to present her original songs to the world. And Blaine, noticing Becky’s odd behavior in the wake of the incident, starts to suspect that she knows something about Sue’s sudden departure.
The regionals theme is “Dreams,” which is right in Mr. Schue’s cheeseball wheelhouse. After he announces his terrible song picks for the competition (“Sweet Dreams Are Made of This,” etc.), the club goes behind his back to rewrite the set.
Still feeling burned from Finn’s rejection, Schue flips out in response. But after one too many games of Frisbee golf, and late nights spent playing “Fight For Your Right (To Party)” with Puck at frat houses, Finn renounces his hard-partying ways (i.e. decides to start acting like a sweater-vested manchild again, instead of a 19-year-old dude). He goes back to where he’s needed most: McKinley High, Finn just can’t quit you!
He and Schue make up, and decide to lead the glee team to regionals as equals. Their song of choice? A Marley original. (Boo!)
Questions of the episode: Hey, remember when Blaine announced his intention to sabotage the Cheerios from the inside out? Whatever happened to that? And now that Coach Roz is back, replacing the disgraced Sue Sylvester, why doesn’t he just quit the team like he wanted to?
And WHAT THE HECK is going on with Ryder’s mystery girl? We want answers ASAP!
Song of the episode: Beastie Boys all the way. It’s nice to see Finn and Puck back together.
What did you think of "Sweet Dreams"? Tell us in the comments and on Twitter!
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