Let me start by saying that I really do like Glee but like most people it lost me a little bit last season. It really wasn't as fun to watch last season and I feel like it lost its spark. However, this episode was all I could've wished for from a season premiere (okay, maybe not all I could have wished for but we'll get to that later). So without further ado, here is a brief (I use that word lightly) recap on the Glee season 4 premiere - 'The New Rachel', with my thoughts added in.
The episode starts with Rachel at (what I'm guessing is) her first dance class at NYDA with Kate Hudson who plays Cassandra July. So far Cassandra's character reminds me of the New York version of a younger Sue Sylvester. Also, I gotta say that Kate Hudson can play a good bitch and anyone who knows me knows that I love a good bitch character. Cassandra dubs Rachel "Little Miss David Schwimmer", not so sure what this means but I'm pretty sure that this nickname will be sticking with Rachel.
We then cut to McKinley High where Jacob Israel is making his annual back-to-school vlog and it looks like Josh Sussman got himself a haircut, which makes him look like a 40-year-old man but work it Jacob, just work it. In Jacob's vlog we find out that New Directions basically now rule the school, which I couldn't be more uncomfortable with, this is Glee where we tune in to see the underdogs not the queen bees. But anyway, I really like that Rachel was checking up on her McKinley friends via Jacob's vlog, I thought it was really cute and I wanted Rachel to go back and join her Glee friends. Although, Rachel as a character can work anywhere so I don't feel the distance affects Glee like it would other Teen Dramas. I also feel like Glee works really well as a college show, perhaps it works better as a college show than it does as a high school show?
Moving along, Rachel has a really slutty roommate, which reminded me of Summer Robert's college roommate in The O.C., anyone else think this? Rachel then decides to go get cleaned up, but really I think she's just trying to get away from that roommate. We then meet Brody Weston who Rachel hears singing in the shower, much like when Mr. Schuester heard Finn singing in the shower in the Pilot episode. I found myself not writing down any notes about Brody's character, we'll see where he goes but as of right now I have no opinion on him. However, I do have an opinion on Rachel and Kurt, I love that their friendship is still so strong and we all knew that Kurt would be eventually joining Rachel but this relationship has to be one of my favorites of the whole show.
Switching back to McKinley, we have our first Glee club meeting, which leads to the information that Wade/Unique is a new Glee club member. The problem I have with this character is that I don't really like Wade but I love Unique, they should just keep the character as Unique and call it day. I mean, give Unique her own show, I would watch. But for right now, everyone is completing to be 'The New Rachel' so they decide to have the Glee version of a showdown which calls for pop music and a Carly Rae Jepsen song. I felt like this performance was fun and who doesn't start to sing-along with 'Call Me Maybe'? So of course I got into it. To be honest, I didn't really like Blaine last season but during the 'Call Me Maybe' performance I was totally rooting for him and maybe I'm a Blaine fan now, we'll have to see. Although, thinking back to last season, Rachel picked Tina to be 'The New Rachel' so why not let her have it? Rachel picking Tina actually reminded me of Gossip Girl when Blair picked Jenny to be the new queen of Constance.
After the 'Call Me Maybe' showdown we cut to the Lima Bean, where Kurt now works. Just like I'm loving me some Blaine, I'm also loving Brittany in this episode and this scene was filled with Blaine and Brittany. Can we just stop for a moment and appreciate Brittany because when she said "you can't really scissor a webcam," I laughed so hard. But let's cut back to New York for a hot second so we can find out that Cassandra has an alcohol problem... okay great, back to McKinley. I'm just gonna say it, I'm actually loving Tina's new attitude, she never stuck up for herself before so Tina can have all the attitude she wants. Also, I'm loving Marley, she is my favorite new character, I think she's so cute and such an opposite of Rachel but she's got that talent so it makes the character kind of fresh. However there's no love so far for Kitty and it's probably because she doesn't have a back story like Marley's.
New York takes center stage again as Rachel is in dance class with Cassandra, in said dance class Rachel decides to tell Cassandra that she smells like alcohol. Let's stop and think about this, who would actually tell a teacher (who already hates you) that their breathe smells like alcohol? Cassandra, like any normal person, responds to Rachel by breaking into song and dance. I thought this was a really energetic number and Kate Hudson has got some moves! Rachel's 'small fish/big pond' storyline is one we've seen before but I actually like it and it's growing on me.
We then come back to The X Factor, I mean, the auditions for (new?) New Directions members which also remind me of the Pilot episode. The auditions were a little funny and I loved how Brittany was dancing along to Stoner Brett's performance (that Brittany has won my heart). Jake Puckerman is then introduced to us, I didn't like how his performance was cut short though. However, I loved the inter-cuts between Rachel singing 'New York State of Mind' and the juxtaposition of Marley singing it back at McKinley. Loving Marley's voice B-T-Dubs.
Anywho, Artie tells everyone who he has picked to be 'The New Rachel' and it just so happens to be Blaine. But that doesn't really matter, what matters is Unique's line in this scene "why do you hate strong black women for?" This was just the best and I really do think that Alex Newell is much better at playing Unique.
Stuff then happens but lets jump to the must important parts: Marley tells her mother that she doesn't want to be on Broadway someday but she wants to be on the radio instead, it's very good that Glee mentioned this early as it creates a clear distinction between Marley and Rachel. Blaine then sings 'It's Time' to Kurt to basically tell him that it's time to move on before he becomes a creepy old man forever wandering the halls of McKinley. I didn't know this song as I was watching but I got really into it and I really enjoyed the performance.
Hold up, I forgot to mention that the Glee club members (and Kitty's posse) were making fun of Marley's mother because she's overweight. This all stopped though when Marley just stood up and confessed that her mother was the lunch lady. This kind of woke the Glee kids up and had them start to think about what they've become. However, before we actually see progress, we jump to a scene between Kurt and his dad. I loved this scene, it was so heartwarming and I loved when Burt said "good enough for Pretty Woman, good enough for Kurt Hummel." Okay back to Marley, Sam goes to talk to her as he can sympathise, I'm glad this scene was included because I didn't even realize that Sam and Marley had similar situations and it was a really nice moment. But wait, up walks Kitty (good moment ruined), she informs the Glee club that they are now losers again (yay!) This is my favorite Kitty scene so far because she just brought the straight up bitch.
The Glee club then asks Marley to be the lead vocals for Adele's 'Chasing Pavements', I think this is foreshadowing that Marley is 'The New Rachel' and I kinda knew she would be all along and it's cool with me cause I love Marley's voice. This scene is cut together with Rachel breaking down and confessing to Kurt that she can't do it alone and she misses everyone. This has to be one of my favorite scenes of the night because I'm loving Rachel's breakdown and Marley is singing 'Chasing Pavements' so well, it's a win, win.
The only thing that I feel was missing from this episode was more Sue and our old favorites like Mercedes and Santana but other than that I really enjoyed this episode. Lets get to grading!
Performances:-
'Call Me Maybe' performed by Blaine, Brittany, Tina and Wade = A-
'Americano'/'Dance Again' performed by Cassandra = A
'Never Say Never' performed by Jake = B+
'New York State of Mind' performed by Rachel and Marley = A
'It's Time' performed by Blaine = A+
'Chasing Pavements' performed by Marley = A+
Overall episode score:-
'The New Rachel' = A
Thanks for reading, stay tuned for more recaps and other stuff!
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