Glee Episode 9 – Extraordinary Merry Christmas – Recap, Photos, Video (UPDATED!)

Darren Criss' photo Seasons Greetings, everyone! With love from me, @chriscolfer @msamberpriley @msleamichele & @mark_salling #glee
Darren Criss on WhoSay
Darren Criss tweets, “Seasons Greetings, everyone! With love from me, @chriscolfer @msamberpriley @msleamichele & @mark_salling #glee”

Tonight’s Glee is the big Holiday Extravaganza, “Extraordinary Merry Christmas” directed by Matthew Morrison and written by Marti Noxon.

UPDATE: What did Blaine give Kurt for Christmas?  Publicity stills (see below) depicted a Klaine gift giving scene that was cut due to time constraints but TV Line has the deets on what we would have seen, “…sources confirm that had the present been opened in the episode, viewers would’ve seen Blaine give Kurt a… ring. And not just any ring. A homemade ring made of gum wrappers. Blaine explains that financial issues prevented him from giving Kurt what he really wanted — an item from the Elizabeth Taylor collection…”  Not to worry. The cut scene will be included in the Glee Season 3 DVD. Another cut scene, Santana’s big “Santa Baby” performance, will be made available online as early as next week.

I LOVED tonight’s Glee Holiday special.  It was so much better than Season 2’s half-baked Grinch theme. The kids learn the meaning of Christmas AND get to star in their own groovy 60’s style variety special.  It was totally win win!

The show opens with a performance of “All I Want for Christmas Is You” featuring Mercedes doing her best Mariah, and the kids dancing adorably around the choir room as they decorate the Christmas tree.  The scene ends with Rachel and Finn kissing under the mistletoe.  Aw.

Out in the hallway, Rachel presents Finn with a long list of expensive gift suggestions, after she learns from snitch, Kurt, that Finn was asking around the locker room for gift ideas. (Socks? Blaine? Really?) Rachel is fine with any 5 items from the list!  She also ignores Finn’s hints that he really can’t afford her suggestions.

Sue Sylvester calls Artie, Kurt and Blaine into her office to ask them to sing at a local homeless shelter where she’s volunteering that Friday.  Wheels, Porcelain and Other Gay find her new found concern for homeless people rather odd (she’s called them “urban campers” in the past).  But Sue, still stung by losses—of her sister and her humiliating campaign for congress to Kurt’s dad–is looking for a way to occupy her time.  The kids, wanting to help out and feeling pity for the clearly hurting Sue, agree to appear.  Sue promptly kicks Stumbles, Gelfing and Young Burt Reynolds (a grinning Blaine likes that!) out of her office.

In the next scene, Rory sings a song about the King. “Who? Jesus?” asks Kurt.  No silly! It’s the classic Elvis tune, “Blue Christmas”.  Sad, the young Irish crooner misses his family across the pond.  But once he’s finished, the gang is ready to move on to a holiday filled with joy–unlike last year, when Kurt was exiled to another school (yep, that sucked) and Coach Sylvester grinchily busted up all their decorations.  Tina helpfully explains exactly what happened to those stupid mechanical legs Artie got from “Santa” that forever disappeared from the story arc. They broke the very next day. The explanation is as stupid as the plot device, but it’s better than nothing.

In rushes Will with the great news that the local PBS station wants the kids to star in a Christmas special, with Artie at the helm!  Despite having vowed NEVER TO SELL OUT TO TELEVISION, Artie agrees to a meeting. Har. The station lost the rights to the always exciting “Yule log” and was hoping the kids would fill in at the last minute.   Rachel is beside herself with excitement!

At Rory’s locker, Sam commiserates with the young lad’s homesickness.  He misses his family too, and offers to take him home for Christmas. Sam will serve as Rory’s “Christmas sponsor”, and promises to show him what a real American yuletide is like.  I do believe a brand new bromance is born!

Artie takes a meeting with the PBS executive who couldn’t possibly be more condescending—so happy he’s found a handy-capable youngster to direct the special!  Artie is appalled, but doesn’t let it rattle him.  Once again, as he was in West Side Story, Artie becomes the mad auteur, insisting the production be a mixture of the two most awesome specials in the world—The 1978 Star Wars Christmas special (Chewbacca told him in a dream in a scene you would miss if you blinked your eyes) and the 1963 Judy Garland special. Say WHAT?  As a special homage to Judy, Artie wants to shoot the production in black and white.  PBS dude doesn’t care, as long as Artie can keep to the ridiculous $800 budget.  Large and in charge–Artie confidently agrees.

It’s time for auditions!  Rachel sings the beautiful, but dark “River” from the Joni Mitchell oeuvre.   In the choir room earlier, Rachel said she wanted to move on to the “more joyous and pageant aspect of the holiday.”  Does the possibility of being on TV suddenly bring on the urge to be morose?  Rachel never explains.

Nevertheless—Artie HATES IT.  His “vision” for the Christmas Spectacular will begin in the “perfectly appointed living room” of Blaine and Kurt’s Swiss Chalet.  I like this already (and so do Blaine and Kurt). As the perfect hosts, the couple will invite their friends to drop in for an evening of Noel Cowardesque banter and fun!  The night will end with Rory as Itchy the Holiday Elf reciting Frosty the Snowman.   Sam, who has had his share of homelessness and hard times recently, sees nothing wrong with throwing a little reality into the pageant.  Nope. Artie wants to start with fun and end with fun!

After reminding the director that Frosty is actually a depressing story, with the snowman melting at the end (Artie plans a re-write!)  Sam decides to head downtown to help out at the Salvation Army.  He wants nothing to do with this the fake Happy Happy Joy Joy Artie is selling.  He asks Rory to go with him. But, perhaps enamored with the idea of wearing a pair of green tights, the elf-to-be decides to hang back and learn his lines. Disappointed, Sam heads out the door. Aw. Lighten up sir, it’s Christmastime!

Finn finds Rachel at her locker, stewing about her rejection at the hands of Orson Wells.  To help his gal feel better, Finn offers to give her one of her presents.  It turns out to be a pig that will be fattened up and eventually given to a poor family to eat. A Vegan AND Jewish, Rachel is super-annoyed that Finn didn’t follow her super-specific list.  “All I’m asking is what’s coming to me. All I want is my fair share,” she says (cue the cute nod to A Charlie Brown Christmas!)   Finn reluctantly takes back his gift. “It’s going to be the best Christmas EVER,” says Sally.  I mean Rachel.

Next scene—Blaine and Rachel sing the preternaturally peppy “Extraordinary Merry Christmas”.  As duet partners, these two have a ton of chemistry.  An absolute joy, I could watch Darren Criss perform all day. Needless to say, Artie is pleased with Rachel’s new pick.  Maybe a couple of Cheerios can dance behind them?  As long as they don’t upstage us, say the DIVAS!  Nevertheless, the duo make the cut.

Sue drops by to remind the gang that they PROMISED to sing at the homeless shelter on Friday. OOPS. It’s the same night they’re scheduled to tape the Christmas special.  Sue says a promise is a promise.  Artie wonders why the group should do favors for somebody who treats them like crap.  Sue reminds him that it’s for the kids, who are looking forward to their visit.  Rachel offers that the  shiny shiny special will distract the poor from their urine soaked lives. Sue says the homeless don’t have TVs. The bitch is right!  Artie holds firm.  Guilty looks all around—especially from Quinn–but everyone agrees to stay.  Rehearsals continue as Sue walks out the door.

Oh gosh. The television special begins.  Glee star, Matthew Morrison directed the episode, and he does a great job creating the “special within the special” that takes up most of the rest of the episode.  Matt creates a world that’s both inventive and loads of fun. It mostly takes its cues from the 1963 Judy Garland special, —but with Star Wars goodness thrown in for total randomness.

Click to Watch Part 1 of the Judy Garland Christmas Special

“Let it Snow”—for my money, the best song on the Glee Christmas album—opens the special and is jazzy, finger-snapping fun.  As always, Chris Colfer and Darren Criss have wonderful chemistry, and are quite the fancy dancers!  They’re Bing and Danny! They manage to capture the spirit of those old variety special numbers spectacularly. LOVES.

The special is not only a homage–with the set and costuming straight out of the Judy Garland special–but a send up too.  Kurt and Blaine are our hosts– introduced with code words for gay: “I’m Kurt Hummel…and this is my best friend and holiday roommate, Blaine Anderson.”  Blaine adds cheerily, “Welcome to our Bachelor chalet!”  Oh. The good old days. Not.

Corny period jokes live next to contemporary pop culture references, all backed by canned laughter and applause.  When Kurt discovers he didn’t get his bid for the Elizabeth Taylor Christies auction in on time because the bad weather knocked out his internet connection, (Christmas is cancelled!) Blaine replies, “Did Mariah outbid you?”

The doorbell rings and it’s Mercedes Jones and Rachel Berry!  Just like a young Liza Minnelli in the original special, Rachel asks “Are we on television?”  The kids trade presents.  Oh look! It’s Miss Taylor’s Diamond Necklace and Pendant (FAKE) for Kurt. And for Blaine? A Christmas tree bow tie and candy striped Capri pants! The better to wear NO SOCKS with!

The hosts talk Rachel and Mercedes into singing “Favorite Things” from the Sound of Music , and it’s more old fashioned fun.  It’s time for Christmas dinner, but Kurt forgot to turn on the stove. OH MY. CANNED LAUGHTER.  “What else could go wrong?” asks Blaine. “I guess we’ll find out after these messages from our sponsors”.

“And then I said to Justin Timberlake…That’s not eggnog!”  laughs Kurt, as we come back from break.  Here’s where things get a little weird.  The Star Wars theme is introduced a little awkwardly, with Kurt blaming the bad weather on global climate change. Mercedes is sure the end times are coming.  CANNED LAUGHTER.

Enter Finn Hudson and Noah Puckerman, dressed as light-saber carrying Star Wars dudes.  Except not! That’s copyright infringement! Any resemblance to Star Wars characters is purely coincidental.

To reassure the gang that the double wammy of global climate change and the coming of end times won’t deter Santa, Finn and Puck rock out to the Bruce Springsteen inspired Santa Clause is Coming to Town, complete with Puck on guitar, Finn on drums and a  Blaine Warbler harmonica solo (much to the delight of “fellow bachelor” Kurt!)

The doorbell rings. “Oh my stars! More guests! Yes, and after tripping through the 60s and 70’s? It’s now time for the 80’s as Brittany, Santana, Tina, Mike and assorted Cheerios bring a little sex appeal to the proceedings with a spirited performance of “Christmas Wrapping”.  Ms Pierce handles lead vocals, quite capably.

Almost every Christmas wish has come true…except for one!  To make the night complete, it’s Rory as “Itchy the Holiday Elf” who was all ready to read “Frosty the Snowman”.  Except. WHOOPS. Rory decides to go off book.  He’s searched his heart (i.e. feels guilty he’s not at the homeless shelter!) and decides that it’s time to learn the true meaning of Christmas.

And in another nod to “Charlie Brown”, Itchy transforms into Linus, reading the classic Bible version of the birth of Jesus.  Kurt is agnostic and Rachel and Puck are Jewish…no? But I guess all can be forgiven as long as we’re paying homage to classic TV shows. “I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people…Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will towards men.”  All that’s missing is a droopy Christmas tree.

And that’s the end of the special! Transformed, Will, Emma and the kids head to the homeless shelter with a turkey and all the fixings!  They find Quinn, Sam and Sue dishing out meager rations to the families. Quinn, who decided to join Sam and Sue at the shelter, tells him that’s she’s better—finally focusing on the stuff she does have instead of the stuff she doesn’t.  Sam is glad. Now, let’s hope the writers don’t turn Q back into a psycho bitch come next week.

Thanks to Rory—who was taking the lead from his “Christmas sponsor” Sam–the gang had a change of heart. And just like the reality show that gave us Rory—The Glee Project–everybody wins!  The kids were able to star in their special and serve the homeless a hot meal and a song.

The group smiles through a rendition of “Do They Know It’s Christmas” and the chillrun are happy.

Now that Rachel’s heart is filled with the holiday spirit, she loves her pet pig, which she names “Barbra”–for obvious reasons.   Finn has two more gifts for Rachel.  A star, he’s named after himself, so that no matter where she is Rachel will know her BF is watching over her. Aw.  Finn also sells his letterman jacket on Ebay so he can afford those sweet diamond earrings Rachel covets.  But, having learned a lesson (her umpteenth by my calculations) Rachel realizes she’s got everything she could possibly want, including the most awesome boyfriend in the world!

Out at the Salvation Army kettle, Rory asks Sam to be his Valentine’s Day sponsor. He figures the smooth Sam can help him get a snog or two.  Rachel and Finn join them. The lovebirds have returned their expensive gifts (an iPod for Finn) in order to give the money to the poor instead. The scene ends with all four working that bell, and Rachel throwing in a Happy Hanukkah for good measure.

Cut for time: Blaine gives Kurt a promise ring made out of gum wrappers, cause he can’t afford the real thing.  We can only imagine how fucking adorable that scene is. We’ll have to wait months until it’s included on the Season 3 DVD.  Also, some Santana scenes—she helped Finn pick out the earrings for Rachel and sang Santa Baby.  The musical number may come out online as early as next week.

Note to producers: Don’t tease fan groups with publicity photos of their favs engaging in shipper activity only to cut them at the last minute. Not if you value your lives. Just sayin’.

Quibbles.  The episode was written by Marni Noxon, who is famous for writing and shaping the story lines for Buffy.  I did love what she did with the “special within the special” but the scenes around it seemed a little out of place.  Also, the writers are still jerking characters around in order to fit their story lines. For instance…do we REALLY REALLY REALLY need to see Rachel Berry learn the same freaking lesson week after week? Can’t she grow up…like permanently? A little sliding would be OK, but every week is like ground hogs day for that girl.  The writing for Quinn suffers some of the same issues. But if she stays on the growth path she seems to be on, I’ll keep my mouth shut.

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3×10 Promo

http://youtu.be/8NIpn3_N4ow

About mj santilli 34830 Articles
Founder and editor of mjsbigblog.com, home of the awesomest fan community on the net. I love cheesy singing shows of all kinds, whether reality or scripted. I adore American Idol, but also love The Voice, Glee, X Factor and more!