Glee Season 6 Premiere Recap – Homecoming
The Glee season 6 premiere continues with “Homecoming.” Rachel enlists the help of the former Glee club members to help recruit new singers. Santana, Brittany, Puck, Quinn, Mercedes, Artie, and Tina return to lend a hand.
The somewhat somber first hour of the Glee season 6 premiere makes way for a sunnier episode. The gang is back for “Homecoming.” The reunion has the ebullient feel of a season 1 episode, as Rachel and Kurt set about bringing back the Glee club.
We also meet the newbies in this episode. And can I say all 5 of the new characters are totally awesome? It’s a shame they’ll be gone before we even get to know them. The producers made a mistake back in season 4 when they introduced characters that were basically knock offs of the originals. These new folks fit into the Glee misfit matrix, while bringing something fresh and new.
First, we head over to Dalton, where we learn in voice over what’s been going on in Blaine Anderson’s life.
He describes dating Karofsky as “stepping out of the box.” Well, that’s one way of putting it. I’d also call it “completely out of character,” but I digress. Shaking things up even further–Blaine stops gelling his hair and wearing bow ties. Nobody recognizes him. Even Sam has no idea who the fella with the bushy hair is. He turns away at Blaine’s touch, with a vaguely homophobic “Bro, I don’t care what your name is. I’m not into that stuff.” “TERRORIST!” a Dalton Warbler yells at him. Well. That scene was somewhat problematic.
But then, it dawns on Blaine that he doesn’t need to change it up! Blaine’s therapist (Kurt and Blaine. BOTH seeing therapists) told him to concentrate on the thing he loved, music. When the opportunity to coach the Warblers came along, it reinvigorated his life. He realized that no matter what happens, nothing ever changes at Dalton Academy.
Or maybe it does. There’s change in the air in the form of Jane. Her dad and uncles are legacy. Her family sued to get her into the prestigious all boys academy. Now, she wants to join the Warblers. Blaine’s initial reaction is to be less than thrilled. But he catches himself before he looks too reactionary in front of the newbie.
Meanwhile, back at McKinley, it’s Homecoming week, and Rachel is trying to recruit new members. Her signup sheet is full of fake names (one of many call backs to season 1) and just as she pivots on her heel, Becky (she’s back!) hits her with a slushie.
Dinner at Will’s house. Rachel says she was glad to be slushied. It made her feel like an underdog again. “Well then, Becky did you a solid,” says Sam. Blaine arrives late. Kurt looks uncomfortable, but keeps it together. Will asks if Kurt and Rachel will be co-directing. “Not really,” says Rachel as Kurt says ‘Yes.” Dissension. Will has called everyone together to lay down some ground rules. No stealing setlists, no spying, no poaching, and always be supportive of each other, no matter what.
Blaine wants advice on allowing Jane to join the Warblers, which he calls a “dilemma.” Will says he can’t be on the wrong side of history. Blaine can’t let go of tradition. Interestingly, the Jane “dilemma” is presented like a parallel to the struggle for marriage equality. When Blaine asks the council how they feel about allowing a woman to join, a member asks, “What’s next? cat and dog Warblers? Squirrels?” Another says, “Imagine a girl Warbler! Imagine the sexual tension! We would never get anything done!” The Warbler meeting is bonkers, playing out as a ridiculous yet hilarious parody of the stiffest, most hidebound group of individuals you can imagine, resisting change of ANY kind. In the end, the group behaves as any reactionary set of tradition bound individuals would. They decide to allow Jane to audition, but then turn her down based on talent. No harm no foul!
Back at McKinley, Kurt and Rachel enter a power struggle. Kurt assumed he’d be co-managing New Directions. When Rachel realizes Kurt is organizing the sheet music according to feels she blows up at him. Kurt reminds her that they can’t do a thing until they get more members. And with the McKinley population beat into submission by Sue, Rachel will need to be more proactive than just pinning up a signup sheet.
After Kurt stomps out, Rachel hears a voice. She follows it. First into the boys locker room. Because that’s where all the random singing from potential Glee club members happens, right? (another call back–to Finn and Sam being discovered singing in the shower). The voice, sadly remains a mystery. “I know I heard it,” says Rachel to Sam. “It was real!” He says, “I believe you Rachel. The doctors won’t, but I will.”
The next day, Rachel thanks Kurt for helping her to understand that she DOES need to be more proactive. She had an epiphany…she realized that the singers ARE out there they just need to be drawn out of their hiding spaces. So she made a phone call and VOILA! Lights up! Santana, Brittany, Mercedes, Puck, Quinn, Artie are all in the house! Tina brings up the rear. “Damn it you guys!” Tina says, “You said you’d wait until I parked the rental car!” Hugs all around! “Are you still a virgin?” Sam asks Mercedes. She rolls her eyes.
Back in the choir room, Kurt and Rachel say “We need you back, but not all the time.” Which basically translates to “You’re recurring characters who will come and go until the finale.” They want the grads to pitch in to mentor and recruit. First order of business is to storm the halls to perform an 80’s classic, “Take On Me.” The entire episode revolves around Artie’s storyboard sketches, which are used, rotoscope style as outros and intros to scenes. “Take on Me” is a straight up homage to the music video, which made the technique famous. The kids end up in the cafeteria, dressed in dayglo outfits, dancing on tables, with Sue Sylvester in hot pursuit. When it’s all over, as these things usually turn out, the students all around them couldn’t care less.
Take On Me
http://youtu.be/Cp3_ZZ7B26o
Next we meet Roderick, who roams the halls of McKinley hiding behind giant headphones. They are protection against idiots who would make fun of his weight or his nerdiness. He’s a transfer student from Chicago. His senior year. He just wants to get through it. He contemplates the signup sheet. That’s before Rachel grabs him, badgers him, and generally scares him off the club.
Back at McKinley, Jane is disappointed to learn that she’ll have to audition before the Warblers will even CONSIDER changing their discriminatory policies. Jane is so freaking badass. I love her. Blaine convinces her to cut the Warblers some slack. “Sometimes change is scary.” he says. As a bonus, Blaine throws in a mentoring session with Rachel, who helps the budding singer pick the perfect song. (call back to season 2, when Rachel helped her then frenemy, Kurt, audition for a Warbler solo. Remember when Rachel and Kurt hated each other?).
Cut to Kurt in the boys locker room. He’s there to persuade Spencer to join the Glee club, but the self-proclaimed post-modern gay is having none of it. Kurt mentions the great synchronicity that happened between the football team and Glee when Kurt joined as kicker. Spencer wonders why one of the football players isn’t there to recruit him. Thing is, while Kurt may identify himself primarily as gay, it’s not Spencer’s thing. When Spencer came out, only two people had a problem. Beiste threw them off the team. Kurt says he’s naive if he doesn’t think he’s standing on the club’s shoulders. He owes them.
“Please,” says Spencer, “I owe Modern Family.” (HA. A bit of fun meta for you, right there.)
“I’m not saying no to your Glee club because it’s Gay or straight,” says Spencer. “I’m saying no because I think it sucks.”
Back at Dalton, Jane gets a good luck text from Rachel as she prepares to audition. The song they chose was the most played on Jane’s iPod, “Tightrope” by Janelle Monae. She’s SENSATIONAL. Soulful, full of swagger. Even the Warblers can’t stay seated. They fall into formation behind her as she sings. When she finishes the room erupts into applause.
Tightrope – Jane
http://youtu.be/ka6Js5OAZBg
Back at McKinley, the recruiting continues. A visit to the Tea Party Patriot Club by Puck, Quinn, Mercedes and Tina doesn’t go so well, when the leader gives a speech that belies a racist and homophobic agenda. Mercedes is all HELL TO THE NO you can’t join the Glee club, before they all storm out, taking the plate of muffins they brought with them.
Jane learns her fate with the Warblers. Despite killing it, the boys can’t bring themselves to break with tradition. They vote to turn her down. Blaine pledges to put his job on the line to secure her a spot, finally realizing that the situation is wrong. Really wrong. “Sometimes if you want to make change, you have to make a little noise,” he says.
Next group targeted for recruitment? The cheerios. Brittany, Santana and Quinn are back in cheerleader uniforms to sing “Problem,” with Artie in tow. It’s the reunion of the “Unholy Trinity”! Did I mention that Quinn is now SUPER blond. Like platinum blond. There’s Santana doing the rap part, and as much booty shaking from all three as you can handle. Maybe even a little more.
Problem – The Unholy Trinity
http://youtu.be/AzcTPHI-B8w
LOOK IT’S KITTY! She’s the only former newbie Coach Sylvester didn’t force out of the school. She’s all bitter about how Artie treated her when he left for college. Rachel never even learned her name. Why should she re-join the club? She chides them for being “pathetically stuffed back into their cheerio uniforms.” Twin cheerios, Madison and Mason ask in unison if they can try out together. “Of course the incest twins want in,” snarks Kitty, “We have to explain to these two why ‘Flowers in the Attic’ is not a love story to aspire to.”
Back in the choir room, where the grads are gathered, Brittany gives Kurt some sage er I mean, insane advice on how to win back Blaine: “Promise him that you’ll burn every piece of clothing you have and tell him you’ll start dressing like a normal person. Then I think you should really start getting honest with him about following your life’s ambition, which is becoming America’s top Barbara Bush impersonator,” says Brit to a confused Kurt.
The plan to recruit new Glee club members has turned into a big fat fail. But then that voice. Everybody hears it, through the vents. and off they go in hot pursuit. “Dudes,” says Sam, “He’s in the showers in the locker room! They’re always in the showers!” They follow it into the library. Back in the stacks, there is Roderick singing with his headphones on. No, the gang isn’t there to beat him up! They convince him to audition, using all the usual arguments. “I have designed my entire life on people not noticing me,” says Roderick. “When I’m with these people they remind me of the best parts of myself,” says Rachel . If he joins, Glee club will always have his back. It’s a place where misfits can fit in.
Meanwhile, Sue continues to plot and plan to destroy the Glee club. She calls the “gay kid” into her office, thinking she can bribe him. She wants him to infiltrate the club and be terrible on purpose so everyone becomes demoralized and quits. Spencer gives her the side eye, calling her Sue several times, even after she corrects him. Even the gift of a custom molded Tom Brady fleshlight can’t sway him! Even the promise to force Beiste into making him the team’s starting quarterback doesn’t move him. Spencer declares that he isn’t for sale. And if she wants to get rid of the Glee club, “you have to come up with some new items,” he says, as he tosses away her gift.
“Touché, post-modern gay,” says Sue to herself. I’m beginning to like this kid.
Cut to the auditorium, the gang is assembled for Roderick’s audition. He sings “Mustang Sally” and man he kills it! The unholy trinity, inspired, take the stage to back him up. About Noah Guthrie: He’s a newbie to acting, but there is something so natural and open about the way he approaches his role. He’s engaging. Rachel is all “we’ll be putting the list up next week…” while Kurt nudges her and says, “Why don’t we just let him in?”
“Ok you’re in!” shouts Rachel, while the others hoot and holler.
Mustang Sally – Roderick
http://youtu.be/iwadbnLJWl8
It’s homecoming day. As Becky Jackson reads a litany of crazy rules for the festivities over the PA system (each attendant has to bring two books to burn in the bonfire), Rachel walks into the auditorium, past the Glee shrine that displays photos of Finn and the original Glee director, which Sue has notably left intact. Kurt and Roderick join her. She muses, wondering how Mr. Shue did it. How did he turn nothing into what the club became? Kurt reminds her that they can’t recreate what they had. They have to be open to things that are new, or different, or even better.
Roderick suggests having the meeting in the auditorium, since he’s the only member. The first Glee club meeting ALWAYS has to be in the choir room, insists Rachel. But besides that, Roderick isn’t the only Glee club member. At that moment, a totally pissed off Blaine enters the stage. He accuses Rachel and Kurt of breaking the rules they established at dinner. No poaching! Oh boy. It turns out Jane doesn’t want to fight an uphill battle with the Warblers. She’s decided to defect to McKinley to join New Directions instead. In which case, declares Rachel, it’s not poaching, because it was Jane’s idea.
Blaine had cleared a path for Jane, threatening to quit his job, but it was all for naught. Kurt reminds his former beau that he has a full team, and it would not hurt to let one go, at which point Blaine accuses Kurt of sabotage in retaliation for hooking up with Karofsky. “This whole friendly competition thing,” says Blaine, “It’s over.” You gotta be like that, Blaine?
Back in the choir room, the two new members are introduced. Santana walks in with the “Flowers in the Attic” twins, Mason and Madison, who prove to be so weird, Santana instantly has second thoughts. “Our parents met while touring with the inspirational world famous singing group, Up With People,” says Madison. That’s a terrible sign, right there. Rachel reminds them that they’ll have to audition. “We have a very rigorous process,” she says. “Not really,” says Tina, “Sugar Motta was literally tone deaf.” Oh Sugar. How I miss thee! Nevertheless, Rachel is so happy, and so thankful that her friends returned to pitch in and help. GROUP HUG! Now with added newbies!
With that, Sam begins the opening whistle of Edward Sharpe’s “Home.” Mason and Madison audition. They continue to be a little creepy, but they CAN sing. Mason in particular, has a really cool alt/rock voice. (Like I said…these newbies are AWESOME). They take it out to the football field, where a pep rally and bonfire are going on. Everyone is there, including Will and Sue, who are behaving friendly enough toward each other. Rachel and Kurt sing the first lines (HOLY LOWER REGISTER KURT). Brittany and Santana skip on the field, hand in hand. Tina rolls Artie out onto the field where Mercedes is waiting for them.
The football players assemble around Sue. “You think this is hard, try having sex with Michael Bolton, and NOT fall in love with him. THAT’S hard. Santana and Puck sing a little duet while holding sparklers. Cut to the locker room, where Spencer sings a line as he glances at the Glee signup sheet. Kurt, Sam and Artie peek around the corner and see this. The newbies stride down the McKinley halls as they sing.
Now everyone is out on the field. Fireworks go off. Blaine and his new boyfriend are there too. Karofsky smiles as he puts his arm around Blaine. They cuddle. Kurt takes note. He looks stricken. Rachel glances over. She nods, sympathetic. And the scene fades out into a black and white sketch.
Home
http://youtu.be/306JHaBBrLw
Listen to Songs: Glee Season 6 Premiere Songs! Listen to FULL AUDIO Streams
Glee Season 6 Episode 3 – Jagged Little Tapestry
http://youtu.be/p8HSotKy8go
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