The remaining 7 contenders will be schooled on Tenacity by none other than MS. AMBER RILEY! The homework assignment is “Survivor” by Destiny’s Child.
The kids will perform “Eye of the Tiger” for their group number, which was filmed in one long shot.
Stay tuned for results, video and a FULL recap.
Bottom 3
Michael – “Brick” by Ben Folds Five
Abraham – “Man in the Mirror” by Michael Jackson
Lily – “I’m The Greatest Star” from Funny Girl
Abraham was eliminated from The Glee Project
I DON’T understand how Michael continues to survive. No really. What is the reason? The Glee Project editors have presented a total cipher to us. He’s supposedly a math nerd with a sense of humor. But we’ve seen VERY little of the kind of person he is. His vocal and acting skills don’t seem all that impressive either. I was really sorry to see Abraham go tonight. That video shoot was an incredible challenge for all the kids, but after Abraham hurt his ankle, it’s understandable that he would have lost some energy. He was an interesting character, but Abraham is still clearly struggling with self-identity, and I suspect Ryan Murphy didn’t care for that. After all, he thinks Michael is “charm on a stick.”
ETA: The Final Four will probably be Aylin, Shanna, Ali and Blake. I said before that Ryan won’t be able to resist Aylin’s hot conservative Muslim backstory. He called her “game changing” after a last chance performance. I think she’ll take it all.
The kids are so close to the end, they can TASTE that 7 episode story arc! Robert introduces the theme, Tenacity. “I think at this point, you can tell me what tenacity is,” says Robert. Ali feels especially close to this theme, having spent most of her life in a wheelchair. She says the theme growing up was, “Never give up.”
The homework assignment is “Survivor” by Destiny’s Child. The remaining 7 contenders divvy up the vocal parts and decide on choreography. Abraham also believes he is the embodiment of tenacity. He was supposed to be a lawyer, but gave it all up to be Abraham the Performer. Shanna feels like SHE’S tenacious, because she was raised by a crack mama.
The following day, Robert introduces Amber Riley to the group. Shanna is excited to have another woman walk into the room who can also “belt to Jesus.” Hallelujah! To prove HER tenacity, Robert reveals that Amber is standing in front of the room with stress fractures in BOTH feet from dancing in high heels. See kids, you too can be worked to the bone if you win a part on Glee!
The kids put on their fiercest performance, and afterward, Amber says she wanted to “get up and dance with you guys.” It’s time for the notes. Amber loves Abraham’s Diva, but says he needs to remember he’s playing a character too. She wanted to see a bit more vivaciousness. Amber loves the way Lily sings, but didn’t think she connected to the song. Lily’s stinkface in response PRICELESS. It’s all compliments for Aylin. But, Amber LOVES Ali and is impressed that she moved almost as much as the able-bodied kids did on their feet. And for the second week in a row, Ali wins the homework assignment. Aylin congratulates Ali, but behind her back, she bitches, “I deserved to win this one.”
Amber announces that the big group number is “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor. The twist is that the entire video will be filmed in ONE SINGLE SHOT. If any one of the contenders makes a mistake, everyone will have to start the take over from the beginning. And it’s not an easy thing to shoot—the kids will be running an obstacle course in a gym.
DAMN. NO CHOREOGRAPHY WITH KING BITCH ZACH WOODLEY THIS WEEK. I weep.
Vocals with Nikki Anders is next. The song is outside of most of the contenders’ vocal range, she notes. Aylin and Ali sail through their parts. Abraham has trouble staying on pitch, but gets it eventually. Shanna is great once again. Nikki loves working with Blake, whom she feels is open and willing to try. “He’s the one to beat for the guys.” She says. Ah. Along with the Aylin/Lily competition it looks like Blake and his bestie, Michael are being set up as rivals. Whether they like it or not. When Michael couldn’t hit a note in the studio, Nikki snarked, “Blake was able to hit it.” Unnecessary! When the contenders sing together in the studio, Aylin mocks Lily, who is a total Shouty McShouterson. “What Aylin said really struck a nerve,” says Lily. She knows her “big booming voice” can be overpowering.
The shoot begins and it’s crazy. Zach, sitting up in the bleachers with Robert, has only two notes for the contenders: Good and Luck. The kids have to start over again and again, as they screw up trying to sprint, bat balls, make baskets, dive through tires. They also start over if one of the contenders fails to lip sync. In her one on one, Amber reminds Ali that she has had to work a little harder than most people to deal with her disability. The strength is right there.
The shoot is grueling as the kids start over and over and over again. This is clearly a test of the contenders’ mettle. At one point, Shanna is throwing up in a wastebasket. Abraham hurts his ankle, but pushes through. Aylin, Lily, Michael and Abraham are handling the jump rope and are having trouble lip syncing at the same time. The take has to feel like the longest 2 ½ minutes of their lives.
Aylin is irritated when Abraham wants an ice pack for his ankle. “We’re all in pain,” she sniffs. When a take gets close to the end, Ali has trouble making a basket. Geez, the girl is IN A WHEELCHAIR and expected to throw it backwards. She rolls off into another room and cries. Shanna comforts her. Finally, she suggests that the contenders lift her wheelchair so she can dunk it, and she finally gets it. It took 34takes.
The single shot in the video DOES look pretty amazing.
It’s time to choose the bottom 3. Robert felt, as a group, the contenders wowed the mentors. Ali, Shanna and Blake are called back first. It turns out Blake never made a mistake through all the many takes.
Lilly, Abraham, Aylin and Michael are left. And it just so happens they were involved with the jump rope section of the video, which had multiple problems and really held up the shoot. Nikki mentions the problems Michael and Abraham had in the studio. She reminds Lily to learn to blend her voice when she sings in group numbers. Aylin began to lose her focus during the shoot—a note she’s multiple times. These notes are pretty persnickety—a sign that the contenders have been whittled down to some pretty talented kids.
Robert announces that Michael and Abraham will sing for Ryan Murphy. The mentors went back and forth between Lily and Aylin, but ultimately decided to send Lily to the bottom 3.
The songs are handed out. Lily gets “I’m the Greatest Star” from Funny Girl. She’s thrilled. Michael will sing “Brick” by Ben Folds Five and Abraham has “Man in the Mirror” by Michael Jackson. Ryan asked Robert to remind Abraham to be himself and not kiss up to him. Lily practices and quickly realizes doesn’t know the words. It’s Abraham’s 3rd time in the bottom 3, and it’s getting to him emotionally. “I’m not going to go down without a fight,” he cries.
Last chance performance in front of Ryan Murphy. Michael is first. Nikki says he’s the weakest singer left. He performs and it’s not bad, but it’s not great. Why is he smiling through a song about abortion? Nevertheless, Ryan, Zach, Robert and Nikki are charmed. However, Ryan tells him he has a really hard road “when you’re up against Blake, who would never have stumbled if he had a jump rope malfunction.” Sheesh. Could they make this phony rivalry any more obvious? Ryan says Michael took the “jump rope fiasco” the worst.
Abraham is next. He does a really nice job with the song. It’s well sung and very emotional. Ryan wants to know why Abraham lost his focus this week. The ankle injury was legitimate, Ryan felt. But when Abraham begins a sentence with “I’m not using this as an excuse” Ryan snaps back, “Anybody who says I’m not using this as an excuse, is using it as an excuse.” Bitch! Abraham insists that he fought his way through the video even though he wanted to stop. Ryan doesn’t look pleased. He roots for Abraham, but doesn’t believe in all the stuff that seems to be “mucking him up.”
Lily is last. I dunno. Her performance is kind of terrible, with a bunch of yips and yelps. She doesn’t know the words. It’s not all that comedic. But Ryan loves it. He wants to know why Lily wasn’t emotionally present during the shoot. Annoyingly, Lily blames her issues on Aylin, which feels really immature and EXCUSE MAKING. But Ryan doesn’t seem to mind at all.
Suddenly, Abraham comes back to talk to Ryan. He admits that he flubbed the video. “This isn’t me kissing your ass,” he tells Ryan, “But I will give you my blood sweat and tears and you know that….I’m not freaking leaving until I win this competition, or you write a role for me on Glee.” Ryan thought that Abraham was going to ask to sing again. “I really don’t care about pontification,” says Ryan, clearly irritated, “What I care about is your talent and you come out and bring it in a crunch.” Ryan feels like he could write for each contender in the bottom 3. “It’s a tough choice, but I think we’ve made our decision,” he says.
As an aside, it’s pretty clear that Glee backing tracks are used for the performances and that the band on stage is just for show. So much for reality.
Robert arrives with the callback list. And it turns out Abraham is going home. I do not get the appeal of Micheal, but Ryan finds him to be “charm on a stick” while Abraham clearly annoys him. Abraham gave the best last chance performance of the three. His little speech was a mistake, but, Lily throwing Aylin under the bus was WAY more annoying. Michael is just a bore.
Next week, Darren Criss mentors “Romanticality.” Dianna Agron appears the following week and Chris Colfer guests on the finale, “Gleeality.”
