We start today's Tear Jerker in the cafeteria, where Jake catches Marley hiding free lunch tickets, then revealing his own. Backstory is that before the recession, his mother was a successful real estate agent. Now, she's a waitress at the local country club, taking extra shifts to pay for Jake's ballet lessons. Huh. As they flirt (yes, this being Glee, it counts), we pan over to Blaine and Brittany, who sit and lament their current relationships. Just wait you two. Just wait. Blaine says everyday with their lovers was like Valentine's Day, Brit asking since their still young aren't they supposed to still experience those things? This sets the tone as we hit the Title Card.
Now, as the focus is between the four couples, as we did before, we're gonna split the main narrative into four, starting with...
Couple number 1: Finchel We're at Bushwick, Kurt fixing breakfast as Rachel enters; despite what Kurt believed her and Amazing Finn only layed together after Brody left. Kurt leaves as awkward tension ensues, the kind generated by a man breaking up with his girlfriend, joining and leaving the Army, and expecting her not to move on, only to catch her with someone else, only for her to think they're still together. Oy. We then find out why he left as we cut to him literally polishing his rifle, whom he called 'Rachel', and, shocking no one, it discharged, right through the thigh earning him a semi-honorable discharge. This is our shocked face. Finn then backpacked through Georgia up to Bushwick for four months, which is a pretty handy skill. At this point he is, as you'd expect, morose about letting everyone down. He deems himself a dreaded "Lima Loser" and that spurs Rachel on, asking him to come to her classes and see if that can motivate him to try acting again. Right. She says she let him go once, but not again. Yeah, Rachel? About that... Later on, we see Finn sitting in on some of Rachel's classes, leading to a V/O where he finally fucking realizes that she's in her element, where she belongs, and (even though she claims the opposite) there's no room for him in her life. He promptly forgets this after the episode, but we can like this Finn. He makes us want to vomit less than usual. Next time though... Anyway, this cues up the first song of the episode, the Signature Song of the man who sorta gave Lea Michele her big breaknote . This is a rare (as in, the second recorded but only one aired) duet between Finn and Blaine, Finn vocally lamenting how he was once the man of Rachel's dreams, but now they couldn't be farther apart.
As the Finchel fans grit their teeth (yes, there were some), and the Faberry fans squeal, we then cut to Bushwick where Kurt and Rachel are taking Finn to a karaoke bar frequented by NYADA students, Finn complaining that he has to sing, not having done so since Nationals. Kurtchel assure him otherwise; at said bar, Brody arrives to rotate the blade ever so slightly. Obligatory awkwardness ensues, "new" Finn subtly asserting himself over "old" Finn. Rachel tells Brody she wants Finn to do a duet on a Demi song but Finn, clearly rattled by his more assertive adversary, allows him to join her instead. Clearly the boy's a glutton for punishment, either that or he worked himself up and as we all know, that never ends well. And we're proven right, as with the last duet last episode, vocally, Geyer and Michele work well together. Finn is properly deflated, pretty much realizing the writing on the wall but stubborn enough not to accept it then and there. Later in Central Park, Finn reiterates what he's known since graduation, that Rachel was meant for this and he wasn't. He then questions Rachel about Brody and as it turns out, her need to hold onto Finn was, at least at this point, instinctive, as she admits to maybe kinda liking the guy. Regardless, this reiterates that she has bad taste in men and probably needs to move onto girls, one in particular... Rachel, you DO have that train pass, remember? And again, Finn, you let her go, so you do not have the right to question whom she kisses. Leave that job to us. This leads to these two, plus two below, venting via No Doubt, Finn sneaking away before Rachel wakes up, Kurt sadly embracing him before he leaves.
Later, we find Finn in the auditorium as Rachel apparently took her own flight to Lima, because all the important moments in their relationship happened there. And as you'd guess, pretty much every scene with these two is a Tear Jerker tinged with harsher hindsight due to Cory's death. Rachel runs through said important moments as Finn remembers them as well. Seems that no matter what, all signs lead back to the stage. Rachel finally lets loose on her frustrations over Finn not contacting her at all while he was in basic training, or backpacking through Georgia. To whit:
This is what the basic idea of the story was supposed to be. They split, take time to find themselves, then when the time was right, reunite. Sadly, fate had other plans. Nonetheless, Finchel officially breakup for good, Finn asking what he does now, Rachel saying he find something he loves. They then kiss for the final timenote , the most bittersweet of kisses.
Couple number 2: Brittana Santana appears in Lima (and in person for the first time this season), because she comes back to do laundry like every college kid because they're useless. She is perplexed at how Kurt got his Vogue.com job, whereas Brittany still wants Santana to pursue her dreams, not realizing that having a dream is great, but having someone to share it with is even better. Despite being reminded that she could've gone to NY too (wait a few episodes), Santana says she likes college... right, and that the schedule is crazy, but she loves being a cheerleader... right. It's like you can smell the Blatant Lies from a foot away. Anyway, San then says she likes the idea of being only a few hours away, then she and Brittany kiss as Brit yawns over being up all night reading the Left Behind novels, seems she joined the latest religious group McKinley hath spawned, one that apparently believes in the rapture. Well of course because why the hell not. Later, we're at Breadstix for said meeting, and Santana is dumbstruck which is a rare thing in and of itself. She calls club member Kitty out on the gibberish, however this whole scene is simply backdrop for the root of Brittana's problem. See, the name of the book is "Left Behind", and in Brittany's mind, Santana did just that. And while we can partially blame Brit for getting Santana the scholarship, we can't assume she knew it would lead to what's to come. Fact is, Brittany didn't see this all the way through, and now Santana's feeling the effects, as will we all. Nonetheless, Brit-Brit, you're hurting our tear ducts but you're the one who sent Santana away and decided to redo your senior year. Santana comes back to see you, please don't think your relationship is crappy because it's the best one on the show and you're going to break our hearts, sweetie. And boy will they be broke.
Here's how. This is what the Brittana fans were both dreading and expecting since the start of the season. We find Santana in the choir room, alone, when Brittany arrives, both sitting farther apart than usual, an obvious visual metaphor.
The omnipresent band arrives with some Taylor Swift. The song is "Mine", and in this context it serves as Santana telling Brittany that Brittany means everything to her, but long-distance is just going to make them resent each other. She then says as much as Heather's crying (what acting?) and so everyone watching is. Being prepared for it doesn't lessen the sting, because who isn't affected by Heather actually really crying - and she knew for ages beforehand. Even though there's no real goddamned reason, Murphy. Drama? No ideas? Okay, maybe, just maybe, Santana was so heartbroken at what leaving did to Brittany, that she reacted without thinking herself, because otherwise this is a prime example of all the original characters going completely OOC just so Murphy could exult his dubious whims. Because on what planet would Santana Marie Lopez dump Brittany Susan Pierce out of the fucking blue? Yes, make no mistake, Santana may declare them "on a break", and the terms of this may flip-flop Depending on the Writer and what the plot calls for, but the bottom line is that Santana dumps Brittany because she wanted to, setting up the main reason the mass exodus of Gleeks was at its all time high, not to mention breaking Brit-Brit to the point of her becoming the definition of a dumb blonde AND setting her up to become swallowed up by fucking Trouty Mouth; no, not a spoiler because it's obvious that's what this bullshit was building up towards.
And here are three words that will become very familiar over this half of the series: Fuck You Murphy.
Couple number 3: Klaine Blaine gets a call from Kurt, who for some reason, and by that we mean obvious dramatic purposes, decides to call the boyfriend while manning Isabelle Wright's switchboard. Sigh. Remember those cracks we were talking about? They're getting deeper as we see Blaine obviously frustrated over the entire situation whereas Kurt all but hangs up on him. Yeah. This leads to the Finn/Blaine duet mentioned above, Blaine's side of it essentially details his frustration and loneliness, eventually leading to The Reveal of him calling chatting it up with someone not Kurt DUNDUNDUN. As the Klaine fans grit their teeth, we then cut to Bushwick where Kurt and Rachel are taking Finn to a karaoke bar frequented by NYADA students, when a knock at the door reveals Blaine, flowers in hand. At said bar, it's obvious Blaine's in another headspace and we can all guess what it entails. As per custom, emotions are best expressed vocally, so when given the opportunity, Blaine takes to the piano for Darren Criss' sad rendition of the song that brought Klaine togethernote . However, Kurt immediately senses something's off, but can't even figure out what - wonder why they break up?; later in Central Park, Kurt makes the mistake of asking what's wrong... and Blaine lowers the boom as the cracks finally overtake Klaine, as he confirms the hookup we suspected earlier. Kurt takes it as well as anyone would in this instance, and give Colfer credit, he can shed tears with the best of them. This leads to these two, plus two above, venting via No Doubt. Blaine presumably returning to Lima the next day. Later, Kurt gets apology flowers and as you'd guess, they wind up in the trash. Ouch
Couple number 4: Wemma Not really a lot to discuss with these two. As we established last time, Will signed up for a blue ribbon panel on the arts that will pull him away from McKinley for a few months. Thing is, he wants to take Emma as well. Now, granted, that's a fair assumption, but one has to accept the chance the other might wanna stay. And Emma wants to stay and man the fort. This is where Will gets perturbed, all but demanding she go with him, Emma of course is not amused atbasically being treated like a obedient puppy, saying Will should go but not uproot her for his dream.. Will doesn't like this lack of submissiveness, and we're trying our best not to view him as a jerk but it's really hard right now, Glee.
Now, in the midst of this, we do have newbies to attend to, so we find ourselves at Marley's locker as Kitty appears to posture. She produces fliers for the "Left Behind" club, yet another excuse for a McKinley cheerleader to spew her repression (yes, we suspect repression, she is an Unholy Trinity amalgamation). She of course has lapdog Puckerman with her as we cut to Breadstix for said meeting, and of course more meaningless platitudes. After being called out by Santana on the gibberish, we see Tina's minion Dottie ask about those who are not of a particular religion and thus opening herself up for more gibberish. Relevant action sees more Jarley flirting, and eventually the whole thing is revealed to be one giant setup designed to torment Dottie: everyone bails leaving behind clothes thus leading Dottie to believe the Rapture has occurred and she's the last one on earth. Of course, as Jake participated, though unwillingly, Marley leaves disgusted. Let's be fair though, Quinn would've pulled this on Tina at the start of sophomore year.
Taking a break from his narrative, Finn reappears at McKinley, promptly breaking down in Will's arms. He then heads to the choir room where he is joined by Blaine as this is apparently the only place in Ohio, now, surprised that they both snuck - sneaked? - away. After Blaine tells Finn he has no excuse for his actions, Sam and the current ND arrive for hugs and introductions. As Finn sits in on the latest ND class, we then notice that he's surprisingly at ease here. Perchance a sign that he may have something to offer after all? Once he gets his love life sorted out, and we have a pretty good idea how that will end. He does suggest that the school musical for 2012 be Grease, and Will approves. Huh, we may have something here.
Later, we see Jake find Marley who asks why he's with Kitty, calling out the Puckerman tradition of hiding the true self behind the bluster. Jake then laments how as he's mixed race, he's ostracized from groups of both skin tones, but Kitty, though dubious, likes him. We think. Said Wilde arrives for more posturing, Jake stepping up to tell her to back off, she reacting as well as you'd expect, treating her own breakup, then shoving an extra in her wake. Now, if that could have been the only thing in the episode regarding the title we would have loved you and been hugely thankful (being fully aware of exactly what you could have made happen, a.k.a. what you actually did). They don't. The one couple that nobody at all wants together and they're the only ones... Face Palm. Anyway, Marley offers to look at Grease sheet music as she plans to audition, but sadly this drives Jake off leaving her forlorn.
There is no real home stretch as we end with an amazing and beautifully haunting touch of Coldplay. Girls on the left, boys on the right, with a doubly-large gap to keep the gay couples off at the sides (and making it really hard to find a page image that'll fit). Ignoring the context, which sucks, it's one heck of a performance. It's also the trigger that all but Wemma break up right there right then, because none of them actually says it in any capacity and they're all left really ambiguous... gotta say, this was a tough one folks.
And now, Mood Whiplash.
Next Time: Preparation for Grease begins as we start a two-part tribute, featuring the last S4 newbie, and a reminder why the show's male lead puts the Designated in Designated Hero.
Songs:
- "Barely Breathing" by Duncan Sheik, performed by Finn and Blaine.
- "Give Your Heart A Break" by Demi Lovato, performed by Rachel and Brody.
- "Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry (Darren Criss version), performed by Duh.
- "Don't Speak" by No Doubt, performed by Rachel and Finn, Kurt and Blaine.
- "Mine" by Taylor Swift, performed by Santana.
- "The Scientist" by Coldplay, performed by Finn, Blaine, Santana, Kurt, Brittany, Will, Emma, and Rachel.
Tropes:
- A-Cup Angst: Kitty tries to use this against Marley, by constantly referring to her by names such as "Itty Bitty."
- Celebrity Paradox: Santana sings "Mine" to Brittany, this song was actually written about Cory Monteith and not getting a proper chance to date him but reflecting on what she imagined their relationship could have been.
- Four Is Death: This is the fourth episode of the fourth season, and three of the show's major couples break up.
- Karaoke Bonding Scene: Finn invokes this by telling Rachel to sing with Brody onstage. As they belt "Give Your Heart a Break" together, he realizes that they have good chemistry and becomes concerned.
