Sue organizes an invitational for New Directions, Vocal Adrenaline and the Dalton Academy Warblers, despite the fact that Rachel and Kurt's group is still small and unprepared. Sue also works behind the scenes in order to take down Will for constantly annoying her, as well as to reunite Kurt and Blaine—a relationship that she has secretly been shipping. In order to accomplish her goals, she hypnotizes Sam and instructs him to make amorous advances toward Rachel as they take piano lessons from Blaine, have him forget, and then allow him to break her heart so that she becomes distracted from her duties as choir director. She also has a hypnotized Sam pit Will against Rachel by spreading lies about a fictional animosity that Rachel has toward him. Finally, she investigates the genealogies of Blaine and Karofsky and informs them that they're third cousins, while also having Blaine learn that Karofsky's previous boyfriends were all bears. Meanwhile, Kurt meets an online date named Walter (Harry Hamlin), only to learn that he is a man in his 50s who only recently came out. The episode ends with Vocal Adrenaline's invitational set.
Next Time: Part 2 of our case study on altered states, featuring two cases of Foregone Conclusion, a former couple trapped in an elevator, and Rachel having Les Yay with someone not Quinn Fabray. Plus, Jigsue. Madness.
Songs:
- Bitch by Meredith Brooks, performed by Sue.
- A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton, performed by Rachel and Sam.
- Rock Lobster, by The B-52s, performed by Clint with Vocal Adrenaline.
- Whip It! by Devo, performed by Vocal Adrenaline.
Tropes:
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Sue's "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Will being closed by saying that he ruins Journey's music.
- Biting-the-Hand Humor: Sue reminds the glee club that they need 12 members to compete, calling it the only rule that any remembers or cares about, but always forget until right before the show. (Who writes this!?)
- Call-Back: Sue's hurt locker contains (amongst other things) a life-size model of Al Roker, specifically labelled as such. In the episode "I Do'', Quinn says that the only man she maybe likes is Al Roker. - What on earth has Sue been doing...
Squick. - Disproportionate Retribution: Sue to everything that has ever even looked at Lima, it would seem.
- Fan Speak: Prior to this episode, "The Hurt Locker" was a name among fans (especially Brittana fans) for the lockers by which Santana and Brittany conducted much of their relationship.
- Fanon - Hilarious in Hindsight Call-Back: Figgins' sister is called Abigail Figgins-Gunderson, and many fans like to think that she's married into a family and now related to Missy Gunderson, whoever the fuck she is, which is the only reason why the random girl was nominated for Prom Queen in season 3.
- The all new theory that instead of everything happening in Rachel's mind, Sue has manipulated everything in the Glee-verse from the beginning of time.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: The wall from Sue's hurt locker, as shown (in part) in the picture above, contains the following (among much more):
- A newspaper article called Glee club loses again with "Loses" highlighted.
- The picture from the 2009 yearbook in the middle, with a note pointing to Matt saying "Missing".
- A "STOP" sign with the words "Just" and "believing" added above and below, spelling out "Just stop believing" - Sue's ire towards the glee club's endless optimism and a reference to Don't Stop Believin'.
- A note saying "TRAITORS" by pictures of The Unholy Trinity.
- A ticket to Funny Girl, suggesting that she saw Rachel and/or Santana perform on Broadway.
- A program from the same performance, but with "UN" added in front of the name.
- A copy of Mercedes' album.
- The photo of Rachel that she had Santana put in her locker.
- A baby photo, presumably of Beth. (or Baby Robin, who's been MIA for two seasons).
- Sam's modelling shoot photos.
- Karofsky articles, on football and his attempted suicide.
- A note saying "Phase 1" next to glee club drama.
- Muckraker articles, including the Rumours one with the blind items circled.
- A map of NYC, with the exact location of the Bushwick loft marked.
- Screencaps of private moments made to look like they were taken from CCTV, including Will and Beiste kissing.
- Lots of pictures of Klaine, kissing with hearts drawn around theme, including new ones.
- A photo of Kurt performing Single Ladies in his basement, and others with "Porcelain" written on.
- A program from Kurt's nursing home production of Peter Pan.
- Rachel's hair. RACHEL'S HAIR!
- Defaced pictures of Figgins, including the staff photo of him in his janitor uniform.
- A note saying "Unholy Trinity" by pictures of the three, with "UN" underlined in red.
- A picture of Brittany leaning back in bed, legs spread and looking satisfied.
- A photo of The Unholy Trinity in a compromising position I'm sure we've never seen before... huh.
- Hypocrite: Sue says that Will has "the emotional depth of a 12-year-old girl". She then is outed as a massive Klaine fan, who are usually accused of being emotional 12-year-old girls. (The writers have been exploring the internet.)
- Incest Subtext: One of the In-Universe ways Sue tries to break up Blaine and Karofsky.
- Market-Based Title: Was simply called "The Hurt Locker" in the UK, like the episode's single. However, this is a subverted example because the film of the same name proved more successful and popular in some parts of the UK than the US.
- Nightmare Fuel: In-Universe - imagine being one of the glee kids and finding out about this. Or, imagine what Sue must have done with her Cheerios! and that doll of Al Roker if Quinn has previously explicitly mentioned him and only him as men that she thinks are OK.
- No Fourth Wall: Sue is speaking as an Audience Surrogate as much as a character, and she seems to know it.
- Room Full of Crazy: The "hurt locker" is like all the insane contents of Sue's deranged mind were spewed out into a storage cube.
- Shot-for-Shot Remake: The music video for ''A Thousand Miles".
- Stalker Shrine: The eponymous "hurt locker", where Sue stores symbols of all she hates — and secretly what she loves, namely Klaine. It is way more scary than sweet though.
- Take That, Audience!: Sue is made out to be a stereotypical obsessive Klaine shipper, and the creepiness is likely meant to attack the real life ones. Also Audience Surrogate.
- The writers are probably trying to make the obsessive fans see how creepy and crazy they come off, especially to the actors.
- Uncanny Family Resemblance: Figgins and Gunderson.
- Willing Suspension of Disbelief: And we are willing. It's hilarious.
