After last week’s exhilarating Madonna episode, “Glee” took a bit of a different direction last night that one relatively light on the tunes, but heavy on emotion. At the front and center of it all was Kurt, who was, ultimately, disappointed by his dad and crushed by his crush. Turns out, Kurt had schemed to get himself and Finn to live together by hooking up their respective widowed parents. After a successful set-up at parent-teacher night, Finn’s mom and Kurt’s dad begin to fall for each other. And while Kurt’s plan was inspired, it didn’t exactly pan out well for him.
This due largely in part to the fact that Finn had no desire to live with Kurt (he looked more than a little reluctant during Kurt's impressive solo of Burt Bacharach’s “A House Is Not a Home”) nor ready to part with the memory of his late father. Nevertheless, the Hudson’s and the Hummel’s were starting to merge. Kurt’s father Burt has taken a liking to Finn, the jock son he always wanted. When Burt tells Kurt that Finn and he were just having “guy talk,” an obviously destroyed Kurt (“I’m a guy,” he reminded his dad) quickly discovered what you thought you wanted may not turn out as you’d hoped.
This is exactly what Kurt’s Cheerio-in-crime, Mercedes, discovered as well. After being scolded for not wearing a skirt (She was simply “worried about showing too much skin and causing a sex riot”) and weighting too much by Coach Sylvester, Mercedes tried to lose 10 pounds in one week. While others succumbed to Sue’s outlandish request (Kurt was only eating Splenda for breakfast) Mercedes mentally and physically struggled to get there.
Along the way, a friend in the unlikeliest of places steps in: Quinn. When she sees Mercedes going too far, she reminds her that she’s always been “at home in your body, don’t let Ms. Sylvester take that away from you." We not only saw Quinn in a new light, but Mercedes, too.
Turns out, Sue was being dubbed the greatest cheerleading coach in the past 2,000 years by a magazine and wanted everyone to be “perfect” for the pep rally. When Mercedes opted to take it in a new direction with a rousing take on Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful,” the journalist writing about Sue thinks it was her idea and sees her as a visionary. Now, Sue must either face the consequences and be exposed as a fraud or take on her new role as a cheerleading coach who encourages — gasp! — equality. But before all that, she’d also taken control of the auditorium for practices, leaving New Directions with nowhere to sing.
Cue April Rhodes! Returning guest star Kristin Chenoweth was back as the perky and perpetually buzzed April, who’s now running a disco roller rink. Mr. Schuester and her share a duet (Bruce Springsteen’s “Fire”) and eventually, a place to sublet together, too. While in their new shared digs (they, too, pay homage to Bacharach with a “A Chair is Still a Chair”/”One Less Bell To Answer” mash-up) the lonely pals get ohsoclose to becoming something a little more. Luckily, Will realizes he needs more time to heal from his divorce, and April's rich boyfriend bites it, leaving her millions. Her first big purchase? The high school's auditorium — a gift to New Directions — or as its now known, the April Rhodes Civic Pavilion!
Press play below to relive some of the best moments from "Home"!
Last night’s episode was all about how hard moving on is, both literally and figuratively, did that resonate with you? Or did you just want more tunes? Do you think Kurt and Mercedes should get their own show on Bravo? Let us know, Gleeks!
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