After waiting two months on the sidelines for "Glee" to return, fans finally got their show back with the highly anticipated post-Super Bowl episode called "The Sue Sylvester Bowl Shuffle"... and it scored a major touchdown with hardcore Gleeks!
Let's start with the lady the episode was named after: the back-to-being-Grinch-y Sue Sylvester. We learned a lot about Sue tonight: she is 31 (riiiight), she made a documentary about the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, she has a tattoo of herself on her back (complete with a misspelling), she takes "ninja poops," she confuses (guest star) Katie Couric with Diane Sawyer, she has a terrible temper when she doesn't get what she wants. And, as it turns out, what Sue wants is to shoot poor Brittany out of a canon!
When Sue snubs her nose at the Cheerios' routine to Katy Perry's "California Gurls" (complete with bike ramps, pyrotechnic bras and blue wigs), she decides it's time to go big or go home for cheer regionals. Only she wants to do it dangerously by putting Brittany in a canon that will likely blow her to bits.
This poses some problems as, 1. Brittany doesn't want to die yet, "At least not until 'One Tree Hill' gets canceled," and 2. IT'S REALLY DANGEROUS. When Mr. Schuester and Principal Figgins put the kibosh on her plan, Sue goes on a rampage. She also makes Brittany, Quinn and Santana choose between glee club and Cheerios (but, more on that later.) Let's just say, in a night full of winners, Sue, literally, was the biggest loser of them all.
On the other end of the arena at McKinley High, tensions really came to a head between the football team and glee club, after the gridiron bullies slushied Artie. But rather than allow the bitter rivals to carry on with their clash, Mr. Schue and Coach Beiste decide to bring them together: by making the rest of the football players temporarily join the glee club.
With an idea so crazy it had to work, the football team (who annoyingly rolled their eyes through Rachel and Puck's sweet rendition of Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now") can stay in tact, as long as they perform a big number (a zombie-riffic mash-up of Yeah Yeah Yeah's "Heads Will Roll" with Michael Jackson's "Thriller," no less!) during halftime with the glee club during the big championship game.
And things seem to be going pretty great for a while (a conflicted Karofsky even suggests the guys get in an extra glee club practice, where they take on The Zombies' classic "She's Not There") until the football team gets a taste of their own icy, red medicine when the hockey team (complete with mullets!) slushies them. Not wanting to be seen as losers, they drop out of glee club, and consequently, the football team.
But, rather than back down, some star glee clubbers strap on their helmets and head into battle. Tina, Rachel, Lauren and Mercedes volunteer to be on the football team for the big game in order for them to have the regulation numbers they need to play. While they don't play the entire game and Tina took a big hit, their hearts were in the right place.
Meanwhile, Finn (who was challenged on his leadership skills by Sam earlier) really proved that he's the captain of both the glee club and the football team, when he got the the missing Cheerios to return to their rightful spot in New Directions and helped rally his old teammates back on to the field to perform their TOTALLY SPECTACULAR number (which even Karofsky couldn't help but join in) and, subsequently, win the game. As if this weren't enough, later on Quinn, amazed by Finn's leadership skills, plants a big kiss on him!
All in all, it was a night of killer musical numbers (the already legendary mash-up, as well as Darren Criss' swoon-worthy rendition of Destiny's Child's "Bills, Bills, Bills" came out on top), comedy (did you catch that double jab at the Lohan clan? How about Brittany's "Double Zombie Rainbow" theory?) and one heck of a cliffhanger (hey, at least the new ep is tomorrow!)
Don't forget to check out Jim Cantiello's musical "Glee"-cap!
Tell us, what did you think of the "Glee" Super Bowl episode? Do you think Finn and Quinn are headed for a reunion? Has Karofsky finally turned a corner? Did Kevin McHale's zombie makeup totally freak you out too? Let us know in the comments section!
** Hollywood Crush Twitter