Your weekly GLEEcap: “Britney/Brittany”

Gleeks across the country were waiting with baited breath for this episode which paid homage to Britney Spears. Who better for the McKinley High Glee Club to revere then Brit-Brit herself? And who better to channel all of the Britney, than Brittany S. Pearce (Heather Morris)? Brittany starts off the episode stating that she didn’t want to do Britney songs because she shared the star’s name and she knew that she could not be as good as the original.

Introducing John Stamos as Emma’s boyfriend, Dr. Carl, gave show creator Ryan Murphy the perfect tool for conjuring Brit-Brit, nitrous, aka laughing gas. Since Mr. Shue was (ridiculously) against the kids performing her songs, the gas allowed the kids to get there.

Although I enjoyed the performances overall, two stood out as being particularly below par. Rachel’s “Baby One More Time” and Artie’s “Stronger” were really just misses. The episode as a whole proved to be a miss for me. I feel that the artist driven episodes of Glee are rougher, the exception being “Theatricality” (Gaga). The beauty of GLEE, in my opinion, is the way that the writers can craft a story around the songs that New Directions sing. The songs fit in seamlessly so it doesn’t feel so much like a musical. Tonight’s journey was one over long Brit-Brit video with small bits of story shoved in here and there.

Even though this wasn’t my favorite, Heather Morris was stellar singing and dancing in her role and New Directions performance of “Toxic” featuring Mr. Shue was brilliant. When Sue went on her rant about the Hubert Humphrey “sex riot”, I nearly lost it! Sue always brings a little crazy to the already odd world of Glee.

Rachel redeemed herself, and thus a bit of the episode for me, by closing the show with Paramore’s “The Only Exception.” It was the only song that had any bearing on the initial theme that Mr. Shue wanted – adult contemporary.

Next week’s show “Grilled Cheesus” looks pretty compelling, I hope the story matches the songs. Let me know how you feel…was I too harsh regarding “Britney/Brittany”?

Songs performed:
“Slave 4 U” (Britney Spears)
“Me Against the Music” (Britney Spears)
“Baby One More Time” (Britney Spears)
“Stronger” (Britney Spears)
“The Only Exception” (Britney Spears)