HOLLYWOOD—Things get a little more unplugged as hidden secrets were revealed in this week’s episode of “Glee,” “Lights Out.” Due to McKinley High’s power outage, Mr. Schuester (Mathew Morrison) decides to make the week’s assignment be “unplugged” as many of the students were becoming dependent on electronic instruments. Mr. Schuester is especially fired up after seeing their competition, Frida (Jessica Sanchez), as she has an incredible voice. Many will recognize Sanchez as the runner-up for the last season of “American Idol.” It’s great to see her performing again as she’s incredibly talented and seems like a good fit for “Glee.”
Sam (Chord Overstreet) decides to sing The Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lose That Lovin’ Feelin'” accompanied only by his guitar. It was a really great performance but it was hard to focus due to Artie’s (Kevin McHale) constant texting. Sam notices Artie’s lack of attention and is offended that he cannot escape from his technology long enough to appreciate what is in front of him. This is a great comment on the dynamic of today’s society as everyone is more focused on what’s happening on the internet than actual reality.
Ryder (Blake Jenner) is surprisingly still talking to “Katie” even though she stood him up twice and she has yet to reveal her true identity. He admits to Jake (Jacob Artist) that he told her things he has never told anyone else and that they have a connection. Jake urges him to talk to them about his dark secrets which he does after a very beautiful performance of “Everybody Hurts.” As he sings, a montage is shown of all the taunting and slushies the glee members have faced and the song was meant to inspire them to “hold on.” Ryder’s confession is a surprising one as is the reaction of the glee members.
Ryder reveals that his female babysitter molested him when he was eleven years old. Sam and Artie are surprised that Ryder finds the experience traumatizing as it’s every boys dream come true to be touched by a girl at a young age. It is a response that many boys would give but it’s equally disheartening since at a young age, experiences such as that can truly mess with a person’s psyche. Ryder is hurt by their response but tries to brush it off as though he is fine. He manages to find a friend in Kitty (Becca Tobin) who confides that she understands what he went through. She tells him that she was also molested at a young age but by her best friend’s brother. Her friends never believed her admission and she transferred to run away from the experience. It is a touching scene that was well acted by both Tobin and Jenner.
The glee members then do one of the greatest performances of the season with Queen’s “We Will Rock You.” It was not just the singing that made it so iconic, but the fact that they were using odd items for instruments such as trash bins. It would be great to see more stripped-back performances on “Glee” as it reminds us of the true talent of each of the actors.
Sue (Jane Lynch) is enjoying her time out of Mckinley High as she is now an aerobic instructor. After an intense class, Blaine (Darren Criss), lets her know that she needs to return as the new coach of the Cheerios is worse than her. Coach Roz Washington (Nene Leakes) apparently tried to convince the cheerleaders to have a procedure to remove a few of their ribs to look better. Blaine also tells her that he knows that something is fishy about the gunshots fired and that he will not stop until he finds the truth.
Even Becky (Lauren Potter) tells Sue that she misses her and that she’s sorry for making her leave. Sue then expresses that she was tired of the lack of appreciation by the cheerleaders by singing “Little Girls” from the musical “Annie.” It’s nice to see Sue singing sometimes and the song was so well-picked for her personality. Especially since Lynch will actually be playing Miss Hannigan for a limited time on Broadway. Becky then decides to take matters into her own hands and goes to Principal Figgins (Iqbal Theba) but it is only hinted that she would tell the truth.
To everyone’s delight, Sarah Jessica Parker was back in “Glee” for her role as Isabelle Wright. Isabelle recruits Kurt (Chris Colfer) to help her organize a benefit party that is sponsored by Vogue.com. Kurt and Rachel (Lea Michele) use this as an opportunity to get Satana (Naya Rivera) back on the right track. They don’t like that Santana is a cage dancer and not doing anything related to going after her dreams. During the party, Kurt, Rachel, Santana and Isabelle sing “At the Ballet” which seems to inspire Santana to do more for her passion of dance. Santana decides to take extension classes at NYADA which will hopefully lead her on the right track.
Back in Lima, Ryder is talking with Katie again and rejects Kitty’s offer to go out which hurts her. Kitty might be Katie as she she is offended by the fact that Ryder would rather talk to the person over the web than who she really is. Plus Katie stopped talking to him the moment Kitty arrived and continued once Kitty left. Hopefully they reveal who Katie is soon because Ryder might not be able to take any more heartbreak. The lights eventually turn back on in McKinley but Mr. Schuester convinces the glee students to do one more stripped-back performance. The students sing “The Longest Time” a cappella which was a bit of a cheesy performance, yet still enjoyable.
Rachel’s arch nemesis, Cassandra July (Kate Hudson), is back to torment her in next week’s episode, “Wonder-ful.” The theme for the episode will be especially exciting as “Glee” pays tribute to Stevie Wonder.
By Ivetta Babadjanian
