by Chris Saccaro
via blog.zap2it.com
The school year is winding down for the students on “Glee,” which brings us to one of the many rites of passage for high school students–senior prom. Just like a real prom, this week’s episode was pointless and full of unnecessary drama. Surprisingly, there wasn’t a lot of pre-graduation sentimentality, as this season has given us in each episode, with the characters choosing to focus on prom instead.
After Rachel’s failed NYADA audition, it’s unsurprising that she would be slightly off in this week. However, she isn’t taking it nearly as bad as one would expect. At least until she finds out that Quinn and Finn are running together for Prom Queen and King–and so begins the vilification of Quinn. Again.
After Quinn’s redemption earlier in the season, and her near fatal car accident, one would assume she has changed for the better. Yet, in this episode, we witness a complete change in character. No longer is Quinn the humble paralyzed girl, she is now the vindictive popular girl who would do anything it takes to become Prom Queen. Which sounds awfully familiar…probably because she reverted back to Season 2 prom-Quinn.
Everything is put in place for us to really dislike Quinn. She uses her accident to get votes, she hides the fact that she can walk (and is vilified by Finn for doing so), and she even has ominous piano music playing whenever she opens her mouth.
Quinn’s brief (and uncharacteristic) mean streak just made her decision to give Rachel the title of Prom Queen that much more saccharine and eye-roll inducing. Yeah, it was sweet and made for a cute little moment between Rachel and Finn, but it was at the expense of consistent character development.
Other than the Prom Queen drama, the rest of the episode was passable. Brittany had some good one-liners as she became the tyrannical head of the prom committee, plus she picked “Dinosaurs” as the theme, which is pretty awesome. The whole “anti-prom” storyline was petty and unrealistic. So Blaine really won’t go to his senior prom because he can’t use hair gel?
Overall, this episode was just okay. It wasn’t a perfect episode, and it wasn’t the worst episode. It just existed. It was the obligatory “prom” episode. And it gave Quinn an important enough high school event to reveal that she could walk. It’s fitting that she would learn to walk in what seems like a ploy for attention, since her accident was just that–a ploy for attention on the part of the writers, with no pay-off or relevance outside of it being a catalyst for prom drama.
Chris Saccaro is a staff writer. Email him at entertainment@nyunews.com.
