by Chris Saccaro
If there’s one thing “Glee” loves, it’s tribute episodes. This is just something that needs to be accepted in order for one to enjoy (or tolerate) an episode of “Glee.” This week’s episode, “Britney 2.0” is clearly touted as the second Britney Spears tribute episode. While Season 2’s “Britney/Brittany” focused on recreating Britney Spears videos in a loosely connected story involving laughing gas, this time around, “Glee” shows Brittany’s spiraling downfall as it mirrors Britney Spears’ own fall from grace.
The problem with these tribute episodes is that the writers scrap any sort of consistency they developed with the characters in favor of conforming to the theme. That is, if any of the story is even progressed. Being the second episode of the season, there is an expectation that the show should be setting up major plot points and getting the characters situated. But in “Britney 2.0” it’s tough to take any of the characters seriously as they are molded to fit specific roles for a random Britney Spears song.
While the majority of the Glee Club sings Britney Spears songs to inspire Brittany, the newbies are caught in their own recycled storyline. Marley likes Jake Puckerman, who, like his brother, is a “Womanizer.” Even the new kids get to join in on the Britney theme of the week! After a visit from his stepbrother, Puck, Jake ends up joining the Glee Club. It’s weird to see how out of place the 30-year-old Mark Salling (Puck) is when put in the same room as a much younger Jacob Artist (Jake).
The one alarming aspect of these new characters was touched upon last week, but it’s continuing in this week’s episode as well. The new characters are almost mirroring some of the graduated seniors to an eerily familiar level. The love triangle between Marley, Jake, and Kitty feels stale and recycled. It harkens back to the Rachel, Puck, Finn, and Quinn storylines of past seasons.
In New York, things are going about as well as they were last week for Rachel, except this time she has Kurt. After buying an unrealistically large apartment in Brooklyn, the two discuss their future plans. It’s nice to see Kurt not obsessing over Blaine, whereas Rachel still longs for Finn. While it fits in with the story, it seems slightly unrealistic that a girl’s (ex?) fiancé would ignore her for so long.
Overall, “Britney 2.0” was an expected disappointment. The songs were catchy, and some of them fit with the tailored storylines for the episode. It also had some clever meta moments and pop-cultural references to Britney Spear’s actual meltdown. But this early in the season, it’s tough to sit back and watch a tribute episode when the story is just getting started.
Chris Saccaro is a staff writer. Email him at entertainment@nyunews.com.
