GLEE
E4, Monday 9pm
“Laryngitis” – 9/10
What a FUNNY episode! The Glee world was totally tipped on its’ head this week. Rachel lost her voice, Kurt became ‘straight’ and Puck dated Mercedes!
So Puck is making his way round the Glee club girls like there’s no tomorrow, and this week sets his sights on the new ‘Ms Popular’ Mercedes (to boost his flagging popularity). Needless to say it doesn’t last, but at least their relationship wasn’t a short at Kurt and Brittany’s. Yes, that’s right, Kurt wanted to bond with his Dad, and after a chat with Sue (see below – it’s side-splitting stuff) began to sing rock songs and try kissing girls. As Kurt was the only guy in school Brittany hadn’t kissed, the relationship began, and then soon ended when Kurt decided to go back to being his old self.
Here’s some of the dialogue from the best scene of the episode (Sue’s chat with Kurt):
KURT: And I’m afraid that I might be losing him because of… my… sexuality.
SUE: Your sexuality. How old are you, 16? Have you even kissed a boy?
KURT: No.
SUE: Have you ever kissed a girl?
KURT: No.
SUE: Well, then how can you possibly know what you like? You see, that’s the problem with your generation. You’re obsessed with labels. So you like show tunes! Doesn’t mean you’re gay. It just means you’re awful.
SUE: You know, there’s only one person in this world who can tell you what you are.
KURT: (smiles) Me.
SUE: No. Me. Sue Sylvester.
SUE: Yeah, you know what? I checked out of this conversation about a minute back. So, uh, good luck with your troubles, and I’m gonna make a habit not to stop and talk to students, ’cause this has been a colossal waste of my time.
Genius.
From a song perspective, there weren’t many faults (bar Rachel’s version of “The Climb”). Finn’s opening number “Jessie’s Girl” was worth rocking out too, Puck & Mercedes duetting on “The Lady Is A Tramp” was inspired and Rachel’s finale of “One” was tugged at the heartstrings. But the highlight was definitely Mercedes and Santana’s cover of the 90s R&B classic “The Boy Is Mine”, whilst sing-fighting over Puck’s affections. This song made me wonder whether the writers find the songs to fit this storylines or if they construct the storylines around the songs. I think it was the latter in this case.
Although Brittany’s lines are still amusing, none have come quite up to the standard of “Did you know that dolphins are just gay sharks?” line from “Hello”. Even Finn made me chuckle with his line about Rachel being a ‘vocal cripple’ and Puck got a good one in about his hair and Andre Agassi. But jokes were spread thin towards the end of the episode as we were covered in a thick layer of heartfelt meaning, with Finn’s paralysed friend Sean duetting with Rachel and proving to her that you can do more in life that what you are best at. Although this was a nice touch, give me Sue Sylvester put-downs over genuine emotion any day of the week.
30 ROCK
Comedy Central, Monday 10pm
“Klaus & Greta” – 8/10
Guest stars come and go in “30 Rock” and tonight we were truly spoiled. James Franco’s appearance is up there with Steve Martin’s guest role in Season 3, only this time the guest star was playing ‘himself’. Creating a fake relationship with Jenna was always going to be fun, but laughs start rolling when we discover the reason behind Franco’s fake relationship; he is in love with a human sized pillow. Oh yes. Only on “30 Rock”.
The episode began and it was New Year 2010 (I can’t believe we’ve almost caught up with US pace!) and Jack had left an embarrassing voicemail on Nancy Donovan’s (Julianne Moore) telephone, causing him and Kenneth to make a visit to her home to delete it. Whilst Liz’s recently ‘out’ cousin Randy comes to stay with her (after Liz drunkenly ‘outed’ him at New Year’s). Bar the James Franco/Jenna storyline (Jenna: “They’re calling us ‘James’, which is a combination of James & Jenna”), the other strands of the episode were average in comparison, hence my 8/10 mainly being for Franco’s genius performance.
“Black Light Attack!” – 9/10
Danny is dating someone working on the show and Jack is keen to find out. After picking up a few hints, he discovers (by ultraviolet light – v funny) that it’s LIZ! Yes our Liz Lemon. Then a battle over Danny pursues. He’s the only ‘real man’ on the show for Jack to see sports with, whereas Liz just wants, well, a man. Any story where Jack & Liz fight each other always leads to comedy gold, and in this instance, it’s no different.
Jenna has an audition to play a college student who falls out with her ‘ageing wannabe actress’ mother. Pete notices the script has the mum’s lines highlighted, Jenna replies, “That’s so I know which lines not to read.” Cue an embarrassing audition, lots of tears and a surprising epiphany. Jenna’s death scene as the mum gets a round of applause, she realises playing older character has credibility.
The only thing stopping me giving this ep 10/10 was the Tracy narrative, where he takes Sue in as his ‘surrogate’ daughter. Excluding the affectionate montage, this just wasn’t all that funny. Shame.
FLASH FORWARD
Five, Monday 9pm
“The Negotiation” - 7/10
A solid, if unspectacular episode this week. The recurring role of Gabriel is interesting, but I can’t help thinking that we learnt nothing more from him this episode, sadly. Although the story with Aaron and Tracy has been compelling in the past, it now seems to be an annoying side note away from the bigger picture of the series. In saying that, I have faith in the writers and hope that they do bring Jericho/Tracy plot into the main narrative.
The highlight of this episode was the scene where Benford’s discovered that Janis is working as a double agent for the FBI and the CIA. The look on Benford’s face was disbelief that the lies had been going on for years and they argued quite a lot. Janis then told Demetri, the father of her child, and they argued quite a bit too. But it was good stuff.
Speaking of Demetri, it still doesn’t look good for him. He’s now nearer danger being involved with Janis’s personal life, and could well be a target for the fish-shop lady. With the day of the blackout inching ever closer, Demetri really needs to get on that plane to Hawaii with Zoey!
Finally, this week ABC announced “Flash Forward” has been axed. We’d better enjoy the next 2 episodes, as they’ll be the last EVER!
THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW
BBC1, Monday 10:35pm
Mix together Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Minnie Driver, Ruth Jones and a piano – what do you get? Laughs-a-plenty and the stand out moment of this series. Ruth Jones and Minnie Driver started to improvise to Lloyd-Webber’s constantly changing music. Something we need to see more of on TV! YouTube it NOW!
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