Brittany's Grand Comeback: Yay/Nay for Glee 4x02, "Britney 2.0"

Brittany is trying to get her groove back, seemingly confident in herself as she begins senior year for the second time. But something is off: the summer vacation wasn't the best, her voiceover is outside of her head, she's been yelling at shrubs, everyone is baffled by her behavior, and she's stripped of her high pony. She's trying to adjust to the new groove; she's beginning to realize how crucial her grades are, Santana is off at college, and Brittany doesn't know how to deal with it all.

Rachel, of course, is continuing to find her new self, continuing from last week. Cassandra's current assertion is that Rachel isn't sexy enough to dance a tango. So, Rachel attempts to be the kind of sexy she thinks she needs to be. This hasn't really worked for her before; Kurt's attempts to sabotage the makeover he gives her in season 1--a la Sexy Sandy from Grease--was the first, and it failed. In the first Britney episode, Rachel finds confidence in her own Britney fantasy, but goes about it the wrong way with the wrong attitude and a short skirt and pigtail braids that didn't really suit her. And though her determination to prove her sex appeal once again is encouraged by Kurt--under very different circumstances and without ulterior motives--she dives into it, determined to prove herself worthy.

And though Finn isn't around this time to assure her of her unique kind of sexiness, Brody assures her that she is sexy just as she is. She shrugs it off and goes ahead with it, and, of course, it backfires a little. Brody warned her. He knows what's going on.

This time around, the Britney tribute is less about the music and more about the characters. It works, this fabulous focus on the characters and their real issues. It's clear when watching the episode, but it's nice to hear that the writers planned for it to be that way. (The article in the link gave me really high hopes for the rest of the season, and it made me happy to know that they are trying to bring it back to what it was.) (Two other fabulous articles/analyses of interest concerning this episode include this one from Letters From Titan concerning the theme of scrutiny, and this intruiging look on the characters and conflict this episode from Deconstructing Glee.)

The good vibe from the season premiere is still there this week, and if it continues to be there past episode seven, I'll be happy--season three started off strong, and then started to get messy about that point.

Yay: Brittany's arch this episode is lovely. Strong, strong character development this week for her, however small it was. That last shot of her, devastated, made my heart hurt. (Set up for conflict with her and Santana, perhaps?)

Nay: Here's how the lead-in to Womanizer should have gone (or at least, something like it), to avoid the obvious and slightly awkward set up:

School hallway. Marley enters, notices Jake talking to Tina, and stares a little too long. Unique enters from opposite, sees Marley staring at Jake.

UNIQUE: I know that look. And girl, no.

MARLEY, clearly startled:  What are you talking about? 

Marley tries to come off as nonchalant, but Unique knows better.

UNIQUE: I know you have a thing for Jake, but he's not worth it.

And so on. She can mention the thing about new girls sticking together, then talks about how Jake's been going from girl to girl, only been there a short time, yadda, yadda, yadda, and then they start the song. The set up in the episode was too obvious, and wasn't really working for me. I don't really believe that Marley would have admitted her crush on Jake so easily. If you're a 15/16 year old girl in high school, one of the last things you'd freely admit to was your number one crush. At least, I didn't.*

Yay: While I'm still hesitant to like him too much, Brody was really cool this week. I thought his joke about doing 200,000 crunches was cute.

Nay: I want Puck back for longer than just a minute or two. I know he was only supposed to be there briefly, but I wanted him to stick around and be awesome. I miss the graduated ND members a lot, and I'm eager to see them come back as the season progresses.

Yay: I really like how Sam figured out Brittany's plan. (The map he drew for her was awesome.) There was something really special about that scene with the two of them in the auditorium. Also, I wonder if Sam actually uses a compass to get around...

Yay: I LOVED Kurt and Rachel's new place, and I can't wait to see what they do with it. I loved that they were riding bicycles around inside. Simply perfect. I adored their conversation** over dinner, and it felt really natural.

Yay: I feel like Cassandra is going to get more and more interesting every episode. One of my favorite scenes in the episode is where Rachel goes to apologize to her and they talk about second chances in the real world. (Can we talk about how INCREDIBLE Kate Hudson is?)

Interesting: Joe was singing the song about threesomes with Sam and Tina. (Also, "3" was my favorite song this week. All three of them sounded incredible, and it reminded me how much I love Samuel Larson's voice. He's awesome.)

Yay: The Schuest-ometer was fairly low this week. This is good. Any time I don't have to be angry with Mr. Schue is the best time. Also, I'm really surprised that he was okay with--and was the one who suggested--doing Britney Spears, especially because he was so against it the first time around....

Yay: I'm really proud of Rachel for not kissing Brody. This shows growth. (Even if they are meant to date at some point, it's much too soon.)

Yay: SO MUCH EMOTION when Brittany almost shaved her head and then proceeded to beat up Jacob Ben Israel.

On The Fence: I'm not sure how I feel about Jake yet. I'm interested to see more with him in coming episodes. I don't hate him--there just isn't enough there yet for me to quite get him. I feel that so far, we've just been told about who he is rather than shown.

Yay: BUT... I loved how Jake stood up for Marley's mom. Cool points.

Yay: Kurt's right. Cake is awesome. Also, did anyone else notice how at home both he and Rachel are in New York? Hummelberry was meant to be there. *warm fuzzies*

Yay: Kiki and that ridiculously huge Lima Bean cup. SO FUNNY OMG.

Yay(ish): I really like that Rachel is taking charge of navigating life in New York without going crazy like she usually does. And I loved how her flub-up with insulting Cassandra provided some great conflict and a little character development for her this episode. I just hope that she doesn't lose it. You know?

Yowza: "Gimme More" was a deliciously disastrous trainwreck. Lip-syncing was a terrible idea.

Yay: "Everytime" was the best way to end the episode. (I really, really love Marley and I want her to be happy.) That last shot of Rachel painting over Finn's name, followed by the shot of the flowers....


Until next time.



*There was one instance in elementary school when some of the girls in my class found out about the boy I liked (i.e. I told them, which was a stupid move on my part), and then they told him, and then things got embarassing.......Needless to say, I only told two or three of my closest friends about crushes after that.

**Though I still think that Kurt should focus on fashion and forget about NYADA. I mean, I think he'd be great at both, but he has such a creative side.....