So let’s get the CD out of the way first. WAHOO! Volume 3 came out yesterday—which is more like volume 3.5 taking into account The Power of Madonna EP released last month. The catch with volume 3—the ridiculous catch—is that there are TWO versions of the CD: the standard edition and the ‘deluxe’ edition. The difference? The deluxe edition has 6 more songs for a dollar more. What a quandary for consumers! CDs aren’t selling as it is, so the record company pulls this kind of stunt? WHO in their right mind is going to buy the standard edition??? I guess they are counting on oblivious fans buying the standard edition before finding out about the deluxe edition and then double dipping. Either way, there are going to be a whole lot of standard editions taking up space in a land fill pretty soon. F*cking music industry. Anyway, all the must-haves of Season 1 Part 2 are on here, including the Olivia duet of “Physical”.
Last week’s poignant downer of an episode about Kurt’s continuing conflict with his dad and Rachel visiting a paralyzed boy before she realizes that she’s more than just her voice—the upside of the episode being Puck’s rendition of “Lady is a Tramp” (you know, just because it was more screen time for Puck. Yum!)—has been balanced by this week’s showstoppers. First there’s an always welcome guest star in the can-do-no-wrong Neil Patrick Harris. He rocks Aerosmith’s “Dream On” in a duet with Mr. Schuester, and supplies a knowing audience with a great wink-wink moment when he and Sue Sylvester (played by fellow gay Jane Lynch) explode with sexual lust for each other.
Stepping into the spotlight for a change—literally—is wheelchair-bound Artie, who dreams of being able to dance. In this episode he gets his chance in a dream sequence that is possibly one of the absolute best visual performances the show has delivered yet. Doing a fantastic cover of the Men Without Hats 80s classic “The Safety Dance” in a Tiffany-like mall setting to keep with the 80s theme, Artie and a parade of dancers pull off some serious choreography that is perfectly in step with the equally choreographed camera work, which offers all the right angles and moves, the viewpoint often jumping to the perspective of mall onlookers filming on their cell phones. It’s a very ‘Flip’ camera commercial inspired moment. This is one of those numbers you can just watch over and over again (aka: the full Season 1 better be released on Blu-Ray A.S.A.P. so I can watch it all summer long!)
But of course, the most crucial dream of this episode is Rachel’s dream of finding her mother. Are the creators really giving the fans what they’ve been dreaming of all along? Is Broadway star Idina Menzel, who bares a striking resemblance to former Broadway actress Lea Michele, really Rachel’s long lost mother? Or is this very emotional storyline, complete with a duet between the two women of the Les Mis classic “I Dreamed a Dream,” a red herring that’s going to have a cruel twist, perhaps revealing some sort of dastardly plan by Idina’s character to have her choir win the competition by distracting Rachel from performing her best with a false tale of being her mother? Who knows? And either way, it’s going to have viewers on the edge of their seats for the few remaining episodes of this season! I hope she IS Rachel’s mother simply because I want Idina to be a somewhat regular cast member!!!
