Glee, Season 1, Episode 5, "The Rhodes Not Taken"

Episode Rundown:

The episode opens with glee club struggling without Rachel Berry, and out of desperation, Finn offers to run lines with Rachel in "a private place with low-lighting."

Will gets an idea after a run-in with a former student and decides to contact April (), a former glee club star who never graduated from high school. Luckily, April has a MySpace page, and Will sets up a time to meet with her.

April went to the high school 15 years ago, but she dropped out of high school to be a star and never graduated. Now, she is squatting in a very nice house. Unfortunately, the house was repossessed months ago, and she spends her days drinking wine out of a box and hosting "clients" that she picks up on MySpace. Will offers to get her sobered up and get her a high school diploma on one condition: join glee club.

The members of glee club are wary of having April join, so April sings a beautiful cross-over duet arrangement of "Maybe This Time" from the musical "Cabaret" with Rachel who is rehearsing for the musical. When the performance fails to sway the kids, April wins over the glee club with alcohol, muscle magazines, shop-lifting tips, and sex.

In the meantime, Sandy is criticizing Rachel's performance in "Cabaret," but she refuses to let it get her down saying, "I'm not going anywhere." Finn continues to try to win Rachel back to glee club, but Will is determined to replace Rachel with April.

When Kurt pukes on Emma, she comes down on Will for April's negative influence on the glee club members. She also chastises him for taking performance opportunities away from Rachel and giving them to April.

Rachel and April have a confrontation in the bathroom, and Rachel tells April that her behavior is disgusting. April, undeterred, says that she was on top at this school once and will be yet again.

Rachel and Finn continue to flirt during a "friend date," and Rachel continues to be confused by Finn's attentions. After getting her first strike, Rachel kisses Finn, and Finn asks her to come back to glee club. She agrees to do it for him after he says that he doesn't know what will happen with Quinn. The look on Finn's face, though, is not exactly happy. Is he guilty because of Quinn? Does he really care for Rachel or is he using her?

A few lanes down, Will is bowling with April and behaving like a love-struck teenager. He gushes that his dream in high school was to sing with April, and she pulls him up on stage to sing a karaoke duet to Celine Dion's "Alone."

Rachel returns to glee club, and Kurt tells her that Quinn is pregnant and Finn is the father. Rachel storms out, slaps Finn, and tells him that she is never coming back to glee club.

Later that night, April shows up drunk to the glee night's first concert, and Emma confronts Will about April's continued presence in the club. April still gives a rousing performance of Carrie Underwood's "Last Name," and Rachel watches the performance from the back of the theater, heart-broken.

Will tells April that she can't go back on-stage, and April agrees and decides to try making it as a singer in Branson. Rachel steps in and offers to understudy for April.

Then, the fans finally got the performance they've been waiting for all season: "Somebody to Love" by Queen. Mercedes snatched the performance away from everyone with her diva moment right near the end of the song.



Final Thoughts:

Tonight's show was exciting and a great time had by all. Also, there was some good drama developed in the Finn-Quinn-Rachel love triangle. My only complaint was that there wasn't enough of cheerleading coach Sue. I send my thanks to the show for making the most of the lovely and talented Kristen Chenoweth. Someone needs to write her a good role now that "Pushing Daisies" is no more.