There was certainly no time for getting caught back up as Glee jumped right into their Season 5 premiere.
Those who watched the Season 4 finale remember that the show left off in the middle of the school year, instead of in their usual format of breaking for the summer and returning fresh and new. There were definitely some loose ends that needed to be tied back up --namely, WHAT WAS BLAINE HIDING BEHIND HIS BACK????? DID RACHEL GET THE PART???
Well Part I of the two-week Beatles tribute answered those questions and more.
We began in New York, where Rachel was walking up to the theater where Funny Girl will play. No, she doesn't have the part--she's there for her chemistry read. And she seems to do well, but it ends a bit quickly. And as the casting director and her scene partner leave the theater, she overhears them saying she had talent, but she's a bit green behind the ears. Her lack of prior experience has lost her the role she's been working so hard to win. This cues her singing "Yesterday," a mournful tune where she reminisces over the past and how much she longs for when it was as easy as winning a National Show Choir Championship.
When we see Rachel again, she and Santana are arriving at the Spotlight Diner, where Santana has gotten Rachel a job. She needs one now that her Broadway dreams are once again dashed. Later, she and Santana are at work when Rachel gets a suspicious text from Blaine, before noticing her new foes sitting in Santana’s section. When she confronts them, the casting director tells her that it’s not that she’s not a star—she just isn’t one yet, So she sets out to prove them wrong by teaming up with Santana and the other waitresses by singing “A Hard Day’s Night.” Then she and Santana leave, with Rachel cryptically telling Santana that they have something to do at home…
…Well, that something had to do with very big news on the Blaine and Kurt front…or should I say…KLAINE? After some clarification in the McKinley courtyard that Adam was long out of the picture, and Blaine promising he wouldn’t cheat again, Kurt starts singing “Got to Get You Into My Life,” and the number, involving the Marching band and plenty of dancers, ends with a big kiss between the former boyfriends. Finally, fans got to see one of their favorite couples back together again.
But that isn’t the only thing that happens. Soon after, Blaine announces to the New Directions that he plans to propose, and he wants not only their help, but the help from all their rival show choirs, including The Warblers, Vocal Adrenaline and The Haverbrook School for The Deaf. After all, if a bunch of rival cutthroat show choirs can get together and stand united on something this big, maybe the rest of the world could take notice. Fueled by the song “HELP!” Blaine and the New Directions kids make their way through Carmel High School, where they pick up some Vocal Adrenaline kids, make their way to Haverbrook and get those kids, and finally, end at Dalton, where they ask for help. And of all Warblers to confirm that they would help? Sebastian!
Finally, the episode ends with Burt driving Kurt to the proposal under the guise of going to the airport—but Kurt’s no fool, and he knows what’s going on. He just doesn’t know what he wants to say. So Burt tells Kurt the story about when he and Kurt’s mother got together, and how marriage young was hard, but they knew it was right and that he’d give anything to have her back. And then Kurt walks into Dalton (where it takes place), and as Blaine begins singing “All You Need is Love,” Kurt is brought through a tour of the school, meeting up with Rachel, Santana and Mercedes, the other New Directions kids and Schu, and the rival show choir students until they end up at the exact spot on the staircase where Blaine and Kurt first met back in Season 2. Here, Blaine makes the sweetest and most beautiful proposal, where he tells Kurt that he knows the love between the two of them would last forever, and through every lifetime, before he gets down on one knee, and asks his amazing friend and one true love to marry him. And the most epic proposal in Glee’s history (no offense Wemma and Finnchel fans), ended with the perfect answer….Kurt says YES! The two are now engaged!
Meanwhile, other big news was happening at McKinley. Artie wants to thank Kitty for helping him decide to go to the Brooklyn Film Academy by taking her to the Carnival on a date, singing “Drive My Car.” And when they run into other cheerleaders, Kitty proposes they date in secret—which Artie agrees to, and the two began having secret rendezvous around the school in a montage set to “You’ve Got to Hide Your Life Away.” But the secret doesn’t stay secret for long. Tina finds out, and despite Artie’s warning to butt out, outs them to the club, telling Kitty that it’s not cool to treat Artie that way. This prompts Kitty to explain the real reason she wanted to keep the relationship secret. She wanted to be sure she really liked him enough to risk ruining her reputation, which she does. So now, they’re officially, and publicly together.
But Tina’s reaction doesn’t make sense to Blaine, who enlists the help of the other guys in the club to help Tina, who has been unusually bitter lately. The guys band together and perform “When I Saw Her Standing There,” and offer themselves to her as potential prom dates. Because Everyone else is either too gay or too Asian and she’s trying to break her previous patterns, Tina chooses Sam. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out next week, when the Prom episode airs.
Finally, someone else has returned to McKinley—Sue Sylvester! And she’s not just back as a coach…she’s the new acting Principal after Figgins was demoted to janitor pending an investigation into very suspicious materials found in his desk, including gambling receipts, various pornography, and a signed copy of Mein Kempf, placed there by Sue herself. Naturally, Sue must be after the Glee club and the Cheerios, right?
That’s what Roz and Schu think when they’re hauled into her office. But no, she tells them she wants to make her position permanent this time, and in order to do that, she needs them to both win National championships this year. And if they fail to do so, she will fire them. But don’t worry, her hilariously awful antics are still there—she taunts Figgins while he cleans the floors, telling him his secretary will be fired, and then dumping a bucket of expired Grade D meat from the cafeteria all over his clean floor.
Next week, fans can look forward to the New Directions at Prom, as well as the beginning of Demi Lovato’s guest arc on the show.