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“Glee” recap (6.7): Embracing change

This week on Glee, as the 30 year olds of Vocal Adrenaline belt out the Bon Jovi hit “You Give Love a Bad Name,” Will talks about how teaching these budding sociopaths has given him, and his family a new life. He’s making bank, has a sweet new ride, and all it cost him was…his voice!!!!!

Wait-sorry, I meant soul. All kidding aside, Will feels pride in being able to provide a comfortable life for Emma and Danny. Now if only his charges weren’t the absolute worst. In addition to a bunch of kids who want to win at all costs, he has to deal with boosters. It’s like Friday Night Lights meets Fame! Emma (EMMA!) finally appears, looking like retro dream girl. Anyway, Will goes on about how he wants to slowly but surely change Vocal Adrenaline for the better, making it more like New Directions. Emma is unwavering in her support.

Life is literally a walk in the park until Rachel and Blaine show up, covered in eggs, courtesy of Vocal Adrenaline’s hazing of their competitors.

Will decides to try to teach his students a lesson about tolerance, but these kids would push their own grandmothers down the stairs a la Nomi Malone to win sectionals, so it mainly falls on deaf (and rather hostile ears). Vocal Adrenaline’s alpha dog, Clint, tries to give Will a piece of his mind but is stopped by Will performing Macklemore. Ha ha ha, you thought you’d never have to hear Will rap ever ago, but Glee went and fooled us all! The saving grace is that former VAer and current goddess of awesome, Unique, joins him to sing Mary Lambert‘s part on “Same Love.” Good god, girl, it is good to see you! During the performance, the members of VA squirm in their seats and roll their eyes. You see, they protest about Will thinking they are intolerant bullies. In actuality, they are just talented assholes, hell bent on winning.

Back at McKinley, it’s the day Coach Beiste has been waiting for his whole life. The day he walks through the halls, head held high, Dockers neatly pressed and greets the world as Sheldon Beiste. The smile on Sheldon’s face is a mile wide, and it’s a joy to see him so happy in his skin.

Nobody bats an eye as Coach Beiste makes his entrance, and Sue and Sam rush to greet him. Sam is nervous and excited and can’t stop talking, while Sue assures Sheldon that McKinley is a “fully gender fluid high school.” Well, a lot has changed since Unique didn’t have a safe space to use the bathroom. Hopefully this means that future trans and genderqueer students at McKinley will have an easier time of it. Coach Beiste just wants to jump right back into the swing of his life at the school.

In the staff lounge, Sam finds Rachel is looking distraught. After weeks of scaring off potential buyers, someone is finally buying her childhood home, which means she has to move out. While that is hella inconvenient, she’s just incredibly sentimentally attached to the home. Sam reminds her that, hi, he used to be a homeless, underaged stripper, but Rachel can’t see beyond her own stress and self pity to accept that this isn’t the end of the world. Naturally, Sam assembles the glee club, Mercedes, Kurt, Blaine and Artie to rally them to make Rachel feel better.

As Coach Beiste walks to his car, he finds it covered with jock straps and “Coach Tranny” scrawled across it in shaving cream. Speeding away is a car full of Vocal Adrenaline members, waving cans of Barbasol. Sue calls Will into her office to discuss what happened. Nothing pisses Sue off more when people bully those that she cares about-and also bullies. Sheldon reluctantly explains that Will’s students were the culprits. Will vows to make it right.

In New Directions rehearsal, Kurt and Sam surprise her with a change in lesson plans. Instead of featuring songwriters from Ohio, it’s been changed to Transitioning. Coz it’s all about that change, bout that change. To help Rachel deal with getting tossed from her family home, and embrace adulthood, they are throwing a house-leaving party in Rachel’s basement. Yes, that basement where Brittana did body shots.

They whip out a giant wheel and spin for duet partners. Kurt cheats a little and manages to get Blaine for his partner. In the hallway, Blaine says that he’s happy to sing with Kurt but to not tell Karofsky about it, since he’s a little concerned that Blaine still carries a torch for Kurt. Well of course you do, Blaine Warbler! Have you seen Kurt’s adorableness? They awkwardly hug and Blaine promises to call and arrange rehearsal.

When Sam and Spencer find out about the vandalism, they barge in on Coach Beiste, demanding to know whose asses they need to kick. Spencer calls them “rock lobsters” which is the best thing he’s ever uttered. Coach Beiste tells them to sit down and shut up. While he appreciates the fact that they want to stand up for him, there’s no way he wants any violence to come of it. Taking the high road is a tough lesson to learn, but one that is needed at a time like this. On the bright side, the fact that Sam was able to convince Spencer to be a team player and a true friend, makes Coach Beiste truly proud.

Will is furious and lays down the law with Vocal Adrenaline. Cut the shit, or get cut. Clint stands up calling Will soft, and a loser, and saying that winning is everything. This earns Clint a rousing cheer from his fellow VA members, and a dismissal from the group by Will.

At home, Will opens up to Emma about hating his job and the kids he works with at Carmel. Emma, who is dressed for bed like a Jane Austin heroine, tells Will that if he wants to leave, they will make do. She’d rather him be happy and poor, than well off and miserable. Plus, her pamphlet business is really taking off. Will feels guilty for loving the life that they’ve grown accustomed too. The new car and nice apartment, almost makes it all bearable. Almost. Emma reminds Will that Danny is going to grow up learning his principles from them, so if coaching VA makes him feel like a sell out, then there are other ways to make ends meet.

At Rachel’s bye-bye basement jamboree, Mercedes and Roderick kick things off with Meghan Trainor‘s “All About That Bass.” (I’d like to point out that there is a stand up bass player at the party.) Mercedes kills it, and it kicks off a dance party. Admit it, you were rocking on your couch a little bit. During all of this, Rachel steals Sam away from drinking straight out of the punchbowl. They head upstairs to her bedroom where she has packed away everything except her wall of memories, covered with pictures and mementos from high school. He sweetly tells her that taking down the memories doesn’t mean they disappear, they will just move elsewhere to be joined by more and more wonderful memories. He also tells her that she’s going to be heading back to Broadway before she knows it, and he just hopes for a place on her wall wherever she ends up. They kiss passionately and tumble onto the bed. Well, well, well. That’s probably not going to end up on the wall. (Can we talk about the giant picture of Quinn in Rocky Horror, all by itself on the far left top? Like an 8 by 10. Faberry, we carry you in our hearts.)

Back at the party, it’s time for Kurt and Blaine’s duet. They perform “Somebody Loves You” by Betty Who. Someone finds a box full of props and costumes and everyone gets dolled up and has an amazing time.

Afterwards, Kurt walks Blaine out and they both agree that they still love singing together. You know what else they still like to do together? Making out. After reminiscing about their first duet, and laughing about one of Blaine’s forgotten crushes, Blaine leans in and kisses Kurt. Blaine then runs off, leaving Kurt to process it all.

Rachel comes back down to the basement to sing her duet with Sam, Cyndi Lauper‘s “Time After Time,” which I can’t believe has never been sung before on Glee. Rachel gives Sam the dimmers as he soulfully sings about love and the passing of time.

Switch to a montage of crew helping Rachel take down her picture wall, and transfering it all to albums. It’s a somewhat cheesy, yet sweet, trip down memory lane and is as much for Rachel as it is for us, the fans of Glee. For all the hell we give the show, when Glee‘s final curtain draws closed, I doubt there will be a dry Gayshark eye in the house.

While Coach Beiste is working late in the locker room, he gets a surprise visit from Unique. She’s a little miffed that Coach Beiste didn’t tell her about his transition, but he’s quickly forgiven. Even though Coach Beiste now feels amazing in his skin, he still feels like he’s on the outside looking in. Coach Beiste just wants to be like everyone else, but there is no one else like him to look to, or connect with. Unique asks about Beiste’s top surgery, and physical pain aside, he doesn’t regret it for a second. Finally being who he truly is, despite the pain of surgery or the frustration of finding a place to belong, is the best thing that’s every happened to the Coach. He does feel alone however, but Unique takes his hand and tells him that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Back at Carmel High, Clint has had the wealthy boosters reinstate him to Vocal Adrenaline and there is nothing Will can do. Will, is surprisingly ok with this. He admits that Clint was right when he suggested that his vision didn’t match up with VAs. Now, he tells them, they will win the “VA” way (finger symbols and everything). He has an idea for an epic prank to pull on the New Directions kids.

At Blaine and Karofsky’s pad, Karofsky is complaining about the football camp he attended while Blaine kind of stares off into space. Karofsky picks up that something is up, and Blaine admits to singing with Kurt. Karofsky knows that that can’t be the only thing bothering Blaine. Ever since Kurt came back to Lima, he’s been a million miles away. He knows that Blaine still loves Kurt, and rather than stand in the way of that, Karofsky ends it with Blaine and gives him his blessing. While I love the redemption arc that Karofsky has had, from self loathing bully to self confident out gay man, this was a really easy way out. He literally sends Blaine off to be with Kurt. It would have been really interesting to see more from Blaine in this conversation, you know. To have some of his internal dialogue, become external.

Well, anyway, Blaine does just that. He runs off to find Kurt. When he gets to the choir room, he sees Kurt and Walter, getting ready for a double date with Rachel and Sam. Instead of confessing his feelings to Kurt, he pretends that he forget what he wanted to say.

Will leads Vocal Adrenaline into the darkened McKinley auditorium where they have some big plans for KY Jelly. Ok, they plan to squirt it on the stage. Whatever. Much to their surprise, the stage lights flip on, and Unique’s voices floats through the air. She sings “I Know Where I’ve Been” from Hairspray which is enough to give you goosebumps already. When she is then joined by a massive choir, filled with the voices of two hundred trans* singers (including Coach Beiste), then it’s time to rejoice. The number is epic, it’s stunning, it’s beautiful in a way that transcends words. It simply feels warm and kind, and hopeful.

The members of Vocal Adrenaline are angry that they’ve been duped, and have lost valuable rehearsal time. Will dumps them then and there, resigning from his teaching position. Ha, take that Vocal Adrenaline! If that wasn’t good enough, Sue gives VA six minutes to get the hell off campus before she releases her hounds.

The next day, Will joins Rachel and Kurt in the old McKinley choir room where they ask him to be their Alumni Consultant. He agrees of course. McKinley is where Will feels at home, and he hopes to one day find a place back there again.

Next week on Glee: SOMEBODY’S GETTING MARRIED!

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