Glee: Home Review

After the returning triumph of Hell-O, and the amazing Power of Madonna, Glee takes things down a bit for a more emotional installment with Home. The episode basically covers three different plots strings. Will reuniting with April Rhodes (Kristen Chenowyth) and dealing with everything that comes with her, Mercedes suffering a crisis of self-image via Sue Sylvester, and Finn and Kurt's parents' budding romance causing awkwardness for both of them.

Kristen Chenowyth's return, while fun and entertaining as always, didn't really serve the story so much. Given Glee's unpredictable nature, whenever April Rhodes is onscreen I have a feeling that at the end of the episode she's going to kill herself. If this is the end for her, then I'm glad it ended with such lightly dark comic moment. Will Schuester has really been slutting it up lately with Emma, April, and Idina Menzel, and I'm starting to wonder if it's all disrupting his teaching ability for the glee club.

Perhaps Will needs somebody important in his life to get his shit back together. Then we get to Mercedes' vendetta which really brings forward one of the core themes of the show: equality, and being comfortable with who you are. I'm also enjoying how much more likable Quinn is becoming now that she's no longer a cheerio. But one of the things that I couldn't stop thinking about with this part of the show is how much Mercedes is like Precious. It may just be that their last names are both Jones.

Despite the deficiencies of the other two plot points, the Finn-Kurt storyline definitely brought the episode back up to the standard it usually exists at. We really get a better idea of Finn's relationship with the father he never really knew, and it was all really sweet. What made the story heartbreaking was Kurt's role in the whole thing. We see his plan backfire and his relationship with his father start to crumble and the look on his face at the end will just take you to pieces. This may not be the best episode of Glee, but it's the most emotionally heart-throbbing.

8 out of 10.