Glee - "Asian F" Episode 3 - Videos and Recap (UPDATED)

Tonight’s Glee is being touted as The Best Episode Ever! Well, that remains to be seen, doesn’t it? If you’re looking for spoilers they are HERE. Song previews are HERE. Recap later. Leave your thoughts in comments!

Recap:

I was super irritated with the hype around “Asian F” but holy crap–it really WAS an incredible episode. Better than nearly every show from Season 2, at least. It’s such a relief to see Glee get back to compelling story telling and character development.

The spoilers and entertainment reporter hype mostly centered on the diva competition between Mercedes and Rachel. But, for me, the heart and soul of Asian F was the sensational Harry Shum Jr. who was finally given the opportunity to shine. Seriously, Ryan Murphy? You need to be slapped upside the head for forcing this talented TRIPLE THREAT to keep his light hidden under a bushel for so long.

The diva off? We’ve been there and done that. And actually, thought that whole Rachel/Mercedes ish was settled. But I guess not. I’m going to do my usual bullet point recap. And I would absolutely LOVE to know what YOU thought of this episode.

So…Santana is back in New Directions. Just like that? Oh, I’ve re-pledged my allegiance without telling Sue, ” she tells the gang. What, did she pinky swear to Mr. Shue that she’d never f*ck with Glee club again? It kind of negates the tough stance he took with her last week. It should have been harder for her to get back in.
Autographed photo from Vera Wang: “To Emma…always marry up” Hee.
The spoilers say Karaovsky is coming back soon, but he’s nowhere to be found at McKinley–not in the hallways, cafeteria or on the football team. Very curious.
Dot-Marie Jones had hurt her foot for reals. But the way they wrote it into the script was hilarious. “I kicked a fire hydrant when I heard Ace of Cakes was canceled.”
Coach Bieste orders the football players to learn to dance for West Side Story: “Ballet gets half of the NFL on Dancing with the Stars…Booya!” Ha!
I’m not climbing on board the Mercedes boyfriend train just yet. I don’t care how nice he seems. He’s the one who convinced her that she was better than Rachel, and pretty much everyone else. I’d prefer that Mercedes command her own destiny rather than allow her boyfriend to have so much influence. It’s probably realistic for kids that age, but I hope self-actualization is part of her story arc this season.
Amber KILLED “Spotlight”. In a good way. Jennifer Hudson tweeted that she was watching, and then tweeted to Amber, “Sing amber sing!!!!!” And Amber replied, “Aaaaah u watched aaaaaah! Now im freaking out! Thank you :)”
Aw Kurt. He’s still running on the “unicorn” platform, finally unafraid to allow his freak-flag to fly. But remained over-confident, despite being taken down a peg or two by those rival glee clubbers in “Purple Piano”. He was so sure beating Brittany would be a cake walk-until she pulled out the thigh high boots, patent leather mini-skirt and revealed her girl power. I couldn’t help but feel bad for Kurt as he sat in the stands, slack jawed, watching his campaign come unraveled.
Awesome Santana quips: “Nice blouse Hummel. It really brings out the color of your pink eye” and telling Kurt that he looks like “Jimmy Fallon’s butch daughter.”
The much ballyhooed flash mob featuring Brittany, Santana and eventually, seemingly, every female at McKinley High singing and dancing to Beyonce’s “Run the World” was infectious, but by no means my favorite performance of the episode…
My favorite performances were the 3 sequences that featured the sensational Harry Shrum Jr., who dazzled every minute he spent performing on stage. From the Billy Elliottesque dream sequence where his dad and his girlfriend, Tina, appear in Mike’s imagination to help him work through his dilemma, to the “Cool” dance number where we find out that Mike Chang can not only bust an awesome move, but also SANG, to his touching scene with his mom–it all proved that Harry is a star and Ryan Murphy was stupid to keep his flawlessness from us. I teared up a few times during Mike’s scenes. I’m not gonna lie.
Robert Ulrich proved once again why he deserved the Emmy for best casting. The two set of parents–both Mike Chang’s and Emma’s were perfection. Mike Chang, Sr’s (Keong Sim) stern dignity was tempered by his obvious love for his son. Even as I hated what he was doing, I couldn’t hate him. And Mikes mother (Tamlyn Tomita) was sweet and reserved. I felt so much compassion for her. Mike, with the help of his mom will reveal and stand up for his dreams. It’s a story line I’m really looking forward to. Donny Most from Happy Days played the creepiest of dads. I was not expecting that.
The stylists changed up Tina’s look. She has abandoned the Goth look for a more traditional, yet still quirky style. I like it.
Artie on Mike Chang: “That kid’s never late. He runs like an expensive Swiss watch reproduced cheaply in China.” Hee.
Klaine! Last week’s episode ended with Kurt leaving the auditorium, hurt, after watching his boyfriend Blaine basically kill his West Side Story audition. I was hoping Kurt would get over it, and he did, adorably approaching Blaine bearing a bouquet of flowers as a gesture of support. Kurt realizes Blaine is destined for the role of Tony, and that he’ll never be cast in those coveted lead male roles. He’s disappointed, but bucks up anyway for his man. The student filled stairwell meant the couple couldn’t kiss when they parted. Oh, but you knew they wanted to. It will be furtive and longing glances in public for these two until the world becomes a better place. Poignant.
Brittany’s at booty camp because she plans on dancing her way into the voters hahts. Brittany S. Pearce…channeling the Kennedy’s! Ha. Am I the only one who feels that Mercedes booty camp Effie White fantasy sequence was brilliant? Not only was the casting of Mercedes as Effie a stroke of genius, but the roles her fellow Glee clubbers played fit perfectly. It left me breathless.
Having said that, I’m still not liking the diva off. Mercedes extreme personality change to total self-involved bitch isn’t realistic. And when she suddenly snaps out of it in a few weeks–that won’t be either. Amber Riley played the snot out of her part this week, so I won’t diss her. But I think the writers have mis-stepped with Amber’s character development.
Oh man. Rachel entered the race for class president, effectively double crossing her bestie Kurt. Just when the two had gotten past the cattiness and petty envy to come to a place of mutual respect and understanding– it’s all shattered in a single, dumb plot device. Yuck. I hope the writers eventually allow her character growth that’s permanent. I’m getting dizzy from the back and forth. Remember when Rachel gave up her solo way back in the Sectionals episode after Mercedes destroyed “And I Am Telling You?” And when Mercedes brought the house down near the end of Season 2, during “Night of Neglect”, Rachel humbly gave up her performance spot, allowing Mercedes to close the show? Now we’re back to square one? Yawn. Yawn and double Yawn! This was drama that was supposedly settled long ago.
Hooray for Finn, sticking up for his brother.
Will insists on meeting Emma’s parents and instantly realizes his huge mistake. Watching Emma deteriorate in the presence of her bat-shit crazy parents was heart breaking.The ginger supremacist plot device had my eyes rolling but all the actors involved brought an emotional truth to the situation that canceled out the ridiculousness. Loved Will sticking up for Emma, and pledging to help her, even if he had no clue how. “Fix You”, Coldplay’s ode to co-depedancy, was powerful in a way I wasn’t expecting.
Whoa. Mercedes. Double casting? A lot of high schools do it. Mine did. Two weekends, two casts. What’s the big deal? How are the writers going to bring Mercedes back from this over the top development?
As Coldplay swells, the kids find out if they made the cut or not. I have a few questions. Why did the list only have 5 names on it? Why wasn’t Bernardo, another major role, on the list? Aren’t there any other kids in the school auditioning for the musical?
The casting was perfect. Rachel as Maria, Blaine as Tony, Santana as Anita (Of course!), Mike as Riff. Well almost perfect. Kurt as Officer Krupke? Seriously? Isn’t that role kind of blue-collar and macho? What’s Kurt going to do…channel his dad? Kurt’s stank face during his Blaine hug was all about discovering that bit of WTF casting and not about throwing shade on his one and only. In my opinion, Kurt would have made the perfect Little John. Oh well.
I’m pretty much hating this double Glee club thing. But I’ll leave that rant for next time. Glee goes on hiatus for 3 weeks thanks to Major League Baseball and Simon Fricking Cowell. SOB.