Props: Switching It Up Before Nationals

I don't understand why this episode is called "Props." They talk about props like ONCE at the beginning and the rest of it is about other stuff. Whatever. So Tina Cohen-Chang finally stands up and says "NO" to swaying in the background. When everyone jumps on her about being selfish, she calls them out on ignoring her for three years and leaves. Rachel even tries to bring her back with a bribe but not even a cool $50 bill can soothe the injury of Rachel tyrade of self-absorption. When Tina hits her head after falling in the fountain at the mall, she dreams that EVERYONE HAS SWITCHED PLACES and it's all disturbingly fabulous.

When she finally comes to, everyone is back to normal but Tina has a "new perspective" on Rachel's "burden" of being the group star. Sue tries to talk Kurt into dressing in drag for Nationals -- like Unique in Vocal Adrenaline -- but Kurt puts his foot down and says that being gay doesn't necessarily mean he wants to dress like a woman. Bieste finally leaves Cooter -- and stops Puck from making a huge mistake in a fistfight after school with that Dumb Hockey Guy. Now everyone is on their way to Nationals in Chicago (WHAT UP, CHI TOWN!!!) and everyone is ready to go for the gold... we hope...WAIT. Maybe it's called "Props" because it's ALSO about showing appreciation for others and giving credit where it's due. Like, props to Tina for standing up for herself and props to Bieste for leaving Cooter. OHHHH. #AfterSchoolSpecial

Rachel's Melodramatic Solo of the Week:
"I Won't Give Up" by Jason Mraz

...wait, this is a JASON MRAZ song!??! Holy cats, I thought this was gonna be another Carrie Underwood or Miley Cyrus thing... it was just depressing. Rachel was singing to her own reflection, and the lyrics were about looking into her own eyes. Seriously? Rachel. Seriously? The only marginally redeeming part of this sequence was the Anthropologie dress with little bees on it. I love that dress.

More Kate Spade...

Brittany Bon Mots:

Mercedes as Brittany: "Rachel, after your solo I have to bail Lord Tubbington out of jail. He tried to sell my iPhone for drugs."

Brittany as Britanny: "I'm not totally gay, but I think that trees are born like actual babies, so kicking me out would be kinda mean."

How Sue Sees It:
"We have but one choice left to us. It's time to fight fire with the flaming flames of additional flamey gay fire."

Track Suit Sightings: 7 (one of them was Will as Sue, the rest were all Sue as Sue)

Outfit(s) of the Week:
I gotta say. Having Tina hit her head and then see everyone as switched Freaky Friday-style was AMAZING. And great fun. Therefore, I give you all of the switcheroos.

Artie as Santana!

Santana as Artie!

Tina as Rachel.

Rachel as Tina! TINA AS RACHEL! THE TWILIGHT ZONE!

Mercedes as Brittany, Artie as Santana, Sugar as Quinn and Mike as Teen Jesus.

THIS IS PRICELESS. Puck as Blaine and Finn as Kurt. I can't... get over... It's so... I just...

NEXT STOP: Nationals!!!!

Pilot - Part 2 of 3 - The Chorus Line

As in every teen dramedy, the villains are the cheerleaders. McKinley High's squad is the Cheerios, headed by *cough* virgin queen *cough* Quinn Fabray. She's dating Finn.

Yes, Quinn is with Finn. Gag.

As well as a girlfriend and an endless polo shirt collection, Finn also has a best friend, Puck. Noah Puckerman is a playboy with a mohawk and a cougar fetish, which you don't see that often.

Speaking of never-ending polo shirts, football coach Ken Tanaka is a snappy dresser. He often matches his sports socks to his wide array of polos - the one with red piping is actually quite acceptable, as is the blue. Beige shows sweat marks, and acid-mustard-yellow-puke is just nasty.

Ken's crush is the squeaky clean (due to her OCD) guidance counsellor Emma Pillsbury, whose outfits fill me with glee. Look at those dinky beads.

The gorgeous blend of buttercup, lemon and mustard accessorised with a pop of orange...

Large buttons and short fawn sleeves over a deep blue shirt are a bang on colour combination of nude and dark.

White cuffs and collars add a starched, sexy touch to brown.

And just when you think it can't get any better, Emma wears a black and purple plaid coat over a beautiful pussy-bow tie-neck dress. She's like a ginger female Mr Darcy.

I want this blouse. The gold buttons on the neck and sleeves, the rich colour, the asymmetry of the side tie-neck...Emma adds a gold watch and ring for perfect accessorising.

This colour is very good for her.

In a stunningly horrible foil to Emma's excellent sartorial choices and innate goodness, sadistic cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester lives and dies in Adidas tracksuits. I guess red suits her, but that's the only good thing I have to say about this outfit.

Who knew black tracksuits could be glamorous? No one, that's who, because it's impossible.

I know for a fact that Jane Lynch has blue eyes, by becoming Sue makes them satanic and red (in my mind). I therefore cannot compliment this lovely shade of sky blue for making her eyes pop.

Michael - Part 2 of 2 - Just a Little Bit of Me

The rest of the New Directions only seemed to pop in here and there for bits of Michael week. Or at least stayed just long enough for a solo or duet.  Otherwise, their appearances were as unremarkable as their outfits.  Case in point:

Boring Irish fellow.

Sad looking Puck:

On the other hand, everyone is A++ for the big group MJ number.  Brittany’s costume looks so amazing on her, Finn in anything glittery is definitely noteworthy, Rory’s rocking the military look as well as Santana, and Mike’s Thriller get-up is spot on. 

Not so spot on?  Tucking your shirt and cardigan into your pants.

I suppose, though, it could be overlooked given that he’s about to don some spikes and nail a duet with Mike.  Such a fun change from the usual Artie! 

That’s also about as interesting as it gets for Mike; though, I do love that he took a cue from Blaine and pulled on a pair of colored trousers.  The track jacket pairs excellently with the red.  And I was beyond thrilled to see Tina in this navy and green dress. 

But not as thrilled as when I realized she had ditched the hideous Pilgrim collar for the cowl neck. 

I am also super-loving her foray into the land of preppy.  The suspenders are a great, and often overlooked, accessory. 

Be still my heart. 

Now, this is not the best dress ever, but it is far and away a world of improvement.  We can ditch the orange, but the button detailing along the front is a nice little touch.   And while Mike is about to yawn at his outfit, Quinn is super chic in her bright yellow jacket and gray and white skirt.  I’m not wild about this full skirt situation over here, but the jacket makes up for it. 

She must be taking lessons in great jackets from Rachel, because she stole Blaine’s blanket and fashioned herself a great red and black blazer. 

And can we talk about her hair? That impulse decision to chop off her locks at the end of Season 2 was a good one.

White and navy always look great together.  So do dresses and blazers.  Put them all together and add some lace detailing?  Lovely.  Classic, chic, sophisticated and mature without looking dated.  

The clear winner of the night was her floor-length black sequined gown.  Obviously, this picture doesn’t do it justice, but while everyone — yes, myself included — was oohing, ahhing, and salivating over this long sparkly number, I was also over the moon with her hair and make-up.  To.  Die.  For. 

This outfit, with the bow detailing at the collar, is pretty nice and it somehow works with the plaid, but let’s face it, nothing can really follow that black dress.

Not to be outdone in the sparkle department, Mercedes ups the ante with metallic lettering, bright colors, animal prints…

…and sequins, of course.

At least it matches the sparkling personality that caught Sam’s attention in the first place.   In other circumstances—like, say, if we were somewhere in southern California—I’d be onboard with this light wash jean jacket.  I appreciate his effort to move away from the plaid, but I’m going to go ahead and say he should get rid of it. Just a little bit.  

 

And despite his few and far between appearances, Mr. Schue managed to make the most of it with four outfit changes.  Only one vest this week, my vest-defiant friends. 

He switches it up from the blazer and the boring shirt with a forest green cardigan trimmed with light blue which is a great piece.  But matched with a red tie and a swill-colored dress shirt and I’m singing a different tune.

And speaking of different tunes, while the New Directions definitely hit it out of the park with their renditions of Michael's songs (and I know it was awesome because I woke up the next morning with “Gotta Be Startin’ Somethin’” in my head) I can’t wait to see how they do when Ricky Martin takes their tunes south of the border.  I’m sure it’ll be nothing short of caliente! 

Extraordinary Merry Christmas - Part 1 of 2 - Morose Christmas

Here's what you missed on Glee: New Directions gets a big offer to film a holiday special for a local Lima TV station, but unfortunately it conflicts with the appearance Sue scheduled for them at the local soup kitchen. Isn’t Christmas the time for giving? For Sam and Quinn it is, but all the other kids opt for fame and glory over generosity. Until the plug gets pulled on the special, and they all show up to lend a hand. Rachel learns an important lesson and instead of exchanging Christmas (Hanukkah?) gifts with Finn, they return them and donate the money to charity. And that's what you missed on Glee!

This was a polarizing episode of Glee. (Aren’t they all these days?) Some people liked the Christmas special portion of the episode, others found it dull. Some people were bothered by Rachel’s sudden obsession with Christmas (remember, she’s Jewish) while others enjoyed the lesson about the true Christmas spirit that we all learned. No matter where you stand though, it seems like almost everyone agreed on two things: “Let Them Know It’s Christmastime” is an awkward song to sing at a soup kitchen and the clothes in this episode were off the hook. For the most part. But let’s kick things off with the holiday outfits that were feeling a little more morose than merry.

Quinn looks nice here, but everyone else could use an extra dose of holiday cheer. Uh, Tina? Just because you’re wearing a cute hat doesn’t mean you’re dressed well. White tights are for toddlers or nurses and paired with those red shoes and giant collar, you look as though you’re dressed as an elf. Holiday, yes. Holiday chic, no.

And this is simply the first of many times we’ll see Sam dressed as though he’s trying to blend into the wall. Here’s another example:

Come on Sam, step it up. You’re setting a terrible example for the Irish kid.

What’s his name again? Oh right, Rory. It’s hard to remember because his one distinguishing characteristic is “Irish”. He sang about feeling homesick over the holidays, but the only person who seemed to care was Sam.

Once most of the glee kids chose to bail on their gig at the soup kitchen, Quinn was feeling pretty blue herself. Her green outfit (which I couldn’t get a great look at) was merry, but her face was all kinds of morose.

I’m convinced that the writers have given Quinn a terrible storyline this season because Dianna Agron just looks so damn pretty when she’s sad. I love the bold lips she’s been doing lately.

Also looking rather morose? Kurt. For the most part Kurt delivered in the outlandish holiday attire department, but then he also showed up like this:

What is this, your audition for the lead role in A Very Camo Christmas? And why is that headband flattening your hair like that? Kurt, you’ve let me down.

The McKinley High faculty also got into the festive holiday spirit, but in all the wrong ways. Mr. Schu showed up in a plaid vest that's even louder and more obnoxious than his rapping.

Gross.

Even worse was Sue. Wearing Adidas tracksuits in red and green don’t make them festive. She could have at least worn a sparkly one or something.

The most morose of all were the members of New Directions who were assigned the worst parts in the Christmas special. Enter Finn and Puck.

Artie’s obsession with the Star Wars Christmas special really made his own take a turn for the worse. It just made no sense at all. But at least these boys got to sing a song.

I can only assume that Mike Chang’s part got cut in favor of the Yule log video.

He played Santa. Yawn. He didn’t even get to dance very much.

Still, it could have been worse. He could have been Itchy The Elf.

This is tragic. The poor guy! It’s Christmas, he’s away from his friends and family, AND he has to dress up in a humiliating elf costume? Yikes. Let’s move on to the fun, festive fashion.

I Kissed a Girl - Part 2 of 3 - Hot n' Cold

First, Cooter was way into Beiste.  Now, he’s totally going steady with Sue.  And before, Quinn had a thing for Puck.  Then, she didn’t.  But, now she does again.  Seriously, guys, pick already.  Polos or tracksuits?  Mohawk or no-hawk?

I’m completely Team Polo and while Beiste’s affinity for polo shirts continues to elude me, I can’t really blame her.  She’s a football coach so she can’t strut around in cute dresses a la Pilsbury, which is why I love that she accessorizes with little hoop earrings and rings (they’re probably championship rings, but whatever).  

 

Sue’s tracksuits were pretty standard…

 …but she definitely had the best accessory: her little black book, “Sue’s Booty Calls.”

Speaking of booty calls, I was a little surprised when Puck pulled a Pacey Witter and wound up canoodling Shelby.  I guess when you put his charming smirk in one of his hundreds of fitted black shirts and slap a guitar on him, it’s hard to stay away, but that disaster of a mohawk should’ve dissuaded her.  What’s going on?  Why is it leaning to one side?  I know it was Movember, but wrong “mo.”  

Shelby generally has a great sense of style and I love that she’s equipped for fall with her long-sleeved blouses and boots.  Except, the black v-neck sweater is on the less-remarkable side and the orange skirt is just not a flattering cut—the lone middle pleat leaves her looking wider than she is.  

Ah, okay, here we go.  She definitely knows her blouses.  The deep jeweled blue and green tones compliment her so well and I love the ruffle and knot details on them.  So stylin’.  

Completing this entirely inappropriate love triangle is Quinn and her bevy of cardigans.  I love a good cardigan and think that this little lavender number softens what looks to be a more modern print.  

She switches things up with a cream bolero and what I first thought was a camo-print dress.  It wasn’t until I pulled the screen cap that I realized, “Oh!  Those are flowers…ish.”   What I really like, though, is her belt.  Like I said, can’t resist a good bow.  It’s always fun to add a bit of hardware to an otherwise totally feminine outfit. 

This look is a little too summery for me right now and I surely wouldn’t have paired them with what I think are brogue-like wedges.  I like the shoe—I really like the shoe—but not with that dress.  

While she’s sans cardigan here, I like the asymmetrical neckline and little ruffle accent.   I also like her evil eyes—no one can hand out a death stare quite like Quinn.  

While not embroiled in some kind of love scandal, Emma and Will are definitely hot n cold—fashionably speaking, of course.  Emma is, as usual, spot on by adding some whimsy to a plain red sweater with a cute little fish brooch (any good Red Sea jokes out there?) and her hair looks amazing.

And this. Uff.  She is just perfect.  Perfect cut, perfect fit, perfect accessories, perfect color—I love that she’s always in something bright!  

And then, we have…gray. 

I see a little progress with the mixing of the printed tie and the gingham shirt, but this brown jacket has got to go.  

No, not yet?  Going to hang on to it for a bit longer, huh? 

Well…at least the tie is nice.