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McKinley High’s most adorable girl / girl Cheerio couple Santana and Brittany appear to have recovered from last week’s leaked sex tape scandal – or rather evil genius Brit’s plan to set Santana on the right path regarding what stardom really is.
This week’s episode featured the pair singing, dancing, hugging, frolicking and hand holding throughout the Whitney Houston-themed episode.
Here’s a mini re-cap of what our favorite Cheerios got up to:
Ep. 3:17 “Dance with Somebody”
The episode kicks off with Mercedes (Amber Riley) singing an a capella version of “How Will I Know.” Soon, Santana (Naya Rivera) joins her in perfect harmony followed by Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Rachel (Lea Michelle). The quartet of big-piped titans will graduate in a mere 40-ish days and the song is a stand-in for their post-graduation fears and apprehensions, since I’m in the mood to over analyze the choices on Glee. The foursome delivers a moving homage to Houston all before the credits roll.
Cut to the choir room where Mr. Schue (Matthew Morrison) attempts to deconstruct the glee kids attachment to an icon not of their generation when the tart-tongued Santana calls him out.
“We’re hanging on to Whitney because she was incredible and we love her, so don’t put your baggage on us,” she says.
Later, Brittany (Heather Morris) is the first to take on Mr. Schue’s Whitney assignment and shows off her moves to the ever-infectious “I Wanna Dance with Somebody.” McKinley’s terpsichorean dreamboat Brittany dances around with a few of her classmates including Blaine, Mike Chang and even wheel-chair bound Quinn before singing the line “I want to dance with somebody – with somebody who loves me,” and grabbing her lady love Santana from the gallery.
And here’s where I have to give Glee credit for employing some old-school movie musical tropes. Immediately after Brittany plucks Santana off of her chair the number cuts from the representational—the choir room—to the non-representational—a recreation of Whitney’s classic “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” video that illustrates the transformative power of love. At least in my mind it does. Santana and Brit continue to sing to each other changing pronouns to fit their particular love story. I imagine that “aws” emanate from couches across the nation as the silver-clad lovelies embrace at the end of the number.
“Obviously I like dancing with Santana best, but you guys are all still cool dancers,” Brittany says, adding a typical spot-on Brit comment. “And Quinn, you’re still dancing in my dreams, and you can fly and breathe fire.”
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Next up, Santana and Rachel tackle “So Emotional,” completely out of context. There’s no precursor or explanation for the duet but as a Naya and Lea devotee I don’t question it. I just bask in the fantasy of them performing the entire soundtrack to Wicked andRent together. Meanwhile, back on the screen, Brittany claps along as her girlfriend tears up the choir room.
A bit later Santana’s at her locker when Rachel approaches.
“You know you can learn a lot about a person by looking into their locker,” Rachel says, as she spies Santana’s inner book sanctum tricked out with shots of Santana Photoshopped onto Seventeen mag, pics of Brit, the Cheerios and so on…
“Are you like stalking me?” Santana asks.
But Rachel ignores her. “You know we blew it right?” Rachel says. “We wasted three years going at each others’ throats when we could have been singing together and killing it in Glee Club.”
“Well we hated each other. Actually, I hated you,” Santana says, stating the painfully obvious to those of us who’ve been hoping for a Rantana—I don’t think that’s a real mash-up—pairing for three seasons.
“Our duet in Glee was a whole truck load of awesome, and who cares if it took three years” Santana adds. “I mean, we still have plenty of time to do it again.”
But buzz kill Rachel explains there’s no time with only 42 days remaining until graduation –and that means just a few more killer episodes for those of us who really only watch Glee for Naya, Lea and the moments they allow Heather Morris and Amber Riley to be great. Yes, I get that they’ll all return post-graduation but think about what that’s like in real life. Returning to high school after graduation is always disappointing. It just won’t be the same.
“Oh crap,” Santana says. “I think I just realized I’m going to miss you. Say something irritating so I can get the taste of this out of my head please.”
“It’s okay, you went out of your way to make my life a living hell for three years, but at the end of the day I know that you respect my talent and my ambition,” Rachel says, in her lovable solipsistic way.
“I like it when you sing, and hell, you’re the only one at this school besides me who’s willing to kill their best friend to get to the top,” Santana says.
Rachel asks Santana if she’ll put her picture up in her locker. “We may not have time to sing together but we still have 42 days left to at least be friends,” Rachel says. “I’m going to give you a hug. It’ll be quick,” Rachel adds, before giving Santana a little squeeze. Rachel practically skips away down the hallway as Santana places the picture in her locker, and just like that my inner show queen heart grows two inches.
And that’s about it for Brittana and the Whitney tribute show until the finale when the glee kids gather together in the auditorium for one of those wonderfully cheesy glee kids come together moments that we’ve come to love throughout the years – i.e. “We are Young” earlier this season. Brit and Santana arrive holding hands and join in with Mercedes, Artie, Rachel, Finn, Quinn, Joe, Kurt and Blaine on “My Love is Your Love.” And, as usual, they’re totally adorable. Here’s to more of that next week as the season winds down.
Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP, Executive Producer of Entertainment for the Advocate Channel. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.
Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP, Executive Producer of Entertainment for the Advocate Channel. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.
