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Episode Reviews

Britney/Brittany

The famed Britney Spears episode of Glee has come and gone, and overall, I felt it was a decent episode with good music. The story aspects of Glee in general, though, leave a lot to be desired.

"Brittany as Britney"

The famed Britney Spears episode of Glee has come and gone, and overall, I felt it was a decent episode with good music. The story aspects of Glee in general, though, leave a lot to be desired.

Tonight’s glee revolves around the introduction of Dr. Carl Howell (John Stamos), Emma’s new boyfriend, and the interactions between Will and Emma as they continue to work though the remnants of their relationship after last season’s breakup. While Carl doesn’t have much screen time, he does accent the fact that Emma still has a lot of feelings for Will, but Will’s stressful situation is starting to get the better of him.

In the parallel story, we have Finn trying to work though his personal life as he tries to return to the football team with Rachel worried that she will no longer be important enough in his life to continue being his girlfriend. I’m getting a little tired of Rachel’s insanity personally. I hate the fact that she’s so down on herself and is always trying to bring down Finn (and everyone else) just so she can be either superior or just plain not alone.

As for the rest of the club, there is a sudden desire to do a lot of Britney Spears covers though Will is trying to impose a number of old 80s songs on them. I did love the fact they enhanced the musical numbers with Britney inspired costuming and sets as all the songs were fantasies as a result of Carl’s hallucinogenic anesthesia.

Overall though, the songs were merely plugged into the show in what felt like another cookie cutter episode. It starts with some class assignment that parallels some personality issue that the cast is facing. There are a number of songs interjected between bits of dialog where one pair or small group of characters is working though some type of issue. Then there’s a group based song where the issues seem to just resolve themselves, ending with a final comforting song by some cast member to bring the viewer to an emotional catharsis. Unfortunately for me, I’ve gotten tired of a lot of the drama between the generally unlikable characters, and I really only care for the musical numbers.

Addendum: Upon rewatching it, I have to conclude that Heather Morris is an amazing dancer and the “Me Against the Music” cover might just be better than the original.

Other Thoughts

  • Brittany’s full name is Brittany Susan Pierce, or Brittany S.Pierce.
  • They made a reference to two YouTube videos this episode. First there was an off comment “Leave Britney Alone!” Second there was a “Is this the real world?” comment taken from the “David after Dentist” video.
  • Britney Spears appears in Brittany’s fantasy as herself. She also appears in Rachel’s fantasy as the school teacher. Finally, she appears as a cheerleader at school in Artie’s fantasy.
  • I don’t quite get why Biest suddenly allowed Finn and Artie on the team. Did she feel a little bad for the way the others were treating them due to her overreaction?
  • “This room looks like the one on that spaceship where I got probed.” – Brittany. Say whaa? I think some of the best lines in the show come from the consistently insane things Brittany says.
  • This is the first time Brittany has a solo, and there is very little work done by the cast as a whole this episode. Most of the musical numbers involved other performers.
  • Disappointingly, there was no music from Circus, which I find to be my favorite of her albums.

Music

  • Baby One More Time (Brittany)
    'iTunes' 'Amazon'
  • I’m a Slave 4 U (Brittany)
    'iTunes' 'Amazon'
  • Me Against the Music (Santana and Brittany)
    'iTunes' 'Amazon'
  • Stronger (Artie)
    'iTunes' 'Amazon'
  • Toxic (Glee Cast)
    'iTunes' 'Amazon'
  • The Only Exception by Paramore (Rachel)
    'iTunes' 'Amazon'

By Kien Tran

Based in Dallas, Texas, Kien Tran is an avid television enthusiast. After spending hundreds of hours wasting away on a couch, he decided to actually do something creative with his hobby and created this very blog.

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