Glee recap: Brotherly Love

Welcome back! After the serious downer that was the mid-season finale (Quinn car crash, Finchel almost wedding, Karofsky suicide attempt) you may have thought that the rest of the season would be more drama than comedy. But Glee is always good for a curveball (and a well-placed inspiring musical montage). Instead of tough hospital talks with Quinn, we were treated to one of the most laugh-out-loud funny hours of Glee in recent memory, thanks almost entirely to guest star Matt Bomer, who played Blaine’s famous (by Lima standards) big brother, Cooper Anderson.

But first, Glee had to address at least one of its many cliffhangers, and the Quinn “Is she dead?” drama was put to rest right away: She’s not. She’s alive and mostly well, although she is temporarily in a wheelchair. Her legs may not be working great, but everything else was, meaning she was free to lecture anyone who came into her path about the dangers of texting while driving. She took it a step further, however, and was also a walking wheeling PSA about texting dangers in general. She should have pointed her finger when she was speaking so we knew she was serious.

I thought there would be more time spent on what was obviously a hugely traumatic event for the core group of kids, but beyond Rachel having a mini-breakdown while the gang was planning where to go for senior ditch day (Final decision: Six Flags), it was mostly business as usual. Quinn explained, “I’m not going to dwell on this, and neither should you.” Okay then!

With her cliffhanger wrapped up, I assumed we would also get a status update about Karofsky. When we last saw him he was in the hospital visiting with Kurt after his suicide attempt. But he wasn’t mentioned at all last night. Quinn and Karofsky’s troubles took a backseat to Blaine’s brother, who showed up for the first time. Thanks to a credit score commercial with a catchy jingle (it’s Kurt’s ringtone!) and looks to rival a Disney prince, Cooper’s arrival was greeted with more fanfare than a One Direction performance. Even Sue was smitten.

But it turned out that Cooper “Cray Cray” Anderson had one person who wasn’t a fan: His brother Blaine. The reason? Cooper was always criticizing him. Well, nobody was criticizing the brothers’ competing Simon Le Bon impressions during New Directions rehearsal. I’m sure I’m not the only one who was desperately hoping for a touring brother act. But their relationship can’t be all charisma and sexy dance moves, (can it?) and we learned that the duo of dreamboats didn’t just have a series of sing-offs growing up: They had a long-standing complicated relationship.

NEXT: New Directions attends Cooper Anderson Master Class; hilarity ensues

Not complicated? How much I loved the Cooper Anderson Master Class. I’m officially starting a petition to call it MasterClass Theater, and I would like it to be recurring, please. Cooper ran an acting class for New Directions sharing his priceless tricks of the trade. The whole thing was a quote gold mine of hilarious(ly bad) advice: “Don’t go to college. It’s a waste of time.” “Don’t go to New York. Theater is lame. And Broadway is dead.” “Real actors do TV and film which means Hollywood is where it’s at.” Point your finger at who you’re talking to. To show how intense you are, scream all your lines a la Nicolas Cage. The kids ate it all up — except for an obviously frustrated Blaine, who asked his brother why he couldn’t just support him. Cooper’s response: “Are you talking to me right now? Because I can’t tell if you’re talking to me if you don’t point your finger. Scene.”

This showdown led to the two musical highlights of the show: Blaine doing his best ‘Angry Dance‘ to Christina Aguilera’s “Fighter,” along with a steamy shirtless shower scene (Hotter of the Anderson brothers? I’ll leave that to you, dear readers), and — lucky day! –another Anderson brother duet, Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used To Know.” After they sang out their feelings, the brothers made up, with Cooper repeating the common refrain of overbearing parents everywhere: He only pushed Blaine so hard because he loved him, and wanted to see him be the best he could be. Blaine clearly forgave him, and offered to help him make a video reel to send to Michael Bay. One can only hope that’ll turn up as a DVD bonus feature somewhere down the line.

While Blaine was dealing with family drama, everyone else was dealing with Senior Ditch Day. Everyone — including some non-seniors like Tina, because, who doesn’t want to go to an amusement park instead of school? — had musical montage fun on roller coasters, while Quinn and Artie hung out in a wheel park for skateboarders, because Artie explained that an amusement park is a tough experience when you’re first starting out in a chair. That cued up the breakdown we all knew was coming, with Quinn in some pretty serious denial about her current situation. While Artie was trying to be encouraging and help her out, she snapped and stated she was nothing like Artie — her situation wasn’t permanent, she was still going to Yale, etc.

Will she be having a Matthew Crawley-style recovery just in time for Nationals in Chicago? Likely. What’s more unknown is what this struggle is going to do to her mentally. Quinn has, by almost anyone’s account, had a bit of a rough year what with her good-girl-gone-bad fall, the Shelby mess, and now this. I also can’t be the only one now wondering if a Quinn/Artie romance will happen (Quartie?). She was giving him some serious puppy dog eyes throughout the episode. I, for one, hope that for once a relationship doesn’t happen, but it kind of seemed like the writers were headed that way, at least on Quinn’s end. Do you all want to see them be prom dates, or are you just liking their new deeper friendship?

NEXT: Updates on Sue’s pregnancy, plus musical grades!

The adults took a backseat tonight, but we still got some updates about Sue’s womb (file under: sentences I never thought I’d type). Sue had announced she was pregnant — celebrity father announcement still pending — and she informed Schu that he could chalk her mood swings up to that. After asking Schu and Emma to come to the doctor with her, I thought for sure we were in for some kind of hysterical pregnancy announcement, round two. Instead, we got something much sadder: According to the doctor, Sue is pregnant, and having a baby girl, but the doctor informed her, “your amnios came back with irregularities,” meaning that Sue’s child could very likely have Down Syndrome.

That revelation led to a poignant heart-to-heart with Becky (their scenes together are always some of my favorites) and Becky gave her a parenting tip: “Try to work on your patience.” Cut to a nicer Sue instructing the New Directions — with new member Joe — at the end of the episode. She explained she was helping them for two reasons: 1.) So Mr. Schuester would have at least one adult friend. (Ha!) And 2.) So that her baby can soak up some of the kids’ “constantly annoying but admittedly laudable optimism and decency.” She left out that she was also there because she needed them to win the prize money at nationals so that Roz wouldn’t be co-captain of the Cheerios with her. But that’s just a minor detail. Perhaps this baby will bring about some permanent changes in Sue. I somehow doubt it.

Finally, with graduation on the horizon, Puck was thinking long-term, and had his brightest idea in years: Move his lucrative pool business to Los Angeles, where the pools, and the women, were more plentiful. He wanted Finn to come with him — Finn is the brains of this whole thing. Side note: Oh dear. But the convo did push Finn to think about how he realistically fits into Rachel’s NYC life. When he confronted her about it, and she gave him the nice-sounding answer about them figuring it out together, he didn’t back down, challenging her about whether she cared about his dreams too. Finn then delivered a painful line: “I want you to be really sure that you’re in love with me, and not who you want me to be.” That wedding is so not happening.

Musical Grades:

“I’m Still Standing”: The Quinn/Artie duet was perfectly pleasant, but also a teensy bit bland — not to mention ironic. B-

“Hungry Like a Wolf/Rio”: A pop version of a Duran Duran classic? The Anderson brothers demonstrated what the show does best, and this version, complete with some truly fun choreography, was a real treat. A-

“Fighter”: Full disclosure: One of my all-time favorite pop tunes. That said, this version didn’t disappoint. The talk-singing at the beginning was a little weird, but the energy and emotional punch totally resonated. A-

“Up, Up, Up”: This tune was mostly background music, and while I appreciate them covering a not-currently-popular song, this one wasn’t particularly memorable. B

“Somebody That I Used To Know”: It’s already on my iTunes most played. Shout-out to the Glee writers this episode for not only picking fun songs, but also tracks that were all really great lyrically in terms of moving the plot forward. A

NEXT: Best quotes of the night!

Top Quotes:

— “It’s springtime. I would like to see something give birth.” –Brittany, announcing her senior ditch day plans

— “Coach Sue is meaner than Tabatha.” “First of all, I have no idea who Porcelain is referring to, but I’m assuming it’s gay and niche.” Schu and Sue

— “No no, these are my friends. That sounded so weird coming out of my mouth.” -Sue

— “The key to a dramatic scene is pointing. When people are really emotional they point their fingers a lot.” “That’s not true at all. That’s terrible advice.” –Cooper “Cray Cray” Anderson and Blaine

— “Are you talking to me right now? Because I can’t tell unless you’re pointing at me.” –Cooper

— “Don’t be a stranger. Follow me on Twitter. Tweet me!” –Cooper

— “I just got an audition for a Michael Bay movie. Michael Bay! The movie’s untitled, which you know is code for Transformers 4” –Cooper

— “I said nothing about the implausible sexual tension between Mercedes and the Kentucky Fried Stripper.” -Sue

— “New York is about the work that you do, not the work you’ve had done.” –Rachel, explaining to Finn that she’s Broadway-bound, not an L.A. chick

— “The secret to great acting: Great acting is ignoring whatever the other actor is doing. Eye contact with a scene partner is incredibly distracting. I try to tune them out entirely. Sometimes I wear ear plugs. That way, I don’t get distracted by what they’re doing and I can focus on the awesome acting choices I’ve planned ahead of time.” –Cooper, during MasterClass Theater

What did you all think of new addition Cooper Anderson? Were you satisfied with how the Quinn drama was handled? How did you feel about the lack of any mention of Karofsky? Where are you hoping Finn and Rachel wind up — and will it be together? Tell me in the comments — and make sure to point!

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