Say what you need to say.
Brittany predicts that a meteor will strike Lima. For their weekly assignment, Will gives the kids the theme "Last Chance" in the hopes their fear of the impending disaster will inspire them to live each day as if it could be their last. While Will’s lesson plan has the residual effect of prompting a heartfelt and unexpected confession from Coach Beiste, its premise suddenly takes on new meaning when the school is immersed in a terrifyingly real event. Meanwhile, when Ryder discovers, much to his delight, that Katie – the girl he’s been communicating with strictly via text message – is a student at McKinley, he decides to initiate the next step in their relationship.
Next Time: The final performance of one of the foundations of the series.
Songs:
- Your Song by Elton John, performed by Ryder.
- More Than Words by Extreme, performed by Sam, Brittany and New Directions.
- Say by John Mayer, performed by New Directions.
Tropes:
- Ambiguously Gay: Kitty. Both her words to Marley and Ryder for different reasons.
- Axes at School: School shooting episode, America.
- Bottle Episode: Once the gunshots go off until they're given the all clear by authorities, nearly all of episode takes place in the choir room (bar the few times we see Brittany, who was alone in a bathroom stall, and one scene with Tina and Principal Figgins outside the school), which is extremely jarring, and extremely effective at creating suspense.
- Content Warnings: During the initial airing of this episode, a content warning read "This episode of 'Glee' addresses the topic of school violence. Viewer discretion is advised.", although this did not appear on online streams.
- I Call It "Vera": Sue's name for her gun is "Uma Thurman."
- Mood Whiplash: This could be described as "Mood Whiplash: The Episode". The episode presents itself as just more of Brittany's Cloudcuckoolander shenanigans, but once the gunshots go off, all the goofiness is gone. This is Truth in Television, as shootings like this one generally start as completely ordinary days until the shots ring out.
- No One Gets Left Behind: When the gunshots go off, Brittany is in the bathroom and doesn't have her phone on her. Sam spends the episode becoming increasingly worried for her, and trying to leave the safety of the choir room to go find her to make sure she's alright, saying that they can't just leave her all alone out there with no way to contact anyone. Mr. Shue and Coach Beiste have to physically restrain him to keep him from jeopardizing the rest of the students' safety by doing this. Eventually Mr. Shue relents and goes to find Brittany himself, bringing her to the safety of the choir room.
- Taking the Heat: Sue takes the fall for Becky, who brought the gun to school and shot it by accident. She gives up her entire career and her legacy to protect the future of a kid she cares about like her own child.
- Very Special Episode: This episode covers the topic of school shootings in America, which, sadly, has been a very relevant issue. It treats the topic with an extremely serious tone without any comedic factors present whatsoever, which is something that, up until this point, had only been the case for Karovsky's suicide attempt.
- Wham Episode: As said, the second of the three significant Wham Episodes in Glee history.
