Did we fall in love with after a hopeless Christmas episode?
After a horrible Christmas special that I could barely sit through, there was no doubt that “Yes/No” would be considerably better. Turns out, it’s one of the best, if not THE best, episode of Glee this season. Character driven, story focused, emotion galore, along with great writing all add up to one of the best Glee episodes of the entire series. The music perfectly represented the character’s feelings and scenarios, and with the romance, it was extremely hard not to get caught up in everything. Let’s take a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly.
THE GOOD: The proposal – Come on, this had to be the best moment of the night! After all the effort to make it perfect, Will was able to say the right thing, enough to make any Gleek shed a tear, and finally proposed to Emma. I think one of the most goosebump inducing moments was seeing Sue give Emma the last white rose. There was something incredibly symbolic about it, and proves Sue doesn’t have to be mean all the time. What helps as well was the perfect song that fit the moment as well.
The well-written story – That’s basically the very big reason of why this week’s episode succeeds. With Will in the driver’s seat, the episode has a great head on its shoulders. His proposal to Emma is tied into every subplot, the very emotional side of Finn came out, while emotions spewed from every other corner of McKinley, but the power of Matthew Morrison definitely helped fuel the show to a rare unseen quality. For some reason, when it’s told from Schu’s perspective, the series seems to be headed in the right direction, and one I wish it was always headed.
THE BAD: Will doubting Emma – I feel like if the writers could focus more on telling the Will-side of the story, we wouldn’t have had an episode like tonight. The last time we touched upon the Will/Emma romance, he defended her for her OCD in front of her parents, which he almost does this episode as well. Instead, he believes what they say, and voices somewhat of an opinion that her OCD may ruin the future for them, especially when it comes to a baby. Despite her trying, and despite that fact that she could get a lot better until then, Will still treats her as if she’ll bite a potential baby’s head off, and it’s a disgusting scene to watch as it feel incredibly rushed. Perhaps if we could have possibly touched upon this possible proposal weeks earlier, and the storyline had been stretched out into an arc, it wouldn’t have felt so sudden, and so compulsive. But, it’s simply a moment I couldn’t believe this week.
THE UGLY: Glee needs to stop cramming episodes so full of story they’re bursting at the seams, and leaving other episodes so mind numbingly shallow – I offer this large amount of criticism towards the entire episode, however: why must Glee put a large amount of storyline, which could easily be stretched over the course of a few weeks, into one episode? Seriously…we had Rachel blabbing about NYADA for the billionth time, romance everywhere, Finn trying to decide his future, while Will is doing the same about his, Besite getting married, Mercedes wanting to break up with Shane so she can go back with Sam, Finn eventually learning the shocking truth about his father, Helen Mirren as the voice of Becky’s inner monologue, Kurt never getting his damn cheesecake. It was all on overload. And I love that the marriage thing came absolutely out of nowhere. Yes, I get how long these characters have been in love with each other without actually being a couple. But, we have to remember: last year, Emma was married to some other guy, became Will’s girlfriend in the offseason, and the two have been cuddling offscreen for at least nine episodes now. Shouldn’t we have stretched out the “should I, shouldn’t I propose to her?” storyline a little longer? I’ve often said that the big problem with Glee is that they neglect Matthew Morrison and his character, especially this season. Suddenly, he’s the prime focus of the entire hour? I just don’t buy it. More isn’t better, it’s only worse. I felt like the hour was over and then some by the time we hit the half hour mark. What’s even more horrible is the fact of how it makes other episodes look. When it comes to episodes like this, I adore Glee. I don’t care about a politics storyline, or the fact that some kid is trying to come between Klaine. I just don’t care! I want more from Mr. Schu, who’s point of view and focus is what made the first season, and ultimately this episode, a fantastic hour.
FINAL VERDICT: Overall, “Yes/No” isn’t perfect, and definitely has a great amount of problems when it comes to the overall structure, and insane amount of storylines. But, if you’re able to overlook them, the episode is one of the best of the entire series; emotional, character-driven, funny, shocking, even well-written. If the series could become a little more consistent instead of one of the worst scripted series on television, that would be very much appreciated. Instead, “Yes/No” leaves with a big cliffhanger, and definitely has plenty of content that will take two weeks to digest.
4 out of 5
