First of all, before discussing this episode, let me apologize for the lateness of this review. I was at my grandparents for the majority of the holiday weekend, and they have no internet, which makes my job of writing and posting a review on time a little difficult. Despite being temporarily stuck in the stone age, however, I was able to watch this episode of Glee on Thanksgiving night, and for me, “Puppet Master” was a whole lot of “what?” mixed some “meh” and a little splash of “awesome” every once in a while.
What I really enjoyed about this episode (the Jake/Marley storyline, Sue’s flashback, Kurt’s fantasy of the band covering “Into the Groove,” Brad, the piano man, finally speaking up again) was outweighed by too many negatives (Blaine’s boring and nonsensical storyline, the gas leak in the choir room causing people to hallucinate, puppets, the episode ending performance of “The Fox”). Overall, “Puppet Master” had some things that worked and too many things that didn’t, coming together in what looked like a post-Thanksgiving turkey coma fever dream rather than an enjoyable episode of Glee.
The first mistake of the Glee writers when it came to crafting this episode was putting the central focus of it on Blaine. As a supporting partner to Kurt or comic relief every once in a while, Blaine works as a character; however, even going as far back as season three’s “Big Brother,” we’ve seen that Blaine is not a strong enough character to carry an episode’s main storyline by himself. Therefore, looking at the scarce screen time for some of the more serious action of “Puppet Master” (Jake and Bree’s pregnancy scare, Jake’s plea to Marley to take him back, Kurt and Rachel’s band trying to land a solid first gig) in comparison to the inflated prominence of Blaine’s puppet-obsessed storyline only reinforces how weak of a plot this is. Furthermore, aside from a couple of puppet jokes that Sue makes, the puppet storyline isn’t even funny and highlights nothing likeable or new about Blaine’s character; it just makes him look like a crazy narcissist.
Despite Blaine being the main detractor of this episode, when Glee shifted the focus to someone else, like Jake finally understanding the error of his promiscuous ways after a pregnancy scare with Bree (although this storyline should have had more scenes) or to Sue’s desire to appear feminine in order to appeal to Bob, the school’s superintendent, “Puppet Master” became extremely enjoyable. The flashback to the origins of Sue’s tracksuit and her present day makeover combined the hilarious with the heartfelt, and a more sensitive Sue made for a nice change from the version of her that we’ve been getting for much of this season, as she has been back to being a persistent destroyer of the glee club.
Additionally, as I’ve stated already, I thought that Glee handled everything involving Jake, Marley, and Bree extremely well. I loved the “Nasty”/“Rhythm Nation” mash-up that the three of them were a part of, and most of all, I was extremely happy to see the final exchange near the end of the episode between Marley and Jake. While I never really bought Jake cheating on Marley, I’m happy to see where Glee is positioning both of these characters after their breakup. Jake now understands how wrong his actions were and how Marley did and still does make him a better person. However, Marley holds her ground, telling Jake that she isn’t there to save him and that she can never see him the same way again after he cheated on her; they are friends and teammates but nothing more.
Moving forward, I’m really excited to see how Glee deals with Marley and Jake being broken up. Can the two of them be friends, or will Jake always be trying to regain that romantic spark that the two of them once had? How does a friendship between the two of them look when sex is no longer an issue? I’m really hoping Glee can explore these new shades to Marley and Jake in the future.
Overall, “Puppet Master” represented what most of this fifth season of Glee has been: some really solid moments mixed with a whole lot more questionable storylines. These great moments and characters like Rachel, Santana, and Kurt, ones that I really care about, keep me watching and hoping for more from Glee, but much like Brad (even though I don’t have an online gambling addiction nor is my house getting foreclosed on), I’m getting less and less hopeful as the episodes go by.
What did everyone else think of “Puppet Master”? Are you enjoying season five of Glee? Why or why not?
Image credit: Adam Rose/FOX
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I really really like the focus being in blaine, because i love that characther. But i agree with you that the story of the puppets and the gais leak in the choir room was extremely boring, but i disagree with you about blaine, because i think that he is te most strong charachter of Mckinley right now, also i want more Klaine
I disagree. The fact that the only thing they could think of to give him is a creepy obsession with puppets proves beyond a doubt that Blaine should remain a supporting character. Whenever he is the focus they write him as a whiny toddler and it’s impossible for me to take him seriously or believe that he is planning to get married. I mean he’d rather hang out with a puppet than show up to support his own fiance and I’m supposed to want these two together because…? Even for Glee that’s just terrible writing.
Saying Blaine is the most strong character at McK right now just proves how bad McK has become.
They need stop the focus on Blaine as the reviewer said he just is not a strong enough character to warrant so much time and Darren is not a storing enough actor, nor is Chord who they give to much too. I don’t agree with the Jarley stuff at all it is all a rehash of yet another triangle. You have 3 great characters who have all proven to be able to carry an episode or evne a l long arc in NY and yet Lea, Chris and Naya are regulated to less that 7 minutes. STUPID.