Glee Season 6 Episode 6 Review: “What the World Needs Now”

There were some really strong moments in tonight’s episode of Glee, moments that actually moved me (something that has been completely missing from the show during the past two weeks). The beginning of Rachel’s return to Broadway, encouraged here by Mercedes, is great stuff, especially when her performance of “Promises, Promises” transitions from her in the choir room, to her entering to New York, to her up on stage at her audition. Glee is still able to produce wonderful musical moments like that, scenes that not only work on a performance and stylistic level, but more importantly, a character one. We’ve been with Rachel through this journey, both her ups and her downs, and we want to see her succeed and excel at what she’s best at and loves most: performing.

What also works in “What the World Needs Now,” although not as well as the Rachel material, is Brittany’s attempt to patch things up between Santana and her abuela (who is still played by Jane the Virgin‘s Ivonne Coll, meaning that Santana and Jane have the same grandmother–well, sort of anyway). Sure, it’s still difficult sometimes to take Brittany seriously as a character, but seeing her determined efforts to help Santana show us how much she cares for her fiancé instead of yet another scene of Glee telling us why these two belong together.

Plus, even though Brittany’s speech is way too preachy (of course, she just had to reference a New York Times article), I appreciated the fact that this problem isn’t so easily fixed; by episode’s end, Santana’s abuela still doesn’t believe in Brittany and Santana’s relationship and still won’t attend their wedding. Not every story in Glee needs a happy ending, although the episode’s closing number, interspersed with scenes of the gang together at Will’s apartment, is a nice, sweet way to end the hour.

Unfortunately, holding this episode (and to be quite honest, this whole season) back is the totally unnecessary and completely forced romance between Sam and Rachel. Full disclosure: as I’ve mentioned before in other Glee articles I’ve written, both Finn and Rachel have always been my favorite characters on the show, so, of course, the two were my favorite couple on the show (although I think the amount of emphasis place on the romantic relationships on this show has always been a problem). However, it’s not my fond memories of Finn and Rachel that are causing me to not get on board the Sam and Rachel shipping train; no, that reason lies with how the writers are trying to set this couple up in the least natural way possible.

Simply put, nothing between Sam and Rachel feels real or authentic, especially in light of Sue’s incredibly idiotic hypnotizing of him over the past two weeks, causing him to show affection towards Rachel because Sue instigated it, despite Sam’s feelings for Mercedes. And speaking of those feelings that Sam has for Mercedes (and the ones she also had for him), they’re washed away in a single scene, where Mercedes not only gives her blessing to a potential Sam and Rachel union but encourages it, explaining how she’s now fallen for a Christian rock singer who is also waiting for marriage.

I think the main problem here is Sam, who just hasn’t been a solid character since the show made him too stupid back in Season 4 (and then paired him with Brittany). He just doesn’t resemble any type of real person in any way and is dumb and selfish or smart and sweet whenever the script calls for him to be. There’s nothing organic or authentic about him anymore, and his dating Rachel is now only harming her character–it doesn’t do anything to enrich it.

Overall, “What the World Needs Love” felt very much like a Season 5 episode of Glee. It had some good ideas and some standout moments, but it got bogged down by too many nonsensical and unnecessary storytelling choices. All you can do is smile and cheer for every scene like Rachel’s audition or the group’s performance of “What the World Needs Now” and do your best to ignore the rest.

Other thoughts:

– At least there was no Sue in this episode. I really needed a break from her after both parts of “The Hurt Locker.”

– Really liked the flashbacks to Rachel’s experiences in New York during the guys’ performance of “Arthur’s Theme.”

– The music in this episode was great. I’ve always been a Burt Bacharach fan, so I found myself enjoying pretty much every single performance, especially “Arthur’s Theme,” “Promises, Promises,”  “Alfie,” and “What the World Needs Now.”

What did everyone else think of tonight’s episode of Glee?

[Photo via FOX]