There was no big group production at the end of this week’s episode, which was a bit of a letdown. That doesn’t mean, however, that “Mash-Up” was light on the music. We got five performances in all, and here’s what we thought of each:
First up is Mr. Schuester (Matthew Morrison) doing “Bust a Move” by Young MC. So far, during Glee’s short run, we’ve already heard Schue offer his take on songs by Color Me Badd, Bell Biv DeVoe and, in this episode, Sisqó. Since we’re not the biggest fans of the genre or era that spawned those tracks, we cringed when this one began. We shouldn’t have. That. Was. Awesome. Maybe it wasn’t the most appropriate thing to interact with Quinn when he came to the line, “A chick walks by and you wish you could sex her” — Mr. Schuester is a teacher, after all — but that’s our only complaint. Plus, who knew Schue could move like that?
Schue is up again, singing “Thong Song” by Sisqó while helping Emma get ready for her wedding mash-up dance. His entire CD collection must include only instrumental versions of pop songs, because for some reason he’s singing instead of Sisqó. This song is awful regardless of who sings it, and while the scene is somewhat amusing, we were grateful when it ended with Schue and Emma falling to the floor.
The “Thong Song” abomination is followed by a brief snippet of Rachel singing “What a Girl Wants” by Christina Aguilera in her bedroom, accompanied by Puck on acoustic guitar. It doesn’t last long enough for us to really form much of an opinion, but we admit to being a little shocked when Rachel answered “Sure” when Puck asked, “Wanna make out?”
We would have been less surprised if it had happened after Puck (Mark Salling) sang “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond in the audition room. We’re suckers for Neil (please don’t tell anyone), and Puck delivers a rendition that is surprisingly sweet and solid. His voice has just enough rasp in it to do justice to the original. It certainly made Rachel — and, more importantly, Quinn — view him in a different way.
And finally, we witness Emma’s (Jayma Mays) debut performance as she does her very best Eliza Doolittle to “I Could Have Danced All Night” from My Fair Lady. In addition to only admitting students who can sing, McKinley High apparently only hires teachers with strong voices, because Emma comes off as a very polished performer. The camera angles weren’t always flattering during the song, but otherwise Emma was enchanting and the number was flawless. We can see why — especially given his other options — why Will seems infatuated with her.
For some reason, “I Could Have Danced All Night” is not available to download at the iTunes store. Neither is “What a Girl Wants,” but the other three songs from the episode are. As always, all five can also be seen in the full episode video below.
Photo: ©2009 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: Carin Baer/FOX
