At a deadly pace it came from outer space, and this is how the message ran…FABULOUS! Tonight the kids of McKinley High celebrated the classic musical from the 70s The Rocky Horror Picture Show with shiny gold booty shorts and a mini-Sue Sylvester.
Before I get on with the review I must confess something. I downloaded the songs from tonight’s episode from iTunes last week when they were released and on first listen I wasn’t terribly impressed. My opinion was undoubtedly clouded by the fact that I had just watched my newly purchased Blu-ray of the original film and that soundtrack is really one of a kind. How do you beat Tim Curry? You don’t that’s how. I think Fox needs to reconsider releasing the songs early in the future because I went into tonight’s show already knowing that the music wasn’t making me shiver with anticipation. I was surprised then to find that in the context of the show the songs were much more fun.
At McKinley High it is time for the annual school musical, and after hearing that Emma Pllsbury (Jayma Mays) is a big Rocky Horror fan, Mr. Shu (Matthew Morrison) decides that the Glee kids should do the show and Emma should help so he can spend more time with her. As the episode kicks off we find them in mid-rehearsal with Rachel (Lea Michelle) as Janet and Finn (Cory Monteith) as Brad. Emma’s boyfriend Carl (John Stamos) interrupts them and confronts Mr. Shu about his lame attempt to go after his girl. Go Go Gadget flashback!
One week earlier when Mr. Shu tells the kids about the musical we find out that Brittany (Heather Morris) is dressing as a peanut allergy for Halloween and Kurt (Chris Colfer) refuses to be seen in fishnets as Frankenfurter which prompts Asian Mike (Harry Shum Jr) to volunteer. Obviously Asian Mike wasn’t paying attention because his parents pull him from the show when they read the script and Mercedes (Amber Riley) ends up with the role. Sam (Chord Overstreet) has no problem showing off his ABulous body so he gets cast as Rocky. He hopes that Quinn (Dianna Agron) will just turn to putty when she sees him in the famous gold shorts and he would be correct.
On Sue’s Corner, the guest spot she does on the local news, Sue (Jane Lynch) celebrates Halloween “where parents encourage little boys to dress like little girls and little girls to dress like whores.” Sue feels that we’ve lost the true meaning of Halloween, fear. Bravo Sue! Halloween is not what it used to be, and forgive me but a “fall festival” is not Halloween. And speaking of fear, the news segment that aired just before Sue’s Corner was about a Unitarian monkey wedding at the local zoo. Excuse me? WTF? Monkeys can get married?
During the commercial break my partner and I were speculating if anyone from the movie would make a cameo and in walk Meatloaf and Barry Bostwick. WIN! In a wonderful scene with Jane Lynch they play school board members who have heard that the glee club is doing Rocky Horror and they want Sue to do an expose about how the “secular progressive agenda has arrived in their district.” Sue isn’t really listening though. She’s too busy carving the most elaborate pumpkin I’ve ever seen that features, you guessed it, Sue Sylvester. She perks up when one of them mentions Emmy award and agrees to infiltrate the Glee club. I spent the next forty minutes hoping to see Susan Sarandon show up. It would have been awesome to have her as a concerned parent protesting the show. Oh well.
Finn and Rachel are busy rehearsing and Finn is confused about the plot, and not in the cool Inception kind of way. Rachel reminds him that he will be doing the scene in his underwear and he freaks out! Turns out Finn is insecure about his body. My first thought was “Hey Finn, take a look at me in my underwear and I’ll show you insecure.” but then I remembered that even hot people are allowed to be uncomfortable with how they look. Plus, no one is asking me to run around in my underwear on television. So, I feel your pain Finn! He made the same choice I did and gets Sam to help him get in shape.
Mr. Shu’s plan to woo Emma back into his favor backfires when she tells Carl about the show and Carl auditions, delivering a rocking version of “Hot Patootie” that blows everyone away. Mr. Shu is forced to concede how great Carl is and he lets him in the show. John Stamos has a surprisingly good voice and some killer moves. Who knew Uncle Jesse could get down? Okay so I just showed my age by pulling out the “Full House” reference. Oh well.
Sam changes his tune when he gets to dress rehearsal and shows up on stage wearing skin tight gold booty shorts, and he looks FINE, but the shorts are pretty short and he’s worried about showing nuttage. They rehearse “Sweet Transvestite” and Mercedes kills it! The changes to the lyrics were amusing.
I’m just a sweet transvestite, from sensational Transylvania.
There is some friction afterwards between Carl and Mr. Shu and to get him back Mr. Shu decides that he should play Rocky instead of Sam. He feeds Emma an excuse about the role not being appropriate for kids but really he just wants an excuse to show off his rocking body in booty shorts thinking that Emma will remember how hot he is and dump her Hot Patootie. This leads to a “rehearsal” in Emma’s office and despite getting her teeth routinely cleaned by John Stamos she apparently still has an itch to scratch. The number degrades to the point where Mr. Shu is shirtless and Emma is practically gives him a lap dance as they “Toucha Toucha Toucha” touch each other. She wants to be dirty, and the number ends with Emma flat on the desk and the entire cast hovers over her in a creepy “creature of the night” sequence that made me want to take a shower after it was over. To make matters worse, Finn and Sam have a heart to heart in the gym about being sexy. The last time I was in a high school locker room was circa 1987 and if memory serves the football team rarely discusses how sexy they are in the company of the other players. That might happen in porn, but not in reality. This isn’t reality (thank goodness) so Sam tells Finn to “just be himself and the sexy will flow through.” Work it out Finn!
And for the record, I would choose Finn over Sam every time. I always go for the dork. Dorky is sexy. (This is hypothetical folks, Finn is much to young for me, so don’t send me emails about being a chicken-hawk okay?)
Finn takes Sam’s advice and decides he should walk down the hall in his underwear to take ownership of his accidental sexiness, and things don’t go well. There is some giggling and pointing and Principal Figgins is forced to call in a grief counselor. He is such a drama queen!
In the end, it’s little Becky (who is trick or treating as a tiny Sue) who spills the beans about why Sue is really supporting the show. Mr. Shu is angry at first but realizes that Sue’s accusations of the Rocky Horror show being inappropriate for the kids are accurate. This much was obvious by how much they had to change the show to fit the “family format” of Glee, and even with the changes I suspect that no real high school would ever let the show be put on. But this isn’t reality and the kids get to do one last big number in front of an empty theater to get all the dirty unclean feelings and urges to engage in elbow sex out of their system. Let’s do the “Time Warp” again.
This episode was fun. The whole cast was showcased very well even if I felt the music just didn’t measure up to the original. Maybe I shouldn’t have expected it to. Sometimes it’s hard not to compare. Like I said earlier though, in the context of the show the musical numbers were great fun and I think they did a phenomenal job paying homage to this classic musical. I expect that the recently released Blu-Ray edition of the film will sell very well this week thanks to Glee now that a whole new generation of tweens are curious about it. And my favorite quote of the night comes from little Becky.
“I want my chocolate bar or I will cut you.”
Glee isn’t back until November 9th with an episode called “Never Been Kissed”, but when it does return so will Mark Salling and all will once again be right in the world.
Similar Posts:
- PREVIEW: The Rocky Horror Glee Show
- Behind the Scenes of “The Rocky Horror Glee Show”
- REVIEW: Glee “Special Education”
- REVIEW: “Glee” Grilled Cheesus?
- REVIEW: Glee “The First Time”
I thought that review was spot-on! I too noticed the subtle changes like some of the words in Toucha-toucha-touch Me as well as Frank’s missing pink triangle. I played Magenta for five years along with the movie in Milwaukee and went to the NY and LA anniversaries (where I had a wonderful conversation with Barry about Susan stepping on his foot during the floor show), so I know my Rocky Horror. I thought it was refreshing as well as nostalgic. I thought the cast did a terrific job recreating such a classic!
Why Rocky Horror? When you strip the sexuality and sub-culture element out of it it becomes bland. What’s next…they remake Hairspray and replace Divine with a man…oops they already did it. Its a sanitization of queer culture not acceptance.
This review wasn’t spot on, because it wasn’t a review. You did nothing but run through the episode, scene by scene. You didn’t say anything about the scenes, just told us what they were.