What I’m Watching: Glee

Glee: Season 3, Episode 9 “Extraordinary Merry Christmas” (B-)

This episode was fun in a lot of ways, mainly for some of the song choices, but it was also rather peculiar. The main thing that was strange was the black-and-white movie directed by Artie and basely loosely on the concept of the “Star Wars Holiday Special,” widely known to be one of the most horrendous things ever produced (though admittedly I’ve never seen it). It was fun to see Blaine and Kurt singing “Let It Snow” and fitting in quite well to their homey surroundings, though at the same time, it was flat-out strange. Mercedes and Rachel stuck out a bit more, though their rendition of “My Favorite Things” was pleasant, and Finn and Puck were amusing dressed up as Luke and Han, with no copyright infringement intended. Ultimately, this show likes to spotlight its special guest stars, which is why Rory and Sam get much more screen time than others, deciding that sad things are okay to help remember Christmas and that they should celebrate the holidays together. Rachel’s list of suggested gifts to Finn was a bit too unbearable, and getting her a pig wasn’t smart. Getting her a star named after himself because there’s already a star named Rachel Berry was overwhelmingly sappy but just the kind of thing Finn might do. Sue’s desire to have the kids volunteer with her makes some sense given her sister’s absence, but her character is so rarely featured on this show that to have her be mainly nice for an hour seems like a waste. Blaine’s excitement at being called a young Burt Reynolds, however, was priceless.