Glee Season 3-04 ‘Pot Of Gold’ Recap

“Pot of Gold” opens promisingly with an Irish exchange student, The Glee Project winner, Damian McGinty as Rory, that Brittany (Heather Morris) believes is a leprechaun. She believes to the point of requesting three wishes from Rory, two of which were classically Brittany. In exchange Brittany promised Rory her pot of gold.

From there however, “Pot of Gold” passed with little of anything notable taking place. Plus, promos had already spoiled the fact that Santana (Naya Rivera) and Brittany were leaving New Directions to join Mercedes (Amber Riley) in Shelby Corcoran’s (Idina Menzel) new McKinley glee club, now known as the ‘Troubletones.’

Quinn (Diana Agron) stepped up her effort to take back her baby from Shelby by trying to frame her as a negligent mother with a baby botox kit, hot sauce and books about using babies in sacrifice rituals. While Puck (Mark Salling) foils Quinn’s effort, it’s relatively clear that this plan had a few holes in it from the start.

• Sidebar: Has Quinn always been a slightly more functional version of Brittany or is this a convenient trait assigned to her for comic purpose when needed?

“Pot of Gold” suffers from a lack of focus; there are a number of stories but no real through line from beginning to end. Finn (Cory Montieth) is a perfect example of the lack of direction in “Pot of Gold.” At different points Finn is befriending and pushing away the new kid Rory, and then admonishing Blaine (Darren Criss)  for attempting to put a positive face on the trouble New Directions are facing.

Finn then struggles with Burt’s (Mike O’Malley) decision to run for Congress as a write in candidate against Sue (Jane Lynch)and then he’s insulting Brittany when she chooses to leave New Directions because of a leprechaun’s wish. Finn was all over the place just like the episode as a whole; bouncing from story to story without taking interest in any particular story.

I did enjoy Mike O’Malley’s Burt coming to the rescue of the school musical, with the aid of the Rotary Club, when Sue managed to eliminate the funding. And Burt is a good choice for an opponent for Sue, but unfortunately it means further indulging this faltering storyline that doesn’t yet show signs of a solid end game.

Even the music in “Pot of Gold” felt aimless. Blaine’s take on Katy Perry’s Last Friday Night was peppy but purposeless. Puck’s take on Waiting for a Girl Like You was pretty but was a little too effective as a lullaby, I may have dozed off for a moment.

The ‘Troubletones’ take on Candyman was much like Blaine’s Last Friday Night, energetic but not nearly as effective as Will (Matthew Morrison) and Finn tried to make it seem from their spot in the cheap seats.

The one truly effective song in “Pot of Gold” was Damian McGinty’s debut pair of solos. It’s Not Easy Being Green was surprising and cute but McGinty’s take on Teddy Thompson’s Take Care of Yourself was as close to transcendent as Glee has been this season.

Random notes:

• Rachel (Lea Michele), Kurt (Chris Colfer), Emma (Jayma Mayes), Artie (Kevin McHale), Mike (Harry Shum Jr.) and Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz) were on the bench this week with no stories. Jayma Mayes didn’t even make it on screen.
• No progress this week on the race for Class President, easily the most interesting story so far in this young season.
• There is something brilliant in Vanessa Lengies’ Sugar Motta. There is a comic charm to her cluelessness that is part Brittany and part Quinn and she plays it perfectly.

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