Glee Review: “What The World Needs Now” (Season 6, Episode 6)

Santana’s grandmother doesn’t take kindly to Brittany’s subterfuge, still refusing to attend the wedding after the Glee club puts on a big number set to the tune of “Alfie.” But Brittany gets the last word, “The New York Times said half the increase in support of gay marriage was due to generational turnover. That’s what smart people call crazy uptight bitches dying.” It’s a great line, and a great, honest moment from Heather Morris, eternally subjugated to be the pretty ditz with a cat obsession. But something rings false, too. Like Kurt and Blaine’s split, Santana’s grandmother’s refusal to attend the wedding feels artificial. Manufactured for drama to seep into a few more episodes before she inevitably surprises no one at the wedding.

While Santana and Brittany deal with homophobia in Lima, Rachel is convinced by Mercedes to jet off to NYC for a quick audition for an original Broadway play premiering soon. Rachel and Sam’s will-they-or-won’t-they thing probably should feel like the most forced aspect of the final season, but it never does (despite said hypnotization). There’s always been a sort of playful awareness between the characters, and given all the tragedies they’ve waded through on screen (and off), the idea of them even being hinted as possibly being together by series end is a happy one.

And that’s kind of it. “What The World Needs Now” was an episode at once overstuffed and undercooked. It’s awesome we’re getting some focus on side characters like Brittany and Santana, but utterly baffling why the show still doesn’t seem to know what to do with its best aspects (the new kids, Jane Lynch, etc.)

In just a week’s time it’s a show that’s gone from riffing on a popular torture-porn flick to tackling rampant homophobia and gay marriage. There’s admirable hutzpah in trying to be everything at once – the meta-zany variety show and the real-talk drama hour – and god knows Glee has suffered from an identity crisis before, but it’s also lent these opening hours of season 6 a feeling of inertness. Hopefully the series’ final six hours find a steady middle ground between the real-world drama and over-the-top mayhem.