The New Rachel – Episode Review

» Posted by Kaitlin Carson on Sep 14, 2012 in Episode Reviews | 3 comments

WOOO GLEE IS BACK!! Last night was the first episode of the fourth season of Glee. The episode is titled “The New Rachel”

To begin this season, Glee has introduced us to FIVE new characters! The first one we meet is Cassandra July (played by Kate Hudson); she has been explained as “Sue Sylvester with a drinking problem.” July is Rachel’s new dance teacher at NYADA (in New York City!), and she is nothing but mean to her students, especially Rachel. July notices Rachel’s “I think I’m better than everyone” attitude, and calls her out. She also does a performance of Americano/Dance Again.

Back in Ohio, the New Directions are battling it out for the head spot as the New Rachel. When Jacob Ben Isreal does his annual blog video, we find out that Tina and Mike broke up over the summer Brittany, Blaine, Tina, and Unique (Wade Adams) have a competition (for Artie) to determine the winner. They do a fun performance of Call Me Maybe, where they each take turns showcasing their stuff (with a dramatic pose at the end). Also worth mentioning is that anyone in the Glee Club is now considered popular, and hang out with the cool crowd (with head cheerio Kitty, who is described as “a young Quinn Fabray” although in my opinion she is much more mean).

With this new-found popularity, all the members in the New Directions become cocky and bully-like (Tina even gets a freshman to be her personal assistant). They get peer pressured into making fun of the new lunch lady, which leads us to another new character, Marley Rose! Marley has a fantastic singing voice, and is new to Mckinley High. Her mother, the new lunch lady, has to buy all of her clothes from places like Goodwill and Walmart because their family is tight on money. In an effort to help her daughter, her mother also sews J Crew tags and logos onto the shirts she buys, so her daughter has a chance to fit in. We get a really heartwarming moment between the two, where her mother urges her not to tell the kids that she is her mom, to help her.

We get to meet Sue’s new baby, Robin (she’s adorable). During this scene is where we finally get to see Kurt! As you remember from last season, Kurt’s future was left wide open since he didn’t make it into NYADA (still bitter). We find out he’s been working at the Lima Bean, and taking classes at Allen County Community College. Everyone could tell he was miserable; he hung out back and helped the Glee Club by helping them with auditions and organising their music. Being a good boyfriend, Blaine sits Kurt down and tells him to follow his dreams and go to New York. He mentions that it is killing him seeing Kurt so miserable (awww). To further prove his point, Blaine performs It’s Time for Kurt in the courtyard, complete with jump roping and making beats with cups. It’s a fun performance, that ends with a cute Klaine hug

Since the Glee Club is such a big hit at the school, there are a ton of people wanting to audition… including Stoner Brett, Jake Puckerman, and Marley Rose. Brett does a nice rap for us, but doesn’t make the club. Jake, who is immediately liked based on his appearance, does a wonderful cover of Never Say Never by the Fray. Mr. Schue cuts him off early because they had a lot of people to go through, and Jake gets mad and knocks over a music stand. Marley sings New York State of Mind, while at the same time Rachel is singing this back at NYADA, to show off to Carmen Tibideux as well as one of the guys in her dorm building (Brody Weston, who she meets getting out of the shower).  Marley makes it, Jake doesn’t (due to his aggressive reaction, not his singing). This leads to an angry Jake and a happy Marley. Toward the end of the show, we learn that Jake is NOAH PUCKERMAN’S BROTHER! Another plot twist – Puck doesn’t know that he is his brother, they’ve never met.

The New Rachel is revealed, and chosen by Artie….BLAINE ANDERSON. At the lunch table that day, Marley sits with them as a New Direction’s member. Of course, they begin their routine of making fun of the lunch lady. Marley gets so angry that she tells them that the lunch lady is her mom, and storms off from the table. This FINALLY gets the New Directions out of their funk, and they go to apologize (and officially become “uncool” again).  Marley and Unique get the seemingly mandatory slushie facial, and Glee is finally back to normal

As an apology to Marley, Blaine invites her to do the lead vocals of the number they’re working on – Chasing Pavements. During this performance, we finally get to see the New Directions back to their usual singing and dancing, and see Marley get welcomed into the club. Before this, we get a heart-breaking Kurt and Burt scene, where Burt is dropping Kurt off at the airport to go to New York and chase his dream. Burt makes a comment that “You can always come back..but you won’t” and the last shot of that scene, we see Burt break down into tears (as was anyone watching, to be honest).  So during Chasing Pavements, we see Rachel finally break down and call Kurt, bawling her eyes out. She confesses that her life in New York has been terrible; her dance teacher is a monster, and she can never go to her dorm because her roommate always has people over. Kurt tells her she should find a roommate, and to “Turn around”. When she does, she sees Kurt standing on the other side of the fountain, smiling and waving!! Hummelberry is finally reunited in New York!!!

RELATIONSHIP WATCH – Marley and Jake share a look when they go to see their fate in the New Directions (Jarley). Sam has a talk with Marley, sharing that he KNOWS what she’s going through, because he went through the same thing (Sarley). Rachel misses Finn dearly (it’s been 2 months since they’ve talked), but her new friend in New York, Brody, is being very caring and helpful towards her.

That’s a wrap! How did you like the first episode of the season, was it a good opener? Who’s your favorite new character? Favorite performance? What would you like to see next week? Until then, Gleek on!!