Note: The following review contains spoilers for all aired episodes of Glee, including the most recent, “Funk.”
“Funk” may very well be the most disappointing episode of Glee to date. Sure, it has its moments, such as the peek at Sue’s trophy-ridden apartment, the sweet scene between Quinn and Mercedes, and the hilarious news footage of Sue winning the championship, but overall, the episode is oddly paced, strangely mean-spirited, and features the most uninspiring collection of music the writers have ever assembled in a single episode–almost all poorly chosen and, with the exception of the “Give Up the Funk” finale (and the back-up pregnant teens in “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World”), uninterestingly presented. Much of it doesn’t make much sense, either. ”Good Vibrations” isn’t funk, but it’s included, regardless. Just because they point out in the script that it isn’t funk doesn’t justify its inclusion in a funk episode. Furthermore, at the end, the Vocal Adrenaliners worry about not being able to pull off a funk number themselves, but isn’t “Another One Bites the Dust,” with which they open the episode, funk? Also, the pun on the various meanings of funk, well, it just doesn’t quite work.
Really, the episode’s most egregious issue is in character motivation. Firstly, there is of course Will’s attempt to seduce Sue, in order to humiliate her, which seems uncharacteristically cruel for him. Then, there is her reaction to being hurt by him, which, thankfully, they explain as being a result of her feeling lonely, not due to actual feelings for him, but which nonetheless feels poorly handled. The character who suffers most, however, is Jesse St. James, who now makes absolutely no sense. When he first joined the story, it was difficult to tell if he was simply using Rachel for Vocal Adrenaline’s nefarious purposes or truly falling for her. Then, when Rachel hurt him, he broke up with her, with his potentially evil plan not carried out. Two episodes later, he reunited with her in order to bring her closer to her mother. In this same episode, he told Shelby that he truly does like Rachel. And then two episodes later, he has now betrayed Rachel and rejoined Vocal Adrenaline. I realize that Glee can be an overstuffed show at times, causing scenes to end up on the cutting room floor, but when scenes that explain crucial character motivations are cut, we are left with an incomplete plot. Now, I don’t know for sure that scenes were cut, but I have to imagine that they were, because if not, there is a serious flaw in the writing here.
I have heard rumors that this episode was actually aired out of order and was meant to appear before “Theatricality.” This might address a few of the issues, explaining such things as why Jesse didn’t appear in the previous episode, but it also doesn’t fix this episode’s numerous flaws. Oh, well. Here’s hoping this brief dip in quality, like a bad dress rehearsal, indicates that the finale will be a true showstopper.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
if the track listing on vol. 3 is to be believed, it was indeed aired out of order. it's going to take me awhile to parse out how it might have made sense if they had left it how it was originally planned.
honestly, i'm digging the back nine, but it has felt pretty slapdash, and it definitely has not lived up to the first 12. 13. whatever. plus i made the mistake of watching the scenes, so now i feel thoroughly spoiled. stupid fox.
I actually prefer the back 9, to a large degree. Or at least the ones I love, I love far more than any of the ones I love in the first 13, whereas the ones I don't, I love less than any of the first 13.
This was a terrible, terrible episode. That rendition of Another One Bites the Dust was appalling but apparently it scared New Directions into a funk? What? All the music was terrible and I didn't recognise any of the characters. The Mercedes and Quinn scene might have been sweet, but I just don't buy it – Mercedes asking Quinn to move in with her? Bonding because Quinn is being made fun of for being pregnant vis-a-vis Mercedes being made fun of for being overweight all her life? It really is a Man's, Man's, Man's world if the writers think that makes any sense at all.
Also, bad enough they egged Rachel – did they really have to throw the vegan humiliation in there out-of-the-blue, too? Jesus.
I bought Mercedes bonding with Quinn not because of this episode but because of the two bonding scenes we've seen between them in previous episodes. You're right, the direct reason in this episode didn't make much sense, but I thought that Mercedes inviting Quinn to move in was sweet, given Quinn's advice to her in previous eps. But I don't really care that much about defending this episode, either way. It made "Acafellas" look like an A+.
I'm going to respectfully disagree with a lot of this. I thought the inclusion of Marky Mark was hysterical because remember, Terri helped Finn and Puck pick the music and we all know she is just clueless. Plus there were plenty of OMG moments where you were just not sure what the next moment would bring. I loved Quinn's voice, but thought the whole number was overall creepy. The Mercedes-Quinn thing I liked, as they have been getting more friendly and Mercedes is just a nice person. We've seen Will before being capable of being mean-spirited, but unlike Sue he has a conscience and usually feels bad. He cares about consequences, she generally does not. I agree, the whole Jesse thing has been poorly handled from the beginning, like the writers could not agree on how to use him. I did like the guys including Kurt in the "let's get them" after VA egged Rachel. The music was so-so. Loser and Funk were great, the others just ok. Both last episode and this episode, and really several of this last batch, have looked, sounded, and felt more like high school kids singing and performing, and less like polished broadway performers trying to be high school kids performing, which I am on the fence about. I thought there were some genuinely intense moments, and it was nice to see VA in the audience with their jaws hung open. Plus, I was glad to see a Sandy cameo because, forgive me all, I love his character.
I was really hoping for Loser to go longer, because I've been hearing hype about Terri finally getting to sing, and in the end she's just shown as background?
My other big thing, which I may be off on: what the hell was the timeline for this episode? Here's my "understanding" of this…
Will asks Sue out for Wednesday, because the competition is on Saturday. Then she's out of school for days, which implies at the earliest Friday afternoon when Will goes to her house. Will invites VA to watch the performance Friday afternoon, which arrives after the cheerios win the competition Saturday.
The bonding was over M being fat? I thought it was over her being black.
Also, I liked the preggo number. That's the best we've ever heard Q sound.
Hmm, I thought it was over being overweight, too. I think the issue just got confused due to her parallel "white girls can't sing funk" stance. As far as the preggo dance, I liked the choreography but sadly not her performance. And I actually usually like her voice.
The bonding was over M being fat? I thought it was over her being black.
That makes even less sense! Which proves the writing of this episode was just terrible.
Haha, I also misinterpreted the bonding over Mercedes being black too, and also thought it was simplistic of Quinn to suddenly "get" what it's like to be black just because she's a pregnant teen. Honey, the two things are totally different. So yes, bad writing there.
The Jesse thing was also so random. He was telling Shelby that he was falling for Rachel, then BAM he's the biggest jerk to walk the planet. That was my biggest gripe with this week's show. As much as I know that Jesse is a bit two-faced and would ultimately go back to VA and probably break Rachel's heart, I still adored his character. But there was no thread, no development, just throwing him into an episode without filling in the blanks.
And even if it was aired out of order, I don't think it would have been any better before Theatricality because I don't think Rachel would have gone to Carmel to spy or bonded with her mother.
As for whether or not it was better or worse than Acafellas? Well, I haven't seen that one since the fall, but Acafellas was sort of a bomb too. I could at least somewhat get behind the music in this episode.