"Glee" Meets "Rocky Horror," with Mixed Results

To begin with, Fox's hit show, "Glee," does not have the same fire it had in its first season. That is patently obvious. To be fair, the first season had a number of issues that needed to be resolved. Would Sue Sylvester succeed in scuttling New Directions (the McKinley High School's show choir)? Would Will Scheuster's wife succeed in pulling off her phony pregnancy or, alternatively, would Will get the lady he truly wants, guidance counselor Emma Pillsbury, to forsake the slobby football coach she is engaged to and run to him instead? Most important of all, would the show choir ever get to the nationals and win the top prize?

Even though none of these issues, among others, got entirely resolved in that first season, they got far enough along the way that anything afterward tended toward the anticlimactic. To combat this unmistakable situation, the show's producers have been straining to produce more and more splash with bigger and bigger guest stars. John Stamos (who will have a recurring role) and Britney Spears have already been on the show, with the lovely Gwyneth Paltrow to appear shortly. The producers may not quite have done that thing with the aquatic predator, but it is not difficult to picture them eyeing the shark tank and wondering if they could get someone to hurdle it.

In that spirit of commendable desperation, the show's creators cobbled together a thematic episode centered on "The Rocky Horror Show." Note that there are extant, both a film called "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and a stage musical, "The Rocky Horror Show." Even though this episode of "Glee" makes references to the former, it is, of necessity, based on the latter.

Simply put, the episode succeeded on some fronts and failed miserably on others, enough so that the expectations of the "Glee" faithful may have been more dashed than met.

First, consider the positives. Even if "Glee" has forgotten how to tell a story, they still know how to put on a production. That aspect of the show has stayed strong throughout its existence. All of the "Rocky Horror" production numbers went off superbly. Two of them, though, should serve to clearly indicate why this episode was a mixed blessing at best.

John Stamos can sing and dance with the best of them. He proved that in his performance (as the character, Eddie) of "Hot Patootie." That Stamos and company did such a good job with that song is truly a testament to their talents, because it is not that strong a number by itself. On the other hand, Stamos' being in a position to perform the number seems contrived and rings as false a note as you will see on network TV. And that is saying something.

Perhaps the outstanding musical performance in the entire episode was Jayma Mays (Ms. Pillsbury) singing "Touch-a, Touch Me." The production was nothing short of spectacular, right down to the small additions by the cheerleaders, Brittany and Santana, in the roles of Columbia and Magenta from the musical. Still, Emma Pillsbury's doing that number at all-even allowing for the minor censorship that changed the rhymes of heavy petting and seat-wetting to sweating and deep regretting-was glaringly out-of-place, given her character. It turned up in a very amusing interview with Craig Ferguson, the actress, Jayma Mays, had played the role of Janet Weiss in an earlier production of the stage show, but the contrivance by which "Glee" got her to reprise that song was awkward, to put the nicest possible spin on it.

There were a few good aspects to the plot, but only a few. For one thing, Barry Bostwick and Meat Loaf, from the movie version, got to make an interesting cameo at the start of the show. If you missed it, you will need to go dance the Hulu and pick it up there. For another positive thing, the ever-destructive Sue Sylvester sort of got hoisted on her own petard.

Other than that, the show's plot was unconvincing and uninteresting. When Mr. Scheuster first announces New Directions is going to perform "The Rocky Horror Show," Rachel then announces-not asks, but announces-right off the bat that she and her current boyfriend, Finn, will play Janet and Brad. No, sorry, it is never, ever done that way, even when the fix is in. And the plot machinations that lead to Finn parading down the school's hallway in his underwear are even more flimsy than the character's outfit. The only bright spot about that part of the show was the always-entertaining Principal Figgins' reaction to the incident.

Figgins aside, there doesn't seem to be as much humor in this season's episodes. The funniest bit that has surfaced so far was actually part of a Members' Project/American Express/Glee PSA about recycling dead batteries, when the amoral cheerleader, Santana Lopez, asks, "Does it count as recycling if you collect old batteries to throw at clowns?"

On a positive note, "Glee" does not yet appear to be a spent force, and there is a great deal of story left to tell. On the other hand, they really do need to step up their game.

Sources

fox.com/glee

YouTube

Wikipedia

"Glee," Episode 5, Season 2

"The Rocky Horror Show"

"The Rocky Horror Picture Show"