Extraordinary Merry Christmas is a prime example of the ultimate cheesy Christmas episode. It's the kind of episode that fans either love, hate, or hate to love. For me it was a mix of all three with great and not so great moments.
The episode opens with All I Want For Christmas. The performance was fantastic and probably one of the best of the episode. The hair, makeup and costuming was absolutely stunning here and throughout the episode, particularly on Amber. As always she nailed it vocally. My only possible problem with it was near the beginning when a line was cut. It messed with the flow of the song and made the transition between lyrics sound really rough and un-natural. The number All I Want For Christmas also seemed like it was meant to be at the end of the episode, since Kurt is wearing his ring (which was given to him by Blaine in a deleted scene) and Rachel says 'best Christmas ever' at the end of the number, which is what Sam says at the end of the episode. All in all it was a great way to open up the show.
So after the fabulous opening number we cut to Finchel discussing holiday presents. I wasn't a huge fan of this subplot in the episode since I've grown bored of the pairing and the continual focus that is placed on them, but also because Rachel is at her worst. She is being a nightmarish demanding girlfriend and she was insanely selfish for asking so much of Finn. She's lucky he's so used to her attitude and took it so well, as he very well could've dumped her for the way she was treating him. Also Rachel, YOUR JEWISH. Celebrating Christmas, let alone obsessing over it, doesn't make sense when you should be celebrating Hanukah. Why not ask for 8 Hanukah presents, one a day, so that your demands at least sound reasonable. I repeat: YOUR JEWISH. The scene was saved with the two bits of humour added to it though; the addition of Kurt's one liner and Finn's 'holy crap I'm dating Kim Kardashian' just MADE IT. You are dating her Finn, you are.
Cut to Sue's office where she is meeting with 'Wheels, Porcelain and Other Gay' (Artie, Kurt and Blaine). First of all I love Sue's nicknames, and it was a nice throwback to Season One Sue. I haven't enjoyed her this much for a while. Second of all: WE HAVE CONTINUITY! As they seem to have remembered that Sue considers homeless people urban campers and loves to give out personalised nicknames, so kudos for that. I also loved Blaine's reactions throughout the entire scene. His pained expression while hearing about dwarves dying and his little smile when Sue labels him 'Young Burt Renalds' were adorable. Darren is a great expressive actor and it shows here.
Next we have the second number: Blue Christmas. Now I adore Damian's voice as much as the next person and I do think he sounds gorgeous, but I was a bit bored during this song. They need to give him something more upbeat to let him shine like he did in The Glee Project. Either way the number is followed by yet more continuity (GASP) as Tina explains what happened to Artie's magic legs before Shue comes in and tells them they'll be filming a Christmas Special on TV.
Here we have a possible Glee fail. Didn't they get disqualified from Sectionals last time they were on TV? Did they get paid for the Christmas special in any way? If so I'm not sure how they would have been able to do this. I also love how Christmas specials seem to be Puck's guilty pleasure given his shock when Shue said the usual Christmas special got cancelled.
Moving on to the McKinley corridors where poor Rory is getting bullied again (give the guy a break!) and Sam kindly offers to be his Christmas host. It feels like this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship (and maybe more??? anything's possible, it's Glee) between the two of them, not much else to say.
We have yet another cut (everything's going so fast!) where the producer(?) of the Christmas special is discussing the show with Artie. Artie tells him he wants to film it in black and white and incoporate both the Star Wars and Judy Garland Christmas specials into his segment. Personally I thought the additional of Star Wars was un-neccesary and took away from what was otherwise a good episode but to each his own.
Musical Number 3 is Rachel solo 0129380298308: 'River'. My problems with this were similar to my problems with Blue Christmas- the song was beautiful, as was Lea's voice, but I couldn't help but be bored with the overall performance. It reminded me a little too much of 'Merry Christmas Darling' in last year's Christmas episode. Artie objects to it for similar reasons, as it finds it too depressing. He wants a more 'merry' vision for his special.
I found it hilarious that Sebastian seems to be the only character that doesn't ship Kurt and Blaine together like it's their job, as the setting of Artie's special has Kurt and Blaine living together. Sam objects to Artie's idea saying Christmas should be a little sad so people can enjoy the good things. I understand this but I can't help feeling like he was being a bit of a downer.
Next up is douche-Rachel moment two, where she complains about Artie's dismissal of her performance and demands yet another expensive gift. I was probably not the only one that wanted to punch her when she says 'where's my bling' and is completely ungrateful for the gift he got her. Granted a pig for slaughter is an insensitive present for a Jewish vegan but the thought of the gift is still lovely.
Musical performance #4 (so many!) is Blaine and Rachel singing Extraordinary Merry Christmas. The performance was fun and lovely and it's one of those songs that is much better when it's coupled with a performance rather than just audio so I liked this one. However it was auto-tuned way too much and could've done with less vocal editing. If anyone doesn't need auto-tune it's Darren Criss and Lea Michele. The people working for you can sing Fox! They don't need it. Also they somehow manage to look like siblings and lovers at the same time. Someone needs to sit Blaine down and give him the 'you are gay and incest is wrong' talk. I loved it though :)
Sue walks in just as the song is ending to confirm the club is in for the homeless shelter, and the group very quickly abandons that idea to film the Christmas special, which they would be filming on the same night. I felt really bad for Sue here because she looked so genuinely disappointed in them, I'm glad Quinn at least had the decently to look a little guilty/upset.
Finally we have the actual Christmas special! I had mixed feelings about this at first because I couldn't get into the ridiculousness and cheesiness of it but I came away LOVING IT. The acting and intentional over-acting was divine and they all looked so fantastic in their outfits/black and white. I could tell how much fun they all had filming the segment and the chemistry between Lea, Chris, Amber and Darren was brilliant. It was incredibly entertaining and the shout-outs to the era were so good. I can why some people wouldn't be into this though, especially if they weren't huge Glee fans. You have to embrace the cheesiness.
I think I'll bullet point my thoughts on this since my review is getting long:
- "Mike Chang and Tina Cohen Chang (no relation!)" "Brought to you by breadsticks! Now with even more breadsticks!" - got giggles out of these lines, Glee humour at it's best.
- Let It Snow: vocally and visually gorgeous. Loved the dancing and the fun of the number. Darren and Chris work so well together in moments like this.
- The introductions: "My best friend and Holiday Room-mate Blaine Anderson" everything about Klaine introducing themselves was hilariously over-acted, loved it.
- Rachel and Mercedes intro: the way they looked into the camera and Rachel's little 'were on television?! hello.' was adorable and perfect. Black and White is very flattering on the four of them.
- My Favourite Things: Julie Andrews would be proud. The vocals and the harmonies between the four of them were flawless. I like that Amber got to show off her vocal range a little bit more too. My Favourite Things might not be a Christmas song but I think it's associated so much with Christmas because it reminds people of gifts. The funny thing is this goes against the message of the song and the episode, which is to appreciate the little things in life rather than luxuries
- The voices: the inflections in their voices and the overacting of everyone was brilliant.
- Puck and Finn's intro + Santa Claus is Coming To Town: Puck and Finn immediately felt quite out of place considering they were dressed so modernly and took the audience out of the era. It wasn't the best way to incorporate Star Wars at all but Santa Claus is Coming To Town sounded great. A little odd that it was kept in however, since Samuel from The Glee Project was in the original song.
- Christmas Wrapping: may possible be my least favourite number of the episode. It was really nice and fun, the ribbon dancing and everyone looked great but I wasn't a huge fan of the song. I think I would have perferred one of the deleted scenes in it's place
- Rory reading from the bible: this also felt a little awkward for some reason but it was good that they incorporated a bit of the religious side of Christmas into the show considering some of the characters are Christian.
So with the special over the club joins Sam, Quinn and Sue to help out at the shelter. They sing the adorable 'Don't They Know It's Christmas'. It was incredibly sweet, the vocals were on point and the addition of the children was sweet. Did anyone think the kids and the shelter was a bit too clean though?
In the first of the final two scenes Rachel shows Finn that she has accepted the pig and put it in her locker (although how she got it back since he had it is a good question...) Finn kindly gives Rachel two more gifts she doesn't deserve (which she soon realizes herself). He gives her a star named Finn Hudson because there's already a star named Rachel Berry. This is the kind of Finn I like, it reminds me of the star necklace he gave her in the last Valentine's episode. Next he gives her the earrings she asked for and she finally feels guilty for being the selfish douche she's been the entire episode, so they agree to trade in the Ipod she gave him and the earrings he gave her (she got him something too- THANK GOODNESS. Now I can hate how she'd been behaving a little less).
They end up joining Sam and Rory raising money for the Salvation Army, donating the money they sold their gifts for. Rory asked Sam if he could be his Valentine's host, to help him get a girlfriend for Valentines. Sam declares it was the 'best Christmas ever'
Overall it was a lovely episode :) not the greatest but DEFINITELY not the worst. It had several great moments. Matt Morrison also did a fantastic job directing despite they copious amoutns of hate he gets from so much of the fandom. The episode was visually stunning so great job on his part. So that's it for Glee until the 17th.. but bring it on! :)
My Favourite Lines
- "Aww all I want for Christmas is you too, and five things on that list." - Rachel
- Finn: "Who told you? Kurt?" Rachel: "No." Kurt: "Yes."
- "Holy crap I'm dating Kim Kardashian." - Finn
- "Wheels, Porcelain, Other Gay." - Sue
- "And now in the spirit of Christmas.. Get the hell out of my office." - Sue
- "Mike Chang and Tina Cohen Chang (no relation!)" "Breadsticks, now with even more breadsticks." - Christmas Special narrator
- "And this is my... best friend and holiday room-mate Blaine Anderson." - Kurt
- "If they get stuck in the snow they can always hitch a ride on Santa's sleigh." - Blaine
- "Christmas is cancelled!" - Kurt
- "Were on television!... Hello." - Rachel
- "Truly a Christmas knock off." - Mercedes.
- "It's a bowtie with little Christmas trees on it." - Rachel
- "And you know what the best thing is? I don't already own a pair." - Blaine
- "After these messages from our sponsors" - Blaine
- "And then I said to Justin Timberlake: that's not egg-nog" - Kurt
- "Any resemblance to Starwars characters is purely coincidental." - Finn
- "I named it Finn Hudson. Because there's already a star named Rachel Berry." - Finn
