Glee: The Role You Were Born to Play Recap/Review

'Glee' just got back from a five week break which is a pretty long time to be leaving fans because if you're like me then you will tend to forget things. I felt like 'The Role You Were Born to Play' wasn't a very good episode for 'Glee' to be returning with after such a long break because it wasn't as good as previous episodes have been. One of my main complaints for this episode is the lack of Rachel Berry/Lea Michele, who wasn't in the episode at all. Kurt/Chris wasn't in it either but I'm most upset about Rachel/Lea. But the show must go on, Finn is now working at Hummel Tires and Lube when Artie comes to check up on him and ask him to co-direct the 'Grease' school musical. Finn agrees because I think he feels that he wants to do more than just work in a tire shop for the rest of his days. At McKinley, Blaine is being pathetic when he talks to Sam about how his relationship with Kurt is over. This leads into Blaine's performance of 'Hopelessly Devoted to You', I have no sympathy for Blaine because when he was poking other guys all over Facebook he wasn't hopelessly devoted then. Therefore, I did not like this performance as Blaine is not a victim, Kurt is. This song is actually Blaine's audition for the school musical and when Artie says that Blaine would be perfect to play Danny Zuko, Blaine says that he can't because Grease is a romance. I don't care Blaine! After this, we get a surprise when Mike and Mercedes show up to help with the production of the musical. I'm so happy to see Mercedes again, I miss her so much. Mike who? In other parts of the school, Emma and Will discuss moving to Washington with Coach Beiste. Emma agrees to go to Washington with Will but she looks unhappy, we'll circle back to this later. Artie, Mercedes, Mike and Finn try to brainstorm about who could play the role of Danny, they come to dead ends until Mike inadvertently suggests that Finn search the football field for any aspiring actors/singers. That's when Finn spots Ryder Lynn played by 'The Glee Project' winner, Blake Jenner.



In the girl's room, Wade tells Marley that he wants to play Rizzo and Marley encourages him as the Glee club is very open minded. However Sue is not, she starts to rant about how men should not play the parts of women and it's wrong. I love that Sue has no filter, even if I'm against what she's saying it's still fun to listen to. Marley and Wade/Unique don't listen to Sue's hatred and audition for the musical while singing 'Blow Me (One Last Kiss)', which was an enjoyable, fun and fierce performance. Unique tells the crew that she would like to play the part of Rizzo and they take it into consideration. But Finn is still in search of a Danny Zuko so he sneaks into study hall to talk to Ryder about auditioning. Ryder is having a hard time with his studies so he feels like he won't have time for Glee but Finn convinces him that Glee club helps with your studies. Is this true? In this scene I learned that Blake Jenner isn't a horrible actor. Ryder's grades are horrible though so he goes to see Finn and they both start singing 'Juke Box Hero'. I felt like I was watching 'Rock of Ages' and then I realized that this song is actually in 'Rock of Ages'. This song acts as Ryder's audition for 'Grease'.

Ryder thinks that it's a good idea to introduce himself to other Glee members which is why he starts talking to Marley in the hall. But Jake is way jealous, do I smell a love triangle? Well if you add Kitty then it's a square. I'm still hating Kitty, by the way. Jake now wants to be in the musical because of the developing romance between Ryder and Marley. He and Kitty audition with 'Everybody Talks', I'm not really a fan of this duo because I really don't like Kitty, Jake is fine though. In the choir room, the original crew begin to select the roles for people to play but when Sue sees that Finn has put Unique down to play Rizzo, he is sent to the principal's office. Sue is angry because she doesn't want Unique to be a Cheerio, but aren't there male Cheerios? Or maybe it's just because it's a guy dressed as a girl... Not sure. Although, Finn doesn't back down, he's lost everything and Sue's threats don't mean anything to him. Finn says that he would think that Sue would be more accepting because she had a "retarded baby." I thought this was extremely offensive, you just don't say the 'R' word like that and this isn't the first time that Finn has done this, remember when he called Kurt a "fag" in season 1? Oh Finn.

Coach Beiste goes to talk to Emma because she feels like Emma doesn't actually want to move to Washington. Emma says that she's going to go anyway because she doesn't want to stand in the way of Will's dreams like Terry did. However, Beiste convinces her that her dreams are important too. In the hall, Tina is way mad at Mike because of their break up meaning that she wants no part of the musical if he's going to choreograph. In the callbacks for 'Grease' the gang sing 'Born to Hand Jive', I really missed Amber Riley's amazing vocals. I wish that they would go into Mercedes' storyline more and tell us about her college experience so far. Anyway, Finn basically offers the role of Rizzo to Wade and he goes into a speech about how he doesn't know his place and now Glee feels like his place, I felt so sad for Wade at this part. The cast list for 'Grease' is then posted and it is as follows... Brittany S. Pierce as "Cha Cha", Tina Cohen-Chang as "Jan" (I thought she didn't audition?), Sugar Morta as "Frenchy", Joe Hart as "Doody", Sam Evans as "Kenickie", Wade 'Unique' Adams as "Rizzo", Blaine Anderson as "Teen Angel", Jake Puckerman as "Putzie", Ryder Lynn as "Danny Zuko", Marley Rose as "Sandy Olsson" and Kitty Wilde as "Patty Simcox". Kitty and Sue are less than thrilled about this cast list. I think Marley should just slap Kitty.

To wrap up the episode, Emma and Will have a talk in which Emma tells him that she's going to stay in Lima while he goes to Washington. The two stay a couple but how long will that last now that Jayma Mays has a new job? I'm kinda sad to see her maybe leaving because her character had a lot of potential. Also, Will has a talk with Finn who had no idea that Will was leaving for Washington. Will then tells Finn that he will run Glee club until he gets back. Finn seems shocked but happy at the same time. This wasn't a great 'Glee' episode, I didn't like how it was mostly all about the new characters but I did like how it was an episode in which Finn found his place like Wade did.

Performances:-
'Hopelessly Devoted to You' performed by Blaine = B-
'Blow Me (One Last Kiss)' performed by Marley and Wade/Unique = A
'Juke Box Hero' performed by Finn and Ryder = A
'Everybody Talks' performed by Jake and Kitty = C+
'Born to Hand Jive' performed by Mercedes, Mike, Marley, Ryder, Kitty and Jake = A-

Overall episode score:-
'The Role You Were Born to Play' = B 

By Leon Moore