Wooooo boy, there is a LOT to talk about with that one!

I loved the musical numbers...so good!

While we wait for the denizens of the internet to upload the videos I'm just going to post this picture for you:

Hell-o/Hell - NO SNACKS BETWEEN MEALS. PERIOD.

Glee has finally returned to us, the wait felt eternal and now that it's come I'm ready for the next one already. I think all of the promos for "Hell-o" kinda messed up my viewing experience. I'd already heard some of the best lines, knew that Rachel was pissed at Finn and then during the last song I already had it in my mind being one way, so Rachel's turmoil felt uncomfortable to me. That said, I'm super happy it's back and am going to avoid watching teasers, promos and advance-release clips and numbers from the show. I want to experience it the way they intended for viewers, not through the lens of the FOX publicity machine.

Alright, song #1
Hello - The Doors - Finn

It was a really cute moment to see Finn singing to Tina towards the end of the song.
Sidenote: I interviewed Ray Manzarek of The Doors (he's the keyboard player and without him The Doors would not exist) and he was really nice, but kinda post-age-of-Aquarius crazy. Still very much for hallucinogenics...about acid he literally said "...and it opened the doors of my mind."

Gives You Hell - Rachel

Even though I'd seen this one already it was still super-satisfying. You agree? Love watching Harry dance and everyone jumping in to sing and then the shouting/singing thing at the end was great, great, grrrrrrrrrrreat!

Hello - Jesse & Rachel - crappy tv-to-cam recording:

I have a hard time listening to anything by Lionel Richie. When I was a kid my mom played his albums so repetitively I could play them by ear on the piano. Confession: It just reminds me of when I had a really bad haircut and horrible red-framed glasses. I knew this song would be in the episode and was therefore kinda not looking forward to the moment.

Highway to Hell - Jesse St. James & Vocal Adrenaline - another crappy tv-to-cam:

Meh, didn't do anything for me.

Hello, Goodbye - this version of the video sux - I'll revise all of these as they come up online:

This was so painful to watch...Rachel suffering through the whole thing.

Sneak peek of Vogue - Sue Sylvester:

And here is what I'll say about this. It's awesome, truly, but I wanted to see it in context of the episode. I know it has to do with the "Mercedes is black, I'm gay, we make culture." "How do you two not have a show on Bravo." thing...but I DON'T WANNA KNOW UNTIL I SEE IT FOR REALZ DURING THE EPISODE.

I guess I just have to be better at blocking out all promos/spoilers/pre-released performances until after I see the episodes. During the hiatus I was so Glee-hungry I'd seek out and watch and find anything, but now I'm going old school and mandating for myself "no snacks between meals."

That said, MADONNA EPISODE NEXT WEEK!!!! I may listen to a ton of old school Madonna just to get excited about it...

Show notes:
1. Seeing a shot from the pilot of Rachel/Lea in the here's-what-you-missed "if you live in a cave or just got out of prison" made me notice that she's lost weight/gotten in better shape. Makes sense, it's like the American Idol effect...tons of activity mixed with tons of (mostly good) stress = transformation into a lean, mean fighting machine.
2. Still during the catch up: "Rachel loves that she and Finn are the Glee club's new power couple" - WTF, I hate when shows go on hiatus and then take away something we would really want to see, like how Rachel and Finn became a couple. Obviously she just started assuming it and the emotionally comatose Finn didn't have it in him to participate in the choice, but still...they're our Ross/Rachel-Dawson/Joey-Felcity/Ben-Pam/Jim-Meredith/Derrick-Ned/Chuck-Luke/Lorelai...we wanted to see them get together for goodnesssakessss!
3. Love that they used "Don't Rain On My Parade" to score the first scene!
4. Credits don't have Heather or Naya under starring, they're still guest stars even though they totally dominate the episode.***
5. Some time when you're watching an episode for the 5th time pay attention to the kids in the background. There are always a TON of Cheerios in the background of every shot. You'd think they have 175 Cheerios in the school...
6. Sue is horrrrrrible to blackmail Figgins like that! She's so good she makes us want to throttle her!
7. Is Puck's mohawk wider than before? Before it was like the width of a mountain bike tire...not it seems like the width of a dirt bike one.
8. Puck & Quinn's only lines in the episode were pretty great:
P: "I'm not breaking up with you, I'm just saying please stop super-sizing cause I don't dig on fat chicks."
Q: "I'm pregnant."
P: "That's my fault?" Weeeeeheehee!
9. Love that Tanaka gained "40 pounds and stopped showering."
10. Sue really cut off that dudes ponytail. Where's the interview with THAT guy? I love when she hands the ponytail to the confused Cheerio.
11. Loved the answer the phone lines "no she's dead, this is her son," but I had already heard that bit in the promos, so it took away from the in-context joy of it.
12. Rachel's line "I have a slushie stained training bra to prove it" slipped by me the first time because I was thinking the last thought. I love the idea that she still wears a training bra. The thing about high school kids that people often forget is that not that much time has passed since they were in elementary and middle school, so some vestiges of those parts of their lives often stick with them...childhood toys, training bras, etc. I see this type of awareness from the writers all the time and really appreciate it.
13. Jayma is realllllly good at creating the romantic tension. She reacts the way we feel inside during those types of moments.
14. The scene where Sue is berating Brittany and Santana is one of the funniest... "I'd ask you to commit Sepuku" "We were seduced by the glitz and glamor of show biz" "let me drop some knowledge on you" - although Sue was a bit misguided in thinking that Rachel would lose her mind if the girls went after Finn.
15. I love when Mr. Schu invests in his kids the way he did with Finn during the "finding yourself"/Jim Morrison scene. I also think it's another true-to-life thing - when people are going through a positive change they often immediately translate it in to helping another person with their new found knowledge. Good job writers!
16. During the basketball scenes Finn's upper arms looked green...like they did a terrible job in makeup covering up tattoos. He does have tattoos, right?
17. They're really playing up that Brittany/Santana sex thing, eh? Walking around holding hands by the pinkies...
18. Rachel & Finn breaking up was well done.
19. Mr. Schuester laying down the law after "Gives You Hell" was fine to move along the plot, but "Glee club is in jeopardy" plot-line can ONLY happen this season. They're going to need to find another device next season cause I don't think we have the tolerance for it beyond Regionals.
20. Jesse St. James saying "you totally lacked Barbara's emotional depth, but you're talented" was kinda awesome for a couple of reasons. We all know she didn't, but there's this veil of reality where in their world she isn't supposed to be quite as good as the way we see her on TV...she'd never gotten any part she'd auditioned for, etc. Also, she's insecure, so the simultaneous "insult-n-compliment" pickup technique worked perfectly on her. (Boys don't be assholes and use this one in real life. It's crap.)
21. Santana & Brittany are totally right that Puck is hot and Finn is just cute. I love when they call out stuff that's true in real life too.
22. I <3'd how Brittany responded, "Finn, that's mean" when he said Rachel was kinda cool. ("dolphins are just gay sharks" was equally hiarious) I think they need to be careful about how they use Brittany. They know that there was a huge response to her and that everyone loves her, but there's a chance they could overuse her now instead of leaving us wanting more. 23. The "Hello Again" song by Neil Diamond blech. I can't stand this song. 24. OMG EMMA IS A VIRGIN. TOOOOOOOOOOOOO AWESOME. And so heartbreaking. 25. The exercise ball scene where Sue is punishing the girls pretty great too. Looking back the scenes with the three of them are always solidly hilarious. 26. Was Idina Menzel super-botoxed or was she intentionally making her character flat-n-stiff? And um, Will IS a mess to be making out with her. WHAT ABOUT EMMA? I get it, I get it, from married with a baby-on-the-way to separated/fake baby is a mind-eff and erratic behavior is to be expected. OH! My husband, who ain't so up on his Broadway trivia (thank God) said "she really looks like Rachel." I got to give him the fullll rundown on her: people wondered if she'd play Rachel's birth mother since she's got two gay dads, Idina was in the original Broadway casts of Rent and Wicked, and she played the Patrick Dempsey's fiance in "Enchanted"...she's the one who went to the cartoon land at the end. Now there's two things she SHOULD have sung in and didn't - Enchanted and this episode of Glee. 27. McKinley High Old Maids Club whoa boy...doesn't seeing a scene like this make you think about the actresses who auditioned for the part of "highly unattractive girl"? Sidenote, the black girl next to Rachel actually played a cheerleader on "Heroes," and you can kinda tell a lot of what they did to make the girls look terrible had to do with hair/mu/wardrobe, and you do have to have a thick skin in Hollywood, but it's gotta be internalized for at least a couple of those girls. Awesome lines: "now I spend my Friday nights making out with my cat and watching Ghost Whisperer," (that girl is going to be in an upcoming TV movie with Nikki Blonsky about girls at a fat camp) (Sue's lines) "if i weren't ignoring what these ladies were saying out of an overwhelming sense of deeeep repulsion..." and "you have to become more narcissistic and self-centered than you already are." 28. Terri got some Botox or Juvaderm or somethinggggg during the hiatus. You noticed she looked extra "fresh" and youthful right? Aside from that, she did an awesome job being vindictive during the confrontation with Emma. Jessalyn and Jayma are two of the best dramatic actors on the show. 29. Jonathan Groff reminds me of the actor who plays Evan Chambers on "Greek." Anyone else? 30. Early on in the episode, I think during the library scene, I said to my husband, "wow, this could be realllly bad for Rachel, being dumped by Finn, then falling in love with Jesse only to have him screw her..." then she flat out tells him this on the Vocal Adrenaline stage...then he looks at Ms. Corcoran (Idina Menzel) when he kisses Rachel. Either they're scheming, he's got a vendetta against his coach or they're sleeping together AND scheming. I'm guessing it's just the first thing, but maybe the last? 31. I always love when Emma distills things down to the emotional core like in the scene where she breaks up with Will, "how is you compromising yourself for my crazy any different than you doing it for hers?" Oh, and the heartbreak! This poor girl! A virgin and OCD and so sweet and wonderful. I want her to win. I want her to be able to get "messy." I love her. 32. What's Rachel mean when she says, "I ended it with Jesse, you can spread the word, I know you know how to do that"? Regardless, now we're set up back at square one of the longing and tension between them again. Emotional reset button! Except now the tables are turned.

***Here are the credits - WTF?:
Starring: (this is alphabetical) Dianna Agron, Chris Colfer, Jessalyn Gilsig, Jane Lynch, Jayma Mays, Kevin Mchale, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Matthew Morrison, Amber Riley, Mark Salling, Jenna Ushkowitz
Then special guest stars:
Jonathan Groff
Idina Menzel
Then guest starring:
Iqubal Theba - Figgins
Patrick Gallagher - Ken Tanaka
Naya Rivera
James Earl - FB player
Josh Sussman
Max Adler - FB player
Heather Morris
Harry Shum Jr
Dijon Talon
HOW do those barely noticeable football players get the same billing as people like Figgins, Brittany and Santana? Would they just add the 4 of them already? They're in EVERY group scene and more in every episode.

Sneak peek - Rachel sings "Hope It Gives You Hell"

New show performance video!
Hope It Gives You Hell by All American Rejects
(this wasn't embeddable)
Looks like Rachel is pissssssed at Finn.