GLEE 1.12 - "Mattress"

WRITER: Ryan Murphy
DIRECTOR: Elodie Keene
GUEST CAST: Jessalyn Gilsig, Jenna Ushkowitz, Patrick Gallagher, Iqbal Theba, John Ross Bowie, Naya Rivera, Heather Morris, Harry Shum Jr., Dijon Talton, Bill A. Jones, Chuck Spitler, Max Adler, Earlene Davis, James Earl & Lauren Potter

[SPOILERS] As the penultimate episode of this unofficial "Volume I", "Mattress" was thankfully a much better episode than we've been served in recent weeks, not to mention an episode that surprised by giving us an overdue breakthrough with the pregnancy storyline...

This week, Will's (Matthew Morrison) incensed when it becomes clear the glee club are going to be omitted from the high school yearbook, mainly because Principal Figgins (Iqbal Theba) is aware the club's photo is regularly defaced by students. To get around this, Will decides to buy a quarter-page of advertising in the book himself and use it for a photo, but that means there's only enough room for two glee members to have their picture taken. Naturally, Rachel (Lea Michele) was only too happy to be the nominated smiling face of the club, but she struggled to convince Finn (Cory Monteith) to join her in print, as he's once again facing pressure from his football teammates over his extracurricular singing n' dancing. However, after Rachel realized the yearbook's photographer (John Ross Bowie) is also the director of a local commercial for his brother-in-law's mattress store, Rachel persuaded him to let glee club star in the advert (singing "Jump" while dressed in blue pyjamas), hoping it'll turn them into local celebs and dissuade cynics from vandalizing their picture.

Meanwhile, Emma's (Jayma Mays) wedding to Ken (Patrick Gallagher) is revealed to clash with the glee club's sectionals competition, and Will discovered one of Terri's (Jessalyn Gilsig) fake "baby bumps" in a bedroom drawer. He confronted her about his find and, despite her calm excuses, managed to expose the truth (literally) and was told about her intention to "adopt" Quinn's (Dianna Agron) baby. In a show that's not likely to win many dramatic awards, this was a surprisingly honest and plausible moment between Morrison and Gilsig, who both sold the moment very well and elicited perhaps Glee's first scene of emotional truthfulness.

Finally, Sue (Jane Lynch) was overjoyed to hear about glee club taking part in a commercial, as they were "paid" with free mattresses, which is strictly against the rules governing who can compete in sectionals. Will had no choice but to resign as the club's leader, to take full responsibility and allow the group to compete without him, while Quinn managed to get a full-page photograph donated to glee after threatening Sue's Cheerios team with disqualification because she had evidence they were given privileges that would likewise disqualify them from contest.

"Mattress" was definitely an epochal episode for Glee, which felt more focused and smoothly plotted than recent episodes. There was a nice development of each storyline, and it was -- on the whole -- a more credible hour with surprises that felt earned and fairly logical. I particularly enjoyed Quinn managing to beat Sue at her own game, while finally accepting the glee club over those bitter Cheerios, and it was a huge relief to see Will uncover Terri's web of lies. Hopefully Glee will learn a lesson from this pregnancy storyline, which never felt in the least bit believable and was returned to so often that it became a bore. Glee is far more entertaining when it's just having fun, as it's not particularly astute when it comes to tackling big issues (pregnancy, disability) as I think the past dozen episodes have proved.

Asides

-- That mattress advert has to be the cheesiest and most inept commercial I've ever seen, but the actual performance of "Jump" in the show was a series highlight. I did have to wonder why pregnant Quinn was so willing to jump around on beds, though! That can't be good for the baby.

-- Lots of smile-related songs for an episode revolving around photography: Lily Allen's "Smile", Nat King Cole's "Smile" and Louis Armstrong's "When You're Smiling". I got a kick out of hearing the UK's own Lily Allen get some royalties via Glee (but would rather forget the embarassing performance), and none of the other Glee-tunes clicked for me. Actually, as I've said before, I think the show's hit-rate with songs is a lot lower than perceived, although because of its huge popularity I hope they'll get the rights to better tracks in the second-half of season 1. I already hear that Madonna, Paul McCartney and Barry Manilow are likely to let their songs be used, with Sue apparently getting to do a performance of Madonna's "Vogue" with altered lyrics. Can. Not. Wait.

22 MARCH 2010: E4 (HD), 9PM