Season 2, Ep 1 - Auditions
After returning from summer break, the kids discover they are still school outcasts; Will tries to recruit new Glee Club members; and Sue has a new formidable rival.
As another school year begins, the Glee kids discover that their elusive popularity still remains outside their grasp. By way of Jacob’s video blog, we learn that several things have occurred over the break: Finn and Rachel have been and still are dating, despite the fact he considers her “a controllist” with a huge ego; Tina has dumped Artie, and is dating fellow Asian Mike Chang; Puck got a vasectomy; Santana got a boob job; Heather spent her summer lost in the sewers; Slushees are still readily available; and the prevailing opinion among the student body is that Will’s song selections for New Directions sound like they come from “a drag queen’s iPod.”
With a new year comes new opportunities for students, but while kids have been lining up for a shot at becoming a Cheerio, Will is discouraged: Despite the added prestige of Nationals being held in New York this year, no one wants to join Glee. The only part of the status-quo that has seemed to change is Will and Sue’s friendlier relationship; the two go to Principal Figgins’ office together for a meeting. In Figgins’ office, Sue and Will are shocked to learn that their budgets have both been slashed by ten percent. Also present at the meeting is the school’s new no-nonsense football coach: Shannon Beiste (pronounced “Beast”). Sue takes an immediate dislike to the large, domineering woman who refers to herself (in third person) as “The Panther”; Sue tries to establish her dominance, but Beiste doesn’t kowtow as easily as Ken Tanaka did. Will has no more luck establishing a rapport with Beiste than Sue does. In the choir room the kids tell Will they have come to accept their low status at school; they consider each other family, and that is what’s important. Schu points out that their reputation as “losers” is preventing anyone else from joining; they need more members if they hope to beat Vocal Adrenaline. Will thinks the kids need to show the rest of the school how cool they really are. During a lunch period the kids perform Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind”; while most of the students pay no attention, Finn and Rachel notice two new students (Sam and Sunshine) who seem to enjoy the performance. Still, no one else has signed up to audition.
Will takes his frustration to Sue; she points out the bigger problem: Beiste, who ⎯ if she had her way ⎯ would slash both their budgets entirely. She recruits Will for her war against the new Alpha-female.
In the boys’ locker room, Finn hears someone singing in the shower. He sees new transfer student Sam singing Poison’s “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”… and he’s good; Finn considers joining in “with a kick-ass harmony,” but since “the dude was naked” he thinks better of it. Meanwhile Rachel hangs Glee Club audition signups in the girls’ bathroom. Sunshine walks in; Rachel recognizes her from earlier. Always the consummate egotist, Rachel immediately assumes the Philippine transfer student doesn’t speak English, and addresses her slowly in loud, over enunciated words. She saw Sunshine enjoying the Club’s “bust-out,” and takes it personally: “you like me sing very much.” She invites the new girl to join New Directions, and be one of her back-up singers. Rachel hears as Sunshine begins singing Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” (more to herself that to anyone else), and realizes the new girl is actually good enough to be a challenger to her throne. She joins in the song, but more as a throw-down than a duet. Afterwards Rachel seems to have lost interest in the new girl joining the Club. Coach Beiste tells the football team they’re all being cut from the roster; if they want to play they need to try out again. A pizza delivery guy enters the locker room with twenty five pies for the coach. Outside the locker room, Sue and Will giggle at their prank; Sue thinks their abuse and teasing will shake Beiste “to the core,” and cause her own high-school memories to resurface, resulting in humiliation and forcing her to resign. Their plan fails, as the coach treats the football team to a pre-tryout pizza party (“the first ten to puke are off the team”), and even invites Will and Sue to join them. Later, Artie tells Finn that he still hasn’t gotten over Tina dumping him. He thinks he can win her back if he can get on the football team.
Finn doesn’t see it happening, but Artie suggests that he and his wheelchair ⎯ when pushed full-speed by Finn ⎯ could become “a medieval battering ram.” Finn sees the logic; he agrees to help. Finn approaches Sam in the halls, and introduces himself; he invites the new guy to audition for Glee Club. In the choir room Sam performs Travie McCoy’s “Billionaire” for the other guys, who join in; Sam is really good. Finn asks the newbie if he can come back to audition for the rest of the Club; Sam says he can.
Rachel tells Kurt and Mercedes about Sunshine; she says the girl has a “remarkable voice,” but she’s worried that if she joins the Club it will mean fewer solos for the “lesser Glee-Clubbers” (meaning them). She says she has paid the jocks to Slushee them publically in order to discourage Sunshine from auditioning. Kurt and Mercedes hate the idea; they say they want to beat Vocal Adrenaline more than anything, and if there is someone who can help them do that, they’re in. Rachel reconsiders… or at least says she has; she gives Sunshine the address for the auditions. Sue and Will continue their hazing of the new coach; clearly it is easier for Sue to pull off than for Will. Beiste says she was warned that Sue was a bully, but was lead to believe he was “really cool”; now she thinks “they” got that last part wrong. In the locker room we see that Sue’s plan is working better than the coach leads on; Beiste wipes away some tears. Finn wheels Artie in, and says he wants to try out for the team. She thinks Finn is “screwing” with her, and immediately cuts him from the team. Fellow footballer Sam witnesses the exchange.
Quinn shows up at Cheerios tryouts; at first Sue is adamant against letting her on the squad, but has a change of heart when Quinn suggests she may be able to secure help with the budget shortfall. The next to try out is Finn; clearly his dance skills haven’t improved over the summer. He says since being kicked off the football team, he has nothing; he misses being popular, and says he has other skills (like leadership and athletic ability), and he hopes Sue will consider him. Will goes to see Figgins and Beiste, and pleads for Finn to be put back on the football team. The Coach refuses, and seems to intimate that Will’s mistreatment of her may be at the root of her dislike for the ex-quarterback. Sue tells Santana she’s upset with her “new set of melons”; evidently she has a very strict “no plastics” policy for the Cheerios. Sue tells “Boobs McGee” that Quinn will replace her as head cheerleader, and she will be demoted to “the bottom of the pyramid.” Quinn suits up in her Cheerios uniform, and sashays down the hall, reveling in her returned glory; Santana confronts her, and the two come to blows. An insult-laden cat-fight ensues until Will breaks it up.
In the choir room the Glee kids wait to see who will come to the auditions; neither Sam nor Sunshine show up. In Figgins’ office, Sue has coaxed Brittany into accusing Coach Beiste of touching her inappropriately; Will arrives, and encourages the Cheerio to tell the truth. Brittany recants; Sue sees Will’s intervention as a sign of weakness, and a betrayal that signals the end of their truce. Will learns (through Tina and Mike) that Sunshine missed the auditions because the directions Rachel provided lead her to a crack house; Rachel tries to make excuses for her actions, but it’s clear the diva was merely protecting her position in the group. Will says that regardless of her motivations, Rachel needs to “make this right.” Rachel finds Sunshine, and apologizes; she invites the new girl to the auditorium for a real audition. Sunshine shows up, and performs “Listen” from “Dreamgirls”; she is fantastic, and everyone loves the performance. Will says: “Welcome to the Glee Club.”
Will apologizes to Coach Beiste; he says he was discouraged by the way he and his kids are constantly made to feel like outsiders, and he wanted to make her feel the same way. He says what he did was wrong. She accepts his apology, and they shake hands. Sue shows up, and continues her assault on the new coach, but Will says he won’t help her anymore. She says he’s made a serious mistake, “the likes of which have not been seen since the Mexican-Indians sold Manhattan to George Washington for an up-skirt photo of Betsy Ross.” Finn finds Sam suiting up in the locker room. He asks why the new guy didn’t come to the audition; Sam says he wanted to, but as a new student he can’t afford any more social ridicule. Finn thinks its cool that Sam made the team…
until he learns Sam is the new quarterback. Will approaches Sunshine in the halls, but learns that ⎯ thanks to a phone call from Sue, and a new condo and green card for her mom ⎯ she’s transferring schools to sing with Vocal Adrenaline.
Sunshine adds that her fear of Rachel also played a part in the decision.
The other kids are all upset with Rachel; Sunshine could’ve helped them beat Vocal Adrenaline, “but now they’re that much stronger.” Rachel sticks to her assertion that she did what she did to protect the group’s family dynamic, but Finn wants her to admit she just didn’t want anyone else hogging her spotlight. Finn says she needs to apologize to the rest of the group; she accedes. Rachel takes some “alone time”; she sings “What I Did for Love” from A Chorus Line. As she sings, Artie watches forlornly as Tina dances with Mike; and Quinn once again enjoys her prestigious position of power while Santana languishes at the bottom of a Cheerios pyramid. Her song over, Rachel enters the choir room prepared to eat crow.
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