eyelash growth

New Directions channels the spirit of Lady Gaga and KISS to prove it’s their differences that make them stand out — and they’re proud of it.

Sue Sylvester was either off stewing over Bryan Ryan’s cutting the Cheeriors! budget — or still having fun with him in her secret “Letterman” room — on this week’s episode of Glee because there were some different bullies threatening New Directions, and Coach Sylvester was nowhere to be found. What started as an episode that promised two main elements: Lady Gaga numbers and “Theatricality” (the episode’s title), morphed into an emotional roller coaster that taught the glee club members how to let their freak flags fly and dare to be different in the face of physical and emotional adversity.

Along the way, we learned that Principal Figgins thinks vampires are real and found out just how far the McKinley High School dress code can be stretched. Apparently, goth clothing is not allowed, but Santana is fully allowed to walk around all week wearing an American Apparel black lace body suit and one of those life-size bows on her head normally reserved for car commercials around the holidays. Only on Glee, folks.

Every member of New Directions got in touch with his or her “theatrical” side in this episode, which, of course, led to Mr. Schuester happily declaring “But we’re all freaks together, and you shouldn’t have to hide it,” at the end of his “I hope this goes somewhere” Gaga assignment. Some characters, of course, learned a bit more about themselves than others while discovering their inner “theatricality.” In the end, it was these stripped-down performances, sans pyrotechnics, costumes and theatrics that revealed the most.

** SPOILERS AHEAD! **

Rachel: Much like the interesting headpiece she sported as part of her stapled-together Gaga outfit, Rachel spent most of this episode acting like a lost little lamb. The usually domineering Ms. Berry was thrown for a loop when she, Quinn and Mercedes went to a Vocal Adrenaline rehearsal to do some espionage on their rival’s Gaga number, only to find out that Shelby Corcoran was her mother. How did she know? Shelby’s performance of “Funny Girl,” and then her admission that Rachel “sees the world with the same fierce theatricality as I do.”

Unfortunately, Shelby wasn’t ready to be Rachel’s mother, and so it was a broken — yet somewhat stronger — Ms. Berry who emerged at the end. The two sang a touching, acoustic duet to Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” (before which Rachel managed to acknowledge something we’re all always wondering about the ever-present glee club pianist: “Brad! He’s always just around.”) and parted with a gold star (in the pilot, Rachel talks about how she always signs her name with a gold star; here, Shelby says “Gold stars are kinda my thing.”) to unite them.

Tina: It was Tina’s “style” that actually inspired the whole “theatricality” assignment. Principal Figgins forbade Tina from wearing her normal “goth” attire after a few rabid Twilight fans got a bit “blood-thirsty” in the halls. When Tina shows up to glee rehearsal in a shapeless gray hoodie, and Rachel provides some intel about Vocal Adrenaline’s Gaga number, Mr. Schuester knows he’s found his weekly assignment. In the end, however, it’s Tina who stays true to herself and her style when she confronts Figgins in a darkened hallway, bares her fangs (literally) and tells the principal that her father, the “king of the vampires” won’t be pleased with his actions. We bet her plaid skirts were a dream after the bubblicious Gaga outfit she rocked all week.

Puck: The self-proclaimed bad boy of McKinley High’s evolution to into an upstanding, talented teen father continued this week. He fronted the boys’ KISS performance of “Shout It Out Loud” and made a killer Paul Stanley, rocking a Star of David over his right eye instead of Stanley’s usual five-pointed version. Then, after an earlier misstep in which he told Quinn he wanted to name their baby “Jack Daniels” (or Jackie, since they’re expecting a girl), Puck once again pulled out a heartfelt performance in the choir room that reminded everyone why Quinn may have fallen for him in the first place.

“I didn’t care that my dad was a badass,” Puck explains, “I just wanted him to be there, and he never was.” After singing KISS’ “Beth,” he continues to Quinn: “I’d really like to be there when she’s born; I’d really like to meet her.” All Quinn can do is nod and cry through her ridiculous red eyelashes.

Kurt and Finn: These two were on a collision course this week from the very beginning, when Kurt decides the best way to tell Finn that he and his mother are moving in with the Hummels is at a crudité party in Kurt’s room. Not only are the Hummels and the Hudsons shacking up, but Kurt and Finn have to share a room. Both boys are already getting harassed at school by two massive bullies on the football team, but only Kurt is actually standing up for himself. “We’re showing off who we are,” he tells the bullies when they mock his Gaga outfit, “It’s the same thing you do when you wear your football uniform.”

Finn, on the other hand, is dealing with way too many emotions for a 17-year-old from a conservative Ohio town to handle, so being told that he’s losing the house in which he grew up, is meant to share a room with a boy who has a crush on him and being openly mocked by his football teammates is too much to handle. Unfortunately, he explodes at Kurt in one of the most painful and raw scenes Glee has produced to date. Mr. Hummel rushes to his son’s defense and throws Finn out of the house.

At the end of the episode, Finn comes to Kurt’s aid dressed in the exact same outfit Lady Gaga wore to meet the Queen of England (although Finn’s version is made from a shower curtain), and the rest of New Directions — clad as a sort of KISS and Gaga Army — is there in solidarity. The rift may be somewhat heeled between Kurt and Finn, but all cannot be well in the Hummel/Hudson home.

Performance of the week: Did you see Santana in “Bad Romance?” She was pitch- and dance-perfect (even with the ridiculous aforementioned bow on her head). Glad to see her getting more performance time this season.

Notable absence of the week: Um, hello, where was Jessie? Or, at the very least, a paltry excuse for his absence (see two episodes ago: “He’s on spring break”)? I kept waiting for one of the red-lace-masked Vocal Adrenaline Gagas to rip the mask off and reveal himself to be J.Groff, but alas, he never appeared.

Next week: Finally, it appears that the group is back on the road to preparing for Sectionals. What will they perform? How will Sue stand in their way? And is that Jessie, back with Vocal Adrenaline? How will that affect Rachel’s already tumultuous mental state?

Photos: Courtesy of Fox.com/Glee, screengrabs by FoxBroadcasting via YouTube, courtesy of Fox.com/Glee.

Gleecap: Get Your Freak On