Glee Review: The Pluck of the Irish

at .

Rory Flanagan may not have the ability to make any cereal magically delicious, but he sure did magically appear on "Pot O' Gold" and play a significant episode on the first new Glee episode in weeks, didn't he?

It was a bit jarring to have this character just plopped down in both the hallways of William McKinley and in the bedroom of Brittany S. Pearce (no, not like that! He wishes!), getting his first solo within minutes of his arrival.

Was I invested in his rendition of a Kermit the Frog classic? Not exactly. It was far from earned, having just been introduced to the heavily-accented foreign exchange student. By the end of the hour, though, I was as excited as the rest of New Directions to welcome Rory on board. I even understood almost every other word he said!

Rory and Brittany

Meanwhile, this non-Leprechaun wasn't the only one granting wishes: someone on the writing staff must have heard my pleas for an abundance of Burt Hummel and delivered exactly that. I'm already loving his campaign against Sue, partly because it's based on actual issues.

How to best spend public funds for school? That's very much a real debate. Arts versus special ed? I don't even have a joke here. What side would you take? It's a tough one and it serves to humanize Sue. Yes, she's a hoot when she's rattling on about Will's hair - and, now, Burt's lack of locks - and it's hilarious that she wants to take down Tom Bergeron... but Glee is best served when its characters are grounded in reality. A fine job of that here.

Similarly, whoa, serious Brittany might need to be a contender for Scariest Character on Television. Bravo to her for standing up to Finn's "idiot" insult. Considering the major deal it is for her to defect to The Trouble Tones (I sort of like Hot Messes... anyone else?), the show needed to give her something more legitimate as a basis than granting a Leprechaun's wish. Well done again. This season hasn't been perfect, but the writers did appear serious about focusing on consistent storytelling.

The same can be said for Puck and Shelby. Am I alone in jumping right on the Pelby bandwagon? We've seen Puck's affection for cougars before - they make his nipple rings twitch, after all - and I absolutely bought Shelby's sadness over raising a child alone. I can see these two together - not together together, just growing close as they have been and then realizing how they can't actually go there - especially if it helps wake Puck up to Quinn's seriously evil plan of stealing back Beth.

No, Quinn. Just... no! That's some dastardly scheming, far beyond any high school pranking.

Other thoughts on an enjoyable episode that has me craving both Lucky Charms and some Christina Aguilera:

  • Sue thinks math teachers make $2,000 per year.
  • And that West Wide Story glorifies gang violence, yet remains gay.
  • I need to point out the bullying hypocrisy again: Glee spent weeks on Kurt getting shoved into lockers last year, yet it's just accepted here as something Rory is unfortunately going through?
  • Yes, Hummel is more difficult to spell than Lisa Murkowski. Look at Glee getting all political! It could almost pass for The Good Wife.
  • Along those lines, call me a raging liberal, but Brittany didn't want to be known as a quitter due to her rising political career? Hmmm... could that be a reference to another former Alaskan government official.
  • Leprechaun is Santana's favorite movie. It learned her two things.
  • Blaine wanted to remind everyone what Glee is all about, which, as he put it, is just... fun. Amen, right, readers?
  • It's been awhile, so just a reminder: We've already updated our Glee quotes and our Glee music sections, as we do every Tuesday night. Click and enjoy!

What did everyone else think? You can get an early look at next week's sex-based episode NOW!

Pot O' Gold Review

Editor Rating: 4.4 / 5.0
  • 4.4 / 5.0
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
User Rating:

Rating: 4.1 / 5.0 (226 Votes)

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.

Show Comments
Tags: ,

Glee Season 3 Episode 4 Quotes

I got a bee in my bonnet, and that bee's name is "government waste."

Sue

You look magical and amazing, but I don't understand what you're saying. So if you're gonna make it this his world, you better learn to speak English.

Brittany [to Rory]