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'Glee' Recap: Kristin Chenoweth Comes 'Home'

Sue Sylvester terrorizes Mercedes while Mr. Schuester is reunited with high school crush April.

"Glee" might have been on a roll during its first two weeks back from hiatus, but sadly, all good things must come to an end. Tuesday's (April 27) episode "Home" featured a whole lot of emotional backstory and music unrecognizable to the youth (Burt Bacharach? Really?), making for an hour of television better suited for Internet surfing than actually paying attention.

The two main plots this week were both emotional doozies, with not much comic relief in between. Sue Sylvester told new Cheerio Mercedes that she had to lose 10 pounds in a week and start wearing a skirt with her uniform before a reporter from Splits magazine arrived to write a feature on Sue and the cheerleading team.

Not one for pretense, Sue didn't even pretend to tell Mercedes to lose the weight in a safe manner -- though she did ask Kurt and Mercedes: "How do you two not have a show on Bravo?" Kurt's diet of Splenda and celery trumped Mercedes' actually healthy chicken breast and salad, but Santana and Brittany let the two new Cheerios in on their secret to staying skinny: the Sue Sylvester Master Cleanse. It's a lovely sounding mixture of water, maple syrup, lemon juice, cayenne pepper and a dash of ipecac (a vomiting agent). Sometimes Brittany adds a teaspoon of sand.

Eventually, Mercedes got so hungry that she began hallucinating her classmates as delicious baked goods and pulled a "Mean Girls" at the big pep rally by talking to her classmates about self-empowerment and singing Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful" (the episode's only recent song!) instead of the rehearsed number. Fortunately for Sue, the Splits reporter loved it and turned what was supposed to be a scathing takedown of the coach into a fawning rave.

The other heavy plot involved Kurt's dad and Finn's mom dating. Kurt worked through his crush on Finn by setting their parents up then getting the jock's help in redecorating his room (and singing Bacharach's "A House Is Not a Home"). Finn worked through his issues about his mom replacing his dad by getting uptight when she wanted to throw away the recliner in their living room but ultimately realizing the error of his ways.

Unfortunately for Kurt, his plan backfired, and Finn ended up bonding with Mr. Hummel, who put his own son on the backburner for an opportunity to have a little "guy talk" with his girlfriend's son -- taking away both Kurt's crush and the father/son bond he craved. It ultimately worked out for Finn, however, who realized it might be time to let his father go and welcome a new man into his life, especially a new man who made his mother so happy.

Though Kristin Chenoweth is always a delight, her appearance in this episode was both nonsensical and unnecessary. Mr. Schuester found April at a roller rink he was scouting as a potential New Directions rehearsal location. The two duetted on Bruce Springsteen's "Fire" and later a medley of the Burt Bacharach/ Hal David hits "One Less Bell to Answer" and "A House Is Not a Home," which were probably previously unfamiliar songs to those born after 1975.

Mr. Schu and April flirted a little bit but didn't actually get busy. April decided to buy the auditorium for New Directions with the payday she got when her rich, older boyfriend croaked, ensuring Sue wouldn't be able to steal it for the Cheerios again and allowing for one more number, this time "Home" from "The Wiz." Seriously. You know there's something wrong when Kristen Chenoweth sings four of the show's six numbers, one of which was already a rehash of a number sung just minutes before ("A House Is Not a Home").

Were you disappointed in this episode of "Glee," or are we overreacting? Should the musical numbers have been more current? Let us know in the comments!

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