Since he's busy talking about smoke monsters Steve's passed Glee duties along to me for the rest of the season. I'll try to match his fanboydom note for high-register note.

Let me start the discussion by saying, was this episode weird or what? I love the idea of a Madonna-centric episode as much as anyone else who's seen every episode of Glee, but I thought this was a total Madge overload. It was like every possible Madonna idea had to be crammed into this 42 minutes because they can never return to the well. Dudes, that's a thirty-year catalog to condense! Give it a little breathing room, please.

There was really only one moment in this ep that worked on all levels for me. Agree? Disagree? Favorite quotes? Favorite moments? Favorite songs? DISCUSS!

Glee has a difficult equilibrium to maintain. One of the show's feet is planted in ultra-campy theatricality with every plot point acting in service of fabulous songs and fabulous dances. The other foot is in a pretty harsh reality, which gives the show it's bite and can make the humor and pathos sting. Throughout any given episode Glee dips hard one way or the other which can make it pretty schizophrenic watching.

The moment that I thought best combined these two sides tonight and summed up the reasons I love this show was the "Like a Virgin" number. Having Rachel, Finn and Emma all look into their respective bathroom mirrors and imagine the hot synchronized love-making they were about to have was pretty great, made even better with the reveal it was all a fantasy. That Rachel would turn down Jesse for the good of the team is pretty fitting, but Finn breaking his promise with Jesus and having pre-hamburger sex with Santana in a grody hotel room was heartbreaking - even more so because, in typical Glee fashion, he matches Rachel's lie with a lie because he's too sad or embarrassed about his visit to the Motel 6. It's moments like this that elevate Glee above a snarky after-school special.

Everything else here felt a little beside the point to me. None of the other songs really gave much forward momentum to the story and none were really showstoppers. I do have to agree with Mercedes and Kurt that they deserve more time in the spotlight, cuz their voices are dy-no-mite. That they joined the Cheerios was pretty 'meh,' though. Even more 'meh' because they did it to "4 Minutes," which sucks.

I'm glad Jesse is staying around because he was stealing scenes left and right here as Vocal Adrenaline's ex-resident diva. I think he beat out Sue Sylvester for best lines this time around. His parents are wintering in Bali and it's a very expensive phone call. Plus the joke that he is Will's son = priceless.

As for Sue, I thought she was poorly overused this time out. The more screen time she gets the less funny her digs at Will's hair become and the sudden reveal that she was a Maddonamaniac felt totally shoehorned in (only to be forgotten next week, I'm sure). I like the idea of blasting Madonna on all the school's speakers like a gay police state, but it just made the whole thing feel even more like a commercial for Mrs. Ciccone. And yeah, her shot-for-shot "Vogue" video is rad because Jane Lynch is a talented fucker of mothers, but it worked way better as a web video, yeah? Just because you can, doesn't mean you should, Glee. Just cuz the Cheerios can dance on stilts to "Ray of Light" doesn't mean they should. And of course Rachel's gonna bust out "Like a Prayer," but after so much Madonna I felt too beat up to appreciate it.

The boys' take on "What It Feels Like For a Girl" was so silly that I really enjoyed it. I guess all of us - including suddenly misogynistic Artie - learned an important lesson today: don't take girls for granted because you'll just have to sing about it thirty minutes later. "Silllky smoooth lips as sweet as caaaandy..."

I'll be excited next week for a little more variety.

Alright, stray notes and quotes:
The quickest way to Rachel's bed is a Wiggles concert.
Artie is totally over the goth look.
Sue Sylvester is bitter because her and her handicapable sister ruined her hair with napalm.
When Finn plays the drums he puts on a pretty intense face. It looked like he was pooping.
Emma: still a virgin, still fucking adorable.
"Help! I'm in love with my step-dad!"
"When I pulled my hamstring I went to a misogynist."
"Just come out so we can talk... or sing about it."

Take it away, Blogtownies.