The TV Chick

Tonight’s episode of Glee is a big one. The Rocky Horror Glee show pays homage to the 1970s cult classic movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and it does so in spectacular fashion. Whenever Glee takes on an artist (or a movie in this case), it can be epic (Madonna and Lady Gaga episodes), great music wise but not so much plot wise (Britney episode) or classic Glee (Beatles episode). The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a beloved movie with a lot of racy scenes, but Glee tackles them with respect. The basic premise of the episode is that Emma (yes she is back for A LOT of this episode!) went to see Rocky Horror with Carl. It was a dirty movie theater and people were throwing things (you know how they do), yet Emma was having so much fun she didn’t even think about her OCD. Side note, this TV Chick went to a screening of Rocky Horror in college where they put a V on my head (for RH virgin) and I danced the time warp in the aisles. It’s all a blur. But I digress. So Will realizes that Emma’s really hitting it off with Carl and decides to put on a production of Rocky Horror with the Glee Club to impress her. He asks Emma to come on as the costume designer, and she’s pretty thrilled. Carl may be helping her, but in my opinion, she really wishes she were with Will. In any case, on with the show!

The casting of the show is as follows: Rachel as Janet, Finn as Brad, Mike Chang as Frank-n-Furter (although this changes to Mercedes later), Carl as Eddie, Sam as Rocky (this changes later too and then changes back), Kurt as Riff Raff and even Sue gets in on the fun (for Sue reasons of course). The production the Glee Club puts on is a lot of fun, even if it is minus some scandalous parts, and seeing Chord Overstreet (Sam) in the skimpy gold shorts and nothing else is quite a sight to see. However, the highlight of the entire episode is Emma’s rendition of “Toucha Toucha Touch Me.” We knew she was going to sing it, and from the promos, we knew who she was going to sing it to (Will). But nothing could have prepared me for the spectacular number I was about to see. The video has leaked on the internet, but I’m not going to post it here because I don’t support that sort of thing. I was absolutely floored by Jayma Mays in this musical and dance number. Singing and dancing is not her thing but she did so with such finesse. The song fits Emma perfectly — she wants to get dirty — and all the Will and Emma fans out there are in for a real treat. True story, I had to take a deep breath and compose myself after this number, I loved it that much. Will is very much shirtless for half the number (again this isn’t a spoiler) and he and Emma get pretty close. That’s as far as I’ll go to spoiling it but I will say that “Toucha Toucha Touch Me” is all you could ever want and more. It’s that good.

In this episode, the story really drives the music and not vice versa. The musical numbers are really great. Mercedes kills “Sweet Transvestite”  and for those who love Quinn (Dianna Agron) as I do, she has a nice solo. I definitely would have loved to see more Quinn and Sam in this episode but I’m sure we’ll get there. I was so glad to see a Will/Emma centric episode because we were really due for one. There is a lot of development in their relationship, and I think it was needed for both characters. A lot of people on Twitter wanted to know about Finn and Rachel moments, and I will say I really enjoyed their “Dammit Janet” duet, but they also have some other cute moments while rehearsing for the show.

I was incredibly impressed with The Rocky Horror Glee Show. I realize that I saw it with an audience full of people in costumes (myself not included) shouting at the screen, so I know my experience was a bit different from most. However, I think that any true Glee fan, whether or not you are super familiar with Rocky Horror, will think this episode is a lot of fun. And Will and Emma fans will think it’s a lot more than that. This episode is how an homage should be handled — not oversaturated with music, fitting in with a theme (Halloween) and containing a nice balance of plot development and music. I can’t wait to hear what everyone thinks.

Be sure to tune in tonight at 8 pm to FOX for The Rocky Horror Glee Show.