Lights Out (Glee)
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"Lights Out" is the twentieth episode of the fourth season of the American musical television series Glee, and the 86th episode overall. Written by Ryan Murphy and directed by Paris Barclay, it aired on Fox in the United States on April 25, 2013, and features the return of special guest star Sarah Jessica Parker as Isabelle Wright.
Plot
Glee club director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) finds out that the lead singer of rival glee club The Hoosierdaddies is Frida Romero (Jessica Sanchez), a young woman with a powerful voice. A power outage at McKinley High School prompts Will to assign the club to perform "unplugged", as he believes the glee club has become too reliant on electronic instruments.
Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet) and Ryder Lynn (Blake Jenner) lead with a performance of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'". Ryder continues his effort to meet "Katie", and admits to Jake Puckerman (Jacob Artist) that he told her his greatest secret. Jake encourages Ryder to share it with the club, and after a rendition of "Everybody Hurts", Ryder admits that he was sexually molested by a babysitter when he was 11 years old. Sam and Artie Abrams (Kevin McHale) believe Ryder's experience to be a boy's dream come true, but Kitty Wilde (Becca Tobin) later confides that she transferred to McKinley after being molested by her best friend's older brother, and that she understands his pain.
Artie leads New Directions in a performance of "We Will Rock You", using everyday objects to create music. Blaine Anderson (Darren Criss) later locates Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch), who has become an aerobics instructor since she was dismissed for firing a gun at the school. He tries to convince her to return to McKinley, as he believes her replacement as coach of the Cheerios, Roz Washington (Nene Leakes), is not fit for the job. Sue refuses, but later visits the school, where Becky Jackson (Lauren Potter) also tries to convince her to return. Sue once again refuses, claiming she has grown tired of the Cheerios through a performance of "Little Girls". Becky, who had actually been the one who accidentally fired the gun, later goes to talk to Principal Figgins (Iqbal Theba).
In New York City, Isabelle Wright (Sarah Jessica Parker) recruits her intern Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer) to help her organize a benefit party sponsored by Vogue.com. Kurt, having learned that Santana Lopez (Naya Rivera) is working as a cage dancer in a bar, convinces her and Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) to help him. During the party, Rachel, Kurt, Santana and Isabelle perform "At the Ballet". Santana reconnects with her dream of becoming a dancer, and decides to take extension classes at the New York Academy of Dramatic Arts (NYADA), the school Rachel and Kurt attend full time.
The power comes back at McKinley, but Will convinces the students to continue with their assignment and perform an a cappella number. Ryder talks with Katie about how he will find out who she is, and how their interactions have helped him overcome his traumas. Kitty tries to become closer to him, but is hurt by his continuing interest in Katie. Ryder and Kitty continue to struggle with their feelings during New Directions' performance of "The Longest Time" in the auditorium.
Production
Shooting for the episode began in March and continued at least through April 3, 2013.[2] Special guest star Sarah Jessica Parker returns as Kurt's boss at Vogue.com, Isabelle Wright. According to show co-creator Ryan Murphy, the musical number that Parker appears in—"At the Ballet", along with Michele, Colfer and Rivera—was Parker's idea.[3][2]
Jane Lynch appears as former cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester in this episode, and performs "Little Girls" from the musical Annie. Lynch will be making her Broadway debut in Annie in May 2013, playing Miss Hannigan, the role that sings that song.[4]
A number of scenes for the episode shown in previews and advance publicity were not included in the broadcast version. Although Cory Monteith had shot scenes as Finn Hudson prior to entering rehab on March 31, 2013, at least one of which was shown in the "Episodic photos" section of the FoxFlash website, and the press release for the episode stated that "Will and Finn enlist the members of New Directions to 'unplug'", Finn does not appear in the episode as broadcast.[5][6][7] Similarly, scenes of Blaine in costume and of Blaine and Sam interrogating Becky were also not shown.[7][8]
Jessica Sanchez, the runner-up on American Idol in its eleventh season, makes her acting debut in this episode as Frida Romero, a powerhouse singer in the Hoosierdaddies glee club that is a rival to New Directions in the upcoming Regionals show choir competition. Sanchez will also be appearing in the final two episodes of Glee this season.[9]
Other recurring characters in this episode include Principal Figgins (Theba), new cheerleading coach Roz Washington (Leakes), glee club members Wade "Unique" Adams (Alex Newell), Marley Rose (Melissa Benoist), Jake Puckerman (Artist), Kitty Wilde (Tobin) and Ryder Lynn (Jenner), and cheerleader Becky Jackson (Potter).[5]
Six songs from the episode are being released as singles, including the previously mentioned Broadway numbers "At the Ballet" and "Little Girls", plus The Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" sung by Overstreet and Jenner, Queen's "We Will Rock You", R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts" sung by Jenner, and Billy Joel's "The Longest Time" performed by McHale, Overstreet, Jenner, Benoist, Artist and Tobin.[10][11]
References
- ^ "Shows A-Z - glee on fox". The Futon Critic. Retrieved April 15, 2013.
- ^ a b Murphy, Ryan (April 4, 2013). "Twitter / @MrRPMurphy: At the ballet". Retrieved April 8, 2013.
- ^ Murphy, Ryan (April 5, 2013). "Twitter / @MrRPMurphy: The Incredible SJP! This number was her idea". Retrieved April 8, 2013.
- ^ Ausiello, Michael (April 24, 2013). "Glee Scoop: Jane Lynch on Sue's Job Change, 'New Lease on Life' and Killer Fantasy Sequence". TVLine. PMC. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
- ^ a b "Listings - Glee on Fox". The Futon Critic. Retrieved April 15, 2013.
- ^ Mitovich, Matt Webb (April 1, 2013). "Glee Poised to Finish Season 4 Without Finn, as Cory Monteith Enters Rehab". TVLine. PMC. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
{{cite web}}: no-break space character in|title=at position 73 (help) - ^ a b "Episodic photos". Fox Broadcasting Company. Retrieved April 28, 2013.
- ^ Paris Barclay (director), Ryan Murphy (writer) (April 25, 2013). "Lights Out". Glee. Season 4. Episode 20. Fox.
{{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter|episodelink=ignored (|episode-link=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|serieslink=ignored (|series-link=suggested) (help) - ^ Goldberg, Lesley (April 23, 2013). "Glee First Look: 'American Idol's' Jessica Sanchez Finally Arrives". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
- ^ "Glee Cast – MP3 downloads". amazon.com. Retrieved April 7, 2013.
- ^ "GLEE Will Rock You! All The NEW MUSIC From Lights Out HERE!". perezhilton.com. April 22, 2013. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
