Mash-Up (Glee)

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"Mash-Up (Glee)"

"Mash-Up" is the eighth episode of the American television series Glee. The episode premiered on the Fox network on October 21, 2009. It was written by series co-creator Ian Brennan and directed by Elodie Keene. The episode sees glee club director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) attempt to create a wedding medley in the style of a mash-up for his colleagues Emma (Jayma Mays) and Ken (Patrick Gallagher). Students Finn (Cory Monteith) and Quinn (Dianna Agron) find that they are no longer considered popular, while glee club members Rachel (Lea Michele) and Puck (Mark Salling) become romantically involved, as do cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) and local news anchor Rod Remington (Bill A. Jones).

The episode features covers of five songs. Studio recordings of three of the songs were released as singles, available for digital download, and three are included on the album Glee: The Music, Volume 1. Neil Diamond was hesitant about licensing his song "Sweet Caroline" to the show, but was convinced by series music producer P.J. Bloom and ultimately enjoyed the performance given by Salling. The episode was watched by 7.24 million US viewers. Musical performances received mixed reviews from critics. The Wall Street Journal's Raymund Flandez described "Mash-Up" as a "turning point" for Glee, praising the episode for its character development.[1]

Plot

School football coach Ken Tanaka and Emma Pillsbury ask glee club director Will Schuester to produce a mash-up for their wedding, using "Thong Song" and "I Could Have Danced All Night" from My Fair Lady. Ken senses that Emma would rather be with Will instead of him, so gives the football-playing glee club members an ultimatum by scheduling football practice on the same day as glee rehearsals.

Meanwhile, club members Quinn and Finn have grape slushies thrown in their faces by the other students ready to take them down as they are no longer untouchable because of their high status. Their popularity has slipped due to Quinn's pregnancy and their partaking in the glee club. Cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester falls in love with Rod Remington, one of her local news co-workers, and makes amends with her adversary, Will. Her relationship fails, however when she discovers that Rod is cheating on her. Returning to form, Sue removes Quinn from the cheerleading squad because of her pregnancy. When Puck's mother encourages him to date a Jewish girl, Puck begins to court Rachel. At first she excuses herself by saying she needs a strong male role who can perform a solo. As a result, Puck sings "Sweet Caroline" as his first solo to the glee club, dedicating it to Rachel, sealing the relationship. The two ultimately break up as a result of Rachel's feelings for Finn and Puck's feelings for Quinn. Ken reverses his ultimatum after a conversation with a dismayed Finn, and allows the football players to return to glee club.

Production

"Mash-Up" was written by series creator Ian Brennan and directed by Elodie Keene. Recurring characters who appear in the episode are glee club members Brittany (Heather Morris), Santana Lopez (Naya Rivera), Mike Chang (Harry Shum, Jr.) and Matt Rutherford (Dijon Talton), athletes Lipoff (Zack Lively), Dave Karofsky (Max Adler) and Azimo (James Earl, III), football coach Ken Tanaka (Patrick Gallagher), and local news anchors Rod Remington (Bill A. Jones) and Andrea Carmichael (Earlene Davis). Gina Hecht guest-stars as Puck's mother.[2]

The episode features covers of "Bust a Move" by Young MC, Sisqó's "Thong Song", Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline", "I Could Have Danced All Night" from the musical My Fair Lady,[3] and "What a Girl Wants" by Christina Aguilera.[4] An instrumental version of "Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)" by Louis Prima is used in the scene which sees Will teach Sue how to swing dance.[5] Diamond had some reluctance over licensing "Sweet Caroline" to the show, and retracted clearance after the performance had already been recorded. Glee's music supervisor P.J. Bloom was able to convince him to reverse his decision, and Diamond went on to also license his song "Hello Again" for use on the show at a later date.[6] Following the episode's broadcast, Diamond posted his approval on the social networking website Twitter, writing: "Hey, so who's this guy Puck singing "Sweet Caroline" so good, so good, so good on #Glee? Loved it!!".[7]

Studio recordings of "Bust a Move", "Thong Song" and "Sweet Caroline" were released as singles, available for digital download.[8] "Bust a Move" charted at number 93 in the US and 78 in Canada,[9] while "Sweet Caroline" charted at number 34 in the US, 22 in Canada and 37 in Australia.[10] "Bust a Move" and "Sweet Caroline" are included on the album Glee: The Music, Volume 1, with a studio recording of "I Could Have Danced All Night" included as a bonus track on discs purchased from Target.[11]

Reception

Cory Monteith's vocal performance in the episode was criticized by Joal Ryan of E! Online, who felt that "Monteith was so Auto-Tuned he sounded like Cher."

"Mash-Up" was watched by 7.24 million US viewers, and attained a 3.2/8 rating/share in the 18-49 demographic.[12] It was the nineteenth most watched show in Canada for the week, with 1.52 million viewers.[13] In the UK, the episode was watched by 2.053 million viewers (1.601 million on E4, and 452,000 on E4 +1), becoming the most-watched show on E4 and E4 +1 for the week, and one of the most-watched shows on cable for the week.[14]

Raymund Flandez of The Wall Street Journal described the episode as "a turning point for Glee", commenting that although there had previously been criticism of many of the characters for being "one note", this episode demonstrated that was not the case, showing that Will has a playful side, Sue has feelings, and Puck is able to "emerge from his bonehead-punk exterior".[1] Andrea Reiher of Zap2it was glad that Will's wife Terri did not appear in the episode, commenting: "I like Jessalyn Gilsig but that character drives me outhouse-rat crazy."[15] Eric Goldman for IGN rated the episode 8.2/10, writing that he wished Sue's relationship with Rod could have lasted more than one episode, as: "it would have been amusing to see happy, in love Sue a bit longer, before her inevitable return to evil."[16]

Musical performances in "Mash-Up" received mixed reviews. Joal Ryan for E! Online criticized the show's "overproduced soundtrack", writing that Monteith was being edited to sound like Cher, and that when Morrison sang "The Thong Song" and "Bust a Move", "he sounded like he was in a music video, not a suburban high school."[17] He enjoyed Michele's "What a Girl Wants", calling her singing "raw and lovely".[17] Entertainment Weekly's Michael Slezak criticized the "Bust A Move" performance, writing that Morrison gave a "pale imitation" of the Young M.C. original.[18] He was slightly more positive regarding the "Thong Song" performance, feeling that Morrison had "a slightly less overwrought vocal than Sisqó", and observed that Salling did "more than a serviceable job" on "Sweet Caroline".[18] Fellow Entertainment Weekly writer Dan Snierson called Morrison's performances "pretty impressive",[4] and MTV's Aly Semigran also enjoyed them, writing: "We want more!".[19] Goldman too was positive regarding Morrison's performances, noting: "There is of course something completely dorky about seeing this guy perform these songs, but Morrison infuses Will with such enjoyment in what he's doing, he completely sells it."[16]

I will go to the animal shelter and get you a kitty cat. I will let you fall in love with that kitty cat; and then on some dark cold night, I will steal away into your home, and punch you in the face.

Sue Sylvester, Glee, Season 1 Episode 8: "Mash-Up"

Glee's writers have also been praised for the episode's comedic content; one particular joke (performed by Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester) was called an "instant classic" by television writer/producer Jane Espenson.[20] According to Espenson:

"The beauty of the joke is that ... [it] WANTS you to get ahead of it, and then subverts your expectation. This is extremely hard to pull off because you have to make certain that the audience is going to get ahead of the joke, but you can't be so obvious about it that you know they're going to anticipate the switch-up. This particular version is a thing of joy. I think a lot of what makes it work is the violence of the final image—you lose nothing of the force of the threat by not getting to any violence against the kitten."

— Jane Espenson, Personal Blog -- "The Dangling Kitten"

References

  1. ^ a b Flandez, Raymund (October 22, 2009). ""Glee" Season 1, Episode 8: TV Recap". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company. Retrieved 27 October 2009.
  2. ^ "Finn and Quinn sink to the bottom of the food chain". Fox Broadcasting Company. December 27, 2009. Archived from the original on 2011-02-12. Retrieved 15 February 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ "Music - ep8". E4. Archived from the original on April 22, 2011. Retrieved April 22, 2011.
  4. ^ a b Snierson, Dan (October 22, 2009). "'Glee' recap: Perfect Together". Entertainment Weekly. Time Inc. Retrieved 27 October 2009.
  5. ^ Hefa, Kiran (November 11, 2009). "Which Glee Couple Should Be Together?". People. Time Inc. Archived from the original on 2011-02-12. Retrieved 6 December 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ Morris, Christopher (December 4, 2009). "Keeping 'Glee' in tune". Variety. Reed Business Information. Archived from the original on 2011-02-12. Retrieved 6 December 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ Dos Santos, Kristin (October 22, 2009). "This Just In: Fox Pulls Dollhouse; Neil Diamond Hearts Glee". E! Online. E!. Archived from the original on 2011-02-12. Retrieved 15 February 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ "Cast versions of "Bust a Move", "Sweet Caroline" and "Thong Song" among songs featured in "Glee" Wednesday, October 21, on Fox" (Press release). Fox Broadcasting Company. October 20, 2009. Retrieved 15 February 2010. Template:WebCite
  9. ^ "Glee Cast - Bust A Move". aCharts.us. Archived from the original on 2011-02-12. Retrieved 15 February 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ "Glee Cast - Sweet Caroline". aCharts.us. Archived from the original on 2011-02-12. Retrieved 15 February 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ Linder, Brian (November 4, 2009). "Glee: The Music - Vol. 1 Review". IGN. Archived from the original on 2011-02-12. Retrieved 5 December 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ Seidman, Robert (October 22, 2009). "TV Ratings: Modern Family down, SVU hits highs, Eastwick beats The Jay Leno Show". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on 2009-12-10. Retrieved 22 October 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ "Top Programs – Total Canada (English): October 19–25, 2009". BBM Canada. October 30, 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-02-12. Retrieved 15 February 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  14. ^ "BARB: Weekly Top 30 Programmes, w/e 28 Feb 2010". BARB. Archived from the original on 2011-02-12. Retrieved 9 March 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ Reiher, Andrea (October 23, 2009). "'Glee': Bust a move, Sweet Caroline". Zap2it. Tribune Media Services. Archived from the original on 2011-02-12. Retrieved 27 October 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ a b Goldman, Eric (October 22, 2009). "Glee: "Mash-Up" Review". IGN. Archived from the original on 2011-02-12. Retrieved 27 October 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  17. ^ a b Ryan, Joal (October 23, 2009). "Glee's Great, but the Music Ain't". E! Online. E!. Archived from the original on 2011-02-12. Retrieved 25 October 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  18. ^ a b Slezak, Michael (October 22, 2009). "'Glee': Rating the iTunes downloads from episode 8, 'Mash Up'". Entertainment Weekly. Time Inc. Archived from the original on 2011-02-12. Retrieved 27 October 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  19. ^ Semigran, Aly (October 22, 2009). "'Glee' Recap: Episode 8, A 'Mash-Up' And A Slushie Facial". MTV. Archived from the original on 2011-02-12. Retrieved 27 October 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  20. ^ Espenson, Jane (May 16, 2010). "The Dangling Kitten". Jane in Progress (blog). Archived from the original on 2011-02-12. Retrieved 2010-05-30. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

External links

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