Fake glee Taylor swift musical episode??
nationals are in two weeks and for some reason new directions have yet to decide on a set list, which mr schuester lectures them about, even though he’s their coach and should be in charge of that. he suggests several show tunes that they should perform but the group mock him, and he asks them what they want to sing. half of the team wants to do more popular songs, while the other half vote to focus on songwriting. kurt suggests that they combine the best of both worlds and have a taylor swift tribute week, which his fellow choir members, and particularly his boyfriend, laugh at him for. kurt admits that while some of taylor’s songs can “feature too much banjo and digs at jake gyllenhaal,” he points out that she’s very famous and an awarded songwriter, and sings blank space. the girls join in, but the boys remain hesitant.
tina confesses her secret love of taylor swift to mercedes, saying that she was never open about it because it contrasted with her former goth image. when mercedes points out that tina hasn’t been goth in awhile and the only thing stopping her is rachel/kurt/blaine’s obsession with the spotlight, tina takes the opportunity to sing speak now, and the show tries to act like the song is about being silenced and not interrupting a wedding. ironically, the performance cuts off halfway into the chorus, so we can watch kurt and blaine butcher love story. this is kurt’s attempt to convert blaine to swiftieism, and it works, but blaine still insults kurt for preferring her pop songs over her country ones.
the rest of the guys sing this is what you came for, and when mr schuester tries to remind them that it’s taylor swift week, puck counters that taylor wrote the song, and he thinks calvin harris is way cooler anyway. mr schuester says that he’s sick of the guys constantly putting down female artists, and the girls sing the man to prove a point. it seems to work, and santana watches as brittany wheels artie out of the choir room as they discuss doing a duet of ME!, because for some reason this love triangle hasn’t been resolved. santana copes by longingly singing you belong with me.
when it comes to other romantic entanglements, finn is with rachel but still has feelings for quinn, or is with quinn but still has feelings for rachel, depending on how of the three of them are feeling that week. to help deal with their anger towards each other and repressed homoerotic feelings, quinn and rachel do a very heated duet of better than revenge in the choir room. mr schuester applauds their energy and vocals, but criticises the lyrics, saying it’s a little too mature for nationals. for some reason, he decides to prove his point by rapping ed sheeran’s verse in end game.
sue decides that she can’t tolerate all the taylor swift, because she doesn’t trust anyone who loudly claims to “love a london boy.” despite her proclaimed hatred of taylor swift, sue sings look what you made me do, with a few lyrics changed so they’re about destroying glee club instead. mr schuester suspects that something else is up, and spends half of the episode trying to get the truth out of sue. sue eventually admits that she’s been trying to get taylor swift to visit her sister (a huge swiftie) for years, with very little success. when mr schuester tells her how much it would mean to jean for taylor songs to be sung at nationals, sue relents. schue tells emma that he thinks sue is finally softening up, and this is intercut with a very awkward performance of soon you’ll get better.
the boys of glee club realise the error of their ways and sing fifteen, saying that it helped them understand what it’s like to be a teenage girl and a swiftie, and how hard it is. sam asks which number they’re going to perform for nationals, and the camera briefly cuts to tina, telling us that she’s still here but her plot won’t actually be resolved. mr schuester tells them that as an oppressed group (theatre kids) they have faced incredible hardships and their song at nationals needs to reflect that. they sing change, with a few lines from stay stay stay and long live thrown in, because it’s one of their more awkward mashups.
when nationals rolls around, there is no mention of any of those songs.
