By Jennifer Hillman

Ryan Murphy, the creator of Glee, did something right when it came to airing the new episode of the show after the Super Bowl. He made this episode all about football. Clearly, Murphy knew a way to try to hold his male audience over… also the Cheerios wearing flaming boobs and blue hair, dancing along to Katy Perry’s “California Girls” didn’t hurt either.

Here’s the deal with Glee…the cast is really good at carrying out musical numbers. That’s what they do best. Puck and Rachel’s rendition of Lady Antebellum’s “Need You Now” started Toff the show and the entire cast’s mash up of Michael Jackson’s classic “Thriller” and the Yeah Yeah’s “Heads will Roll” ended it with a bang. In between, we also got some Beyoncé from her years in Destiny’s Child through the song “Bills, Bills, Bills” performed by the Dalton Warblers. Clearly, Murphy is also taking note of America’s fascination with Darren Criss, the Warbler’s lead singer, because he sang the lead of “Bills, Bills, Bills.”

This episode was a combination of glee club and football coming together. They weren’t getting along… but still. It also wouldn’t be Glee without Sue Sylvester trying to outdo herself, yet again, to bring down glee club. Sue wanted to use a canon to upgrade her show by shooting Brittany out of it, but after being told that it was too risky, she changes the date of the Ohio National Cheerleading championship to the night of the football championship game. What does that mean? The Cheerios in Glee Club have to decide what’s important… their reputations in high school or their enjoyment. They ultimately decide on their reputations.

This decision also means there is no halftime show with the Cheerios. That’s okay because Will and Coach Beiste have the idea of making an awesome zombified halftime show with a new take on “Thriller.” It starts to come together until the members of the football team get slushied by the crowd. Players on the football team then back out of the halftime show in order to save their social status. Unfortunately, Beiste kicks them off the team because the only way to play is to participate in the halftime show.

Now the football team is in trouble… they only have five players left. The four girls left in glee club step up and decide to be football players for the night. They play the first two quarters lying down on the ground.

How can this episode possibly end well? Finn finally acts as a quarterback and a team leader and wrangles Quinn, Santana and Brittany back while Puck persuades the football players. He tells them that they are missing out on the chance to play in the football game if they don’t perform in the halftime show. The only person who has trouble agreeing to this, initially, is Dave Karofsky. He is starting to become a big part of Glee’s story line after bullying Kurt, making him transfer, and confessing to Kurt that he is gay.

Brad eventually joins the team in the halftime show because of the crowd’s roar of approval, and he helps win the game with the other football members by keeping on their zombie makeup and scaring the other team.

Everything in this episode is great, except for a few things…. Sue loses nationals for the first time in seven years, her budget goes to Glee Club, Brad still bullies the kids at school to save his social status, Quinn, Santana and Brittany quit being Cheerioes, and oh… Finn kisses Quinn.

It will be interesting to see if Murphy and his cast can actually carry the story line over to the next episode.