Michael (Glee)
"Michael" is the eleventh episode of the third season of the American musical television series Glee, and the fifty-fifth overall. Written by co-creator Ryan Murphy and directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, the episode aired on Fox in the United States on January 31, 2012. It is a special tribute episode to Michael Jackson, and features eight of his songs as a solo artist, and one he sang as part of The Jackson 5.
"Michael"
Season 3
Episode 11
3ARC11
January 31, 2012
Reviews were widely varied for the episode: some felt it was the best of the third season to date, and others were quite critical, though the overall mix was somewhat more positive than negative. A number of reviewers noted that tribute episodes have tended to be light on plot, though several felt that this episode had surmounted the usual storyline problems that had plagued past tributes.
The episode's musical performances were viewed more favorably, with many of the nine performances given high praise, including "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", "Human Nature", "Smooth Criminal", and "Scream", the last of these primarily for Kevin McHale's dancing. Five of the songs—the first three above plus "Bad" and "Black or White"—charted on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Canadian Hot 100, while the other four were also released as singles but did not chart.
Upon its initial airing, this episode was viewed by 9.07 million American viewers and received a 3.7/10 Nielsen rating/share in the 18–49 demographic. The total viewership was up over 20% from the previous episode, "Yes/No".
Plot[edit]
Glee club members Mercedes (Amber Riley), Santana (Naya Rivera) and Brittany (Heather Morris) are disappointed that they missed their chance to sing Michael Jackson's music at Sectionals, so director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) says that New Directions might include Jackson for the upcoming Regionals competition. Blaine (Darren Criss) performs "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" to demonstrate his suggested number. However, he mentions this possibility to Sebastian Smythe (Grant Gustin), the new captain of the Dalton Academy Warblers and a Regionals competitor, and Sebastian later announces that the Warblers, who will be performing first, will also be doing Jackson's music. New Directions challenges the Warblers for the right to perform Jackson, and they meet in a parking garage at night and compete to "Bad". At the end of the number, Sebastian throws a slushie at Kurt (Chris Colfer) but Blaine interposes himself: he is hit in the face and badly injured.
Finn (Cory Monteith) asks Rachel (Lea Michele) for her answer to his proposal since he has waited the three days she requested, but she is not ready, so he agrees to wait longer. Rachel asks Quinn (Dianna Agron) for advice, and Quinn advises her to refuse and leave her past behind. Quinn has done so, and she has been accepted at Yale; she sings "Never Can Say Goodbye" to former boyfriends Puck (Mark Salling), Finn and Sam (Chord Overstreet), and to the glee club. Sam calls Mercedes to the auditorium and asks her to sing with him—they have never duetted in glee club. She refuses and starts to leave, but he begins "Human Nature" and she joins in. Afterward, they kiss.
Blaine's cornea was deeply scratched in the incident and he needs surgery. The club wants revenge on Sebastian; Kurt says he should be expelled from Dalton, but Will asks them to let the system handle it. Artie (Kevin McHale) refuses: he is fed up with being told it will get better and says it should be better now, and leaves. Despite wanting revenge, Kurt is unwilling to use violence, so Santana goes to Dalton and accuses Sebastian of lying about the composition of the damaging slushie. He challenges her to a duel: the song "Smooth Criminal". He admits after they finish that he rigged the slushie with rock salt, and hits her with an unadulterated one. Santana secretly recorded the encounter, and plays her evidence to New Directions, who in turn invite the Warblers to their auditorium, show them that they "get" Jackson better by performing "Black or White", and reveal to the Warblers the proof that Sebastian deliberately tried to injure one of them.
Kurt's father Burt (Mike O'Malley) takes Kurt out of class to hand him his letter from NYADA. Kurt opens it and discovers to his elation he is a finalist for admission; Burt is overcome with pride. Kurt tells Rachel, only to discover that she has not received any letter from the school; Rachel dissolves in tears. Finn later sings "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" to Rachel, and she tells him she loves him and that she accepts his proposal. She ultimately does get a finalist letter from NYADA and tells Kurt, to his joy, but she has not yet told Finn.
Reception[edit]
Ratings[edit]
"Michael" was first broadcast on January 31, 2012, in the United States on Fox. It received a 3.7/10 Nielsen rating/share in the 18–49 demographic, and attracted 9.07 million American viewers during its initial airing, an increase of over 20% from the 3.1/8 rating/share and 7.50 million viewers of the previous episode, "Yes/No", which was broadcast on January 17, 2012.[21][22] In Canada, 1.84 million viewers watched the episode on the same day as its American premiere. It was the tenth most-viewed show of the week, up two slots and 14% from the 1.61 million viewers who watched "Yes/No" two weeks earlier.[23]
In the United Kingdom, "Michael" first aired on March 8, 2012, and was watched on Sky 1 by 682,000 viewers. Viewership was down over 15% from "Yes/No", which attracted 805,000 viewers when it aired the week before.[24] In Australia, "Michael" was broadcast on February 24, 2012. It was watched by 535,000 viewers, which made Glee the thirteenth most-watched program of the night, down from eleventh the week before. The viewership was down nearly 4% from the previous episode, "Yes/No", which was seen by 556,000 viewers.[25]
Critical reception[edit]
The episode was given a widely varied reception by reviewers, ranging from Erica Futterman of Rolling Stone, who called it "season three's best episode so far", to BuddyTV's John Kubicek, who described the episode as "just plain silly and ridiculous", though the overall mix was somewhat more positive than negative.[26][27] Raymund Flandez of The Wall Street Journal wrote that "the episode was well paced, well sung and well danced", though he was unhappy with the concluding number, and Entertainment Weekly's Joseph Brannigan Lynch said the episode "contained some of this season's best dramatic and musical performances".[28][29] Crystal Bell of HuffPost TV stated that she was "a little underwhelmed" by the episode, which "never quite lived up to the greatness that is Michael Jackson".[30] IGN's Robert Canning gave the episode a "great" 8 out of 10, and characterized it as "more than just a theme episode" in which he was "connecting to characters" that had not "grabbed" him since the first season.[31]
MTV's Kevin P. Sullivan summarized the episode as follows: "When all was said and done, it was another tribute episode, something that can't be uttered by a Glee fan without a sigh and an eye roll."[32] Bell noted that tribute episodes usually mean that "all sense of plot continuity" is forgone, but that this one ranked "at the top of all of the other Glee tribute episodes because even though it was absurd at times, at least there was a plot—and it kind of made sense".[30] Futterman was more complimentary and described it as the "most effortless tribute episode yet", and Canning wrote that "with songs we know and love and storylines that actually connected and delivered some meaningful and moving moments" it was "more than just a theme episode".[26][31] Jen Chaney of The Washington Post, however, thought that it was very much like previous tributes in that it also "featured scattered plot lines engineered to include as many songs by said artists as possible" and also "glorified their respective pop stars’ images to an absurd degree".[33] The A.V. Club's Emily VanDerWerff also noted the glorification of Jackson, and noted "every time the show turns into an episode about Michael Jackson, it stops dead in its tracks entirely". She stated that what was "weird" about the episode was that "what didn’t work was the spectacle, while what did work were the smaller, character-based stories" which "provided a spine some of the other spectacle-oriented episodes have lacked".[34] Futterman was one of many reviewers who took note of a new feature of this tribute episode when she commented on the "initial whiff of product placement and forced timing" related to the "Immortal World Tour" dialogue.[26] Rae Votta of Billboard thought the inclusion a "brilliant bit of marketing synergy", but TVLine's Michael Slezak called it "ridiculously unsubtle product-placement".[35][36]