Lights Out (Glee)
"Lights Out" | |
---|---|
Glee episode | |
Episode no. | Season 4 Episode 20 |
Directed by | Paris Barclay |
Written by | Ryan Murphy |
Featured music | |
Production code | 4ARC20 |
Original air date | April 25, 2013 |
Guest appearances | |
| |
"Lights Out" is the twentieth episode of the
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.
Artie leads New Directions in a performance of "
In
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.[1] 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.[1][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.[3]
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 at the end of March 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.[4][5][6] Similarly, scenes of Blaine in costume and of Blaine and Sam interrogating Becky were also not shown.[6][7]
Jessica Sanchez, the runner-up on
Other recurring characters in this episode include Principal Figgins (Theba), new cheerleading coach Roz Washington (Leakes), glee club members
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.[9][10]
Reception
Ratings
In its original American broadcast, "Lights Out" was watched by 5.24 million, down by 0.90 from the previous episode.[11]
Critical reception
Miranda Wicker, from TV Fanatic praised the music performed in the episode during the power outage, "But the stretch of my imagination was worth it because that power outage gave us some incredible music" and also commented on the success of the music so far in the season - "It was all fantastic. If nothing else, Glee is really winning with the music this season."[12]
The episode however did receive slightly negative reviews. Freddy Millian from Trendy Spoon claimed the episode was too "dark for its own good" and that the show is only favourable when it implements "a happy, escapist fantasy" and not when it "..[makes] us cringe at poorly-handled personal trauma."[13]
References
- ^ 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.
- PMC. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
- ^ a b "Listings - Glee on Fox". The Futon Critic. Retrieved April 15, 2013.
- PMC. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
- ^ a b "Episodic photos". Fox Broadcasting Company. Archived from the original on May 4, 2013. Retrieved April 28, 2013.
- ^ Paris Barclay (director), Ryan Murphy (writer) (April 25, 2013). "Lights Out". Glee. Season 4. Episode 20. Fox.
- ^ 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.
- ^ TV by the Numbers
- ^ "Glee Review: When the Lights Go Out at McKinley". 26 April 2013.
- ^ "Glee: "Lights Out" Review | Trendy SpoonTrendy Spoon". Archived from the original on 2013-06-09. Retrieved 2013-06-25.
External links
- "Lights Out" at Fox.com
- "Lights Out" at IMDb