This week The Glee Project is all about dancing with guest star Harry Shum, Jr. (Mike Chang from Glee). The result is an odd episode because the producers always say that you don’t need to be able to dance to be on Glee, but the problem is that if you can’t dance, it’s harder to act confident during a dance challenge.
For the music video, the kids sing MC Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This,” and the producers went way overboard with the auto-tuner, to the point where Alex and McKynleigh were absolutely unbearable. We also got to see Samuel totally steal MC Hannah’s “skidoos”-style rapping, which is a severe act of vocal plagiarism in my book. And, as is par for the course, Matheus lifts up his shirt to show off his abs that he’s so proud of, which I wish was the extent of his shirtlessness in this episode.
Let’s look at how the kids did this week in my rankings.
#1 Damian: The Irish lad was the total opposite of Cameron, in that he also can’t dance, but still gave it his all and really impressed the judges for once and managed to avoid the bottom three. Best of all, his fascination with Marissa’s booty-shaking was delightfully charming, which goes to show that being kind of a pervert, when combined with an exotic accent, is adorable.
#2 Samuel: Despite not being confident, he won the homework challenge with his Michael Jackson-esque moves and steely confidence, and he’s definitely coming into his own as a dark horse in this competition. He was good, but stealing Hannah’s “skidoos” without giving her credit was not cool.
#3 Cameron: He just owned his gangly, goofy dance style and was delightful as always. But in the actual music video, he was once again terrified of looking like a fool and couldn’t really deliver. But I still love him.
#4 Hannah: She’s very uncomfortable with dancing and looks down at her feet way too much. However, she’s also the girl who brought “skidoosh” into my world, so I kind of love her this week.
# 5 and #6 Lindsey and Marissa: I lump these two together in the middle because they had absolutely nothing to do in this episode. The only glimmer was in the extra footage where we saw Marissa shake her booty, but Damian’s pervy fixation on it was far more entertaining than the act itself.
#7 McKynleigh: As is the case once again, McKynleigh fades into the background and I overshadowed by everyone else on The Glee Project.
#8 Matheus: The little man is giving Alex a run for his money in the diva department, crumbling during the video shoot and snapping at Damian.
#9 Alex: DIVA ALERT! Alex spent the entire homework challenge talking about how he’s the best dancer and he’s so good, and then when he lost, he claimed he didn’t want to win because he wants to let others have a chance to shine. There’s a thin line between confidence and cockiness, and Alex just crossed it. Then in the music video, he spent so much time teaching choreography to the others that his own performance wasn’t that impressive.
The Bottom Three
McKynleigh (“Last Name” by Carrie Underwood): A country song right in her wheelhouse, she absolutely kills it, delivers a great character and proves that Glee needs to start doing more country music if it could be as good as this.
Matheus (“Down” by Jay Sean): OMG! Ryan Murphy wanted him to be sexy, and in Matheus-Land, that means taking off your shirt during the performance, which is just uncomfortable for everyone. It’s off-putting and I’m so over the novelty of his short gimmick, because there isn’t much to him past that one note.
Alex (“I Will Always Love You” by Dolly Parton/Whitney Houston): Could they have given him a more perfect song? It’s the same one I suggested for him to sing on Glee in my prediction for his potential storyline. Sure, he kills it vocally, but he has this false sense of entitlement, like just because he’s openly gay and can probably relate to Kurt that he should automatically be on Glee. The problem is that Glee already has a Kurt, and his name is Chris Colfer, and he’s a million times more awesome than Alex.
In the end, McKynleigh is eliminated. Boooo! That is 100 percent the wrong call, as both Matheus and Alex deserved to go before her. Matheus is too one-note and got way to gross in his final performance while Alex is too cocky and, much like Emily, there’s already a character on Glee exactly like the one they’d probably write for him. Also, it’s getting obvious Ryan Murphy wants another guy for the cast since three of the first four contestants sent home are girls.
(Image courtesy of Oxygen)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
