I just watched, and fastforwarded through all the Coach Bieste stuff. Just couldn't do it.

JZ, I'm just going to steal your opinions even though I didn't watch the aforementioned bits. Your opinions are awesome.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I harbor a tiny little hope that it's going to be April Rhodes who provides Schue's mirror/redemption/what the fuck ever, because when I think about it, last year, April was sort of the mirror through which Schue looked at himself. She had been the bright star and then completely burned out and what he feared he was headed towards. And when we first see her, she's kind of outrageously horrible.

She never left her adolescent behavior behind while Schue is going through a horribly delayed adolescence.

But here's the thing about April-- she owns her horribleness. She recognizes that the only person she really tends to harm is herself. And I think she's honest and blunt enough that she'll point out that Schue's not only being horrible, but he's being horrible in ways that hurt others.

The pity kiss..... I actually got up and walked away from the TV and to the back of the room. It was completely a "watch from the hall" moment, except that I couldn't even watch from there.

I am also so angry that no one, not one faculty member or student, is stopping any of the football players (because prior to this we've seen more than one guy be abusive) from their campaign of harrassment. From the slushie throwing, to the dumpster tossing, to the locker pushing, why haven't any parents been contacting the school board? I know there are high school kids who would rather have broken bones than admit a weakness in public, but these guys are so blatant about what they're doing that they have to have been observed by now. Figgins is usually so twitchy about every other regulation. I know that's the point of the storyline - to emphasize Kurt's isolation and how no one is reaching out to help him, but it really makes me want to go in there with a flamethrower on his behalf. Also, logically, it makes me think that Kurt is about a third to half the size of the jock, so repeated body checks like that would leave Kurt covered in bruises.

My last takeaway from the episode - please, please, please, no one ever let Rachel sing Bon Jovi ever, ever again. Thank you. She has many talents but arena rock isn't one of them.

I am also so angry that no one, not one faculty member or student, is stopping any of the football players (because prior to this we've seen more than one guy be abusive) from their campaign of harrassment. From the slushie throwing, to the dumpster tossing, to the locker pushing, why haven't any parents been contacting the school board?

In my experience, this would be pretty typical. Or if the school board was contacted, they would recommend that the bullied kid get counseling to learn how to be more normal. Or, in the post-Columbine world, they'd get worried that the bullied kid would shoot up the school, and so isolate that kid from everyone else. (Things may have changed in the 10 years or so since I graduated high school, but these are the same sort of stories that I heard from the middle school kids I worked with a few summers ago.)

The Coach Bieste storyline was just horrifying all the way around.

I really enjoyed the Artie and Puck storyline. We haven't seen them interact much, but almost every moment together was hilarious and I loved their rendition of "One Love."

The Warblers' musical performance was great, but I join the crowd in rolling my eyes at the paradisical prep school with its professional quality "impromptu" singing stopping the entire student body in its tracks, ultra-progressive social policies, and wise, benevolent modelesque teen BMOC that becomes Kurt's mentor seconds after meeting him. I assume they have a quidditch team, too?

I did like the reveal of the bullying jock's real motivation (wait, wasn't he one of the hockey players pushing Finn around with homophobic taunts in the Lady Gaga episode last season? Good continuity there!) and the fact that he didn't miraculously become all sensitive and nice to Kurt after the kiss.

ultra-progressive social policies

Well, I will say that private schools like that one generally have zero-tolerance policies for any sort of bullying or harassment. I remember being horrified at the tales of locker slams, Nair fights, and other types of harassment at public schools that my friends came from (which would have resulted in immediate expulsion from my prep school). There was occasional impromptu singing, but the quality was generally very, very bad.

I assume they have a quidditch team, too?

Dumbledore was in the corner. Did you see him?

Glee would be better, or a hell of a lot more consistent, if it was just the Kurt Hummel show.

Note to any writers, anywhere. Think carefully before you ever have a character say the line "I'm just a girl." Because I'm not "just" anything, and you can bite me.

(But I love Kurt.)

Unless they're singing the No Doubt version. I think that Tina would kick ass at that.

In reading our school district's code of conduct this evening, I discovered that "discrimination based on a student's race, color, national origin, ancestry, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, or disability... For the purposes of this policy "Sexual Orientation" means a person's actual or perceived orientation toward heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, or transgender status."

While we know Glee lives in a very dysfunctional school environment, I was happy to see that my school district has at least tried to address orientation as falling under the non-discrimination umbrella.