Glee - Home, S01E16

Glee is mostly fluff, but, again, this week, it delivered a powerful message to young people across the continent: Feel good about yourself, who you are, and what you look like. Despite Sue (Jane Lynch)'s attempts to make her Cheerios conform into what all teenage girls are - desperate to be popular, overly self-conscious about their weight and appearance - Mercedes (Amber Riley) and Quinn (Dianna Agron) came together to prove that being healthy and happy is more important than all of that.

I simply loved watching Mercedes go on a crazy starve-yourself-to-get-skinny diet, and end up picturing all her friends as food. When she told Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz) "Stop trying to make me eat you," I was nearly in hysterics. I have to say, she looked really good dressed as an ice cream cone, and Rachel (Lea Michele) was an absolutely adorable cupcake.

Then, to have Quinn tell her to stop hurting herself was so moving. And she, unlike any of the other girls in high school, understood that better than anyone else. Not only had she been equally crazy when she was a Cheerio, but the fact that she was now pregnant gave her the exact right amount of motivation to ignore any other concerns about her eating other than was she eating healthy for her child.

I also liked seeing Rachel in the background for once. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Rachel, and I certainly wouldn't stand for too many episodes where she barely got any screen time, but it was nice to have focus on some other characters for once. A shame that that free time was mostly wasted on April (Kristin Chenoweth). Sure, the actress can sing, but April is such a useless character. I suppose she did contribute to advancing Will (Matthew Morrison)'s plot line, but mostly it was an occasion to spotlight their guest star's voice. Guess what, Glee, you already have SO MUCH talent in your cast that you don't make enough use of, so stop stealing even more time from them or they will join your rival's Cheering Squad.