B Movies Blog

Hello, Movie Mavens! Welcome back to the B Movies Blog. Today, we’re popping the holiday episodes of Glee into the ol’ VCR.

When planning our holiday content, I realized that we’ve never touched on some of the wildest holiday episodes out there: Glee’s. 

Talking about Glee comes with a whole set of disclaimers, though, so let’s start there. 

First and foremost, like I said in the first Glee piece we did, we (mostly) won’t touch on any of the tragedies or controversies associated with Glee in this piece. 

Several of them are nuanced and dark, and there have already been a lot of pieces written and documentaries made about them (please read/watch with caution, and do your research). 

This means we’ll only be talking about the characters within the show, not the actors who portrayed them (with one tiny exception). Additionally, some of these actors are terrible people (I don’t think I need to say allegedly, but just in case, allegedly), and I’m not here to glorify their actions. 

Secondly, as I’ve mentioned before, I was a Gleek in high school and college, but as y’all know, I don’t like putting content (and people) on pedestals, unless they’re Dolly Parton. 

So, I’m here to give a fair critique of some of the truly offensive shit that was in these episodes. 

Lastly, I want to mention again that I don’t like to make a habit out of talking about Ryan Murphy’s content. 

I do plan to cover Popular and Pose at some point, but outside of ripping apart Grotesquerie for a Bite-Sized Sunday and briefly talking about the “X” episode of American Horror Stories in a video for the B Movies Channel, I don’t plan to cover any of his other content. 

After hearing about all of the things some people went through on set and seeing how some events have been portrayed on shows, I just don’t feel great writing about American Horror Story, Monsters, etc… 

Moving on. 

Now, as I mentioned earlier, the holiday episodes of Glee are truly some of the most unhinged things I’ve ever seen. From a banned episode (oh yeah, we’re talking about it) to not one but two episodes that involve Artie (Kevin McHale) walking again and highlighting the problematic casting of an actor who doesn’t use a wheelchair, it seems I mentally blocked out a lot of things. 

So, in the name of content, I rewatched all four holiday episodes back-to-back (you’re welcome), and I’m going to rank them for you from least to most unhinged. 

And, let me tell you, it was really hard to choose between the most unhinged episode because two were neck-and-neck. 

Alrighty, that should do us for introductions and disclaimers. 
Without further ado, here is my definitive ranking of the least to most unhinged Glee holiday episodes: 

4. “Extraordinary Merry Christmas” (S3, E9) 

Somehow, an episode where teenagers are allowed to direct and star in a holiday special based on a mix of the Star Wars Holiday Special and The Judy Garland Christmas Show for a PBS affiliate is the least unhinged holiday episode of the entire series. As with all four episodes, I don’t know where to start here, as I think the Glee arrangements of holiday songs are some of the worst songs in the entire series (I said what I said). 

From a muzak arrangement of “Blue Christmas” (poor Damian McGinty) to butchering Joni Mitchell’s “River,” Glee really outdid itself on this one. And, that’s not mentioning how the entire Glee Club sang “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” in a shelter for unhoused families…to their faces. Yes, I’m serious. 

I will say that I did love that they gave Amber Riley her flowers with that cover of “All I Want For Christmas is You,” though, and I would’ve loved a longer “Christmas Wrapping” segment.

Video source: Mario Stoyanov

3. “A Very Glee Christmas” (S2, E10) 

This episode has a rocky start. Literally. For some reason, this episode starts with a shaky cam akin to the chase scene in Requiem for a Dream, and it’s all downhill from there. Yet, Brittany, a teenager attending public high school, believing in Santa Claus is still the most believable part of this episode? However, um, it’s not *great* that we make Brittany’s Christmas wish for Artie to walk again and then have a mall Santa promise he’ll do it. 

I’m also extremely bitter because this episode has the infamous Glee cover of “Last Christmas,” which I famously hate. There are also some other real stinkers in this episode, including “The Most Wonderful Day of the Year” and “Welcome Christmas” (oh yeah, the entire episode is themed after How the Grinch Stole Christmas, btw). 

HOWEVER, this episode also spawned the iconic duet of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” and started the annual tradition of Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Blaine’s (Darren Criss) holiday duets (although the song itself and Darren Criss playing a gay character are both highly problematic). I’ll also give Mr. Schue’s (Matthew Morrison) analysis of how the magic of Christmas shifts and changes as you grow up a 10/10.

Video source: Glee Performances

2. “Glee, Actually” (S4, E10) 

Okay, it was really, really hard for me to choose between this episode and the next, which, if you know the lore, kind of tracks. You see, this episode was quickly cobbled together because the holiday episode we’ll discuss next was banned after being shown to network execs…I kid you not. 

Let’s start with how this is the second time we have Artie walk in a holiday episode, as though the first time (and “The Safety Dance,” IYKYK) weren’t enough. Not only does Artie walk, but a) he does an offensive (and cringy) cover of “Feliz Navidad” that, at one point, includes a poncho and maracas that he gyrates with, but the lesson he learns in his It’s a Wonderful Life-esque segment is that if he wasn’t in his wheelchair, life would be significantly worse for those around him. 

There’s also the segment where Puck (Mark Salling) and his brother, Jake (Jacob Artist), walk through the Paramount Pictures backlot singing “Oh, Hanukkah” to, um, make sure all of the executives know they’re Jewish because the Jews and the gays apparently run Hollywood. So, uh, yeah, NOT GREAT.

Video source: I Wanna Be A Gleek

1. “Previously Unaired Christmas” (S5, E8) 

There’s a LOT to unpack with this one. I briefly mentioned this in the last section, but this episode was actually banned by Fox for being too offensive and was only shown in the following season because so many fans demanded it; it was heavily edited before release. 

This is also the holiday episode that a lot of the cast and crew hate, and I am inclined to agree. It’s controversial for the sake of being controversial, and I’d love to see the director’s cut because what they left in was WILD, so I can’t even imagine what was left on the cutting room floor. 

There are not only multiple jokes made about SA, being roofied, etc…, but poor Becky (Lauren Potter) says some of the most heinous things I’ve ever heard to Sam (Chord Overstreet) and Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz) when trying to force them to kiss her. Santana (Maya Rudolph) also says some truly horrendous things, which are out of character, even for her. 

One thing I would be remiss not to mention is that Jenna Ushkowitz did point out that this episode was filmed shortly after Cory Monteith’s (Finn) death, so while I don’t think that excuses the writing, I do want to cut the cast and crew a tiny bit of slack. 

I also personally think that the cover of “Love Child” set to the birth of Jesus Christ is one of the least offensive parts of the entire episode, which is a WILD sentence to write. But, Alex Newell (Unique) is an incredible singer, actor, you name it, so I’m gonna give credit where credit is due on this one. I also love the meta opening with Jane Lynch where she addresses all of the controversy and introduces the episode as a caricature of herself.

Video source: OnlyGlee RM