'Glee' Recap: Kurt Stars In Peter Pan; Rachel Fixes Her Image In 'Old Dog, New Tricks'

by Chelsea ReganMay 7, 2014, 12:00 amNews >

Glee wrapped up last week with Rachel (Lea Michele) pursing a career away from Broadway as a TV star, Mercedes (Amber Riley) getting Santana (Naya Rivera) a spot on her upcoming album and Shirley MacLaine giving Blaine (Darren Criss) a career boost and some advice. Kurt (Cris Colfer), meanwhile, has been playing it a bit safer, continuing his education at NYADA while working at the musical diner.

Glee Recap

While Rachel is reading unflattering blind items about herself and Santana, taking on the role of publicist, goes in search of a good cause for Rachel, Kurt is hard at work at the diner when Maggie Banks (June Squibb) enters. When Kurt gets Maggie’s ear, he unloads about how his friends have achieved all of this success while he’s still just a student in the background. She understands. She was in a massive Broadway flop and is now giving him flyers for the Peter Pan production at a retirement home. Before their chat is done, Maggie is escorted back to the retirement home.

Rachel, getting on Santana’s cause bandwagon, is now an avowed animal lover. She wants to host an adoption event with the help of her friends and a local dog shelter. When the dogs won’t stop barking, Rachel is at a loss for what to do, as the speaker system is done and can’t play the music that calms them. Thankfully, Sam (Chord Overstreet) has his guitar on hand and breaks into “I Melt With You,” which pacifies the animals.

Santana, as Rachel’s publicist, gets Rachel some designer duds, the leash to a few rescue dogs and calls the paparazzi to catch her in the admirable act. With the paps’ attention, Rachel gives them a quote about her dog adoption event. Things fall apart, however, when the dogs catch a sniff of some hot dogs and start to pull the Broadway starlet. Within seconds, Rachel is on the ground, her little black dress ruined, and a heel lost. Santana is horrified.

Kurt Joins 'Peter Pan'

Kurt, excluded from the dog adoption event, heads over to Maggie’s retirement home and catches the rehearsal for Peter Pan. Along with Maggie, who's playing Wendy, Billy Dee Williams and Tim Conway pop by for cameos as seniors playing John and Michael Darling. When the person playing Peter unfortunately passes, Kurt offers himself to take on the role and save their little production. Conway makes Kurt audition, so he delivers a perfect rendition of “Memory” from Cats.

At Mercedes' sprawling NYC pad, Sam and Artie (Kevin McHale) are playing video games as Sam’s adopted dog is wreaking havoc. McConaughey is chewing on everything while Sam does nothing to stop him. When Mercedes gets home she’s livid – about the dog and Sam’s lack of responsibility in the house. He hasn’t been taking out the recycling or paying for the water bill. Mercedes tries to reason with Sam that they’re both to busy to train and care of the dog. Her temper flares a bit, however, when McConaughey comes downstairs with her weave between his teeth. Instead of getting rid of the dog, Sam and Artie train him to the tune of “Werewolves in London.”

Sam & Mercedes Argue Over A Dog

Mercedes isn’t convinced that McConaughey is trained or that her new boyfriend will actually take care of him. Things get real when Sam reminds her that he’d provided for his whole family when his parents lost their jobs. The point is, he’s a man who can handle responsibility and she’s treating him like a child. Though Mercedes seems to realize this, she still doesn’t think their schedules allow for a pet.

The dogs are also coming between best pals Rachel and Kurt. When Kurt asks both Rachel and Santana to come watch him perform in the retirement home Peter Pan production, they both say they’re too busy with the animals. Kurt lays it on Rachel that he’s been nothing but supportive of her, but that he’d really like his friend to be their for him. When Rachel says it’s just not possible, he informs her that he’s perfectly aware it's about herself and her image, and nothing to do with the dogs.

At a dress rehearsal, Billy Dee Williams is throwing shade on their production and Maggie receives flowers, ostensibly from her daughter. Kurt finds out soon enough that Maggie sends herself the flowers to make it look like they're from Clara, but the truth is that it’s been years since her daughter visited. Kurt decides to pay Clara a visit at her law firm and urges her to come see her mom in the play. Clara informs him that her mother was too wrapped up in herself in her own career to be present as a parent and therefore doesn’t see why she needs to be there for her now. Kurt implies that she’s lucky to have a mother.

Dog Adoption Success

When it comes time for the play, Kurt calls Rachel and tells her he hopes the event goes well, unaware that it all fell apart when a woman called her out for doing it solely for the sake of her image. And, anyway, Rachel had made her way to the retirement home and was in the audience along with the rest of the crew. After Kurt nails Madonna’s “Lucky Star,” he and the rest of the cast go with everyone back to the dog adoption event. The former New Directions members and the retirement home folk break into “Take Me Home Tonight” for the crowd, which is picking up dogs left and right.