Follow TV Tropes

Following

Recap / Glee S 3 E 14 On My Way

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/glee20122222_omw.jpg

Plot:

Defending Regionals winners New Directions compete against the Dalton Academy Warblers, whom they defeated the previous year—the victors will attend the Nationals show choir competition. Dave Karofsky tries to commit suicide after his classmates find out he is gay and post hate threats on his social media accounts, so Kurt tries to give advice to help him. Rachel decides to move up her plans to marry Finn. Sue says she is pregnant. Quinn ends up in a car crash while sending a text to Rachel.


Songs in the episode

  • Cough Syrup by Young The Giant, performed by Blaine
  • Stand by Lenny Kravitz, performed by the Warblers
  • Glad You Came by The Wanted, performed by the Warblers
  • Fly/I Believe I Can Fly by Nicki Minaj feat. Rihanna and R. Kelly, performed by New Directions
  • Here's To Us by Halestorm, performed by Rachel
  • What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger) by Kelly Clarkson, performed by the Troubletones (as part of New Directions)


Tropes include

  • Ambiguously Bi: Quinn to Rachel - but barely ambiguous - in asking if she was only singing for Finn and not wanting them to marry really comes across like Unrequited Love. As we've established, the common ACI was that Quinn did have feelings for her, but as seen here, her desire to marry Finn quashed them.
  • Celebrity Paradox: A song by The Wanted is performed; in season 6 their singer Max George will become the main villain from Vocal Adrenaline.
  • Cliffhanger: If Quinn is dead or not after the car accident, a massive cliffhanger given that this was the last episode before the season break.
  • Cosmic Plaything: Lucy. Quinn. Fabray. Full. Stop. After all the shit that's been thrown at her, and no matter how she's tried to improve, she still gets hit by a truck as the ultimate culmination of the universe hating her for no good reason. Most Gleeks have the feeling that Ryan Murphy had it in for Dianna Agron for daring to make Quinn human, and this is the end result.
  • Dark Reprise: Of the dramatic, tearjerking, variety. Last episode started with an upbeat rendition of "Going to the Chapel". This episode ends with a slow and minor key version of the same song, becoming scratchy like in a horror film when something bad's about to happen. Quinn's on her way to the chapel, but never makes it.
  • Dramatic Irony: Just as Quinn's life is starting to look up, and she explicitly announces that she can't see a reason to die, she gets in a near-fatal car accident and ends up paralyzed.
  • Dressing to Die: Karofsky and Quinn (though neither die), with Karofsky changing into a suit and Quinn going through two significant wardrobe changes to invoke the trope.
  • Driven to Suicide: Karofsky, though he survives.
    • Will when he was caught cheating in high school, but he obviously doesn't go through with it.
    • Quinn doesn't think there is anything that could drive her to the edge, but Kurt and Will insist there is something for everyone. Given what she's already been through, it's a wonder she still can't even imagine being in a position that this would happen, and equally this makes her probably the only character who shouldn't be called out for finding it hard to see a situation in which she'd consider it. Even after she's paralyzed she doesn't give up hope.
  • Forced Out of the Closet: Karofsky at his new school, which starts off this episode's season-break drama.
  • Foreshadowing: Quinn. Quinn, whose life is finally going okay; who is maturing and now really nice; and who can't find a reason to die, instead looking to her bright future! The Gleeks knew something was up, but they were caught off guard by the ending like everyone else.
  • From Bad to Worse: From threats to post fake nudes, to Karofsky's attempted suicide, to Quinn getting hit by a truck.
  • Gory Discretion Shot: The episode ends just as Quinn gets hit, though we do see the glass on the driver side window break in the very last frame.
  • Harsher in Hindsight:
    • In-Universe with Quinn thinking that they all have all the time in the world and that she must have already been through all the roughest patches she could possibly ever have.
    • In-Universe Sugar and Rory joke that if pictures of theirs like the edited nudes Sebastian made of Finn leaked on the internet they'd kill themselves. Twice, just to be sure. There are two near-misses in this episodes of fellow students (an attempted suicide and being hit by a truck).
  • Karma Houdini: The bullies at Thurston High School. They don't receive any comeuppance for bullying Karofsky and driving him to kill himself. For all we know, Karofsky transferred out of Thurston High to avoid getting bullied again.
  • No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Quinn's agreement to support Finn and Rachel's marriage results in her car accident.
  • Safe Driving Aesop: The scene of Quinn at the end has actually been re-purposed and used as a PSA about texting and driving.
  • Smash to Black
  • Starts with an Attempted Suicide
  • Surprise Car Crash: The episode ends with Quinn, while texting Rachel to say that she's on her way to the latter's wedding, quite suddenly getting T-boned by a truck, and immediately cutting to black. She spends a few episodes in a wheelchair, and then gets better.
  • Surprisingly Sudden Death: Karofsky and Quinn's, though neither of them die, there is no preamble to either's incidents.
  • Title Drop: Neither of The Proclaimers' or Lea Michele's songs called "On My Way" are performed, but the title is dropped in Quinn's text.
  • To Be Continued: The only episode to use one, appearing in the black that Quinn's car's window smashes into right before the season break.
  • Wham Episode

Top