History Recap / GleeS5E17OpeningNight

* NotImportantToThisEpisodeCamp: Artie, thus ending Creator/KevinMcHale's streak at 104 episodes.

Show of hands. Who wants to hear Rachel [[MetaphorIsMyMiddleName her-middle-name-is-literally-Barbra]] Berry sing something from ''Funny Girl'' again?...

Yes folks, welcome to Episode 4: There's No Hope, also known as Opening Night. Yes, the premiere of ''Funny Girl'' is upon us, but before we get to that, we must get through the pre-show jitters as we start with Rachel having the obligatory nightmare of her performing in front of a peanut gallery of cast members past and present; their heckling getting the better of her and her panicking. To provide proper atmosphere, we're in a very familiar and welcome territory, IE the [=McKinley=] stage complete with Stuttering Season 1 Tina, Santana in the Red and White, A WILD DREAM DAVE KAROFSKY APPEARING (in Bully Whips attire), Jacob Ben Israel (ARGH! Even in DREAMS he plagues us!), to link us to the present, Producer Sidney, TRACKSUIT GLORIOUS TRACKSUIT and her faithful Becky. We cue up some Cardigans and to drive the point home, Rachel is back in the reindeer sweater and kneesocks. Said point, in case it's not clear, and quite honestly, it should be ''very'' clear, is that at the end of the day, despite accomplishments, Rachel will still be the same ego-fueled diva she was in high school. Uh, yeah, she's actually worse now than she was back then, so this clear attempt at subtle sympathy won't work. Anyway, as Rachel sings, balloons fall, her voice speeds up and the song ends with her on her back, all and sundry standing over her (including Sam & Warbler!Blaine) booing until she wakes up and we hit the [[ArtifactTitle Artifact]] TitleCard.

After the break, we're backstage with champagne and flowers from those ex-pats not seen. Sidney enters with more praise and says not to worry about any reviews, for now is the time to celebrate. And celebrate they do, as we cut to one of NY's more... unique clubs. As in dancers in naught but their bowties and mesh tops. Turns out, they've been following ''Funny Girl'' and are excited to see Fanny herself. As such, we cue up the NONONO for partying and gyrations; afterwards, we see the group return to Bushwick... where we find that Sue broke in and took Mario on Rachel's bed. Huh. Sue's actually capable of copulations. I am shocked, while the gang is appalled, however Rachel, having poured everything into her performance, and after her night of triumph reviews be damned, will hear none of Sue's venom. Deploying her own ''ego'' and triumph, she lays down a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, which sends Sue packing back to Lima. As the group applauds and Mario awkwardly exits, we go to break.

* "I'm The Greatest Star" from ''Funny Girl'', performed by do we really have to say who?
* "Who Are You Now" from ''Funny Girl'', performed by you know who and Sue

* TheGhost: Quinn sent flowers, which they have to mention to finally give a reason as to why she's so completely and utterly missing from everything.

* ShoutOut: A very subtle one. Mercedes cries so hard that she has to wipe her nose on Sam's sleeve. Sam notes that his jacket is suede, a ShoutOut to Creator/LennyBruce 's "You Can't Get Snot Out Of A Suede Jacket" routine.

* {{Homage}}: The "Pumpin Blood" sequence to Creator/LaurenBacall's ''Theatre/{{Applause}}''.

* ShoutOut : A very subtle one. Mercedes cries so hard that she has to wipe her nose on Sam's sleeve. Sam notes that his jacket is suede, a ShoutOut to Creator/LennyBruce 's "You Can't Get Snot Out Of A Suede Jacket" routine.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech : Rachel, fed up with Sue's antics, delivers one. Even Santana applauds.

Show of hands. Who wants to hear Rachel [[MetaphorIsMyMiddleName her-middle-name-is-literally-Barbra]] Berry sing something from ''Theatre/FunnyGirl'' again?...

Yes folks, welcome to Episode 4: There's No Hope, also known as Opening Night. Yes, the premiere of ''Theater/FunnyGirl'' is upon us, but before we get to that, we must get through the pre-show jitters as we start with Rachel having the obligatory nightmare of her performing in front of a peanut gallery of cast members past and present; their heckling getting the better of her and her panicking. To provide proper atmosphere, we're in a very familiar and welcome territory, IE the [=McKinley=] stage complete with Stuttering Season 1 Tina, Santana in the Red and White, A WILD DREAM DAVE KAROFSKY APPEARING (in Bully Whips attire), Jacob Ben-Isreal (ARGH! Even in DREAMS he plagues us!), to link us to the present, Producer Sidney, TRACKSUIT GLORIOUS TRACKSUIT and her faithful Becky. We cue up some Cardigans and to drive the point home, Rachel is back in the reindeer sweater and kneesocks. Said point, in case it's not clear, and quite honestly, it should be ''very'' clear, is that at the end of the day, despite accomplishments, Rachel will still be the same ego-fueled diva she was in high school. Uh, yeah, she's actually worse now than she was back then, so this clear attempt at subtle sympathy won't work. Anyway, as Rachel sings, balloons fall, her voice speeds up and the song ends with her on her back, all and sundry standing over her (including Sam & Warbler!Blaine) booing until she wakes up and we hit the [[ArtifactTitle Artifact]] TitleCard.

We return to see Kurt and the others try to build Rachel's confidence up, even offering a "letter" from Babs. Of course, it's a fake and Rachel sees right through it, the name "Barb''a''ra" being the tip off. Tina, you tried. It appears all for naught, and to rotate the blade ever so slightly, Sue arrives to spew her venom and triumph; claiming Will booked a double in order to seduce her. Right, having flashbacks to Season 1 are we? Don't worry, you're not the only one. However, possible backup(?) arrives in a returning Santana, fresh from having been forgiven for her trespasses by one Brittany Pierce. She arrives as Sue leaves for now, entering Rachel's room for a patented Lopez peptalk, reading both good and bad reviews of Babs' performance as a way to show Rachel that while she has her flaws (and one is ever prevalent), performing is not one of them. Of course this gives her a second wind as we cut to the theater, where Sue's trying to scalp her ticket. However, it seems that she's not the only one, as she notices a fellow scalper ([[Series/SaturdayNightLive Chris Parnell]] is that you?). And in a plot twist, it's appears she's smitten. So, in order, Rod Remington, Superintendent Harris, ticket scalper. No one said affection couldn't be eclectic. Cut to backstage where we see Rachel in her wig getting ready when Will arrives with flowers and melancholy, because as she promised him in his final episode, Rachel bought a seat for her beloved Finnegan. We certainly won't begrudge her that. However, to swing it back to our RunningGag, what she won't notice during her performance is Dear Lucille sneaking in, waiting to surprise her in her dressing room afterwards with a "real" celebration. Anyway, Will gets a call from Emma, who's ready to pop meaning he'll actually miss the performance. Aww. And from there, the long walk, the last few moments before the curtain. This is her moment, her time. The curtain raises as we go to break.

* "Lovefool" by Music/TheCardigans, performed by Rachel, Santana and Tina, with Blaine, Kurt, Sam, Sue, Becky, Karofsky and Jacob ben Israel.

* "I'm The Greatest Star" from ''Theatre/FunnyGirl'', performed by do we really have to say who?

** Josh Sussman as Rachel's dream of Jacob Ben-Israel.

Kurt is pouring tea for Rachel who made the mistake of reading all the comments from one of her previews and now coupled with the dream the self-doubt is overwhelming. You know, if it's getting too much, you ''could'' beg Santana to take over. Would spare you a lot of grief. Anyway, Kurt confiscates Rachel's phone thus cutting her off from more possibly bad reviews. From there, it's OVER TO [=MCKINLEY=] OH DEAR GOD YES!!!!!! I actually miss Hairgel, go figure. Anyway, Will, who clearly still works for Sue for the time being and is visibly beaten down over it, has two tickets to New York, and since Emma's about to give birth (and they couldn't get Creator/JaymaMays back), guess who's getting the extra ticket? Duh, though we get a Sue's Corner (Rod & Andrea's last episode) to say she hates NY; turns out that of course, the feedback changed her mind. That and she's never actually been to NY. Will says fine, but Sue has to come to TitleDrop with him. She agrees, clearly with heckling on her mind, as we cue up some ''Theatre/{{Annie}}'' for a Tracksuit/Hairgel duet that sees them on the [=McKinley=] stage at first, before singing all the way to NY. Back to Bushwick for a Cohen-Chang Cameo, as Tina arrives with a potted plant and a for once silent Rachel, resting the voice. Tina then promptly stirs the nerves by mentioning Rachel's past bout of tonsillitis. Oh Tina. After reminding us of some absent and ex-cast members (Artie's film about trashbags got into a film festival), we see that Brown's been treating her well, in spite of a language gap with the roommate and the fact that her hagdom is still prevalent. She then tries to tell Rachel about a story she found about her on a website, a positive one for once, but then makes the mistake of mentioning the negative reviews and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero nice job breaking it Tina]]. Rachel speaks, telling her friends and herself that their opinions are the only ones that matter and the BlatantLies are obvious. Mercedes decides to route Tina to her place as we cut to Kurt asleep, waking up to find that Rachel found her social media and is wallowing in her misery as we go to break.

We return to see Kurt and the others try to build Rachel's confidence up, even offering a "letter" from Babs. Of course, it's a fake and Rachel sees right through it, the name "Barb''a''ra" being the tip off. Tina, you tried. It appears all for naught, and to rotate the blade ever so slightly, Sue arrives to spew her venom and triumph. However, possible backup(?) arrives in a returning Santana, fresh from having been forgiven for her trespasses by one Brittany Pierce. She arrives as Sue leaves for now, entering Rachel's room for a patented Lopez peptalk, reading both good and bad reviews of Babs' performance as a way to show Rachel that while she has her flaws (and one is ever prevalent), performing is not one of them. Of course this gives her a second wind as we cut to the theater, where Sue's trying to scalp her ticket. However, it seems that she's not the only one, as she notices a fellow scalper ([[Series/SaturdayNightLive Chris Parnell]] is that you?). And in a plot twist, it's appears she's smitten. So, in order, Rod Remington, Superintendent Harris, ticket scalper. No one said affection couldn't be eclectic. Cut to backstage where we see Rachel in her wig getting ready when Will arrives with flowers and melancholy, because as she promised him in his final episode, Rachel bought a seat for her beloved Finnegan. We certainly won't begrudge her that. However, to swing it back to our RunningGag, what she won't notice during her performance is Dear Lucille sneaking in, waiting to surprise her in her dressing room afterwards with a "real" celebration. Anyway, Will gets a call from Emma, who's ready to pop meaning he'll actually miss the performance. Aww. And from there, the long walk, the last few moments before the curtain. This is her moment, her time. The curtain raises as we go to break.

Hands up who wants to hear Rachel [[MetaphorIsMyMiddleName her-middle-name-is-literally-Barbra]] Berry sing something from ''Theatre/FunnyGirl'' again?

Well, that sucks, because for Episode 4 of our trip into the dark recesses of Murphy's mind, we get dragged into what looks like one of either Tina, Mr Schue, Artie, or Blaine's fever dreams again. Damn they use that a lot.

Rachel has a drama-queen meltdown and doubts herself. They call in the big guns: Santana, of all people, who actually manages to make her feel better. By reading her some reviews. No, not of Rachel--of Barbra's performance. Some lesson there in not giving up that we've heard many times, most recently to Marley.

Sue joins Will in New York because Emma's too preggers to fly. She then promptly tries to scalp her ticket, but changes her mind when she meets a cute restaurateur. Together, they walk out of the performance.

Of course, Berry kills it. Lea doing ''Theatre/FunnyGirl''. Not much tension there. Then they go to a club and have the gayest dance in well, two episodes or so. Tina's a hag, ha ha.

Emma squeezes out the first of the litter of puppies we later see. They name him Daniel Finn Schuester.

Sue gently dumps her new paramour and we're reminded that she has a daughter for the first time in a year and a half.

%%WIP

* "Pumpin Blood" by NONONO, performed by Rachel, Santana, and Blaine, with Kurt and Mercedes

* AbsenteeActor: Creator/KevinMcHale, for the first time ever.
* TheCameo: Becky, Karofsky, JBI, Finn, Sue, Will, Tina.

* ShoutOut : A very subtle one. Mercedes cries so hard that she has to wipe her nose on Sam's sleeve. Sam notes that his jacket is suede, a ShoutOut to Creator/LennyBruce 's "You Can't Get Snot Out Of A Suede Jacket" routine.

* CommutingOnABus: Despite still being officially part of the cast, Matthew Morrison and Jane Lynch's appearances here are treated as cameos from departed cast members.
* GeniusBonus: The opening night is listed as April 24th, Creator/BarbraStreisand's birthday.

* {{Homage}}: The "Pumpin Blood" sequence to LaurenBacall's ''Theatre/{{Applause}}''.
* ShoutOut : A very subtle one. Mercedes cries so hard that she has to wipe her nose on Sam's sleeve. Sam notes that his jacket is suede, a ShoutOut to Creator/LennieBruce 's "You Can't Get Snot Out Of A Suede Jacket" routine.

* {{Homage}}: The "Pumpin Blood" sequence to LaurenBacall's ''Theatre/{{Applause}}''.

* "Who Are You Now" from ''Funny Girl'', performed by Rachel and Sue

* "I'm The Greatest Star" from ''Theatre/FunnyGirl'', performed by Rachel

* TheCameo: Becky, Karofsky, JBI, and Finn.

Well, that sucks, because we get dragged into what looks like one of either Tina, Mr Schue, Artie, or Blaine's fever dreams again. Damn they use that a lot.

Hands up who wants to hear Rachel her-middle-name-is-literally-Barbra Berry sing something from ''Theatre/FunnyGirl'' again?

* "Pumpin Blood" by Music/NONONO, performed by Rachel, Santana, and Blaine, with Kurt and Mercedes