Glee Recap: Tina In The Sky With Diamonds, AKA The One With Demi Lovato

Last night’s Glee episode was definitely a series high – and not just because of the surprisingly pleasant Demi Lovato cameo. But before we get into any of that, I would urge you to head over to YouTube and check out Santana’s (Naya Rivera) commercial for Yeast-i-Stat. If nothing else, Glee writers know how to make a spot-on parody of a commercial for yeast medication. Even non-fans should get a kick out of this one.

Rivera shines at the very beginning of the episode.

As for the rest of the episodes – the singing montages were solid, the relationships and character development – believable for once and this might just be the first time that Tina gets an actual complete and not-at-all-frustrating storyline. Finally, after years of falling behind for solos, boys and pretty much everything else, in this episode Tina was ecstatic to be nominated for prom queen. And while her Glee cast-members weren’t all that impressed by her announcement, the lovable Tina managed to successfully campaign and win – finally, after Kurt and Rachel in two consecutive years.

But when she finally gets on stage to take her crown (you saw this coming from miles away, didn’t you?) our lovable heroine got thwarted (and slushied) by Evil Cheerio Number 3 – scripts say her name is Bree, but this is of little relevance, since the writers have pretty much relegated her to the part of a two-dimentional life ruiner. Her oh-so-predictable Carrie-like slushie stunt serves its purpose however and, in the following montage, we finally see the New Directions acting like a unit, even a family, as they clean up Tina, fix her hair and walk in together, finally united and protecting one of their own. Too bad it took a replacement of the entire cast for this to happen.

Tina and, of course, Jenna Ushkowitz, both got their moment in the spotlight. About time!

Oh, of course there’s some New York action as well. Santana is on top of her game, winning the aforementioned acting gig and shamelessly flirting with Lovato’s character Dani, a relationship which seems like it might develop into something interesting and relatable in future episodes (let’s not get our hopes up too high, though).

Rachel is, well, Rachel, as she goes into a fit of jealousy, while cleaning pianos for some reason. This leads to a nice duet with Kurt though, so that’s always a plus. And, of course, Ms. Berry wins the Funny Girl role, which will hopefully keep her off the sulk train in future, while also providing some much needed episode fodder. Let’s not get confused however – this is entirely Tina’s episode and it’s a good thing, too. It was about time.

Demi Lovato made for one of the series' better cameos.