This week’s theme was generosity — a topic I hear a lot when people are discussing the Glee cast (and one actor especially). Kevin McHale was the guest mentor and he adorably gave the homework assignment winner the “magic comb”. Lindsay won the homework assignment for the very first time, and that was kind of fun.

The big video production was “Sing” by My Chemical Romance and they had brought in 4 kids from a program that brings music education to children whose schools aren’t able to afford to retain music teachers or facilities. Queue gratuitous use of the word “disadvantaged”. Ugh.

The kids were somewhat tailored to the contestants. In all cases except Alex, the kids were the same gender as the contestant they were paired with. Lindsay’s Lily was a mini-Lindsay, for certain, and that was all kinds of cute. Samuel seemed to really connect with his little guy too. Damian was paired with a kid named Liam (and I’m wondering if they just picked the kid with the very Irish name in this case) and ultimately, learned a thing or two about drumming from him. Alex found it difficult to connect with the little girl he was paired with. She was very reserved but she had the nicest voice of all the kids.

I worry a bit about how they brought in a girl to pair with Alex. I mean, I guess it depends why they did it, but my mind is suspicious and always jumps to trying to find a little boy who would be comfortable with Alex. Or would it not be palatable to the viewing public to pair an out gay man with a young boy? It made me feel the way I feel on business trips. Often, we’re paired up for hotel rooms. I, still, often end up on my own (yay) but one year, I looked at the list and realised all the people who had single rooms were people I knew to be openly gay. So, I was happy to have the room to myself, but nervous about why it ended up that way. I was left wondering who decided this, and who discussed it, and what was said. I’m wondering the same now about The Glee Project.

I was very worried, after the video, that we’d seen the last of Alex. But the big TWIST was still to come (seriously, has Neal Baer somehow sneaked into the background of TGP?) where Zach Woodlee and Robert Ulrich announce that all four contestants would be performing for Ryan Murphy and — for the very first time — for Ian Brennan. I got even more afraid for Alex then (and some of you know why).

But, really, this is where the show got interesting. The comments between Ian Brennan and Ryan Murphy were intriguing. My favourites included speculation on how Brittany would respond to Damian’s accent (remember her comment about thinking that Artie was a robot? Now think thick, Irish accent) and describing Alex as Kurt and Mercedes’ love child/protégé.

What shocked me most in this episode, however, was how few of the finalists play instruments. Only Samuel plays anything (and like any good band musician, he plays the traditional rock band instruments). The rest weren’t even aware of how guitars, bass guitars or drums were played. Not even enough to fake it for a video. I come from a musical background (I studied percussion in university, but it was my 3rd instrument, really) and everyone I knew who could sing could also play some piano or guitar or something, even in high school.

I was delighted that this week I avoided spoilers before I saw the episode (by avoiding Tumblr), so the ending was fun and unexpected. What did you guys think?