The Glee Project: Romanticality

Not two weeks after my favorite contender, Nellie, was unfairly sent packing, the frontrunner to win the whole season was sent packing last night after their first misstep all season, while two of the weakest contestants left in the contest breezed right through the week. Let's see what went wrong.

In the recap of last week's episode, we are reminded how great Shanna and Blake are, and I'm instantly worried that this won't be a good week for them. There is an egregious error, on Oxygen's part, when Aylin is interviewed, but the bottom of the screen reads "Ali." Nope, I'm pretty sure that's Aylin. Michael talks about how proud he is that he's made it this far, but says he is determined to beat Blake.

Moving right along, Robert tells the contenders the theme of the week: romanticality. Because that's a word. The girls cream their pants like they do every week while Blake grins and says "That's really cool." It would be funny to see Blake's reaction if he wins compared to how much more mellow he is than everyone else. Crazy Lily tells us how in love she is with Blake, and I'm yawning. The homework assignment is a song called "More Than Words," and I'm like "Sure." I've never heard of that song, but the contender's response would lead you to believe it's the best song ever. Additionally, the guy who wrote the song originally will be accompanying the contenders, so, that's that.

The contenders decide to pair up by looking at who they wanted for their partners. Crazy Lily laments how neither Blake nor Michael glanced her way, and now she is left with Aylin, but the two decide to go all the way with the lesbian act, and they put aside their differences. Shanna worries about working with Michael, who is criticized in nearly every homework assignment for being stiff.

Robert admits to the contenders that he lost his virginity to this song in what has become the MOST AWKWARD MOMENT OF MY LIFE. Moving along faster than an Olympic runner, the contenders meet this week's mentor: Darren Criss, who makes his third appearance as a mentor (yeah, he did it twice last year). Okay, the homework assignment: Everyone sounds good, but Blake and Ali steal it for me. They look so natural, but the other two couples look forced. It's a good performance by everyone.

Darren comments on Michael and Shanna being stiff, and Shanna receives her first piece of negative feedback all season. Darren says Lily and Aylin were a little too melodramatic, but I thought this was a reality show about a spot on Glee, the most melodramatic show on air. Darren praises the vulnerability of Blake and Ali's partnership. Blake easily wins, and his little interview afterward where he impersonates the girls and gives a little smile to the camera is just too funny. Darren announces the group number, We Found Love by Rihanna, everyone dies, that's that. Blake, as the homework winner, gets to pick his partner, and decides to explore more with Ali, who is more than willing to spend some quality time with him. Quick shot of Crazy Lily so we understand that she is not okay with that choice. The other pairs are Aylin and Shanna, and Michael and Lily. Crazy Lily says "the fire and spark that Blake and I have will be harder to find with Michael." I'm sorry, I was unaware Lily and Blake were a couple, was that cut out of every episode? No, Lily is just crazy. Alright.

Zach is on the scripted set so Brooke, the unspoken sass monster of The Glee Project, is leading choreography. Blake and Ali are cruising through, but Shanna says her and Aylin are determined to step it up and make this "the Aylin and Shanna show."

Nikki, who has been pregnant for an eternity it feels, is looking for harmonies this week. Aylin starts a little shaky, but she gets it soon enough and sounds very good. Nikki's eternal love for Shanna stumbles, and I'm convinced things won't get better for her. Nikki is worried about working with Michael, but he gets it fast, and she's also pleased with Lily's performance. No problems there. Nikki loves Ali's performance, and Ali's eternal happiness sees no end. Blake opens his mouth to sing and I smack my ears, feared they have malfunctioned. There's no way someone in the Top 6 is having trouble harmonizing, is there? But alas, Blake is having a really difficult time with harmonizing, and he does not have a good studio week with BFF Nikki.

At the video shoot, everyone is loving Michael and Lily's chemistry. Lily looks good, but Michael isn't doing that much. In Blake's mentor session with Darren, he mentions a girlfriend (and in my head, I picture it's Nellie, his onscreen love interest for half the videos they appeared in) and he will use her for inspiration. It works, because the judges are loving Blake and Ali, not that that's a surprise. Someone slipped the mentors a bitter pill because they can't even muster a smile while watching Aylin and Shanna perform. Seems like a little bit of Michael's stiffness rubbed off on Shanna. Robert proposes putting Blake and Michael in the bottom three to duke it out, but that's preposterous in Nikki's eyes.

In the music video, everyone does a great job. Even Aylin and Shanna look great with the editing. The classroom bit, which we never saw during the shoot, is funny and Shanna stands out there. The way Blake pronounces "more" makes me cringe. Putting that one out there. I'd say all of them are worthy of another week, but the judges already used their elimination-free-week pass early in the season (so dumb). At the reveal of the bottom three, Lily and Ali are the first ones to be saved. It's a bit surprising since we're usually used to Blake or Shanna being the first ones saved, but Lily and Ali both had really good weeks, so it's acceptable, but that means the bottom three is going to be made up of some combination of Blake, Aylin, Shanna, or Michael. That's shocking. Robert reminds Michael that everyone thinks he is stiff, Nikki reminds Blake of the harmony studio disaster, Robert makes up a lame excuse for Aylin being in the bottom four, and Zach says Shanna's performance was not up to par. That being said, the bottom three is Shanna, Aylin, and Blake. WHAT?! Michael is free, but Blake, Aylin, and Shanna make up the bottom three?! I mean, really, Blake and Shanna are the leaders of the gang, what does this mean? I can almost excuse another week of Lily, but Michael has been getting the same note, we need to recognize it's not going to change. Shanna and Aylin are shocked at who is in the bottom three, channeling my emotions as well. The contestants get their songs, and I recognize immediately that Shanna's song choice is weaker than everyone else's. Welp.

Off to the performances! The first contender to perform is Aylin. I'm not familiar with the song, but Mr. Murphy says she forgot the words. Oh well, she covered it up well because I didn't really notice it. We must be reminded once again that Aylin would be a breakthrough on TV, and that's the reason why I think she could be the winner, if only because that intrigues Ryan Murphy.

Next is Blake and Ryan is peeved that he can't see the vulnerability in him, which doesn't make sense to me.  If someone is good and doesn't have a crack in the armor, that's the person you should wanna work with! Blake comes out huffing and puffing like he ran from India to get to the last chance performances. Anyway, he sounds just fine on his piece and nothing else happens in the post-performance chat.

Zach calls Shanna "the top girl" in the competition. Shanna flubs every word to Kelly Clarkson's Stronger, but it doesn't matter because her passion and intensity is electric. Ryan asks Shanna what kind of character she sees herself as and Shanna says she'd be "the athletic girl who is involved in everything and can sing her ass off." Ryan says the other girls in the competition give him inspiration for writing, but Shanna needs to be bolder so he can say the same about her. This rubs me the wrong way. You don't write a part for someone based on their own personality. Just because Aylin is a spunky Turkish Muslim doesn't mean we have to focus on that aspect every single week of the show. Besides, Shanna is probably the best actress in the competition, and she could take any role Mr. Murphy threw her way. Nikki and Ryan are both pleased that Shanna truthfully admits Michael should be in her spot in the bottom three. Ryan says Shanna's performance was just good, not great. Robert says Aylin sounded good but this is a competition about more than just singing. Ryan says Blake's performance was predictable. Using code words so as not to spoil the result, Zach says there is more potential with one contestant over another, but Nikki disagrees. We know Nikki really loves Blake and Shanna, so it feels like she's coming to their rescue. It's a tough decision.

Then, Oxygen goes and ruins it all. In a promo for next week's episode, we see shots of Blake and Aylin at the shoot. Um...did they just spoil the end of this episode? Yep, they did. If Blake and Aylin are at next week's shoot, it means Shanna has been eliminated. One commercial break and a few dramatic steps toward the board confirm it. I'm honestly shocked because I thought for sure Shanna was going to be a final contender, if not ultimately win the whole thing. The fact that (in my mind at least) weaker contenders like Michael and Lily are still around while Shanna is not is crazy in my mind. Regardless, Shanna says she is going to go for her dreams with "two suitcases in my hands and like twenty dollars in my pocket," but this girl's star potential is greater than anyone else's, and I have a feeling we'll be seeing Shanna succeeding somewhere, whether it's on the TV screen or on the Broadway stage.

Next week is actability, because, you know, if you're gonna be on a TV show, you should know how to act (I'm basically a genius). Looks like an intense week, plus it's the last episode before the finale! Here are my new rankings, based on this episode and the fact that my #1 was eliminated.

1. Blake
2. Ali
3. Aylin
4. Lily
5. Michael

What did you think of this week's episode? Hit the comments section to let me know!

Evan