Trends Hut

rocked some dead-on Britney Spears recreations, but it wasn’t the slam-dunk I had hoped it would be. Part of me didn’t buy New Directions’ devotion to Spears — aren’t they a liiiitle young for her? “Baby One More Time” would have come out when they were in first grade or so — but mostly, the numbers just didn’t advance, explore, or heighten the storylines.



It didn’t hit like the Madonna episode, which brilliantly wove the songs into the narrative; the “Like a Virgin” number alone would put that episode at the top of my “most awesome” list. “Theatricality,” aka the Lady Gaga episode (even though it included some KISS songs,
too), existed through this lens of Gaga-dom, a pop symbol of being your boldest self, even (or maybe especially) when that means not being like everyone else. That format led to one of strongest moments in the show’s history, between Kurt, his dad, and Finn — a moment that wouldn’t have resonated the same way without the elaborate Gaga conceit of the episode.

So “Britney/Brittany.” I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was just a glammed-up episode of Becoming, that MTV series from back in the day that helped a fan recreate his or her favorite music video. I like the Glee episodes that radically recontextualize the music, so this ep just didn’t do it for me. What about you, PopWatchers? Where does it rank against “The Power of Madonna” and “Theatricality”? Is “Britney/Brittany” in the Glee pantheon of excellence, or oops, did the show do it again?

I vote:


1. Madonna
2. Lady Gaga
3. Britney