Glee: Born This Way Review (4.5/5)

A confession: this week's episode of Glee gets most of its high score simply from its sensational renditions of greats like Somewhere Only We Know, Barbara Streissand and coincidentally enough Lady GaGa's Born This Way- the vocals, the choreography and the integration into their context were spot on. That said, equally impressive was the unusually layered plot, ranging from Quinn (sorry, Lucy) and Lauren's emotional battle to become Prom Queen- any script that can add depth to Diana Agron's frequently shallow character gets bonus points here- to Kurt's dramatic return to McKinley High and even being so bold as to cover Emma's Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, an issue that no programme usually dares to tackle for fear of insulting viewers but one which is handled perfectly here, allowing for total empathy on the part of the viewer. All that Born This Way left to be desired was perhaps boasting too long a running time at twenty minutes longer than usual (did we really need to cover Santanna's homosexuality again?) and somewhat disappointing in the sense that it was promoted as a sequel to the first season's GaGa episode yet featured just one song by the visually inspired artist, but once that advertising failure became apparent this really was yet another strong comeback that I hope Glee can keep up until its finale.