Kelley Mitchell, Jennifer Greenberg, Melissa Buell, Tym Shutchai Buacharern, Paula Jane Hamilton and Darla Albright were nominated at the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Makeup for a Single-Camera Series for this episode.
Blaine Anderson (Darren Criss) and Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet) take over the glee club while Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) is out sick, and have New Directions perform their musical guilty pleasures in order to strengthen the bond between its members.
In New York, Santana Lopez (Naya Rivera) returns to the loft, and Brody Weston (Dean Geyer) moves out after his fight with Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith).
Santana and Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer) later comfort Rachel, and they sing "Mamma Mia" together, simultaneously with New Directions, who perform it to celebrate the success of the assignment.
[2] Recurring characters in this episode include glee club members Wade "Unique" Adams (Alex Newell), Marley Rose (Melissa Benoist), Jake Puckerman (Jacob Artist), Kitty Wilde (Becca Tobin) and Ryder Lynn (Blake Jenner), and NYADA junior Brody Weston (Dean Geyer).
She also called the theme of the week "a strong one and by keeping it in sight at all times, Glee remained on the straight and narrow of decent storytelling.
Note how Jake's plan to cover Brown is discovered right before an ad break and jars severely with the rest of the light and fluffy episode."
He also called Rachel and Brody's breakup "the most substantial development of the episode, and we can't help but mourn the lack of other good story stuff.
At least in New York Rachel finally feels ready to shake off the weirdness of being a fish out of water and clinging to both the old and the shiny new and in turn focus on her own singular triumphs.