Girls (and Boys) on Film

Season Four, Episode Fifteen

First Aired

March 7, 2013

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Girls (and Boys) on Film is the fifteenth episode of Glee's fourth season and the eighty-first episode overall. It premiered on March 7, 2013 after a three week hiatus.

Will states that movies and films are another way to calm people down from the day-to-day anxieties, in this case, himself being left at the altar by Emma in the last episode. He sets up a mash-up Boys Vs. Girls competition, based on songs from films. The Glee Club preps up for the competition as they perform their 500th musical performance on the show. As the Glee Club prepares for the competition, Finn assists Will in finding Emma successfully. Back in New York, Santana gets too comfortable in the Bushwick apartment for Kurt and Rachel's liking. When Adam, Kurt, Rachel, and Santana are snowbound, Santana digs out the dirty secret to who Brody really is and also finds out Rachel's pregnancy test results. Marley and Finn make confessions about kisses that do not end up well.

It was directed by Ian Brennan and written by Michael Hitchcock.

Plot[]

In a black-and-white art deco fantasy sequence, Will and Emma duet Fred Astaire-style to You're All the World to Me from Royal Wedding, singing and dancing on the walls and ceiling. But Will wakes up with a start, revealing that it's all a dream after falling asleep with the TV on.

Will's inspired to assign his students a movie-themed assignment - singing songs from their favorite films - while Artie's already got movies on the mind and is about to make his first micro-budgeted film. Finn urges Will to amp up his search for Emma, but Will insists that she should have her space and that Emma will come back to him if and when she's ready. Sue reveals that Emma's used all her vacation days, but if she has any insight into her whereabouts, she refuses to tell Finn, so Artie advises him to pressure Emma's parents to give up her location.

Brittany and Blaine propose kicking off the glee club's guys vs. girls mash-up week with a shared movie number before the gender showdown, with Blaine offering up Shout as it appeared in National Lampoon's Animal House by Otis Day and the Knights (a performance that marks Glee's 500th musical number).

Santana suffers through a snowbound weekend in New York with her roommates geeking out over musical theater, and her open hostility unnerves Rachel - but not as much as her baby-themed movie marathon choices, as Rachel continues to sweat out the possibility that she's pregnant. Kurt opts for Moulin Rouge!, envisioning himself dueting with Blaine on Come What May. Still, as they watch the real movie scene, Kurt tears up but tries to conceal the reason from possible new guy Adam, though Santana bluntly reveals that it was Kurt and Blaine's dream to sing the song to each other at their wedding.

Santana next expresses her misgivings about Brody, revealing that she found a large stash of cash and a pager among his belongings. She's convinced he's a drug dealer, and when Rachel attempts to prove otherwise, Brody's evasive behavior only bolsters Santana's theory.

Rusty and Rose Pillsbury are lured to McKinley on the belief that an anti-ginger-bullying club founded by Emma is floundering, with Finn and Artie both posing as redheads to wheedle Emma's address out of them.

Paying homage to Tom Cruise films, Blaine, Artie, and Joe don flight suits for their mash-up, leading off with Kenny Loggins' Danger Zone, joined by Sam, Jake, and Ryder stripped down to their tighty-whiteys on Bob Seger's Old Time Rock & Roll.

As the glee girls prepare their own number, Kitty apologizes for her attempts to bring down Marley, believing both of their relationships with Puckerman men will bond them together in the future. When Kitty senses something is wrong, Marley confides that Ryder kissed her, but she still likes Jake. A seemingly understanding Kitty suggests that men are like diamonds: "Collect as many as you can." The girls perform their mash-up of Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend, done Marilyn Monroe-style from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes; and Material Girl, from Madonna's own Monroe tribute video.

Adam asks Kurt if he and Blaine really did share the Moulin Rouge! number, and when Kurt's lingering feelings for Blaine are exposed, Adam explains that he can't compete with a fantasy. But when Kurt says he's trying to get over Blaine, Adam suggests they go to the sappiest movie they can find and make that their film. Finn tells Will that Emma's been staying with her sister and tries to inspire Will to make a big movie-style romantic play to win her back.

Will parks outside the house where Emma's holed up, singing Peter Gabriel's In Your Eyes complete with "Say Anything"-type boombox, with New Directions backing him up, and draws Emma to the window. Will and Emma try to work out just why Emma bolted from the wedding: she felt that she barely knew him anymore when he returned from Washington, D.C. Will suggests starting to get to know each other all over again, beginning with a Friday-night movie date.

Still pushing her Brody theories, Santana reveals to Rachel that she knows about her pregnancy test. Rachel claims that she doesn't know what Santana's talking about, but Santana continues to push for answers. Rachel breaks down in Santana's arms, and Santana comforts her, looking very concerned.

Meanwhile, Jake has Marley meet him in an art classroom, where he confesses that he didn't come up with all his impressive Valentine's Day touches on his own. To make up for using Ryder's ideas, Jake sets up a pottery wheel and plans to sings Marley's favorite song, Unchained Melody, recreating the iconic scene from Ghost. During the performance, a guilt-ridden Marley has an out-of-body experience, watching in anguish as Ryder replaces Jake at the pottery wheel, singing to and kissing her. At the end of the song, as Jake attempts to kiss her, she stops him and confesses that she let Ryder kiss her. Jake quietly storms out of the room as she pleads for him not to go, leaving her in tears.

Will announces the winner of the movie mash-up competition, once again proclaiming everyone a victor, much to the annoyance of the club. He also asks to speak privately with Finn, thanking him for helping save the day with Emma. Finn breaks down and reveals that he impulsively kissed Emma, though it didn't mean anything, and urges Will to punch him for messing everything up: "I deserve it." But Will, thrown by the revelation, simply walks away.

Meanwhile, New Directions closes out their lesson with a rendition of Kenny Loggins' Footloose and record the performance for Artie's film.

Songs[]

Song Title	Original Artist	Performer(s)	Movie
You're All the World to Me	Fred Astaire	Emma Pillsbury and Will Schuester	Royal Wedding
Shout	The Isley Brothers	New Directions	Animal House
Come What May	Cast of Moulin Rouge!	Blaine Anderson and Kurt Hummel	Moulin Rouge!
Old Time Rock & Roll/Danger Zone	Bob Seger/Kenny Loggins	New Directions Boys	Risky Business/Top Gun
Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend/Material Girl	Marilyn Monroe/Madonna	New Directions Girls	Gentlemen Prefer Blondes/Moulin Rouge!
In Your Eyes	Peter Gabriel	Will Schuester with New Directions	Say Anything...
Unchained Melody	Todd Duncan (The Righteous Brothers version)	Jake Puckerman and Ryder Lynn	Ghost
Footloose	Kenny Loggins	New Directions	Footloose

Guest Cast[]

Guest Stars[]

Absent Cast Members[]

Trivia[]

The title-card is made to look like an old black-and-white movie.
This is the only episode to feature brackets in the title.
Shout is the 500th musical number on the show. The proceeds from this number were donated to the Give A Note Foundation, a children’s charity dedicated to expanding music education opportunities for children.
Brittany, Kitty, Marley and Tina were supposed to sing Maniac from Flashdance, but it got cut. Source
- This song can be heard on the background in Props, during Rachel and Tina's talk as they drive together.
Brody was supposed to have his first released solo in this episode. It was supposed to be El Tango de Roxanne, but it was later replaced by How to Be a Heartbreaker as a duet with Rachel in Feud. Source
This episode features multiple songs that appear in Moulin Rouge. In the stage production of Moulin Rouge, Christian has a line where he tells Satine he’s from Lima, Ohio.
This is the first time a mash up competition has not taken place during the sixth episode of the season.
- It is also the first mash up competition after which a result is announced, although this competition resulted in a draw.
When Will and Emma are discussing their problems by the car, she can be seen wearing the same coat she wore in Special Education on the scene she tells Will she can't go with the New Directions to Sectionals because of her husband Carl.
This episode drew a 2.4 rating. Source
Dean Geyer was not credited in this episode, as he did not appear but Brody's voice was heard in a phone call with Rachel.
Will has his blue car that he drove to school in Pilot.
Emma Bunton (Baby Spice) was present during the filming of the Shout performance as she was filming the mini-documentary "I Heart Glee" for Sky 1. Curiously enough, Glee would make a cover of the Spice Girls' hit, Wannabe two episodes later, with Unique being the one who portrays Baby Spice.
The New Directions Girls were supposed to sing Diamonds/Diamonds Are Forever by Rihanna/Shirley Bassey but was changed for unknown reasons.
Last time Emma sings in Season Four.
Last time that all members of New Directions are present until All or Nothing, seven episodes later.
Ian Brennan said they couldn't settle on a title for this episode. They wanted to call the episode "What Ever Happened to Emma Pillsburry" or "Cinema Pare-glee-so" however, they decided on Girls (and Boys) on Film.
The title of the episode is a reference to Girls on Film by Duran Duran, later sung by Sam in The Untitled Rachel Berry Project.

Cultural references[]

Unique mentions The Crying Game.
Kitty mentions Les Misérables.
Sam makes an impression of Nicolas Cage from the movie The Wickerman.
Sugar mentions The Artist.
Finn mentions Stand and Deliver and Zero Dark Thirty.
Two of Jane Lynch's earliest movies are referenced:
- Brittany says Vice Versa is her favorite Fred Savage film, while Artie says that to find Emma, what they need is a "hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area", which is a reference to The Fugitive.
When Artie talks to Finn about how difficult it'll be to find Emma, Finn is flustered and says "Ain't nobody got time for that" which is a reference to the viral news video about Sweet Brown.
Sam mentions Nightmare on Elm Street, particularly the third installment which is Dream Warriors.
Tina mentions Working Girl.
Marley mentions Beaches.
Though not referenced directly in the episode both of the songs Shout and Unchained Melody that were performed, are also both references to Whoopi Goldberg whom has guess starred in Season 3, 4 and 5 as Carmen Tibideaux, as the song Shout was used as the ending credits song for the movie Sister Act and Unchained Melody was a song used in Ghost, both of which Whoopi has starred in.
Santana mentions Eli Roth, the director of the Hostel horror movies. "It's like Eli Roth decided to make a gay horror movie, and this is the scene right before we eat each other."
Adam and Kurt mention Downton Abbey.
Santana calls Adam "Doctor Who," a reference to a British T.V. show.
Santana picked Knocked Up, Rosemary's Baby and She's Having a Baby from the DVD collection.
Santana calls Rachel and Brody "Lars and the Real Boy," which is a reference to the movie Lars and the Real Girl. Ironically, in doing this, Santana is calling Brody a sex doll, something that is paid for in exchange for sexual favors. However, Santana doesn't find out that Brody is an escort until later on.
Before the performance of Old Time Rock & Roll/Danger Zone, Sugar said that the boys should do a mash-up of "Batdance," a song from the 1989 film Batman and "Howard the Duck" from the 1986 film of the same name.
Joe says 'You can't handle the truth!' thinking it was Tom Cruise's line. It was actually said by Jack Nicholson from the movie, A Few Good Men.
Kurt mentions Newsies saying the movie is lousy with pirouettes.
Will mentions Steven Spielberg's Lincoln.
Santana called Kurt and Adam The Hardy Boys.
Marley mentions The Hunger Games, saying it's her favorite romantic movie of all time, though she was likely joking.
Santana called Brody, Pablo Escobar, a Colombian drug lord.