Those of us who somehow managed to survive the Super Bowl XLV halftime show had a few options once the game wrapped up. Some of us cheered and partied. Some of us rioted. Some of us shrugged and shut off the TV, satisfied with their “I watch it for the commercials” routine. As for those of us who left the channel on, we’d fall into one of two groups: too lazy to switch the channel, or waiting impatiently for the new episode of Glee to start. Because, of course, there’s no better follow-up to a football game than the trials and tribulations of a high school glee club.

I tease good naturedly, though, because I’m going to say this outright: I loved yesterday’s episode of Glee. The actual musical performances were hit or miss, but the plot, character development, and everything else that makes up what a show is were all in incredibly strong form.

You might not have guessed it all from the opening of the episode. In order to try to keep male viewers of the Super Bowl onboard with the show, if they’d never seen it before, they decided to open up with a Cheerios performance of… Katy Perry‘s “California Gurls”. Right. It wasn’t a cover of the song, but rather just elaborate choreography with fire, hula hoops, and bicycles doing stunts off of ramps. I’m going to go with exactly what Sue said after said performance: “I’m bored.” Fire, stunts, and fireworks shooting out of boob cones do not a good show make.

After some massive scuffles, it’s decided that the rest of the football team will be forced to join the glee club for the week leading up to the championship game. Trying to win them over, Puck and Rachel proceed to break into Lady Antebellum‘s “Need You Now”, aka the most overplayed country song on pop radio. I’m not sure how that song was supposed to bring the jocks onto their side, but as a purely musical performance, I rather liked it more than the original.

It’s decided once Sue pitches perhaps the most entertaining ragefit in recent television history that the club will be performing a mash-up of Michael Jackson‘s “Thriller” and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs‘ “Heads Will Roll” for the football game’s halftime show. Once all done up in their zombie makeup, the boys of the group proceed to perform “She’s Not There” by…wait for it…wait for it…The Zombies. How terribly clever. Though the choreography was more than odd (I never quite pictured shambling around when I’d heard this song), Cory Monteith’s vocals were actually pretty damn good, for once not sounding like they’ve been incredibly auto-tuned.

The episode’s missing something so far, though. Oh, right! Blaine and Kurt! The scene suddenly cuts to Dalton Academy, where the Warblers perform an a capella version of Destiny Child‘s “Bills, Bills, Bills”. The performance was completely out of nowhere, likely shoehorned in at the last minute, but it didn’t stop it from being one of the best ones of the episode. That was how the show should have started; to hell with keeping the male football viewers, they weren’t going to watch Glee anyway. I’ll admit, I have a weak spot for a capella (and for Blaine and Kurt, eheh), but the fact that I’ve had their cover on repeat for about an hour now despite never wanting to listen to the original says enough.

The final performance of the episode is the one we were waiting for most: the mash-up of “Thriller” and “Heads Will Roll”. I know that I’m going to be putting myself on a limb here, but I’m going to say it anyway. I adored it. I had my reservations about how well the songs actually went with each other at the start of it, but the more they got through the song, the fonder I grew of it. I didn’t expect “Heads Will Roll” to work so well as backing, but it managed to inject an extra dose of energy into the song. Yes, not exactly what you’re thinking for zombies, but it just…worked.

All in all, despite the failed pandering to football fans at the start of the episode, this was a strong come-back for Glee after the winter hiatus. I mean, hell, I’d call it a 11/10 episode purely based on the scene of Sue flipping her shit while “O Fortuna” played in the background. The musical performances were mostly enjoyable, but I think the plot is where it shined most tonight (aside from a “oh god here we go again” moment at the very end). Did it manage to capture a new audience of viewers left over from the Super Bowl? I really doubt it. However, if they did manage to stick in for the whole episode, at least they were treated to a halftime performance about infinity times better than the one at the Super Bowl.

Glee Cast – “Need You Now” (Lady Antebellum)

Glee Cast – “She’s Not There” (The Zombies)

Glee Cast – “Bills, Bills, Bills” (Destiny’s Child)

Glee Cast – “Thriller/Heads Will Roll” (Michael Jackson/Yeah Yeah Yeahs)