They’re holding auditions in the McKinley auditorium and the club that once accepted everyone has become a lot more selective. Out of the long list of people who signed up to audition, somehow only one person was good enough for the club: Marley. Before that, we see auditions from Stoner Brett (who definitely should have made it in) and Jake a.k.a. The New Puck. His audition is good, but, when Schue cuts him off mid-song, he kicks over a music stand and ruins his chance at getting in. Because former male lead Finn Hudson had such a great relationship chairs in past seasons? His temper causes Mr. Schue to look into his files to find out that he’s…wait for it…a Puckerman! Except we’ve all known that for months. Puck #1 doesn’t know about his existence yet, but I’m sure he’ll show up soon for some brotherly bonding time.
Marley auditions with “New York State of Mind” and in the only instance of the Ohio/New York split sort of working, it’s turned into a duet with Rachel who’s singing the same song at NYADA. Marley’s perfectly fine here. I can see why she’d get into the glee club after this audition. The only problem is that Rachel is amazing. This should have been a Lea Michele solo because she completely slaughters this song. Glee does this thing a lot where it likes to be really obvious about things, like having The New Rachel sing a duet with The Original Rachel to show how great they both are. Except it backfires here because all it does is show that they shouldn’t be trying to find a new Rachel. The Original Rachel is still on the show going to college, meeting new dudes, and owning Billy Joel songs so they should stop trying to replicate her.
Like I said, Marley’s the only one who makes it into the club despite needing three more members to compete at Sectionals, let alone win. Even though the Glee executives have crowed Marley The New Rachel, Artie decides to give that title to Blaine. It’s kind of a random choice based on the “Call Me Maybe” audition alone. But, if we’re basing it off past seasons he’s actually the most logical choice – he already has leadership experience from The Warblers, and to Finn’s chagrin consistently stepped up in New Directions last year.
