- After a devastating loss at Nationals, Will assigns the kids a new project to get them back on track.
- Its fall and that means back to school for the students and faculty at McKinley High. The New Directions clan returns after a devastating loss at Nationals, so Mr. Schuester assigns a project to get them back on track. Meanwhile, Sue Sylvester starts her congressional campaign.—Fox Publicity
- Open with a Jacob video blog where he asks everybody about their plans for the future. Some (Finn) aren't sure what they want to do while others (Rachel, Kurt) have very definitive plans. We learn Sam's father got an out-of-town job. Mercedes (Amber Riley) is now dating a football player. Finn (Cory Monteith) is still getting slushied.
Will (Matthew Morrison) and Emma (Jayma Mays) are still together, thought it appears he's frustrated at not "getting any."
Will tells the team he's planning on pushing them particularly hard this season. We learn Finn and Rachel's kiss made them the laughing stock of the show choir world. Lauren (Ashley Fink) has left the team. Nobody knows where Quinn (Dianna Agron) is. Will brings in three donated pianos from repossessed homes. He painted them purple, beginning the Purple Piano Project. He will be placing the pianos in various locations around the school and when they see one they must stop what they're doing and sing. The idea is to attract new blood.
Rachel and Kurt (Chris Colfer) go to Emma about applying to Juilliard, not realizing it doesn't have a musical theatre department. She suggests the New York Academy of Dramatic Arts, a competitive school that only accepts about 20 students a year. She mentions an upcoming local meeting of students planning on applying.
With Sue's Congressional campaign failing, she decides she must be "against something." The plan is to find something everyone hates. Sue (Jane Lynch) hears one of the purple pianos and immediately destroys it. A math teacher thanks her, telling Sue she has her vote after mentioning how much the Glee club irritates her.
Kurt tries to talk Blaine (Darren Criss) into transferring to McKinley.
Quinn strolls into school with a new punk rock makeover. Santana (Naya Rivera) and Brittany (Heather Elizabeth Morris) want her to come back to the Cheerios. Quinn isn't interested. She's hanging out with a group of girls who call themselves "The Skanks." Rachel tries to talk Quinn into returning to New Directions. It isn't working.
During 'Sue's Corner,' Sue tells the 4th District she's opposing the arts in public schools. Since those programs are expensive, she pledges if elected she'll suspend all funding for art programs until every student reads at grade level.
Will storms into Figgins' office and tells her he's taking her pledge personally. It comes out that he wants to start a family and is sexually frustrated.
Sue meets with Becky (Lauren Potter) and Santana, telling them they will be co-captains. They hate the idea. She tells them their job is to "take care of" the purple pianos and make it look like an accident. Santana says this year she's playing on Team Sue.
After some debate, the team sings a song in the cafeteria during lunch. They perform a version of "We Got the Beat." The student body isn't impressed. A food fight breaks out.
While the kids complain to Will his plan isn't working, a girl walks into the room. Her name is Sugar and she's has "self-diagnosed Asperger's." Watching New Directions sing she realized how much better she is than them. Right after we learn her father donated the pianos, she gives a horrific audition. After she leaves, Will reminds the kids policy is to let everyone who auditions onto the team.
Beiste (Dot-Marie Jones) tells Will the job of a coach is to put the team in the best possible position to win. If they win nationals, she points out, the team may get ten more years at the school. Emma tells them Sue is starting to climb in the polls. Will says he's going to fight back.
Rachel and Kurt practice for their NYADA mixer with "Ding-Dong The Witch is Dead." They are both pretty cocky.
We watch Sue, Santana and Becky conduct Cheerios tryouts. Emma and Will show up. Emma films him pouring glitter on her as he tells her the importance of the arts.
Blaine has transferred to McKinley, telling Kurt he can't stand being apart from the person he loves. Blaine performs "It's Not Unusual" outside the school as a way to reintroduce himself to New Directions. As part of the finale, members of the Cheerios spray a liquid on the piano. When Quinn flicks her cigarette on the keys, the instrument goes up in flames.
Rachel and Kurt are stunned when everybody at the mixer is exactly like them. They are horrified when the group performs a fantastic singing and tapping version of "Anything Goes."
Afterwards, Rachel and Kurt weep in her car. They are humiliated that outside of the walls of McKinley they aren't anything special. Rachel is ready to give up on their dreams. Kurt convinces her that she is fierce. "You are getting into that school," he says. She says the same. They swear together they'll do it.
The next morning Emma tells Will she's turned on by his transition into being a man of action. In school, Will tells Sugar she can't sing, but he'll work with her. She yells at him and storms off, just as Sue arrives and congratulates him for being a man. She says Will's YouTube video made her a martyr and increased her poll numbers.
Blaine is formally introduced to the club. Finn thinks Blaine was behind the piano burning, attributing it to "bells and whistles" ala The Warblers. Santana leans forward and tells him it was a political protest. Will then calls Santana out for her and the Cheerios being involved in the fire. Will tells Santana she's banned from Glee until she can be loyal. He tells them the goal this year is to be united. Rachel tells them she wants to do West Side Story because it showcases her talent. Kurt announces he's running for senior class president. Rachel stands up and starts singing "You Can't Stop the Beat." We cut to the club doing a full on-stage performance. Quinn is secretly watching from the rafters.
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