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Shooting Star is the eighteenth episode of Glee's fourth season and the eighty-fourth episode overall. It premiered on April 11, 2013 after returning from a 3 week hiatus.

New Directions are heading to Regionals, but before they can rehearse, Brittany announces that an asteroid is headed for Lima, Ohio. Although it seems unlikely, Will creates an assignment, 'Last Chances,' so that the New Directions can say their final words to their loved ones just in case. Ryder takes the chance to find 'Katie,' the unknown girl he has been messaging online, only to find that he is being catfished. Becky questions how she will be able to go to college and seeks Sue and Brittany's help, while Coach Beiste confesses her feelings to Will.

As the tension rises, the attention of McKinley High is shifted to a shooting at the school, trapping the New Directions in The Choir Room and various locations throughout the school. They are left to say their final words, confessions, secrets and messages to their loved ones.

It was written by Matthew Hodgson and directed by Bradley Buecker.

Plot[]

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In the auditorium, Will tells the New Directions about their competition for Regionals, including the Hoosierdaddies and the Nuntouchables, when Brittany interrupts him and tells them about her discovery of a deadly asteroid heading straight for Lima. While the rest of the Glee club dismisses her theory, saying they went through the same thing at Christmas when Brittany and Sam believed in the 2012 Mayan Apocalypse, Brittany is persistent and tells her fellow members that she won't be spending the rest of her limited time in the choir room practicing for Regionals, but rather making amends with Lord Tubbington, leaving the Glee club confused once again. Back in the choir room, Mr. Schue tells the New Directions that they have two options now: they can either dismiss Brittany's theory and prepare for Regionals, or they can believe it and make "Last Chance" this week's assignment, indirectly also preparing for Regionals.

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At home, Brittany is trying to make amends with Lord Tubbington but claims that he doesn’t believe she’s sorry. Sam tells her that she could sing his favorite song to him but Brittany says that she stopped singing to him since he joined the "KKKK" (Ku-Klux Klan for Kats), so Sam suggests that the New Directions could serenade him. Brittany tells Sam that, despite his outlandishly low SAT score, he’s a genius. Ryder tells Jake about his text relationship with Katie and that he actually saw her in the hallway during class. Jake tells him to take it slow and come up with a plan to personally introduce himself to her. Later, when Ryder meets her again, he introduces himself to a confused Katie and tells her to come with him to the choir room, where he sings Your Song to her.

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Despite really enjoying the performance, Katie reveals that she’s not the girl who’s been texting him these past few weeks, telling him that he’s being catfished and that her actual name is Marissa, much to Ryder’s shock and disappointment. Apparently 'Katie' sent Ryder Marissa's picture and this has happened to her before.

Ryder then confronts Jake and Marley, accusing them of catfishing and humiliating him. Both tell him that they didn’t do it, but Ryder doesn’t believe them and storms off. Back in the auditorium, Brittany, Sam and the New Directions sing More Than Words to Lord Tubbington. Later on, Brittany tells the kids in the astronomy club that the asteroid she saw through her telescope was actually a dead ladybug and that her telescope is actually a Pringles can and thus they’re all saved.

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After the club is disbanded and dismissed, Becky tells Brittany that she has always looked up to her and suggests for the two of them to never graduate, seeing as she’s really scared of graduating and the real world. Brittany tells her that since she aced her SATs, she can go to whatever college she wants, so she has to leave, but also comforts her, promising her that real life isn’t that scary if you prepare yourself. Becky tells Brittany that she loves her, with Brittany replying that she loves her too.

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Shannon invites Will to the locker room where they have a "Lady and the Tramp" themed dinner. After telling him that she boiled the pasta in the hot-tub in the training room, Shannon confesses her love for Will and tells him that she wants him to be the man in her life. Will tells Shannon that he’s flattered, but that he’s back together with Emma, and that he has been meaning to tell her. It is revealed Emma and Will have been back together for about a week now, confirming all went well after Girls (and Boys) on Film. Hurt and on the verge of tears, Shannon runs off, leaving Will sad.

During class, Ryder’s catfisher texts him and tells him that she’s sorry for catfishing him, that she only lied about her name and her picture, but not about the things she wrote and that she will explain everything to him. While still being angry at her, Ryder agrees to meet her at 3.30 the next day in front of the choir room.

Will invites Shannon to the choir room for their first lesson of the week when they hear two gunshots. Shocked, Will tells the kids to hide while he and Shannon lock the doors and shut the lights. Sitting quietly in the dark choir room, Will tells them to start texting and tweeting so that outside people know what’s going on and can send help. Sam tries to get out of the choir room to get Brittany, who’s stuck in the girl’s bathroom, but Will and Artie stop him.

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Millie in the kitchen during the gunshot

While Marley repeatedly tries to contact her mom, Millie, who’s stuck in the cafeteria, Blaine says that Tina’s still in front of the school because she was running late. Kitty confesses to Marley that during Grease she tightened her costumes so that she would think she’s gaining weight and afterwards runs towards Unique to apologize for her bad behavior. Both Marley and Unique hold her, forgiving her for what she did. Sam tries to go get Brittany again but is again held back by Will, Shannon, and Artie. Meanwhile, Artie starts to record everyone with his phone camera and encourages the glee club members to record their goodbyes to their families in case they die. After they say their goodbyes Sam turns the camera off.

Ryder calls Katie, telling Marley that she’s still someone for him and that he cares about her, but when he calls her, a phone in the choir room starts to ring, leaving Ryder confused and with the realization that "Katie" is a member of Glee Club.

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In the girl’s bathroom, Brittany is standing on a toilet crying when someone enters the bathroom. Brittany, terrified, thinks it's the shooter, but then realizes it’s Mr. Schue. Brittany runs towards him and, along with two other students, is escorted to the choir room. While they're sneaking back, they encounter a SWAT team, who shortly announces the situation as “all clear", meaning the shooting is over. Relieved, everyone shares a big group hug.

A few days later, a metal detector and observation cameras are installed in the school and all the lockers in the school are rummaged.

In the teacher’s lounge, Will, Shannon, and Sue talk about the shooting. Strangely, Sue seems indifferent, thinking that everyone is overreacting. She even goes as far as to suggest that it wasn't a gunshot, which is rebuffed by Shannon. Will points out that the person who fired the gun either took it home or stashed it at school, in which case it's only a matter of time before the police find the student, mentioning that every student is being questioned. Sue is curious, asking if every single student is being interrogated. Will confirms this, stating that when they find the student, he/she is going to be expelled, at the very least.

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Sue reveals that it was her gun and that it accidentally went off when she did her daily safety check. Sue apologizes to Principal Figgins, but he tells her that he has to report this to the police. Sue tells Figgins that, despite her great achievements not only as an educator but also as a teacher, all she will be remembered for is this one thing. As a consequence of the latest happenings, Sue is fired.

Blaine and Tina are talking in the hallway, when Tina confesses that she wanted to be in the choir room with him and the rest of the Glee club because they’re her family and she hated the thought of not being able to say goodbye. And, she didn’t want the last thing for them to hear from here to be some snarky comment about how she never gets solos. Blaine hugs a crying Tina, telling her that he loves her.

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At her locker, Ryder accuses Kitty of being the one catfishing him, but she denies his accusations, telling him that he’s not her type and that the thought of them together makes her drier than the cast of Hot in Cleveland. Feeling sorry for rejecting her, Will tells Shannon that the first words he’d use to describe her would be brave, funny, strong, both inside and out, great hugger, and wears kick-ass red lipstick. He then reveals that he created an online-dating profile and confesses that he could not have gotten through the past few days without her and that he loves her.

Shannon tells him that she loves him, too. The both of them then discover that the first person to respond to Shannon’s online-dating profile is Ken Tanaka, the former football coach of McKinley High School. Sam and Brittany meet in the hallway and Sam tells her that, during the shooting, he couldn’t stop thinking about her, and Brittany says that she feels the same. He apologizes for being rude to Lord Tubbington and says that, in order to get on his good side again and to get closer to Brittany, he bought them an overweight female cat, Lady Tubbington. Brittany and Sam say "I love you" to each other.

While in Sue’s office, Will confronts her about her confession and tells her that he doesn’t believe her. Sue insists that she told the truth.

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In a flashback, it is revealed that Sue is secretly covering for Becky and it was in fact Becky who brought her dads gun to school because she was scared, felt that there was no one in the real world to protect her and she wanted to be prepared. When Sue convinced Becky to give her the gun, it accidentally went off and two shots were fired. Sue took the rap when she heard Will because she knew that when Becky would inevitably be interrogated, she would have cracked immediately, and her life would have been over. Will is still suspicious, 

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but agrees to keep an eye on Becky. Sue then walks off, leaving the school.

Later, at 3.30 in front of the choir room, Ryder is waiting for “Katie,” but no one shows. He then runs to the auditorium, joining the rest of the Glee club in singing Say at their secret meeting, finishing off the week’s assignment of Last Chances.

Songs[]

Song Title Original Artist Performer(s)
Your Song Elton John Ryder Lynn
More Than Words Extreme New Directions
Say John Mayer

Background Songs[]

  • One In a Million by The Platters

Guest Cast[]

Guest Stars[]

Co-Stars[]

Absent Cast Members[]

Trivia[]

  • The episode received a 2.4 rating, up four tenths than the previous episode, and had a total of 6.80 million viewers. Source
  • This is also the only episode of Season Four and first episode of the series to not feature any New Directions' Season Three alumni.
  • This is the second episode that did not feature Time for Some Girl Talk during the closing credits. Due to the intensity of the episode, it was replaced by dead silence. The first episode is Pilot and the third time is The Quarterback.
    • However, in Latin America, Brazil, Italy, Australia, and the Philippines, it is the last episode where the closing song doesn't play. On the Netflix release, this was the only episode where the end song doesn't play.
  • Ken Tanaka is mentioned in this episode, and even a Season One photo of him is shown. This is the second time he is mentioned this season, the first being in Glee, Actually.
  • This episode received major backlash from members of the Newtown, Connecticut community, who claimed that they were not asked nor warned about this episode's similarities to the shooting that happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School just a few months prior. Source
  • When this episode aired in Australia, it was rated M15+ instead of PG13.
  • This is the third episode in Season Four without a New York storyline.
  • This is one of only three episodes where Rachel does not appear in. The other two being The Role You Were Born to Play and Dynamic Duets.
  • This is the only episode in the entire series where neither Finn nor Rachel appears.
  • This episode was submitted for Dot-Marie Jones for the 2013 Emmys.
  • This is the third episode to show a "viewer discretion advised" content rating message right before the airing of the episode, the first being Sexy and the second being The First Time.
  • With only three songs, this episode has the least amount of songs since I Am Unicorn, which also had three.
  • This episode is the first (besides the season premiere) of the season to not feature a "So here's what you missed on Glee" segment.
  • Blaine is the only student in the choir room who doesn’t record a goodbye message.
  • Chord Overstreet says this was one of the hardest episodes to film due to the uncomfortable subject matter and because there had to be a lot of improv work in the choir room scenes.
  • It was rumored that Brittany would get shot in this episode and that Finn would be in the show choir room with the New Directions members.
    • However Finn was not present because Cory Monteith was in rehab, although Finn did appear in Sweet Dreams.

Cultural References[]

  • Brittany's comment "Hide your wife, hide your kids, and hide your wife" is a parody of a local news story about a bed intruder involving Kelly Dodson and, more specifically, her brother Antoine's response to it, immortalizing the phrase, "Hide yo' kids, hide yo' wife, and hide yo' husband cuz they be rapin' er'body out here."
  • The name of the comet "Tubbington-Bopp" is a parody of the comet Hale-Bopp.

Deleted Scenes[]

  • The scene with the group hug in the auditorium was deleted. However, it was shown on the promo.

Mistakes[]

  • In Sue's flashback, the gun points towards Sue (so the gunshots should have faced her). Yet, later the gunshots are in the wall on the other side.
  • When the gunshots are initially heard in the choir room, the screaming starts in the hallway after the first shot. But, in Sue's flashback, the screaming doesn't start until the second shot. However, this could be just a matter of the position of the choir room as opposed to Sue's office.

Quotes[]

You're my family... Everyone in that room is my family.

Tina Cohen-Chang to Blaine Anderson

Never stop being yourself.

Unique Adams

This has been the best year of my life, even though... maybe it didn't seem like it.

Kitty Wilde

Gallery[]

Navigational[]

v - e - d

Glee Episodes

Season One
PilotShowmanceAcafellasPreggersThe Rhodes Not TakenVitamin DThrowdownMash-UpWheelsBalladHairographyMattressSectionalsHell-OThe Power of MadonnaHomeBad ReputationLaryngitisDream OnTheatricalityFunkJourney

Season Two
AuditionBritney/BrittanyGrilled CheesusDuetsThe Rocky Horror Glee ShowNever Been KissedThe SubstituteFurtSpecial EducationA Very Glee ChristmasThe Sue Sylvester ShuffleSilly Love SongsComebackBlame It on the AlcoholSexyOriginal SongA Night of NeglectBorn This WayRumoursProm QueenFuneralNew York

Season Three
The Purple Piano ProjectI Am UnicornAsian FPot o' GoldThe First TimeMash OffI Kissed a GirlHold on to SixteenExtraordinary Merry ChristmasYes/NoMichaelThe Spanish TeacherHeartOn My WayBig BrotherSaturday Night Glee-verDance with SomebodyChokeProm-asaurusPropsNationalsGoodbye

Season Four
The New RachelBritney 2.0MakeoverThe Break-UpThe Role You Were Born to PlayGleaseDynamic DuetsThanksgivingSwan SongGlee, ActuallySadie HawkinsNakedDivaI DoGirls (and Boys) on FilmFeudGuilty PleasuresShooting StarSweet DreamsLights OutWonder-fulAll or Nothing

Season Five
Love, Love, LoveTina in the Sky with DiamondsThe QuarterbackA Katy or A GagaThe End of TwerkMovin' OutPuppet MasterPreviously Unaired ChristmasFrenemiesTrioCity of Angels100New DirectionsNew New YorkBashTestedOpening NightThe Back-Up PlanOld Dog, New TricksThe Untitled Rachel Berry Project

Season Six
Loser Like MeHomecomingJagged Little TapestryThe Hurt Locker, Part OneThe Hurt Locker, Part TwoWhat the World Needs NowTransitioningA WeddingChild StarThe Rise and Fall of Sue SylvesterWe Built This Glee Club2009Dreams Come True


References[]

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