Tina in the Sky with Diamonds is the second episode of Glee's fifth season and the ninetieth episode overall. It premiered on October 3, 2013.
In the second part of The Beatles tribute, The Junior-Senior Brundle Prom is just around the corner and Tina is more than prepared to receive the title of the Prom Queen. However, Bree has plans to push Tina aside and humiliate her, attempting to bring Kitty into the case, who is torn between siding with the New Directions or the Cheerios. While Tina is unaware of Bree's scheme, she is focused on Prom Queen, rejecting to go to the Prom with Sam, who now has an eye on college sophomore school nurse, Penny. Meanwhile in New York, Santana bonds with her fellow co-worker, Dani (portrayed by special guest star Demi Lovato) and Kurt attempts to bring Rachel's mojo back as Rachel wonders whether she'll get her dream Broadway role.
The episode is written and directed by Ian Brennan.
Plot[]
The New Directions continues their two-week assignment covering The Beatles. Tina is nominated for prom queen at the new combined all-grades prom and is determined to win, dumping Sam who she had previously accepted as her prom date to capitalize on the potential votes of the wallflowers without dates, and belitting her assistant and campaign manager, Dottie. Although she is also nominated, Kitty decides to support Tina. Upon learning of this, Bree tries to persuade Kitty, a fellow cheerio, into campaigning for herself instead of Tina, because there have been too "many Glee kids winning prom-queen" already. Since Kitty isn't fond of this plan, Bree decides to campaign for Kitty on her own and ropes Dottie into a scheme to humiliate Tina at prom. She and the other Cheerio's approach Dottie who says that she really does dislike Tina sometimes. Bree then offers her a spot on the Cheerio's which she quickly accepts. In the choir room Tina starts singing Revolution but the bell cuts her off, much to her annoyance.
At NYADA, Kurt performs Get Back to cheer up Rachel, who is depressed by her disappointing "chemistry" audition for Funny Girl. At the diner where Rachel and Santana work, one of their co-workers, Dani, is interested in Santana; the interest is mutual, though scary for Santana, and Rachel gives her a pep talk before making herself scarce at the end of an overnight shift. Dani and Santana start to talk then about the dawn and perform Here Comes the Sun and, after walking through the city, they share a kiss.
Sue hires med student Penny Owen to become McKinley High's nurse, and Sam develops a crush on her. Sue orders all of New Direction to get polio shots but Sam is scared of needles. He sings Something. When Sue decides to fire Penny for incompetence, Sam overcomes his fear of needles and allows Penny to give him a meningitis shot in his butt. He later praises her to Sue, who reverses her decision.
At prom all the couples are seen taking pictures together. Marley, Ryder, Jake, and Unique perform Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Afterwards, Sue announces Tina and Stoner Brett as prom queen and prom king. Kitty is on stage with Tina and notices Dottie holding onto a rope. She follows the rope up the ceiling and realizes there is a bucket there. On Bree's command, Dottie reluctantly drops a bucket of red slushie onto Tina in the style of Carrie while she's on stage, and she exits in tears and completely humiliated. The New Directions follow her to the choir room, where they sing Hey Jude and encourage Tina to face the crowd and go back. Kitty gives Tina her prom-dress and together they clean her up. She does so, receiving her much-awaited standing ovation.
After Kurt tells Rachel and Santana he's started working at Spotlight Diner, Rachel is surprised at the diner by Mr. Campion, the Funny Girl director, who tells her she has been cast as Fanny, and she hugs her friends very happy. In Lima, cheerleading Coach Roz informs Sue that Bree is behind the prank and demands that she is punished. Sue instead promotes Bree to captain of the Cheerios and encourages her to torment the New Directions as much as she can, in order to toughen them up in preparations for Nationals. Rachel, Kurt, Santana, and Dani perform Let It Be in celebration of Rachel's achievements, while the New Directions does the same song in honor of Tina.
Songs[]
Song Title | Original Artist | Performer(s) |
---|---|---|
Get Back | The Beatles | Kurt Hummel and Rachel Berry |
Something | Sam Evans with Jake Puckerman and Ryder Lynn | |
Here Comes the Sun | Dani and Santana Lopez | |
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | Jake Puckerman, Marley Rose, Ryder Lynn, and Unique Adams | |
Hey Jude | New Directions | |
Let It Be | New Directions, Kurt Hummel, Rachel Berry, and Santana Lopez |
- Glee Sings the Beatles, an album accompanying the tribute episodes, was released on September 24, 2013.
Unreleased Songs[]
- Revolution by The Beatles sung by Tina Cohen-Chang.
Guest Cast[]
Special Guest Stars[]
Guest Stars[]
- Iqbal Theba as Principal Figgins
- NeNe Leakes as Roz Washington
- Erinn Westbrook as Bree
- Phoebe Strole as Penny Owen
- Christopher Curry as Gunther
Co-Stars[]
Uncredited[]
- Chelsea as Jordan Stern
Trivia[]
- This is the third time that the second episode of the season is a tribute. First being Britney/Brittany, and second being Britney 2.0.
- This is the second time Glee has tributed an artist/band twice in separate episodes. The first time was the aforementioned Britney Spears tributes, Britney/Brittany and Britney 2.0.
- This is also the second time Glee has done two tributes consecutively, the first being Saturday Night Glee-ver and Dance with Somebody, but those were tributes to different artists/bands/films rather than two episodes dedicated to one artist or band.
- This episode was mostly filmed in parallel with filming for The Quarterback, the tribute episode to Cory Monteith, with the Demi Lovato scenes filmed a little later due to scheduling. Source
- This episode marks the debut of special guest star Demi Lovato as Dani.
- This is the third episode where all the members of New Direction present in the episode have a solo. The first is Pilot, and the second is Britney 2.0.
- When Sue explains to Bree how New Directions doesn't seem scared of her now, she mentioned wearing "plaid pajamas," referring to the outfit she wore during Season Two's performance of Sing from Comeback.
- Bree's speech where she talked to Kitty was a direct parody of the angry sorority girl letter. Source
- The scene, starting with Tina being crowned prom-queen and Stoner Brett being hit by the bucket, is near identical to a respective scene from the 1976 horror-movie Carrie.
- This is the second prom to have the Senior Class President as a candidate for Prom King.
- This episode had 4.42 million views and a 1.6 rating. Source
Deleted Scenes[]
- A storyboard of the 'Carrie' scene was leaked, which showed that Dottie and Figgins had a scene together, which didn't make it into the episode. Source
Mistakes[]
- When the inside of the bucket is shown for the first and second time, its contents appears very smooth with little ice. However, when the inside of the bucket is shown as it begins to fall, the contents are much more thick, and has a lot more ice in it than the first time it was shown.
- The bucket couldn't have fallen on Stoner Brett as it was clearly shown that the rope was securely tied to it.
- In the beginning of the episode, Tina declines Sam's invitation for prom. However, Tina was given the choice to pick her prom date (Love Love Love).
- Stoner Brett's face alternates between having red slushee splash back on it and being completely clean as the prom scene goes on.
- When Bree is brought to Sue's office, Sue points out that she's never seen a black Cheerio before, despite having Mercedes and multiple black extras on the Cheerios throughout the show.
Cultural References[]
- The episode title is a reference to The Beatles' song, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.
- This is the third time a Carrie reference is made in a prom episode.
- Quinn also makes a Carrie reference in Born This Way, when Lauren Zizes decides to run for prom queen. Quinn tells Lauren that she might just get enough votes to win, but everyone will snicker and someone will spill pigs blood on her.
- Rachel made a reference to the TV Show, SMASH, in the diner when she comments that because of Kurt, Santana and Rachel working in the same diner, it feels like Season One of the TV Show.
- Ironically, Lea was mentioned on SMASH. Source
- Tina's line: "This is my chance to be bigger than Jesus" is a reference to John Lennon stating The Beatles are more popular than Jesus.
- Bree's rant to Kitty is a reference to the viral sorority girl letter that hit the internet in April 2013.
- When Sam is in the choir room with Will, you can see a score with the song "I Am The Walrus" from The Beatles album.
- Ryder mentions the movie "The Fly".
- The character of Gunther at the diner is named after Gunther from the show Friends, who works at a coffee shop
- Coincidentally, the character of Rachel in Friends worked there, much like Rachel Berry works at the Spotlight Diner with Gunther.
- When Dottie campaigns for Tina, the sign says "Her Majesty" with a photo of Tina on it. Her Majesty is a song from The Beatles.
Quotes[]
“ |
This is my chance to be bigger than Jesus. |
” |
“ |
I just wanted to remind you that a Cheerio has not won Prom Queen for several years now. We've had Prom Queens from Glee Club, including the Jewish girl and a gay dude and if we're not careful, I swear to God we're gonna have a black transsexual named Unique as Prom Queen before we have a Cheerio as Prom Queen. |
” |
—Bree to Kitty Wilde |
“ |
I'm sorry, but your mouth is incredibly distracting. Please put a pair of white cotton panties over your head and cover up that horizontal talking moose knuckle. |
” |
—Sue |
“ |
And now here's the moment you've all been waiting for. Because your lives are so devoid of meaning something like this seems very important. This can't be right. Okay, what the hell do I care, huh? |
” |
—Sue |
“ |
Just leave me like this! I swear. I just thought for one lousy night of my life, I could be that girl. But who am I kidding? I'm not that girl and I will never be that girl. |
” |
—Tina |
“ |
You, guys, this is so great. I feel like I'm on Smash season one. |
” |
—Rachel |
“ |
Sue: Who is this Roz: Bree! This is the girl responsible for the giant slushy bucket at prom Sue: No I mean literally who is this! She's in a Cheerio's uniform but I swear I've never seen her before |
” |
—Sue Sylvester and Roz |
“ |
Black Cheerio, you think I'd remember a black Cheerio. I mean its not like we get a lot of them |
” |