Glee dusts off the Britney Spears song book for a second time this week with "Britney 2.0." Is it a shameless plug for Britney herself, who doesn't cameo this time around, but is now a judge on the same-network singing competition series, The X Factor? Or does Glee do this because Britney really does have a lot of good songs, and it's easy to pick another batch to fill a second episode?
Well, as many good songs as she has, and several are used in "Britney 2.0," it is a weak week, musically speaking. Only two stand out, and both are big dance numbers. Instead, what is delivered is a bunch of remixes and alternate versions. Glee often does this kind of thing well. Not this time.
That doesn't make the episode bad. Glee has delivered some real stinkers in the past, but "Britney 2.0" isn't one of them. It falls somewhere in the middle, with room for a handful of complaints, but also some pretty decent story, and a couple of songs that really land well.
As the title suggests, Brittany (Heather Morris) is featured this week. After an upbeat opening of "Hold It Against Me," her life takes a serious slide. Depressed after being cut from the Cheerios for very bad grades (how is she still academically eligible all this time?), and missing Santana (Naya Rivera), who doesn't have time to scissor Skype, Brittany looks for something to pull her back up. Learning from her inspiration, Britney Spears, Brittany decides that the best thing to do is force a rock bottom so that she can rise triumphant.
Thankfully, someone stops Brittany before she buzzes all of her hair off, but there's still plenty of room for disaster. Brittany tanks the school performance of "Gimme More," insisting on lip synching while eating cheese puffs, in a parody of Spears' Music Video Awards performance. She also stops trying to look good, drinks a giant unhealthy beverage, and seems to have given up.
If Santana were here, she would understand and be able to help Brittany. Other attempts, such as her friends singing "Boys" / "Boyfriend" and "3" to her, fail. It isn't until Sam (Chord Overstreet), who is slightly less ditzy than Brittany, figures out what is really happening that anyone is able to help her.
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