I mean, hearing her buoyant and bouncy Freeway of Love and Who’s Zoomin’ Who makes me want to don a headband again and start aerobicizing to the music, as I did in the day. And it doesn’t rock much better than Aretha’s duet with the Eurythmics for Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves, one of seven collaborations on this disc. Besides, female empowerment anthems always give me a kick.

Not that Aretha’s work has been steadily as good and as popular in every decade. The material often fails her, even if her voice doesn’t. But there’s so much more to appreciate than her ’60s standards such as Respect, Think and  Chain of Fools, and this array from the ’80s and ’90s is a fine example of that. In fact, it’s the most pure best-of collection ever for that era.

I haven’t even mentioned the set’s title tune, I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me), a 1986 duet with George Michael which hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.  Not bad.

Credit producer Narada Michael Walden for the hook-heavy, synth-laced hits, and enjoy other vocal collaborators such as Elton John (Through the Storm) and  Whitney Houston (It Isn’t, It Wasn’t, It Ain’t Never Gonna Be).

No, the ’90s material isn’t that noteworthy, but it’s only three of the 16 tracks.

But in the ’80s, like fellow ’60s soul survivor Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin reascended. In fact, she ruled. You’d expect that from the Queen of Soul.

Who needs a Valentines episode? Glee got the mush-making done in its spring semester launch with “Yes/No,” a show with more relationship issues, drama, heart-tugging,  meaningful moments and love songs than any formalized February event geared more to merchandizing than true love.

Was Yes/No one of Glee’s best episodes ever? If not, it was close.

But with so much happening, where do we start?

How about the end?

Finn’s surprise proposal to Rachel, for me, was no surprise by that point given the context. But though sweet, he did it all wrong. He made it about “saving me” instead of loving each other. He ignored Rachel’s Broadway dreams. He gave no plan at all, in fact. He was like Ben Braddock whisking away Elaine Robinson on a bus bound to — where? (Kids, look up The Graduate on Google and learn all about impetuous marrying impulses.)

Similarly, Becky’s play for Artie smacked of doom, though I loved Glee’s use of Dame Helen Mirren’s authoritative British voice in her head laying it out. Bravo! And Artie quickly got to see Becky’s view when he made a rebuffed play for a smugly “abled” Sugar.

Far better fates seem to await Will and Emma, and Sam and Mercedes.

Why Will would ask Emma’s hateful parents anything is beyond me. Waste of time. But the elaborate pool proposal with synchronized swimming was a retro treat, and Will’s words were eloquent and oh so romantic.

The Sam-Mercedes bit is harder to buy, though their shot-by-shot recreation — on the exact location — of Grease’s Summer Nights was a delight. If they reunite (not a big if), I figure it won’t be for the distance, but rather an extended version of the same fling thing they exulted about in song.

And let’s not forget Coach Beiste, whose post-Taco Bell elopement with recruiter Cooter lacked romantic delicacy, but hey, we’re talking Beiste here — gawd love her.

As for the music, it doesn’t get much better. And after so much Klaining of late, it was grand to wallow in some good old-fashioned boy-girl (or rather, girl-boy) balladry, led by Rachel’s soaring rendition of Without You, Emma’s cute if thinly sung Wedding Bell Blues (a ’60s 5th Dimension song which changed one letter, “Bill” to “Will”) (loved the royals-mocking bridesmaids) and especially Rachel, Mercedes, Tina and Santana’s tasteful, soulful singing The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.

What an arrangement — even if it was missing the second verse sung by Rachel in the full studio recording. And what a stirring performance for an achingly beautiful love song written by British folkie Ewan MacColl a half-century ago but not popularized until Roberta Flack hit big with it in ’72.

I just wish the telecast’s song had had more of Lea Michele.

Talk about her ego, her nose, her ambition, her red-carpet looks or whatever irrelevancies you want, but I prefer to embrace this: Lea Michele is the most sensational singing/acting talent to come along in many a moon. And that isn’t blind fanboy adoration. It’s a sober assessment by someone who’s seen it all, heard it all and learned to dismiss mere hype after covering show business as a journalist for three decades.

Lea Michele is the real deal, and we are more than fortunate to have her. We are blessed.

But back to business.

Rihanna’s We Found Love did the job for bouncy exuberance in Will’s big-splash proposal, but what the heck are those lyrics about? Yellow diamonds? Not getting it.

Yet for a show showcasing lovey-dovey doings, the night’s best number was an even more fun one: the mashup of Maroon 5′s Moves Like Jagger with (fleetingly) the Rolling Stones’  Jumping Jack Flash. I swear, Artie did as much dancing in his chair as an impressive Will and a rarely-spotlighted Mike did beside him — well done Kevin. Their performance  irresistibly bubbled with enthusiastic sass.

Thanks choreographer Zach Woodlee, music maestro Adams Anders and returning director Eric Stoltz. You guys have what it takes.

Now we only await Rachel’s answer to Finn’s marital question — which seems to be an inevitable “What’s the rush?”

But who knows? Glee’s mantra for Season 4 is that it will be “revolutionary,” so anything could happen.

We might even find love in a hopeless place.

– Bruce Westbrook

I covered movies, home video and TV for 30 years for major daily newspapers, so I notice things — little things — that don’t ring true. These things on screen can make me scream, since so often they’re so easily corrected, but they aren’t.

Take driving. The average person on TV or in a movie, while driving a car, spends most of their time needlessly looking directly at their passenger while talking to him or her. It takes about two seconds to veer into another lane and cause an accident, but this almost never happens, because the actor isn’t really driving. They’re “acting,” and quite badly — otherwise, they’d have acted the driving part too.

I know, it’s a little thing. But it drives me crazy — pun intended.

Other times, the distracting little things that take me out of a scene involve needless attempts to make things, in fact, more realistic.

For instance, extras will be paraded across your field of vision, blocking out the protagonist you want to see, to remind us that THIS IS REAL. Of course, it’s not real, and sometimes the protagonist is obscured so much and for so long that you wonder why they even bothered with the shot, but the simplistic idea is that extras milling about lends valuable veracity. Uh, no.

This wrong-headed conclusion itself has led to one of those little things that bug me when it comes to my favorite show, Glee.

Ever notice how, when Rachel or Puck or perhaps the entire New Directions glee club is belting out a rousing number at the top of their voices, the choir room door is open? Not only that, but students are continually walking by the door. And never — ever — does a single student flinch, pause, look back or stop. Even if they hate the glee club, they’d hear the music, and it would cause  some kind of reaction. But not on Glee, because Glee is so busy being “realistic” with the ol’ “extras milling about” technique.

Students not reacting is just one way in which this botched “realism” makes scenes feel even less real. For another, doesn’t Glee itself continually use the sound of the school bell as one of its aural elements? It does. You hear the bell, and it’s a signal that scenes change — and so do classes. That’s what happens in school. After the bell, classes begin and the bell falls silent — as the hallways empty.

So why is it that, during choir rehearsal (which must count as a class), other students are continually wandering up and down the halls past the choir room door? Why aren’t they in class too? Didn’t they hear the bell?

The other things is, the door would NOT be open. Show choir is a loud if not disruptive enterprise. In School of Rock, they tried buffering the class to seal off the noise, and even that was a stretch. In Glee, with the door open, the noise would spill into the hall and perhaps into other classes. So needlessly leaving the door open wouldn’t be done, or be accepted.

So now you see why it’s damn distracting when you’re awash in the wonder of another great Glee song to see nameless, aimless students trudging past the open door and paying no heed whatsoever. Who are they? Why aren’t they in class? Are they deaf? What’s going on? And why am I thinking about all this when I should be focused on the music?

Because Glee botches such “realism” by forcing it upon us.

Here’s the true realism: The choir door room would be closed. That’s what you do when you have class — especially a loud one. And if for some reason it was left open, students wouldn’t be roaming freely up and down halls during classes. And if they were doing so for some reason, they’d react to the sounds inside.

But none of that happens. Instead, this little thing — so easily corrected — is allowed on Glee.

Look, Glee demands enough suspension of disbelief as it is. We know people don’t burst into song and perform elaborate, fully choreographed musical numbers at any time or place and on the spur of the moment. It happens on Glee because the show is TV’s equivalent of a movie musical fantasy, and that’s fine. I get it. I allow for it. I buy it.  And why? Because the payoff in music makes it all worthwhile — and because musicals are a legitimate art form in themselves.

But why undercut that fantasy in any way when you don’t have to — especially when it goes against the realism in which you frame your fantasy?

So close the damn choir room door, please, Mr. Ryan Murphy. I know, I know — it’s a little thing. But trust me, little things count too, and this one little thing, if fixed, would make Glee that much better.

Plus, what all the nay-sayers and doom predictors of Glee conveniently overlook when they trample a trifle such as this concert flick is that the show they dismiss is an iTunes powerhouse. When Glee delivers strong contemporary pop instead of stale Broadway standards, it’s boffo, all right — in music sales. And music is what drives this show, sets it apart and makes it so special, whether delivered in episodes on the air, on a sold-out concert tour, in a mismanaged concert movie, on CD or via downloads.

Was Glee’s recent mashup of Adele’s Rumour Has It and Someone Like You a stiff? Does it reflect a slide in Glee’s popularity? Actually, no. It’s part of Glee’s 36 million-plus digital singles sales and was #1 on iTunes. So while TV ratings plateau, here’s a no-brainer alert: Glee’s music still matters. It serves stories as on other TV series. It makes people happy. It’s impactful. It sells. Haters, deal with it.

But I will say the concert movie is an inviting target.  It didn’t fully work. And why is that?

What I see here is a missed opportunity — make that many misses.

First, the Glee cast’s first summer tour in 2010 should have been professionally filmed and released — on home video. If you can issue each season of the show on DVD and Blu-ray, which Fox obviously does, you also can release each tour that way.

Next, the second summer tour, as featured in this film, also should have been strictly a home video release.

Why go for video alone? Because these shows aren’t meant to compete with raunchy comedies and CG action fests in theaters, the wow factor of 3D notwithstanding. (And I can’t say the 3D element impressed me that much while watching Glee: The 3D Concert Movie in a theater last August.) On screen, Glee is a TV product, not a competitor in the theatrical marketplace.

Third, a concert is a concert, and that’s what this alleged Concert Movie should have delivered. Instead, it focused far too much on fans, as if rewarding a miniscule fraction of them with screen time would make us all — well, gleeful. So instead of a true concert with full-length performances of each song from the tour, we get partial versions of some songs, no-shows by others and continual interruptions in the form of good-intentioned yet superfluous looks at various socially-challenged fans finding obsessive rewards in Glee.

That’s nice, but if anything, it stereotypes. Many of us come to Glee from many other directions, and sob stories aren’t needed to dramatize how Glee moves, enlivens and inspires many diverse people. (I’m no kid, but I love it as much as any teen, I promise you.)

Though I watched this material in the theater — I had no choice — I’ve persistently fast-forwarded through it on Blu-ray. I don’t need to see it again. I don’t care. I want to see the concert in an arena, not the fans at home. I want to see Glee — not a few others who also see Glee.

Missing much of the concert while diverted to such fans is what peeved many patrons of the tour when this film hit theaters. Kurt/Chris Colfer’s Single Ladies, for one, is still an absent number, though two songs which were AWOL in theaters are added as extras on video: a stirring big-cast turn for Dog Days Are Over, and a joyous unplugged sing-along spin of Friday by Puck/Mark Salling and several other guys on acoustic guitars and voices.

Two songs also are expanded into full-length for video: the sublime mashup of Happy Days Are Here Again with Get Happy,  featuring Rachel/Lea Michele and Kurt, and the powerhouse Ain’t No Way, belted beautifully by Mercedes/Amber Riley. Happy now runs about 40 seconds longer, and Ain’t No Way about 60 seconds longer, but only as extras.

Other extras are brief looks at the cast backstage and a collection of introductions onstage by Jane Lynch, solo, and by Brittany/Heather Morris and Blaine/Darren Criss.

Fox also is making this title the first “Shazam-enabled” DVD and Blu-Ray, whereby an icon pops up on screen and you can use your smart phone to “tag” it and tap into added content. This includes trivia, photos, lyrics and behind the scenes footage.

But apart from the extras, and aside from the flaws, the bottom line for me is that this is Glee, with the cast staying in character, even backstage, and with far fuller looks at their performances in sharply shot splendor.  Glee’s songs can get squeezed in episodes, too, and they’re rarely staged and showcased as elaborately and vigorously as they are here. So yes, though the movie’s a mixed bag, no, it’s not a failure.

After all, it’s Glee. And loving the show as I do, that’s enough for me.

As its budding director, Artie was right: Give ‘em what they want. And in this case, that meant cutesy, upbeat frothiness as Kurt and Blaine played “bachelors” entertaining polite, perky guests at their Swiss chalet on Christmas Eve: Rachel, Mercedes, Puck, Finn, Santana, Brittany and the rest of the Cheerios, as well as Rory as an elf. (No Tina or Mike; Artie was directing; Sam and Quinn were feeding the homeless; and 15th NDer Sugar was a no-show for this show.)

Can we see more such screen gems within Glee? The series itself is an alternate universe — as I always say, Glee is a musical fantasy — and this warped world within it was a hoot and a stitch. Like the overheated and equally overproduced music video for Run Joey Run, the Yule special was almost a parody of a parody. (But where was the promised Chewbacca, who barely made an appearance beyond publicity shots for the show?)

Elsewhere, the message-making got a bit heavy for me — sorry, director Matt Morrison. Are we all infants who need the same old lessons or O. Henry tales taught to us for the first time? But I still appreciated Sam keeping his colleagues grounded. His scruffy enthusiasm for the purported true meaning of Christmas (giving without thought for oneself) gave this episode a gravity that its starry-eyed singers needed.

Favorite songs? They had to start with My Favorite Things, which is not about Xmas but certainly was fitting: at last, Sound of Music material for a von Trapp namesake (Kurt) and others to sing. Lea Michele, of course, already did it for a Dove TV ad, but I’ll take this fuller version, even with Blaine’s inappropriately deeper voice in the mix.

Though Finn and Puck are no E Street Band, I also enjoyed their rocking, Springsteen-style rendition of Santa Claus is Coming to Town, as well as Rachel’s pensive and soulful River by Joni Mitchell.

The episode’s original title song — whose name apes today’s rejection of adverbs in illiterate ad slogans (“Think different” indeed) — was bouncy fun though forgettable. But the homeless shelter harmonies for ’80s pop-star do-gooder hit Do They Know It’s Christmas were apt and rousing.

Still, why is it that a show with prominent Jewish characters in Rachel and Puck never makes a single mention of Chanukah? I mean, just a word — something. But no, they’re plopped down amid Christian traditions with no say in things whatsoever. Glee, you’re supposed to be inclusive.

Bah humbug? No, I still feel more rah than bah, largely thanks to the amusingly phony TV special (loved its pointed asides to the camera and canned laughter and applause) and in part because most songs were lighthearted and not preachy. (Let It Snow was another winning Klaine duet to bookend last year’s Baby It’s Cold Outside.)

But my affection is also in part because I know we have no more Glee until Jan. 17, so it’s best to savor this one while we can.

At least, that’s my proposal until The Proposal episode — which was just retitled Yes/No.

Speaking of changes, if you lamented the lack of Santana’s Santa Baby (heck, she even has “Santa” in her name) for Episode 9, I hear that footage was shot and will be issued online. Here’s hoping it’s from the black-and-white TV special. Now that would be a gift for my virtual tree.

Yes, let’s get to the superlatives for this reboot of the 1968-born Apes series, rather than the unsatisfying “re-imagining” of the first two films by Tim Burton in 2001. It was time — and this time, they got it right by entwining the tale with an Outer Limits-style story of a scientist who dares to do great things but, in his bold reach, unleashes twisted results in the process.

These involve an Alzheimer’s cure turning into a monkey brain steroid, leading to a revolt of the San Francisco Bay Area’s simians, and I don’t mean bikers. From testing labs to the zoo, apes erupt onto SF’s scenic settings in a scary yet applaudable attack on human repression. And if that means facing down SF SWATs on the GGB, then it’s more than an anachronym. It’s anarchy — and deliriously entertaining.

I’ve lived in San Francisco, and there’s no more scenic city — and no better setting for a movie, especially one with warped weirdness.   From Vertigo to 1978′s remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, there’s a strange symbiosis between sinister doings and a city where a chilly fog drifts across steep hills in the dead of night. And Apes, while also ranging beyond SF, taps that element.

OK, I’m not the biggest James Franco fan, but he does the job here with gravity and sincerity as the scientist whose “cure” turns tables on human-ape dominance. The tale also recalls Flowers For Algernon (Charly, to movie fans) as well as The Outer Limits’ The Sixth Finger, an accelerated evolution story with perhaps the greatest character arc in screen history.

So yes, Apes is damn interesting and intriguing, apart form all the action and flash. And the CG is as good as it gets. Go Ape. You’ll be glad you did.

If so, you should be ready for Mystery Science Theater 3000: XXIII, the next DVD box set from Shout! Factory.

When released on March 27, 2012, it will feature another four MST3K episodes being offered on DVD for the first time: The Castle of Fu Manchu (with Lee), Last of the Wild Horses (the western), Code Name: Diamond Head (from Quinn Martin) and King Dinosaur (the ’50s sci-fi cheapie).

Perhaps just as importantly, extras galore are in store.

They’ll include a featurette called The Incredible Mr. Lippert, concerning schlock producer Robert L. Lippert, who worked with King Dinosaur’s Bert I. Gordon and left his imprint on such films as Curse of the Fly and The Last Man On Earth (based on Richard Matheson’s chilling book I Am Legend, and later filmed again as The Omega Man and as I Am Legend).

BTW, the featurette’s title is a nod to The Incredible Mr. Limpet, a 1964 comedy with Don Knotts.

Fu Manchu will have the theatrical trailer, a new intro by Frank Coniff and a look at the video game Darkstar featuring some MST3K performers. Diamond Head will add the featurette Code Name: Quinn Martin and the first segment of a series to be called Life After MST3K, showing what cast members have done since the show ceased production in 1999. Finally, Wild Horses will add vintage promos from MST3K.

Those oodles of new extras sound enticing enough in themselves. So mark the date, and be prepared for merry movie mocking at its best.

MST3K lives!

“Hold On to 16″ indeed. Hold on to this episode, for it may be the most upbeat Glee ever.

Everybody loved everybody. Finn and Blaine made peace — even bonded — while crazy Quinn and Mike’s strict dad had sudden changes of heart, as did New Directions’ exes in the Troubletones, who came back to the fold (lured by promises of lead vocals) after ND won Sectionals. With no Sue in sight, for one magical night, Glee was one big happy family.

For now — and perhaps through next week’s holiday show. But you know crises and crying will return, so hold on to “Hold On to 16″ if you, like me, love happy endings. This had Glee’s all-time happiest.

Not to mention more of this season’s best songs. I even dug the Jackson love-fest (for the J5 with ABC, Janet with Control and Michael with Man in the Mirror) as ND’s typically hasty yet amazingly well rehearsed competition set. What made such songs work was the group feel — the sharing. No stars here, but a team effort that didn’t just click, but soared.

Great to see Glee Project’s Lindsay Pearce again as the Unitards’ Harmony for Evita’s Buenos Aires, and her hint that, as a sophomore, she may return next year. And the Troubletones’ mashup of Destiny’s Child’s Survivor with Gloria Gaynor disco hit I Will Survive was another rousing girl-power moment in a show that’s becoming known for them.

But it’s anthems that have helped put Glee on pop culture’s map, from Don’t Stop Believing to Somebody to Love to Sing. And this show had one of its best: Fun’s We Are Young, finishing the episode with exhilarating unity. Damn, that song fires me up. Sign me up!

Maybe there’s something to be said for those “theme of the week” episodes I used to decry when they belabored and bludgeoned their message like maddening mantras. Last week’s love for ladies and this week’s savoring 16 (or at least teen togetherness) have worked narrative wonders. Thanks for the title, John Mellencamp, via your lyrics for Jack & Diane — not that you’ve had a song on this show apart from Kurt’s “Little Pink Houses” in Season 1, which was done as irony. R.O.C.K. in the USA, anyone?

Yes, the reversals of Quinn and Mike’s dad were too pat and abrupt, but they served the story, as did the seven songs. And let’s not forget Toby Keith’s Red Solo Cup. Though I’m no country fan, I welcomed its bouncy infectiousness, just as ND welcomed back Sam (Chord Overstreet), a character who’s grown on me as he’s been given hard-luck depth.

So yes, I’m holding on to this episode as one of Glee’s finest. Call it mere wish-fulfillment if you must, but I love seeing everyone happy and unified for a change. Plenty of time for drama down the line. Let’s cherish such good times, just as our favorite show choir learned to cherish the special privilege of being young and unified, at least for one last school year.

If Glee had begun Season 3 with the verve and vitality of Episode 7′s I Kissed A Girl, it wouldn’t have dipped in the ratings.

Anyone not feel this is the year’s best show to date?

First, the songs, which for those of us who heard them in advance already signaled a potent show musically. But when we saw how those songs served the story, it made all the difference. The six numbers composed by six women not only stood on their own, but also drove the story home, from romantic heartache (Jolene) to joyously defiant girl-power (I Kissed a Girl).

In between was Finn’s soulful reinvention of Cyndi Lauper’s Girls Just Want to Have Fun and the most warmly welcome embrace I’ve seen on this show, between the good-intentioned lunkhead and the outed Santana. If they can hug, anyone can.

Mark Salling’s Puck also had perhaps his best Glee ever, not only by fiercely rocking out Melissa Etheridge’s I’m the Only One (on the heels of last week’s rousing Hot For Teacher), but by revealing his caustic character’s hidden sides, from math smarts to astute psychoanalysis of his lady loves. (But why would he tell the conniving Quinn about his fling with Shelby, a tryst which still has me aghast?)

Then there’s Coach Beiste, who’s become one of Glee’s most lovable characters by being herself — a manly woman who’s still a sensitive chick on the inside. Her plaintive Jolene from Dolly Parton’s songbook was a stirring ode to romantic longing and loss. Yet I also understood why her frustrated near-boyfriend, Cooter the recruiter, would have dabbled with former flame Sue, even if she called up merely for a campaign photo opp.

Speaking of which, major news from the unlikely election front, with Burt Hummel winning a seat in the U.S. Congress with a write-in campaign, sending Sue into a snit. And on the likely election front, Brittany’s feel-good pandering and empty promises won her Senior Class President, with Rachel suspended and banned from Sectionals for stuffing the ballot box for Kurt. (Now, who gave her that idea?)

Speaking of Kurt, his Perfect duet with Blaine — like the episode itself — was almost just that, though I missed the superb harmonies of the “Glee Spoof” version of Pink’s strong song between Kurt and Rachel sound-alikes.

Fittingly ending it all was kd lang’s Constant Craving, as fervently sung by a character who, like Puck, also evolved in this episode, Santana. Her grandma’s rebuke about her love for Brittany was pathetic and sad — a societal comment which needed to be made, even if the intolerance hurt. But Naya Rivera’s Santana showed some class in this show, and it was touching how the glee clubs immersed her in their support.

I mean, Glee doesn’t get much better than this. I often proclaim boldly to anyone who’ll listen, show me three minutes of any show, anywhere, anytime, that touches the greatness of Glee at its best during an awesome musical number, as with last week’s Adele mashup. But this time, I’d stack up the entire episode — the whole 40-plus minutes sans commercials. Show me a better show. I want to see it. Show me. But I don’t think it exists.

So thanks, Glee cast, crew and director Tate Donovan (for the unaware, an actor and former boyfriend of Sandy Bullock and Jennifer Anniston). You get an A-plus in my book. And with 15 shows remaining this season, we’re not even near finals.

You’re on a roll, Glee. Keep ‘em coming.

Though music is what most empowers Glee, at its best the show must meld such music to plot and characters. That’s where Glee can get spotty, as with this week’s Mash Off episode that produced the most entertaining song selections of the season so far, but didn’t add a story worth their impact.

I mean, since when was dodgeball integral to McKinley apart from this season’s colorful promotional motifs? If it’s worth a song, I guess Pat Benatar’s Hit Me With Your Best Shot, mashed up with Blondie’s One Thing Or Another, is fitting enough. But the only story was Santana again being a bigger bully than anyone who’s ever dumped on her former glee club. Yawn.

As for Will and Shelby’s surprise duet for You & I/You & I, it sounded good, but again didn’t serve a plot point. The two show choir coaches were supposed to be pushing a friendly rivalry, not harmonizing. And New Directions’ subsequent mash-up of Hall & Oates’ You Make My Dreams Come True and I Can’t Go For That, while bouncy and fun, advanced this tale about as much as another slushie in the face. (And what was that about Rory singing lead?)

At least an axe-wielding Puck’s Hot For Teacher, backed by his boys, was a riveting rocker that sold its lasciviousness well. Glee’s second Van Halen song (after Jump) again did the original justice.

Mash Off also had the stirring finale of Adele’s Rumour Has It and Someone Like You, with dramatic Motown punch for the latter and some of the best singing and dancing Glee has done this year. The seven all-female Troubletones looked great, sang great, moved great and got away with a pregnant pause big enough for quintuplets. And what a bold finishing kick — or slap — for a Glee episode.

But what’s it all about, Ryan Murphy? Santana openly lusted for Brittany starting in Season 1 and often declares her sexual abandon, yet she’s overwhelmed with embarrassment that anyone thinks she’s gay (or as Britt would put it, bi-curious)?

Mash Off also paraded inevitabilities masquerading as major plot points, as when Rachel yielded to Kurt in the Senior Class President race, thus allowing them to be NY-bound best buds again, or when Shelby belatedly learned Quinn wants Beth for her own. But at least Idina Menzel’s line readings for Shelby’s firm brush-off again showed how this fine actress lends Glee heft. Also give director Eric Stoltz some chops for that scene.

But even with its thin story, Mash Off did what most TV shows try and fail to do: Quite simply, it entertained. No, it wasn’t charged with dramatic impetus or buoyed by comic creativity, apart from the outrageous TV political ads. But even with few zingers, our favorite singers again gave us what no other TV show can: sheer movie-musical-style vibrancy. When has that ever been showcased so lavishly and relentlessly on TV as on Glee?

I’ve often said to those who diss or dismiss Glee, show me three minutes from any other TV series that can stand up to the best three minutes on any week’s Glee, whether it’s the inspired Rumour Has It/Someone Like You mash-up this week, the exquisite One Hand, One Heart last week, or any number of inspired performances since Season 1. Show me. I want to see it.

But I’m not holding my breath, because I don’t think anyone can. I think Glee and only Glee truly has the goods. I think its Adele mash-up will be in heavy rotation on many iPods. And I think Glee, at its best, is as good as prime-time entertainment gets.