Season 4, Episode 21:  Wonder-ful

Ownership of Glee:  FOX, Ryan Murphy, Ian Brennan, Brad Falchuk

/ / /

Will writes 'Wonder-ful' on the board.

"Will, I like where this assignment is going already." Angie says as she takes her place next to the history teacher.

"All right, guys, I just got some wonderful news from Rachel. She's got a second callback for Funny Girl." Will states.

Angie whistles. "That's amazing!"

Will smiles. "And that's not our only good news. Brittany is at M.I.T. touring the campus because she's got an early acceptance."

"That can't be true." Blaine states.

"And I re-proposed to Emma. She reaccepted, and we're getting married after regionals." Will states.

"Yay!" Angie cheers.

"We're excited." Artie says.

"I've got good news, too. I'm wait-listed at the Columbus College of Veterinary Medicine. It's a fallback if I don't pursue acting." Tina announces.

"Bless her heart." Unique says.

"Tina, that's not just good news. It's wonderful, and that's what this week is all about. We're taking a lesson from one of the greatest musical artists of all time." Will says.

Angie chuckles. "Despite facing a ton of obstacles, he's a living example of embracing... n-n-no, celebrating... joy and optimism, and he's collected 25 Grammys along the way. So don't you worry 'bout a thing because whether you're ebony or ivory, you are the sunshine of my life."

"Yes." Blaine says as he high-fives Sam.

"And next week at regionals we will be jammin' on higher ground." Will finishes.

"Yay!" Marley cheers.

"Yeah-yeah, it's a Stevie Wonder week." Artie says.

Angie cheers. "Best. Assignment. Ever!"

/ / /

Angie is reading a book when she feels a hand tap her on the shoulder. She turns around to be faced with Kurt, Mike and Mercedes.

"Oh my God! This is the best surprise ever!" Angie says as she hugs the three.

Kurt smiles as he kisses his sister's cheek. "I wish I could say I was here for a surprise, but Dad's got his final tests in a few days. But I thought I'd come by and see you."

Right. Angie knows about Burt having cancer.

Mercedes smiles. "I'm gonna be helping y'all with vocal work this week."

"And I'm gonna help the new kids work on their footwork." Mike adds.

Angie smiles. "Well it doesn't matter the reason that you three are here. You're here. That's what matters. Now let's go to Glee Club!"

Angie laughs as she takes him by the hand.

/ / /

For that afternoons Glee Club, Kitty sings 'Signed, Sealed, Delivered.'

[Signed, Sealed, Delivered by Kitty]

Everyone claps.

"Seemed like the perfect Stevie song to celebrate Artie getting his acceptance letter into film school." Kitty announces.

There's shocked gasps going around the choir room.

"Artie, that's amazing! Congratulations little bro!" Angie celebrates.

"Signed, sealed, delivered." Kitty states.

"That's right." Sam agrees.

"Well, you know, that may have been the perfect song, but that performance was just one package that I'm not signing for. I mean, honestly, it was good, but you guys have got to be great for regionals." Mercedes advises.

"Yeah, clearly we should be taking our advice from someone who came crawling back to Ohio after apparently having her L.A. dream shattered. You learn your new lyrics yet? Do you want fries with that?" Kitty mocks.

Angie looks at her lap. You don't mock Mercedes Jones and get away with it.

Mercedes smiles. "Oh, well, maybe if you put some of that sass in your performance, your teacher wouldn't have begged me to come here and be your new vocal coach."

Will nods. "Mercedes is one of the strongest vocalists in McKinley Glee Club history."

Kurt glares. "So get on point, Kitty, your little theory about Mercedes' shattered dreams, like most of the garbage that comes out of your mouth, is wrong. All right, Mercedes is back because she has a new album coming out, all about home, and she's come back to film a video for it."

"Wow, Mercedes, that's awesome." Sam says.

"And Mr. Shue asked me to help choreograph for regionals." Mike adds.

"I love you, Mike, I love all my exes. But this isn't wonderful news, it's shocking. Now we need some guy to help us dance? Hashtag Glee Hates Girls. And what are you here to lecture us about, Kurt, our horrible taste in clothing?" Tina rants.

"My dad has cancer." Kurt reveals.

"Thanks, Tina." Angie comments.

Mercedes smiles. "All right, let's take this whole thing from the top. Kitty in the back. Marley, I want you on lead vocals. All right, come on... let's go." Mercedes says.

/ / /

Angie, Kurt, Blaine, Mercedes and Mike are all at the Lima Bean together.

When Kurt sees it's 4:28 pm, he taps his nose three times. Angie rubs his shoulder. "Kurt, he'll be fine." She tells her brother.

Kurt nods. "I'm trying to have faith, but it's really hard. I lost my mom to cancer — I can't lose my dad too."

Mercedes and Angie share a knowing look.

It's time for a Wonder-vention.

/ / /

Mercedes gathers New Directions in the auditorium.

"Alright everybody, let's give it up for Island Beetz recording artist extraordinaire, Mercedes Jones." Sam says.

Mercedes gets cheers and applause.

"All right, all right. Now, I know that Kurt and Angie are going through a lot this week, but in spite of that, we are all very happy to be here. As you may remember, we saw you guys at sectionals, and there's a reason that you guys lost. Fear. For instance, Marley. You have got killer vocals, homegirl, so why is it that I've never heard you do a Mercedes Jones-style vocal run?" Mercedes says.

Marley shrugs. "I don't know. I-I guess I've just been scared to try."

"Exactly. You're scared to belt it out. And you're probably afraid that when you do, I'm gonna test your breath control by hitting you in the solar plexus with this maraca. All right, give this girl a note to do a little runnin' with." She tells Brad.

Brad plays a note, and Marley does a breathy run. Mercedes nudges her with the maraca.

"See? If you had better breath control, you could probably hold that note every time. Now I'm not making anyone look bad here, but I want Angie to show you a Mercedes Jones-style run." Mercedes says.

Brad plays the note again, and Angie delivers a beautiful run.

Mercedes nods in approval. "See? Breath control. Now it's time to get down to the song. All right, floppy-headed bass player, why don't you give us a little bit of that spooky Stevie Wonder bass line to get us moving. And all of y'all need to shake out your nerves and stop being so scared, and that includes you, Kurt. I know what you're going through, and this one's for you, baby. And, Marley, I want to hear those high notes, and don't be stingy with those runs. Angie, c'mon baby. You're singin' with me." Mercedes instructs.

Mercedes, Angie, Marley and Blaine all sing 'Superstition.'

[Superstition by Mercedes, Angie, Marley and Blaine]

Everyone cheers as they finish.

Angie laughs as she hugs Mercedes.

"Queen Mercedes!"

/ / /

Kurt, Angie, Carole and Burt are waiting at the doctor's office.

"How long have we been waiting?" Kurt asks, pacing.

"I don't know. Like... 15 minutes." Angie answers.

"After a half hour in the waiting room?" Carole says.

Kurt sees that Burt is wearing a dark blue shirt. "Please tell me that is not a dark blue T-shirt under your flannel. All right, I asked you not to wear dark colors. Okay, dark blue is close to black, and we all know what black means."

"I don't think my wardrobe is gonna have any impact on what the results are." Burt says.

"But you don't know for sure, okay? I mean, I asked you to do one thing." Kurt states.

"I am barely keeping it together, Kurt!" Burt states loudly.

Angie takes Kurt by the hand. "Kurt come sit down." She invites.

The doctor walks into the room.

"Hey, Doc, what's the good word?" Burt asks.

"You know, I'm gonna skip the cliches about my golf game and get right to it. As you know, we were mildly aggressive with your treatment considering you were still in stage I. We used implant radiation therapy." The doctor says.

"And he completely changed his diet." Carole adds.

"Well, whatever you were doing, it worked. The tumor's gone." Says the doctor.

"What?" Angie says.

"Your PSA levels are back to normal, and you have the prostate of a 20-year-old according to your Gleason scores." The doctor informs.

"Okay, wait, s-so... you're saying he's cured?" Kurt asks.

"We prefer "in remission" but in layman's terms, yeah."

Angie, Carole and Kurt are on their feet, smiling away.

"Hey! Hey! Looks like I picked the right shirt, huh, buddy? Come on, man! Oh! Doc, thank you so much." Burt says.

"Thank you." Carole thanks.

Burt smiles. "I just... I wasn't ready to leave you guys yet. Things aren't finished, right? So much to do. Kurt getting married, grandbabies, having old people sex with Carole. Ugh. I'm just so happy. I'm not going to miss it. I love you guys." Burt says as he hugs the three.

"I love you guys. I don't have cancer." Burt whispers.

Angie couldn't be happier.

/ / /

"All right. He'll be here. Any minute, I'm sure." Kurt says.

Burt walks into the choir room. "Yeah."

"Dad!" Kurt says.

Burt smiles as he hugs his son. "Hey. Hi, everybody. Good to see you." He says as everyone cheers for Burt.

Burt smiles at Will. "Shue. Good to see you, buddy."

Will nods. "Likewise. How you doing?" He asks.

Kurt smiles from his spot at the front of the room. "Well, it's probably not a surprise why I asked you to come here today."

"I'm guessing it has something to do with a song?" Burt asks.

Kurt nods. "Yes. But not just any song. See, the last time I dedicated a song to you in this room, you were in the hospital. But today we are celebrating life's most treasured and wonderful gift... a second chance. See, when I was little, you used to sing this song to me in the car all the time and it always put a smile on my face. So today it's my turn to sing, and your turn to smile." Kurt says.

Burt's already smiling. "I'm already there, kiddo."

Kurt performs 'You Are the Sunshine of My Life' with Tina, Kitty, Marley and Angie as his backup vocalists. He dedicates the song to Burt.

[You Are the Sunshine of My Life by Kurt]

Everyone cheers for Kurt and Burt.

/ / /

Mike smiles at Angie. "Hey Angie, can stay right there? Because I'm gonna need a dance partner for this." He says.

Angie nods and stands next to Mike.

Mike smiles. "Since this week is about wonderful things, I want to celebrate a wonderful talent. He's new to Glee Club this year, but I think if we all help him with his confidence, he can lead us all the way to nationals. Stop being so modest and get your butt up here, Jake!"

Everyone cheers Jake to go dance with Mike and Angie.

"Come dance with us Puckerman Jr. Show off your talents!" Angie cheers.

Jake comes to the front of the room and performs 'I Wish' while dancing with Angie and Mike.

[I Wish by Jake]

By the time the three of them finish dancing and Jake finishes singing, the vast majority of the glee club is on their feet.

Angie smiles as she high-fives Jake and hugs Mike. "That was good. That was... amazing!"

/ / /

Mercedes is at the front of the room the next day.

"All right, everyone. Ah, all right. Sit down. So, today's lesson... Well, I was gonna say "truth," but it's about this crazy-ass business that a lot of us want to get into." Mercedes says.

"If you're gonna tell us to not even try 'cause it's too hard..." Tina trails off.

"No, no, I'm just saying be ready. You know, when I graduated, a producer said he wanted to do a CD of my music, which, oh, my God, that's been my dream since before I even sat in this room. Turns out, he only wanted to do that on his terms. So I had a choice to make: I could do it his way and get there a lot faster, or I could do it my way, and maybe never, never even make it. So I talked go my parents and my friends, and I made a decision." Mercedes says.

"So, I don't have a record deal anymore, but I do have a record, which I'll be giving to all of you, and selling at a table in front of my church and out of my car, and on Amazon, so, whatever happens, at least I was true to myself. And you will have gotten there by taking... and you know it's coming... the higher ground. Hit it!" Mercedes tells the band.

Mercedes sings 'Higher Ground.'

[Higher Ground by Mercedes]

Angie is the first out of her chair and hugging Mercedes when she finishes.

"You must've been Stevie Wonder in another life because you just owned that song."

/ / /

It's the end of the week.

"All right, let's review. What are y'all gonna do at regionals?" Mercedes asks.

"Riff, run and grunt!" Marley answers.

"Emote!" Blaine says.

"Commit!" Ryder offers.

"Step up to the plate and embrace our talent." Jake says.

"And just like my boo Miss Mercedes Jones, we're gonna treat every note we sing and every breath we take with a little something-something we in the business of show simply call 'passion.'" Artie finishes. "And passion can be a scary thing, but we shouldn't run or hide from it because passion is... it's wonderful, yo. Auditorium, 4:00 p.m. sharp. I got a little jam I'm gonna sing for all y'alls! And you best believe it's gonna be sung with... say what?!"

"Passion!" Everyone answers.

"Yes!" Artie cheers.

/ / /

The New Directions perform 'For Once In My Life,' with Will, Kurt, Angie, Mercedes and Mike joining in the number halfway.

[For Once In My Life by New Directions, Will, Kurt, Angie, Mercedes and Mike]

The group hugs each other.

New Directions are excited to go to Regionals next week!

/ / /

2482 words

Songs Mentioned/Performed
1. Signed, Sealed, Delivered - Kitty
2. Superstition - Mercedes, Angie, Marley and Blaine
3. You Are the Sunshine of My Life - Kurt
4. I Wish - Jake
5. Higher Ground - Mercedes
6. For Once In My Life - New Directions, Will, Kurt, Angie, Mercedes and Mike

I loved writing this episode!

Next update: All or Nothing

GUYS, THE NEXT EPISODE IS THE SEASON 4 FINALE! WE'VE COME SO FAR!