by Gina Scarpa

 

We're just ONE WEEK from the season finale of The Glee Project and we're down to the final five contestants. It's about time we finally got to the Actability challenge. That's going to be just a tad important if they're going to land a role on Glee.

 

This week's homework assignment is "Addicted To Love" and Michael is the only one who is familiar with it (take THAT Blake!). In rehearsals, the song didn't sound that great but let's see what happens in the performance. This week's mentor is none other than Diana Aggron, whose character on Glee has perhaps gone through the most change since season 1. To throw the contestants off a bit, Diana holds flash cards while they sing and they'll have to immediately show that emotion in their performance. So much for rehearsals!

 

Diana felt Lily could have taken her performance farther and she's the only one that gets constructive criticism really. It came down to Michael and Ali, and Michael wins his first challenge. Personally, I think it should've been Ali but I guess they can't let her win EVERY time.

 

The upcoming video shoot will be set to Pink's "Less Than Perfect" but instead of the traditional music video, they'll shoot a (very complicated) movie trailer. Let me see if I can sum up the plot for you. Aylin is a Muslim student who gets pregnant by Blake, the quarterback of the football team. When he rejects her, she finds comfort in Michael, another football player, but that makes Blake jealous. Michael's sister is Ali, who had hopes of becoming an Olympic runner until a car accident, that was Lily's fault, left her paralyzed.

 

In the studio, some people sang pitchy and Lily broke down about... actually, I'm not really sure what. I think it was about how she feels about herself compared to how others feel about her. At the shoot, she dug deep to bring out emotion in her improv scene with Ali but kept forgetting the main line that Erik wanted her to say. Blake shows a totally different side of himself, playing a complete jerk. Aylin sheds tears when she puts on a traiditional Muslim outfit and I have to admit that I got a little misty as well.

 

After the video, the mentors gave some final, uplifting words before revealing that all five of them are going to give a last chance not performance, not just for Ryan, but for the writing staff as well. That seems like both a good and a bad thing.

 

Michael - "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper
Michael spends most of the performance closing his eyes and looking down and the song seems to be over before it even started. Robert proclaims that Michael has grown the most - REALLY? The writers do find him to be genuine, which I'll give him, and think the female fans would really like him.

 

Lily - "Son of a Preacher Man" by Dusty Springfield
I haven't always been a fan of Lily but to me, she has grown the most of anybody. In recent weeks, she's shown a softer side that is much more tolerable than her usual brassy self. The writers think she's interesting and perhaps complex, but also worry that she could be hard to direct. Their instincts are right - she's found herself in the bottom before because of that very reason.

 

Ali - "Here's To Us" by Hailstorm
I've never heard this song before but Ali sang the hell out of it. Sometimes, I just wish she'd tone her facial expressions down. Ryan feels that she struggled in the video shoot but the mentors blame it on Lily. Still, she needs to deliver no matter what. The writers think they could write a bitchy character for her, which would definitely be different than what we're used to seeing from Ali.

 

Blake - "I'm Still Standing" by Elton John
Okay so I'm not trying to knock Elton John here but this was an absolutely terrible song choice for Blake. It came across as super corny and really didn't show anything about Blake. Still, the writers think he's a star but there's that age old issue that he doesn't seem affected or wounded. Glee is about misfits and Blake is anything but.

 

Aylin - "Fighter" by Christina Aguilera
The key was lowered for Aylin so it doesn't really display her vocal prowess until nearly the end of the song. You can't deny the fire that she has though and the writers are extremely interested in writing for her. She would be a character that not only hasn't been seen on Glee, but really isn't seen on television at all.

 

As they talk things over, Ryan tells the writers and mentors they should consider eliminating more than one person, keeping only contestants they're inspired by. When the callback list is posted, both Lily and Michael are sent home right before the end of the competition.

 

On the preview for the finale, Robert announced that there will be only one winner - who's it gonna be?

 

Don't miss the finale of The Glee Project, Tuesday at 10/9c on Oxygen.

 

(Image courtesy of Oxygen)

 

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