Glee-Ful Highlights From Episode "Born This Way"

It's almost time for prom on Glee, but first up, the highly anticipated 90-minute Lady Gaga-inspired "Born This Way" episode! Gaga's music only provided one of the night's songs, though her mantra ran through the episode. It's all about self-acceptance and surprisingly, it's not even Sue Sylvester trying to ruin the glee club's self-esteem this time. Rachel Berry wants a nose job. Plus someone's got a secret — it's Quinn, again — and who doesn't love a mall flash mob?

Emma is in denial about her OCD and with Will's gentle urging, she may be finally ready to get some help. The race is on for prom king and queen and it turns out everyone is in the race — Quinn, Santana, and Lauren all want it. And the moment Glee fans have been waiting for with Kurt, well since the kiss, is here. To break it all down just read more.

• Rachel, Rachel, Rachel. The glee club's star singer who constantly wavers between overconfident and insecure spent this week on the latter side. After Finn busts her nose during "Booty Camp" dance training, Rachel's ridiculous doctor suggests she get a nose job. While at first Rachel pretends she's doing it partially because it may improve her voice, it's obvious that it would be for vanity's sake. Rachel focuses on Quinn's delicate nose as her dream schnoz, even bringing Quinn to the doctor's office so he can mock up what she may look like after the surgery. One of my favorite numbers of the episode was Quinn and Rachels "Unpretty"/"I Feel Pretty" mashup. The whole glee club tells Rachel she shouldn't change what she looks like, even Finn who opens up and calls her beautiful, much to Quinn's quiet dismay. In the end, it's Kurt and Barbra Streisand who convince Rachel to embrace herself for who she is, but more on Babs later.
• Mr. Schue wants to help the club embrace their flaws and he brings in Emma to help make t-shirts for their big "Born This Way" performance. It's eye-opening, however, when Emma claims that the thing that causes her the most shame is being a ginger. Will and Emma have a couple conversations on the topic and every time, Emma insists that she was not "born this way" — get it? When she realizes that perhaps it's been an issue she's always had, Emma finally goes to see a psychiatrist about her situation. By the end of the episode, Emma's shirt reads "OCD" and she and Will share a tender moment.
• Quinn resists the love thyself lesson and insists that prom queens should be aspirational not relatable when Lauren announces she's also running. Turns out, Quinn's got a hidden past and Lauren, whose father was roommates with G. Gordon Liddy, has done some sleuthing. Quinn apparently lied about where she went to middle school so no one had ever seen the yearbook photos that revealed that she was about 70 lbs. heavier and had a nose job of her very own before transferring to high school. It's a little odd that no one has figured this out before. Lauren plasters the school with the picture of younger Quinn with her former nickname, "Lucy Caboosey," but the plan backfires and only makes Miss Fabray even more popular. Finn also has a sweet moment saying it's his favorite photo of his girlfriend. Otherwise, the two seem pretty blissful, though we wonder what will happen if they don't win prom king and queen after all?
• Santana is in full on plotting mode to get in the prom running as well, and she figures that getting Kurt to come back will help get her some votes. She deduces that bully David Karofsky may be hiding something about his sexuality as well, so she confronts him and blackmails him to pretend to be her boyfriend and make a public apology about the Kurt incident. Of course, Kurt sees right through the plan but uses it to his advantage making Dave lead an anti-bullying campaign. Kurt's return to the glee club is in the works, though not without a proper send off from The Warblers. Blaine publicly serenades Kurt with Keane, though of course the real drama lies with Kurt's big welcome home number. He belts out Barbra Streisand's "As If We'd Never Said Goodbye" in a very (perhaps overly?) emotional glee club reunion.
• Other highlights include Finn trying to learn to dance from Mike Chang, Tina declaring that she's going to become an "Asian sex symbol," Brittany's "Lebanese" t-shirt for Santana, and of course the "Barbra Streisand" (the song is by Duck Sauce) mall flash mob.

In case you missed any, here are all the "Born This Way" number Glee t-shirts:
Mr Schue: Butt Chin
Rachel: Nose
Kurt: Likes Boys
Mercedes: No Weave
Mike: Can't Sing
Sam: Trouty Mouth
Finn: Can't Dance
Quin: Lucy Caboosey
Brittany: I'm With Stoopid (arrow up)
Puck: I'm With Stupid (arrow down)
Santana: Lebanese
Emma: OCD
Tina: Brown Eyes
Lauren: Bad Attitude
Artie: Four Eyes
So, what did you think of the episode? With Kurt back are they now a shoo-in for nationals? Where was Sue Sylvester? Also, who gets your vote for prom king and queen?