Reception
Ratings
"Props" was first broadcast on May 15, 2012 in the United States on Fox. It aired at the usual time for an episode as the first hour in a two-hour special evening with "Nationals" as the second hour. It received a 2.5/8 Nielsen rating/share in the 18–49 demographic, and attracted 6.09 million American viewers during its initial airing, down from the 2.7/8 rating/share and 6.67 million viewers of the previous episode, "Prom-asaurus", which was broadcast on May 8, 2012. [15] Viewership was down significantly in Canada, which also aired the episode as the first hour of a two-episode special, where 1.34 million viewers watched the episode on the same day as its American premiere, down over 18%. It was the fourteenth most-viewed show of the week, down from thirteenth in the previous week, when 1.65 million viewers watched "Prom-asaurus". [16]
Although the United Kingdom also aired these two episodes together, viewership rose rather than fell. "Props" first aired on May 17, 2012, and was watched on Sky 1 by 795,000 viewers. This was an increase of nearly 7% from the previous episode, "Prom-asaurus", which attracted 744,000 viewers when it aired the week before. [17] In Australia, "Props" was broadcast on May 17, 2012, but unlike in the other three countries, it was the only episode broadcast that week. It was watched by 607,000 viewers, a decrease of over 4% from the 636,000 viewers for "Prom-asaurus" on May 10, 2012. Glee was the seventeenth most-watched program of the night, down from thirteenth the week before. [18]
Critical reception
The episode received mostly positive reviews. John Kubicek of BuddyTV called it "easily my favorite episode of the past two seasons, and quite possibly one of the best episodes the show has ever made". [19] Damian Holbrook of TV Guide described it and the episode that followed, "Nationals", as "clever, funny and filled with moments that felt like little gifts to the fans who have hung in there". [20] Houston Chronicle 's Bobby Hankinson said the "double feature continued the recent hot streak" of episodes, and Michael Slezak of TVLine highlighted this episode's "script that winkingly acknowledged fan complaints that Ryan Murphy & Co. all too often ignore some of Glee's original players in favor of new and more-hyped flavors". [21] The A.V. Club 's Emily VanDerWerff wrote that it showcased writer and director Ian Brennan's "strengths of acid comedy and sad stories of small-town teenagers who'll never get anything but to sweat it out on the streets of a runaway American dream"; she gave "Props" a "B" grade. [22] Rae Votta of Billboard said, "It felt organically Glee, zany but with heart." [23]
E! Online's Jenna Mullins thought the body-swap sequence "breathed fresh 'n' crazy air into Glee", and Kubicek called it "the best thing Glee has ever done and will ever do". [19] [24] Jyll Saskin of MTV said it was "super trippy, makes no sense plot-wise" and was a "totally awesome Glee moment"; Entertainment Weekly 's Erin Strecker wrote that "the entire cast deserved an MVP award for their completely on-point mannerisms", and singled out "Finn and Puck all snuggly together, holding hands and dressed up like Kurt and Blaine". [25] [26] VanDerWerff, however, described it as a "totally odd curiosity that comes out of nowhere", and said that the car trip taken by Tina and Rachel later in the episode was more successful at showing Tina "what Rachel's life is like". [22] Kubicek called the offer of the trip and subsequent drive a "sweet bonding moment" between the pair, and called it "great" that "Tina is the one who saves the day" at the meeting with Carmen, but Chaney wondered why it took Rachel two episodes to regain her drive and aspirations. [19] [27]
The scenes with Puck and Beiste were much praised, as were the actors. While reviewers such as Bell and VanDerWerff criticized the domestic abuse storyline, both were far happier with the way it was ended than with how it had been introduced in "Choke"—VanDerWerff wrote that "the fact that both Puck and Beiste's storylines resolve at the same time in the same scene is a nice piece of writing, with some strong acting". [22] [28] Votta called the pair's scenes "delightful" and thought they merited a "road trip adventure spin-off"; Bell said that she "could have seriously watched an hour dedicated to Beiste and Puck". [23] [28] Slezak highlighted "terrific work" by Jones and Salling, and the scenes with "Beiste holding a sobbing Puck" and confronting Cooter as "pretty remarkable". [21] Strecker called the latter scene "painful to watch, in the best possible way", and Bell described Salling's performance in the former as "truly incredible". [26] [28]
Music and performances
The musical performances were greeted with somewhat less enthusiasm than the episode as a whole, and given mixed to positive reviews. An example of this was the song's opening number, "I Won't Give Up". Saskin wrote that "Rachel sings Jason Mraz, like everything else, beautifully", while Rolling Stone 's Erica Futterman credits her for having made a "sappy ballad mildly more tolerable". [25] [29] Strecker gave the performance a "B+" grade and called it a "classic Berry power ballad"; "B" grades were given by Slezak and Washington Post 's Jen Chaney, who also noted Rachel's "vocal power". [21] [26] [27]
"Because You Loved Me" performed by Tina as Rachel received the most consistently positive reviews, though both Chaney, who gave the song an "A−", and Strecker, who graded it a "B+", stated their belief that the real Rachel would have done it better, and Saskin was more blunt: "We love you, Tina, but you just can't belt like Rachel". [25] [26] [27] Futterman was the most pleased, and wrote: "The richness of her voice removes some of the Lite FM softness embedded in the tune, and it really is great to see Tina get a song that suits her vocal abilities". [29]
The most divergent views were expressed about Puck and Beiste's performance of "Mean". Crystal Bell of Huffington Post asked, "How could you not be moved by their duet in the auditorium?" [28] E! Online's Jenna Mullins called it "one of the highlights of the season", and Slezak gave it a grade of "A". [21] [24] Chaney's "B+" followed her statement that "it was more effective than Swift's version because I can believe that both Puck and Beiste have had it rough", and Strecker described it as "lovely and thematically perfect" and gave it a "B". [26] [27] VanDerWerff said he "could have done without" their duet, and Futterman was even harsher: "it was quite unfortunate". [22] [29] Houston Chronicle 's Bobby Hankinson wrote that he "sort of liked" how the pair were "simultaneously improving upon and butchering a Taylor Swift song", and Saskin characterized it as "heartfelt and passionate". [25] [30]
Futterman said of "Flashdance... What a Feeling" that "there was a glimmer of old-school Glee in the performance, carefree underdog status that made me smile". [29] Saskin and Chaney both found the performance lacking; the former wrote that "something about this version falls flat", and Chaney gave it a "B−" and said it "wasn't as soaring as it could have been", though "Rachel and Tina's bonding moment was sweet" and she liked "the way it took us from hour one into hour two and Nationals". [25] [27] Slezak and Strecker both gave the performance an "A−". [21] [26]
Chart history
One of the four singles released for the episode, "Mean", charted on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 at number 71, which was higher than either of the two songs that debuted on that chart from "Nationals" in the same week; none of these songs charted in the US. [31] [32] One other single from the episode, "I Won't Give Up", though it did not sell well enough to chart on the US Billboard Hot 100 the week it was released, affected the charting there of the Jason Mraz original, which moved up from 34 to 29 on the Hot 100; it had previously charted as high as number eight. [33]
