‘Glee’ Recap: ‘The Break-up’ Has All the Break-Ups

New relationships are blooming and others come crashing down on ‘Glee’ as couples break up and start to come together in the course of the hour. Marley (Melissa Benoist) and Jake (Jacob Artist) bond over the rigors of not being able to afford lunch while Brittany (Heather Morris) and Blaine (Darren Criss) jealously watch the potential new couple from across the lunchroom.

Rachel (Lea Michele) and Finn (Cory Monteith) have an awkward moment as he tells Rachel he was only in the army for 16 days before being discharged for shooting himself in the thigh. He spent the rest of his time backpacking in Georgia but was too embarrassed to tell Rachel about his failed goal. To cheer him up, she invites him to go to class with her and move in if he likes NYADA.

Santana (Naya Rivera) visits Brittany, lamenting Kurt’s (Chris Colfer) internship while Brittany invites her to the new after-school club that she has joined with Sam (Chord Overstreet) that revolves around the ‘Left Behind’ books. Kurt calls Blaine for their phone date but is too busy answering work phones and is forced to reschedule their conversation.

In New York, Finn watches Rachel in class. He is torn because he’s happy for her but he knows this isn’t where he belongs. He and Blaine sing ‘Barely Breathing’ by Duncan Sheik to express their relationship woes. During the course of the song, Blaine has a “racy” Facebook conversation with another man while Finn watches Rachel in her classes.

Rachel and Kurt invite Finn to a karaoke bar when Blaine arrives to surprise Kurt with an enormous bouquet of roses. At the karaoke bar, Brody (Dean Geyer) joins them and he and Rachel try to convince Finn to sing a duet with her. Instead, Finn tells Brody and Rachel to sing together and they perform Demi Lovato’s ‘Give Your Heart a Break’. Finn watches their duet with a pained and resigned look on his face. Blaine follows them up with a ballad version of ‘Teenage Dream’ by Katy Perry, which he sang when he first met Kurt. He cries through the entire song.

Outside, Finn and Rachel walk through New York and Finn admits that it’s not the place for him. Blaine and Kurt also stroll through the city when Kurt asks him what’s wrong. Blaine admits to hooking-up with someone else, while Finn asks Rachel if anything is going on between her and Brody. Rachel admits to kissing Brody and Blaine tells Kurt that it meant nothing and he only did it because he was hurt and alone. The couples separate and sing No Doubt’s ‘Don’t Speak.’

Kitty (Becca Tobin) invites Marley and the glee club to her ‘Left Behind’ group where they discuss their sins and try to save themselves from the apocalypse. After they set up a fake rapture with extra clothing to confuse a girl who went to the bathroom, Marley tells Jake she plans to leave because she doesn’t like Kitty’s cruel behavior. Santana asks Brittany to leave but she refuses, citing that Santana needs to know what it’s like to be left.

At McKinley High, Finn visits Mr. Schuester (Matthew Morrison) to talk about his women problems and sits in on a glee club meeting. They discuss the fall musical and take Finn’s suggestion of ‘Grease’ because it plays to all the group’s strengths and is a crowd pleaser.

Mr. Schuester goes home to tell Emma (Jayma Mays) he was accepted to join the Blue Ribbon Panel to improve the arts and he will be leaving for Washington to help out. He invites her to go along with him because he doesn’t want to be left alone, but she finds it unfair that she's expected to leave her job behind. Their argument ends without a solution.

In the Vogue.com offices, Kurt stares at an apology note from Blaine that arrived with some roses from a florist. He tells a co-worker that he’ll be fine and throws the note into the garbage.

Brittany meets Santana in the glee club room to talk. Santana tears up and sings ‘Mine’ by Taylor Swift to Brittany, expressing what she can’t say through song. They cry and Santana apologizes for not being a better girlfriend and admits that long distance relationships are unfair. She tells Santana of a missed connection with another girl at school and they go their separate ways, promising that they both love each other.

Out in the halls, Marley calls Jake out on dating Kitty merely because she’s popular and Kitty herself arrives to verbally attack Marley. Jake threatens to break up with Kitty if she doesn’t stop and proves good on his word when the head cheerleader continues to abuse his friend. After the break-up, Marley asks Jake to work on ‘Grease’ songs with her, but he says he has something else he needs to do.

After searching and calling to no avail, Rachel finds Finn in the auditorium where he proposed to her. She calls him out on not telling her he was discharged sooner and telling him it made him less of a man. Finn counters that he did it so she could keep her freedom, which quickly devolves into his insecurities about not being good enough for Rachel or measuring up to Brody. As Rachel cries she tells Finn he was her first love and she wanted him to be her last but she can’t be with him at the moment. They break up.

Onstage, the newly single Finn, Rachel, Blaine, Kurt, Santana and Brittany, and the on-the-rocks engaged couple Mr. Schuester and Emma sing Coldplay’s ‘The Scientist.' During the montage, flashbacks to the ex-couples important moments are shown as they sing about wishing they could go back to the start of their relationships.

Although not the most uplifting episode before the break, things can only go up from here when ‘Glee’ returns in November. We hope.