‘Glee’ recap: A perfect Valentine’s Day confection

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On Tuesday night, “Glee” wasn’t only back at its usual time, it was back to doing what it does best: giving us entertaining (and sometimes surprising) storylines involving characters we care about who sing songs that emerge organically and advance the story. It was like a perfect heart-shaped bubble of an episode reminding the show’s fans about all the things we’ve missed about the show these last couple of months. Thanks, “Glee,” we love you, too.

Or maybe it was more like a shiny, gift-wrapped Valentine’s Day box of candy, with great lines and moments and songs and plot twists crammed in there like a mouth-watering variety of delicious confections. Hard to choose the best ones, and unlike Puck’s new crush, glee-clubber-come-lately Lauren Zizes, we just can’t work through them all in one fell swoop.

But here are some bite-size bits (nougaty nuggets?) -- thoughts, questions -- worth chewing over:

1) Why don’t we miss Will Schuester? Mr. Schue’s personal life, which occupied so much of last season and the early part of this season, has been remarkably absent from the show of late. This episode, in which the adult characters are barely present, to no ill effect, cements our belief that “Glee” is strongest when it focuses on the kids and their teenage concerns -– love and music and, apparently, kissing, chief among them.

2) Is Lauren Zizes really going to tap into a whole new side of Puck? “Maybe it’s because she’s constantly insulting me, like my mom,” he says of his burgeoning crush on the glee club’s newest member. It is kind of hard not to love Lauren (and the actress who plays her, Ashley Fink) as she delivers lines like, ‘I spell woman Z-I-Z-E-S and I need to be wooed’ and “That’s the first time anyone ever sang me a love song -- and it made me feel like crap.’

3) Finn and Quinn again? Really? When they kissed, Finn, at least, saw fireworks. What will this mean for Quinn and Sam, and for Finn and Rachel? And what did that friendly, sly little Sam and Santana wave at the end foretell? 4) Yes! The Warblers get a real storyline! Plus, they get to sing with a purpose and a new locale, released from the pretty, pretty practice room in which they’ve been confined like, as we are not-so-subtly reminded, birdies in a gilded cage. And where do they go? The Gap, that cauldron of teen-image-creation angst, where they do flips off the sweater tables as Blaine serenades/stalks his well-coiffed and deeply embarrassed assistant manager crush with Robin Thicke’s “When I Get You Alone.” Alas, the guy rejects Blaine, telling him he’s too young, but the crush’s crushing blow paves the way for Kurt to confess his true feelings for Blaine, and for Blaine to confess that, despite the image he projects, he, too, is just a kid trying to figure things out as he goes along.

5) Yes! The Cheerios get to show their style in street clothes! Released from the flippy short skirts and prim white sneaks, they have never looked better.

6) Santana gets her comeuppance –- as well as her revenge. She also, along with Lauren, gets some of the best lines:

“Finn only wears that gassy infant look when he feels guilty about something.”

“I’ll just marry an NFL player. They’re super reliable.”

‘Please, I’ve had mono so many times it’s turned into stereo.’

And then there’s Brittany’s choice line of the episode (narrowly beating out ‘That’s my man and his legs don’t work’), delivered to a sobbing Santana: “You can try rocking back and forth; people do that in movies.”

7) While some songs worked better than others (along with the Warblers’ number, “Fat Bottom Girls” and ‘P.Y.T.’ were standouts) the only real overly sweet and gooey confection in the box was Tina’s “My Funny Valentine.” What was that meltdown about, anyway?

-- Amy Reiter