Glee recap (1.03): "Acafellas"

Warning, spoilers ahead! Don't read any further if you don't want to be spoiled on last night's Glee

The third episode of Glee certainly offered an unexpected mixed bag. I knew going in that the cringe-inspiring Sandy would be back, but I wasn't expecting gay student Kurt to get development until next week. I'm not sure if the two balanced each other out, but Kurt certainly made Sandy easier to watch.

Let's start with the bad news, namely the return of Sandy, the former glee club advisor who was fired after Rachel reported him for touching a male student inappropriately. Sandy is effeminate, fussy about the thread count in his bedsheets and, when people suggest he's gay, he insists he has a girlfriend who lives in Canada Cleveland.

Stephen Tobolowsky as Sandy

We first see Sandy as he's hanging out in the teachers' lounge, pointing out that he can still visit the school since his court order only requires him to maintain a 50 foot distance from children, not the school. That means Sandy is there when Will gets the idea to form an acapella singing group with some of the other school staffers, the Acafellas. Sandy doesn't become a charter members of the Acafellas, though, as things feel "creepy" when he's around.

Sandy eventually gets himself a spot on the Acafellas by promising he can get Josh Groban to check out a performance and consider them as a potential opening act. Groban does visit them after a performance, but only to deliver a restraining order (that's two restraining orders for Sandy in three episodes) and to reveal that the friendship Sandy boasted about was a stalker's delusion, complete with obsessive poetry and unwanted nude photos.

Josh Groban