Charice in ‘Glee’ Episode

Charice Pempengco has given Filipinos a reason to be “Glee”-ful these days.

In the pilot episode of the second season of the comedy-musical aired Sept. 22 on ETC, Charice shone in—of all places—the ladies’ room where she had a showdown with the show’s lead star, Lea Michele, in their version of Lady Gaga and Beyonce’s “Telephone.”

One of the best recorded and performed songs in the pilot, it, however, proved to be just the tip of the iceberg.

What really stood out was Charice’s rendition of Beyonce’s “Listen,” which the Filipino singer’s character, Sunshine Corazon, sang as an audition piece for the Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison)-led glee club; a group of high school students that’s a mix of popular cheerleaders, football varsity players, and “gleeks.”

Although people have heard Charice sing the song a countless times before, it’s different knowing that she did so then to a global audience that has been smitten by the famed TV show.

Charice’s recurring role on “Glee” is a first for any Filipino. The last time a Filipino appeared on an American TV show, albeit as a guest in one episode, was Lea Salonga on “E.R.” some years ago.

Charice’s feat becomes even bigger considering that famed Hollywood actors and musicians such as Zac Efron, Gwyneth Paltrow (who is reportedly in two episodes this season) and Julie Andrews (who might also appear on the show soon) have expressed their desire to be part of at least one “Glee” episode.

Credited as a guest character, Charice was first seen onscreen while the glee club members of the fictional William McKinley High School in Ohio were trying to attract potential new members on the school ground. This was when Charice shared a split second eye contact with Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) during the “Empire State Of Mind” ensemble number. It led Rachel to invite Sunshine to try out for the club while inside the ladies’ room.

But when Sunshine started singing “Telephone,” Rachel joined her in a sing-off teaser which made the latter realizing that the newbie just might rob her of solos in the glee club.

Charice had a few more scenes before singing “Listen” to the entire New Direction club towards the end of the episode. Except for Rachel, everybody in the crowd gave Charice raves, particularly Schuester.

The positive aftermath of the first episode included the following: A tweet from Lea Salonga about Charice’s debut, another post from Josh Groban congratulating Charice, and the debut of Charice and Lea Michelle’s version of “Telephone” at No. 11 on the iTunes chart.

Of relationship plots and character blueprints

Aside from Charice, “Glee” Season 2 is made more interesting by the relationship plots and character blueprints. The conflicts and possible relationships in the new season are well-covered what with the hilariously offbeat yet effective chemistry between warring Will Schuester and Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch). The glee club head and cheerios coach, who have bickered on-and-off during the first season, are incongruously teaming up against new football coach Shenna Beiste (Dot Jones).

They do so after Beiste’s joining the team slashed the glee club and cheerleading budgets by 10 percent each with Sue calling the project “operation mean girl.”

And then the other juicy sub-plots: Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron) tipped Sue that Santana Lopez (Naya Rivera) had a boob job so she could get on the cheerios coach’s good side. As a result, she demoted Santana from head cheerleader to catcher because she felt getting a new pair of silicones is a sign of insecurity.

Asian choir members Tina Cohen-Chang (Jenna Ushkowitz) and Mike Chang (Harry Shum, Jr.) also started dating but Artie Abrams (Kevin McHale) wants his girlfriend back.

“Glee” is back to its entertaining form. All that high school drama getting a theatrical lease in one music video-ish number to another, the songs in surround-sound-like recording lift the theatrics as the visuals and sub-plots do—everything over the top but working.

The ability of “Glee” writers in criticizing situations and characters to pieces go to the extent that the repertoire (presumably from the last season) seem to have been picked from a drag queen’s i-Pod.