'Glee' Season 3, Episode 2 Recap & Song List - 'I Am Unicorn'

Episode two of the "return to form" season of "Glee," and things seem to be on track. In fact, the writers have chosen not only to focus on the core characters, but also to handle only a couple of them at a time.

The payoff is a good one: "I Am Unicorn" dove into the psyche of Kurt and Quinn in ways we haven't seen since season one. While a season two episode of this type might have tried to jam in more songs and touch on other storylines, this one stays disciplined. And despite some rather forced plot devices, it turns out for the best.

Two characters in particular get the focus in this episode: Quinn and Kurt. Quinn has to deal with the fact that Shelby Corcoran, who still has Beth (yeah, remember when Quinn had a kid?) is now a teacher at McKinley. The very thin reason for this is that Sugar Motta's rich father decided to fund his own glee club at the school so that Sugar could be a superstar, and Shelby has been hired on to coach it. Okay. Fine. We'll buy it. But just this once.

But Quinn is still doing her skank thing, and Shelby refuses to let her see Beth until she cleans up her act (and dyes her hair back, I guess?). Quinn refuses, but seems to turn things around after Puck visits the kid and makes a case to Quinn to be part of her life. But we find out that it's all an act, and bitchy Quinn is still in control... and seeking full custody of the kid.

On the Kurt side, it all starts with Brittany approaching him to offer her services as campaign manager for his run for class president. He's a little bothered by Brittany's ideas, though, which involve a lot of glitter, pink and unicorns. Kurt thinks it's all a little too gay, and that's saying something.

But Kurt's about to learn his lesson. Both he and Blaine are trying out for "West Side Story," which is being directed, oddly enough, by Coach Bieste, Emma and Artie. Kurt puts on a great performance of "I'm the Greatest Star," but the trio of directors worry that Kurt is a little too "delicate" to play Tony. It only gets worse when, to prove them wrong, Kurt does a reading from "Romeo and Juliet" with Rachel that's just unbearable.

So Kurt comes to the realization that "I am unicorn," with the help of good ol' Burt, who tells him, "You know what they call a unicorn without a horn? A friggin' horse." Always good to have Mike O'Malley show up. More Mike O'Malley please.

But things might not turn out so well: Kurt puts the unicorn posters back up, only to find that Brittany has decided to run for class president herself at the urging of Santana. And things are only made worse when Blaine gives a great audition with "Something's Coming" and is asked by the directors if he would be willing to read for Tony, as Kurt watches from the wings. Uh oh.

There were other bits and pieces in here, such as Sue's campaign video against the arts and the "booty camp," but most of that either serves those two main storylines or set up for the overall arc of the season. And that's exactly how a TV show is supposed to work, rather than finding a way to force an homage to a different artist each week. Nicely done, "Glee"... you're back on track.

Extra props to Lauren Potter this week, whose "Whoa!" when Schuester made her sound levels spike made me laugh pretty hard, as did "That was pretty sexy." It seems that in an episode where our one-liner queen Brittany gets a bigger role, Becky holds the crown.

This week's numbers: