Kurt and Mercedes walk out of the music room. He's very excited about the assignment, since he's very confident that he knows his own voice. He also tells her that he has the same vocal range as a 16th-century castrato. "But you know what I have that he doesn't?" Besides the obvious, you mean? Oh, Kurt actually means a song by Ms. Whitney Houston. And then his father, Burt, enters the school, sees him, and calls out to him. Kurt looks terrified to see his father, assuming that something must be wrong for him to have shown up at school like that. The look on Kurt's face almost makes me wonder if Burt had to come get Kurt at school on the day his mother died. No, Burt is actually there because he's taking Finn to a baseball game at the suggestion of Carol. Kurt wants to know why he wasn't invited to the game. Burt: "Are you kidding me? Every time I sit down to watch a game, you start in on the fact that all the players are wearing stirrup pants." Kurt, agitated: "Because there's never an excuse for stirrup pants." And then Finn appears to tell Burt that he's ready. Burt leaves, telling Kurt he'll be home around midnight. Kurt looks so stricken by this development.

In the music room, Puck is trying out his best pickup lines on Mercedes. "Girl, you got more curves than a Nissan ad." It's like he's channeling Larry from Three's Company. Mercedes is not impressed. Will enters and tells the kids it's time to start singing. Rachel jumps up to grab the first spot. She tells them she's going to sing "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus, since "it's about overcoming obstacles. In my case, the obstacle is you, my lackluster teammates who refuse to carry their own weight." You know, I feel like it's been quite a while since we've seen the Tracy Flick incarnation of Rachel. And then Rachel starts to sing -- horribly. Or, a little better than Miley Cyrus. The best thing, as always, are the reactions of the other kids. They all look pained. Except Brittany, who is smiling and nodding her head along to the music. Will interrupts the song to tell Rachel that she's lost her voice. And her panicked look takes us out to our first commercial.