18. We Found Love
(Yes/No, Season Three) Will and the glee club plan a proposal performance for Emma and settle on a synchronised swimming routine to Rihannas hit record. It is an ambitious set-up but, at the same time, personal and romantic, with Rachel and Santana on lead vocals. Santanas fiery and soulful tone fuses beautifully with Rachels flawless diction. Will rounds off the vocal performance for his extraordinary proposal.
17. How Will I Know
(Dance With Somebody, Season Three) As graduation draws closer, the seniors are not just questioning their relationships, but their entire futures. They begin paying tribute to Whitney Houston in glee club. Will wonders why now, two months after her death. Emma believes that her death represented the end of the childhoods, because it coincided with their senior year, like hers did with Princess Diana's death. The episode opens with How Will I Know, albeit a stripped down, acoustic and decidedly more impressive version. Also it was first performance of Mercedes, Santana, Rachel and Kurt all together. It was an interesting quartet to experiment with before the characters left and went their own ways.
16. Not the Boy Next Door
(Choke, Season Three) Kurt prepares for his NYDA audition in front of, the infamously brutal, Carmen Tibideaux. Just seconds before his performance, he makes a last minute change to this Boy of Oz number, preferring to take a risk over his earlier Phantom of the Opera choice. A stellar performance from Chris, with a confidence that we had not yet seen from Kurt at that point, and have yet to see again. What's more, he is praised for his choice by Carmen herself. It's only too bad that he didn't actually get accepted to NYADA on the grounds of this A+ audition.
15. Shake it Out
(Choke, Season Three) The writers experimented again with different trio/quartets whilst they still had the chance. Jenna (Tina) is a pro at Florence + the Machine tracks (see Dog Days), as is Amber (Mercedes) although Amber could sing the phonebook and still sound as captivating. Here Santana is added to the mix and, as expected, her Amy Winehouse-esque tone fits perfectly in between belter Mercedes and sweet Tina. The song is incredible moving anyway but this is highlighted by the domestic storyline focused on Shannon Bieste. The girls apologise for making fun of an injury she sustained from her husband. Although the performance is fairly straightforward and is not part of a major story-arc, it is one of these small, surprise gems that Glee sneaks up on you every now and then.
14. Cry
(Choke, Season Three) After her disastrously failed NYADA audition it is even more cruel that Rachel takes out her frustrations in the auditorium with performs a flawless rendition of this Kelly Clarkson ballad. It is not very often that Ms Berry disappoints but there is something stunning about this performance. This character, much more than the others, has had a very specific goal since the first episode and to be knocked back ten years instantaneously is devastating. Lea does an outstanding job of conveying Rachel' agony and disbelieve during this lone performance.