E-mail Robert Bianco at rbianco@usatoday.com

Let us now sing the praises of Kurt and his dad.

There are other things to cherish on tonight's Glee (Fox, 9 ET/PT), along with a few things to give you pause, which is the show's pattern. On the plus side, Artie (Kevin McHale) finally gets his own plot and a standout song. On the downside, there's a story for Sue (Jane Lynch) that teeters on tastelessness before pulling back though whether the retreat is a sweet revelation or maudlin audience manipulation is open to debate.

The best story, though, centers on Kurt (Chris Colfer, inverview below), who finds unexpected support in his battle to sing Defying Gravity from his loving if bewildered father (Mike O'Malley, one of the show's best non-singing assets). Glee is, at heart, a fantasy, and even the most realistic exchanges include comic flights of fancy. But there's a touching truth to the scenes between Kurt and his dad that takes this show to a deeper, better place.

Kurt, by the way, is right about Defying Gravity. The song works beautifully in Wicked as a defiant anthem for the disillusioned main character, but sung out of context it can seem merely histrionic. By providing his own context, Kurt lends it a surprising new poignancy.

Just as he and his dad do for Glee.