Would This 'Glee' Plot Twist Be Right?

We learned earlier this week that Glee 's going to return with a bang on Feb. 25 — or rather, a bitch slap. And now we know a little bit more about why Rachel Berry's about to get so violent with her new NYC bestie. Mean girl and arguably the best character on the FOX show, Santana Lopez, is going to score the understudy role to Rachel's Fanny Brice in Funny Girl and their new-found friendship is going to get shaken up big time.

We saw Rachel administer an epic slap in the promo to Santana's face with no real context which, considering that they've been getting along so well lately, made us immediately want to know why. Did Santana push some buttons? Is Rachel finally going to come out from behind her stoic facade and grieve publicly about Finn's death? Now that we know that Santana's going to move in on her dream, because we all know that Santana Lopez was NOT born to be someone's understudy, we think we have an idea.

What if Ryan Murphy and FOX have planned for Santana to prove so great of an understudy and so unique that she pulls the rug right out from under Rachel and ends up getting cast as Fanny Brice? I know, that'd just be insane — but why else would Rachel be winding up and bitch-slapping her new BFF as if she wanted her entire family to feel it all the way back in Lima? We've never seen Rachel get violent before, but as great as it is to see that there's some of the old, firey Rachel Berry left, we're concerned.

Would it really be the best move for Glee to shoot down Rachel's dream this way? Especially now that her and Santana have become such great friends and a support system for each other in New York? The show has never been a Cinderella story (remember: the New Directions didn't win Regionals during the first season) so Murphy might feel that to keep the series' move to New York fresh, he has to knock Rachel all the way down. We can't say that it wouldn't be effective to have him challenge Rachel in that way, but would we want to continue to tune into a show that epically kicked a character while she was down? We're not so sure.

Sure, the slap was great in the promo and will probably be even better during the episode but think about the fallout of Santana stealing Rachel's role.

Kurt Would Have To Choose

Rachel's been his friend the longest so obviously he'd have to choose her — but still, is it fair? Kurt's too busy trying to break himself into the entertainment industry to deal with Rachel and Santana drama.

Rachel Would Have Lost Everything

She held it together during "The Quarterback" with such grace and dignity that it was absolutely stunning. But when she came back to New York, she still had Funny Girl and her dream role to keep her getting out of bed in the morning. Without that, Rachel will actually have lost everything — the love of her life and her dream. That's a lot for one character to handle.

Where Would They Live

Blaine and some of the Lima crew will be moving to New York so at least Kurt will have some options. And let's be honest, he's going to run the hell out of there as soon as he can. But what about Rachel and Santana? Neither of them can afford to live alone and neither of them will be able to stand the other if Santana gets cast as Fanny and especially after that bitch-slap incident. It's great for the NYC plot to have the three of them together right now, if they're forced to separate we're not sure Glee can handle it.

The only good reason we can think of for Murphy to drop this epic bombshell in the show's first episode following the midseason break is that Glee has a reputation for making sure things are as wacky and out-there as possible. The show is moving to New York full time and if everything is going too well over there, it just wouldn't be Glee. But even then, Murphy isn't exactly shy about loving Rachel's character and the fact that this show is, after all, about her journey — he wouldn't do this to her just to make things interesting, that's just not a good enough reason. And it wouldn't be right.

Unless he sold his soul to Jessica Lange sometime before AHS: Coven wrapped — then anything could happen.

Images: FOX