future Rachel start the number with a cane and future Mercedes break through to finish the song off with a riff, and it's hard not to be endeared to them." Poniewozik wrote that Rachel's "silent reminder to Kurt to smile on stage was a perfect, sweet little moment", a sentiment shared by Tim Stack of Entertainment Weekly. Poniewozik also noted that "Lea Michele had some of her strongest non-singing moments of the season by showing not just how Rachel dealt with her problems with Finn but with being on the periphery of the group." The storyline that featured the disintegration of the Rachel–Finn relationship, when commented on at all, was viewed unfavorably; VanDerWerff called it a "stupid twist". Brown praised the addition of Fink as Lauren to New Directions, and declared, "I hope she's on the team for keeps", while Poniewozik was pleased that "the episode used Lauren for comedy without simply making her the butt of jokes". Brown also wrote, "Kurt's arc was subtler this week, and thereby about 50 times more interesting. I […] am impressed that Glee handling his acclimation to Dalton so truthfully." Canning was similarly impressed, and called Kurt at Dalton "the most solid story" of the episode. There was little approval among reviewers for the "canary in a cage" metaphor in the scene between Kurt and Blaine at the end of the episode, with Kurt the "canary" in his new Dalton cage; Hankinson characterized it as "super ham-fisted", and others were nearly as harsh. Music and performances The musical performances in this episode were mostly praised by critics, though there was little said about the quality of the abbreviated performance by the Hipsters in competition. There was near-universal approval for the first song heard, "Don't Cry For Me Argentina", which Stack called "totally beautiful" and gave an "A−"; he, like Burns, who said it was "fantastic", loved having "Rachel and Kurt get a chance to sing together". Jen Harper of BuddyTV echoed Kurt's words in the episode; she said "Rachel really is as talented as she is irritating", but wished she "didn't always look like she's crying while she's singing", and added that she was "really digging Kurt in a lower register". Futterman noted that Rachel, as is usual with her "power ballads", "uses the time to grapple with the latest obstacle to her future stardom, while we see Kurt deliver a clear, restrained