TV Review: Glee Gets in Touch with Its Roots

(I picked this photo because of how excited they all look.)


My biggest problem with Glee this season (and parts of last season) has never been the show's theatricality.  I started out legitimately interested in a show that frequently referenced Broadway and made off-beat jokes that not everyone would get.  But this season has been spent too largely on trying to increase Glee's "cool factor" by featuring random guest stars, topical plot lines, and way too much unnecessary drama.  What I liked about last night's episode "New York" was that the writers seemed to remember what the initial forces behind this show were, and remind us all why we started caring in the first place.

It wasn't a perfect episode, of course, but it would have been difficult for anyone to pen perfection in the face of this season's mountain of plot debris.  The kids' excitement about New York felt authentic at times but too over-the-top at others, and I still don't know how I feel about the show basically whoring out a single 10-block radius of Manhattan in order to add color and interest to the show.  I'm also wondering if the people who own Broadway theaters are aware of the apparent break-in epidemic going on in their buildings.

But joking aside, there were some things I really did like about this episode.  Rachel finally did what I've been hoping she'd do all season, which was commit herself to her dream over boys (she got back together with Finn in the end, but it was very clear that the relationship now has an expiration date, and I hope the writers don't conveniently forget that conversation come Season 3).  Rachel's dream of being on Broadway was one of the first really intriguing points of the show, and so I was glad to see the finale revisit that.  I loved (loved, loved) her duet with Kurt, not least because "For Good" is my favorite track from the Wicked soundtrack--they were both phenomenal in that scene.  On that vein, I also loved Kurt serving as Rachel's go-to gal pal/guide in this episode; it gave us another chance to see how well their friendship works. 

I'm glad they didn't draw out the Schuester story too much; we all knew he was going to go back to the kids at some point, and though I predicted they might leave it up in the air over the summer, I think I'm glad he's already sure to be back for another year with the Glee club.  Speaking of people returning for another year, one of the episode's definite highlights was the scene between Santana and Brittany at the episode's end.  I loved Brittany's break down of the New Directions family and the honesty of her feelings toward it and toward Santana.  I liked that we finally got a glimpse of how much she has changed since the show started from the ditzy cheerleader indifferent about who she bullied to someone who actually cares, and not just about herself.  I also got the feeling that only the things she said would have persuaded Santana that she wanted to come back for another year.

Last two things, I promise, both of them praises.  Loved the Blaine and Kurt scene (if you remember, I was hoping, as I'm sure many others were, to have one more glimpse of them before the show went to summer hiatus); the way they said "I love you" was just about perfect, nonchalant and genuine in equal measure.  Another development, and one I was wondering about following the prom episode, was Sam and Mercedes' secret relationship.  I'm legitimately intrigued to see how this one pans out, not to mention excited for the possibility of a duet between the two of them somewhere down the line, because I don't think we've gotten to hear them together before.  Why are my favorite shows choosing right now to write really cute secret couples?  I don't know, but I like it a whole lot.

So Glee is done for the summer, and not much was left hanging.  This episode felt in many ways like both a conclusion and like the show coming full circle back to the beginning of its run, so I will be very interested to see how they intend to proceed for the third season.  My advice:  cut down on the guest stars, etc, and focus on the characters we know and love.  "New York" did exactly that, and I think that's the biggest reason it was a successful episode.

TV Review: Glee's Night of [Writerly?] Neglect

Well.  One of Glee's greatest weaknesses in the past has been their inability to have more than one awesome episode in a row.  Thus, my hopes were not high going into "Night of Neglect," particularly given that it seemed, based on the promos, to be a Sue-heavy episode.

My expectations were accurate.  This episode was decent, not fantastic and not appalling, so for Glee it's pretty much a win.  I liked the storyline with Mercedes for the most part, and I thought the Will and Holly thing was a great example of the writers realizing when a relationship has run its course.

Other pluses:  Blaine and Kurt are super adorable.  Rachel was less shrill than usual, though not as fantastic as in "Original Song".  Mike Chang and Brittany respectively popped up and reminded me that they exist, in a good way.

Minuses:  Not enough Puck or Sam, or Santana (though that scene with Karofsky was priceless).  Also, it didn't feel like enough happened to merit an hour of show, which of course is a not infrequent complaint with Glee.

Thoughts on next week:  "Born This Way" hasn't even been released on the album of the same name yet, but trust Glee to already have a tribute episode.  It's supposed to be a 90-minute epic, so we'll see if any good comes of that.  The last episode that was advertised as being this big was the post-Super Bowl installment, which was a disaster.  So I guess it's only upward from here.