Glee - "Original Song" Review

“All I know is you blew me off to be with Stubbles McCripple Pants.” -Santana

Glee is always most successful when it focuses on the stories and lives of the students as they push toward winning the next competition their Glee club comes across. This particular episode was a return form where Glee reminded of us the potential this show has. There are extremely talented kids on set so it baffles me when the show chooses not to highlight them. I knew we were going to be in for a solid episode when it appeared the focus was going to be largely on the students. However, I never quite felt like the episode fully delivered. It was as if was about to sneeze and then I looked at a light and the sneeze went away. Was my need to sneeze curbed? Yes. But it wasn’t in the most satisfying of ways.

Glee has always done performance episodes so well. But why was this one not as strong as the others? Quite simply, we’re not emotionally attached to anything going on in the club. Before we had so many different issues going on the performances were extremely cathartic. Whether it was Quinn’s pregnancy, Rachel’s love story with Jonathan Groff, or the fact that New Directions was truly an underdog story. I felt that rooting for New Directions was like rooting for Duke. No matter how average they’ve been, we still hear a lot about how great they are and inevitably they win. Now I realize this was New Directions first win at regionals, but did anyone have any real doubt? It just seemed like it would have been really really easy to beat Oral Intensity and The Warblers. They’re nothing compared to how great Vocal Adrenaline was. Yes it was interesting to hear them do original songs, but you can’t honestly tell me that performance was better than the other ones they did. This brings me back to my original point about being emotionally invested in the characters.

Glee realized that they had to play catch up with the Quinn/Finn/Rachel story so they threw it in at the end of last weeks episode and devoted a lot of screen time to it early in this episode. It all seemed so rushed. I just never felt *that* sad for Rachel when she was singing. Finn hasn’t done anything this season to merit that much attention from her. I will give Diana Aragon and Lea Michelle credit for acting the pants of their scene in the auditorium. I really felt honest emotions coming from Quinn as she admitted to Rachel that she was better and that she was going to be the one to get out of Ohio. It’s almost as if Finn was her consolation prize. I wasn’t so sure I was feeling the scene at first because I thought Quinn was being uncharacteristically mean to Rachel, but then she showed us that she was just being brutally honest and sometimes that’s going to sting a little.

Last week I really liked the Santana and Brittany story line because I felt it was came from a real place and presented some very challenging emotions for a teenager. However in this particular episode, they decided to crush all momentum that story line had going. It was simple, but all Santana had to say was “I don’t know what I was thinking.” And there we have it. Don’t be surprised if that story line never comes back. But this just highlights another problem Glee has. I know that emotions of high school students are subject to whims and passing fancies, but changing gears every two episodes really retards any forward momentum and thus we can never fully commiserate with any of the characters. Really the only properly written arc was that of Kurt and Blaine. The writers took their time and fully developed the relationship before culminating it tonight. However, because Dalton Academy is detached from the heart of the show, I felt this story fell flat as well despite the best efforts of Chris Colfer who continues to impress on screen.

It’s not enough to write one good episode, stick at the end and hope that all is forgiven. I think we can apply some lyrics from Rachel’s song to my feelings on the show: “How many times will it take to get it right.” Although I found this episode very enjoyable, I felt it never quite peaked. Glee has a lot of cleaning up to do and I’m not so sure they’re going to start the process anytime soon. I think we’re going to have to be ok with the lack of character development and choppy plot if we are going to enjoy the show going forward.

Other thoughts:

I was happy to see the show realize The Warblers really was just the Blaine show. Even Kurt realized it, and Kurt knows best. However, even though they acknowledged their problem, they sang a duet and went right back to it being Blaine singing Pink with the Pips.

I need to applaud Glee for letting the kids struggle with songwriting at first. One of my complaints with the show is that the students are so great at everything they do the first time around. So it was nice to see the development process for once. It allowed us to see Will do some real teaching, even though he blew it by telling the students to write a song based on a title they came up with.

Speaking of the songs in development, I’m going to have to disagree with Finn. I think “My Headband” > “Only Child.” If I’m rating some of these original songs, I say “Big Ass Heart” has the most potential. “Hell to the No” is poppy and catchy but comes off as a rip off of High School Musical. “Only Child” is emotional, but lacks depth. “Trouty Mouth” has a high ceiling but it could be too one note.

I realize Oral Intensity was terrible but I knew one of the dancers so I was strangely entertained. I worked with Ashley Galvan last year and I always get excited when I see my friends get work on TV.

Kurt’s line “There doing original songs” was extremely necessary, because I wouldn’t have been able to tell if Rachel’s song was currently a single or original.

Brittany line of the week: “My headband.” If you didn’t laugh when Brittany said her favorite was “My Headband” show yourself so I can shake my head disapprovingly at you.

Glee - "Comeback" Review

“Who’s more rock and roll than Justin Bieber? No one. That’s who.” -Sam

Glee walked a fine line tonight. It was able to touch on aspects of things I both love and hate about the show. This was by no means Glee’s worst episode, far from it, but it is still standing in it’s own way from being great.

Let’s start with one of Glee’s biggest problem: Sue Sylvester. Glee is searching for a way to use Sue. We love Jane Lynch’s portrayal of her, but all the jokes are becoming hackneyed and we know the Glee club will not be disbanded anytime soon and the abuse on the students is more implausible than the kids spontaneously breaking into song. The success of the show lies within the relationship of the kids and their quest for regionals. There was way too much of the adults in this episode and the show is going out of its way to make Will and Sue likable again. I’m not unhappy about the appearance of pediatric cancer patients. Glee has proven that it can use material like this very effectively, as evidenced by Sue caring for her disabled sister, but this came across as pandering. It just seemed like they were using them to build the likability of Will and Sue. I didn’t buy it and I didn’t like it. If we care about one adult relationship, it’s between Will and Emma and that appears to be off the radar.

Now credit given where credit is due. Aside from the obvious question of how did Oral Intensity get this far without a coach, I like the idea of Sue being the coach there. It will essentially allow the show to focus back on New Directions while still allowing Sue to be a road block that we don’t have to deal with week in and week out. Hopefully with Sue being out of the spotlight we can get more Kurt. The lack of Chris Colfer is inexcusable. I worried about the show’s split focus and tonight Glee suffered. Kurt is just to interesting and dynamic to leave out of any episode. We need him back at McKinley High ASAP!

As for what I did love about this episode, count me a fan of just about every number on the show tonight. They served a purpose and moved the story. The rendition of “Take Me or Leave Me” from Rent was especially on the money. Here we have Rachel Berry singing another Idina Menzel joint. I think it would have been funny if when she was on the cast Rachel just one time said, “Has anyone ever told you you look exactly like Idina Menzel?” Maybe that’s only funny to me. I’m with Glee. Justin Bieber is an epic talent and I’m surprised it took this long to get some of the Beebs on the show. Sam could use a little more dance lessons if he really wants to be The Justin Bieber Experience. Maybe Harry Shum Jr. can teach him some things. It’s clear Tina is learning a little something from him as she booty bumped with Brittany during Lauren’s song.

I also really love anytime the show chooses to focus on the whims of high school students and how it effects their relationships. I really like the love triangle between Sam, Quinn, and Santana. Or is it between Sam/Quinn/Rachel/Finn/Santana? More of a love pentagon I guess you could say. I don’t find all the make up break stuff annoying because it emulates the real life of students. Further, anytime we get to see more of Naya Rivera, I’m a fan. I believe that she can be the answer to the show’s “Sue Crisis.” Santana should just embrace the full time role antagonist. It will focus the show and allow for tension in the group itself. Too many outside influences are watering down the narrative.

Other thoughts:

-Though I’m not exactly sure where the plot line began, I thought it was a nice bit of humor to have all the girls start dressing like Brittany who was just copying Rachel. It seems like it was all a set up for Finn to say that Rachel was the real trend setter. Which leads me to my next point....

-An original song is exactly what this show needs! We’ve heard all sorts of different covers of rock, rap, showtunes and this would really add a lot. I don’t know if I love that Rachel will be writing and performing her own song. I hope it’s more of a group effort.

-Sue’s voice over’s while she’s writing in her diary are annoying. Don’t talk down to the audience. We know Sue is going to try and take down the Glee club, just show us. Don’t tell us and then show us. Redundant.

-Did I see the words “Avatar On Ice” in print? I’d for sure watch that.

Brittany line of the week: “I wore a tank top today because I thought it was summer. No one taught me how to read a calendar.” -Brittany

Kurt line of the week: NONE BECAUSE HE WASN’T IN THE SHOW!