The wonder of Glee, for me, is its power to manipulate emotions in such a blatent way...and I'm not bothered by it. There could be a lot of reasons for this. One, I was in choir and drama in school and the frightening and fantastic emotions linked to performing in front of an audience, wanting to wow them, is well conveyed by everyone on this show. Two, the sweetness and earnestness of the show is well-balanced by a knowing wink and a bit of a naughty streak. Three, it uses songs to jump right over most of our defenses. The big ending last night didn't disappoint and it tied things up well for a fresh start in the autumn. Sue Sylvester has emerged as one of the great characters in television...the writers and Ms. Lynch take her almost to cartoon villain status, but then hit us with a left-hook of humanity which keeps her a joy to watch. Now that Will's wife is in the background, there aren't any featured characters who aren't interesting and fun. Will Shuster is a great character and gives an adult, somewhat wistful, viewpoint to a show that could have been just a musical version of Gossip Girl. As a father, I appreciate the aspect of the show that pushes the idea that adults need to be there for kids...to let them know that someone else has gone through what they are currently and that someone cares a lot about what happens to them.
Anyway, the show makes me smile everytime I watch it...I think Glee is to our times what Andy Hardy "my grandpa's got a barn, let's put on a show!" movies were for depression era audiences...a little piece of joy.
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Nice choreography during Vocal Adrenaline's number mirroring what was happening in the delivery room.
* Glee has done a good job in the second half of the season in tweaking things to make it more satisfying. It made better use of all of the cast members -- even if if meant leaving one or two out of any given episode -- killed the one preposterous pregnancy story that went on far too long and dialed back on the other. And then it took that second story in directions that were more poignant, like Puck almost growing up enough to realize there is a great responsibility in being a father, and the developing friendship between Quinn and Mercedes.
* One good move was to take pains to round out the Sue Sylvester character. She was being overused and is nearly intolerable, but it was wise to make her a little more substantial than a mustache-twirling villain. Not just with the revelation about her sister; in the episode with Neil Patrick Harris, who was bent on budget cutting, Sue made a plausible and credible defense of the value of athletic programs.
And, of course, the whole business of Mr. Schuester breaking her heart. It was a riot, watching him seduce her to "Tell Me Something Good" and setting her up. It was uncharacteristically rotten of him, but you know what? He didn't want to break her heart; he wanted her to get off his back. And we learned that Sue Sylvester can dish it out but she can't take it, so I don't feel sorry for her.
Also, there was a weird subtext in that seduction scene: Jane Lynch is an open lesbian, and Sue Sylvester ... ? It was hard to know. She wears track suits all the time, and the one time she didn't -- when she was about to participate in a dance competition -- she wore a zoot suit. But we got our answer; Sue is one of those maladjusted people whose life is her work and whose work is her life, and has no balance.
* On the other hand, I wonder if we've seen the last of Will's now-ex-wife, Terri. I don't know if there's any more story for her, because they didn't develop her they way they did Sue. Terri is needy, arrogant, dismissive, covetous, judgmental, greedy, disdainful and bigoted. However, I was expecting the writers to peel back the layers and show us that even though she did a bad thing with the fake pregnancy, Terri, at heart, wasn't a bad person -- but they didn't.
* One weird thing: When Finn was working at the store and she asked him how old he was and he said, "Sixteen." What?
* Maybe it's just me, but after the Vocal Adrenaline crew pelted Rachel with eggs, I would have thought that let New Directions off the hook as far as paying restitution for the tire slashing.
* The finale was wonderful. At least three hankies. To begin with the preposterous -- Sue Sylvester is one of judges at Regional! and actually make it work was great.
* I liked that Quinn's mom came to the Regional; it seemed odd that none of the kids' parents would be there. But this world is kind of like it is with Charlie Brown and Peanuts; parents are mentioned, but (rarely) seen.
* The cross-cutting between Vocal Adrenaline's "Bohemian Rhapsody" performance and Quinn's delivery of the baby was so bold and outlandish that it actually worked!
* And I loved the twist on Sue being one of the judges. We are led to believe, throughout the show, that her outsized personality would easily manipulate the other judges into doing what she wanted -- that is, make New Directions lose -- only to find out that they utterly dismissed her as a nobody! "We're going to jet back to L.A.," Olivia Newton John tells her, "and you'll still be here." Ain't that kick in the head!
* It was nice that Josh Groban was pulling for our kids, though.
* On the other hand, we viewers know Sue voted for New Directions but she had no influence on the other judges. Still, she comes out looking like she rigged the result.
* Wow, Emma really has some fight in her!
* And that "To Sir, With Love" ending ... there wasn't a dry eye in the house at that.
Hmmm ...
For Puck, it was incredibly subtle, but I think Quinn is ready to move forward for and from him now.
As for Schu - Emma's the confused one now...
I think their decision to do a Journey medley was a wonderful choice, and the fact it wasn't just Finn and Rachel, but also Puck and Santana on the leads was fantastic. The whole journey theme - Rachel's real mother adopts Beth, Sue and Will come to an understanding - made sense.
As for that song - by a wierd coincidence, they showed To Sir With Love on a channel over here over the weekend - and it reminded me that Lulu isn't that bad an actress. What chance of her getting a cameo in the next series? If Matt Lucas can do it, surely she can...
ClarkKent_DC said:
Mike Williams said: