Glee: The Road to Sectionals Review
Thursday, January 14, 2010
, Posted by Should I See It at 2:35 PM
Show: Glee: The Road To Sectionals Episodes 1-13. (Fox)
Creator: Ryan Murphy
Starring: Diana Agron, Chris Colfer, Jessalyn Gilsig, Jane Lynch, Jayma Mays, Kevin McHale, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Matthew Morrison, Amber Riley, Mark Salling, Jenna Ushkowitz.
Plot: A High School Spanish Teacher attempts to revive the once promising Glee Club at his Alma Mata.
Glee is somewhat of a surprise hit. When I first heard about the show I was skeptical (In all honesty, my first thought was actually ‘Matthew Morrison is leaving South Pacific for this piece of TV Rubbish’). But perhaps that was because a press release couldn’t capture the spirit of the show.
In the generation that thinks they can dance and the prize in the ultimate karaoke competition is a record contract and a shot at international stardom, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that it is cool to sing and dance.
The premise of Glee is simple: Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison), a high school Spanish teacher attempts to revive the Glee Club. Unfortunately those who are interested are the school ‘losers’: Rachel the Diva Extraordinaire, Tina the Asian Goth, Mercedes the overweight Black girl, Kurt the Gay Kid and Artie the kid in a wheelchair. Until popular guy and football player Finn Hudson comes along and is able to unite the club and lead them to success.
Sound familiar? Sound like High School Musical? (Just Substitute ‘Zac Efron’, 'Vanessa Hudgens’ and ‘School Musical’ where appropriate).
Of course it could all be a cliché. But, thankfully, Glee is more complicated than that. It’s as if Ryan Murphy took all of these stereotypes and held them up against one of those mirrors that distorts the reflection. Glee is that reflection. Everything is recognisable, but a little bit whacked up. The show creates its own realisy; A hyper-reality, if you will. This is a school where the cheerleading coach has the cheerleading uniforms dry cleaned in Europe. Seriously. In this world the implausible and the often ridiculous is accepted (Terri being able to hide her fake pregnancy from her husband for nearly nine months is case in point.)
But what really distinguishes Glee from the HSM franchise is that this high school is MEAN. It is the snark that makes Glee unique.
After an engaging pilot episode, Glee struggled to find itself. Inconsistency plagued the early episodes. Episode 3 ‘Acafellas’ seemed slightly misplaced; Will giving up the Glee Club for the Acafellas after spending the first two episodes trying to get it off the ground was out of character.
The show was briefly revived by a a guest appearance by Kristin Chenoweth in Episode 5 ‘The Rhodes Not Taken.’ Chenoweth did the hyper real better than any of the regular cast, and stole every scene she was in. (Do I hear an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress- Comedy Series????? )
But it wasn’t until Will and Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) went head to head in ‘Throw down’ (episode 7) that the series found itself and took off. Maybe it’s because the show started to value it’s supporting cast. The other Glee kids started to get more screen and song time. The show became more about the club as a whole than just Finn and Rachel, Will and Terri, Will Versus Sue Versus the World. It also delivered one of my favourite moments of the season; the scene where the students (I can’t call them kids because most of them are in their twenties) are mucking around in the choir room singing Nelly’s Ride With Me and are shown to actually be friends. We actually saw that they liked glee club, instead of just being told that they do.
From there Glee seemed to find its direction and took off. Episode 13, the finale for all intensive purposes until the show returns in April, did not disappoint. There was payoff for the season long sub plots, Will finally trumping Sue, great musical numbers.
Music is central to the success of Glee. And I’m not just talking about the massive sales both on ITunes and the recently released Glee: The Music Volumes 1 and 2 (Volumes 3 and possibly 4 will surely follow with the release of 9 more episodes in April.2010).But the music is , what I think, really keeps the show alive. There’s no denying that every time there’s a musical number, the energy of the show is really kicked up a notch (or ten). While I could do without the excessive use of Auto Tune and some better lip synching (Amber Riley listen up), the songs are always well chosen and always have fun arrangements.
Of course no show can be successful without a talented cast to back it up. And this cast is talented. They all d all their own singing and dancing.
Tony nominee and Broadway veteran Matthew Morrison leads the cast as Will Schuester. He lays the'staight man' in a world of wack, so his plot lines are never nearly a fun as everyone elses. But her always comes alive during the musical numbers. Every time he sings my mum always turns to me and exclaims "this guy i really good, isnt he!" I have a feeling his Golden Globe nomination was in recognition of his musial abilities reather than his comedic abilities, but the category is Best Actor in a MUSICAL or Comedy.
As for the students, the stand outs would have to be Lea Michele (Rachel), Chris Colfer (Kurt) and Kevin McHale (Artie). The rest are not necessarily fantastic indiviually, but great all together.
But the real stand out is Jane Lynch as acerbic cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester. She has the best lines and the best plots. Lynch clearly enjoys playing evil. With lines such as:
"You'll be adding revenge to the long list of things you're no good at, right next to being married, running a high school glee club and finding a hairstyle that doesn't look like a lesbian."
and
"You think this was hard? Try auditioning for Baywatch and being told they're going in another direction. That was hard."
and
how could she possbly be considered anything but the best thing about Glee?
I hope she walks away with the Golden Globe on th 17th of January. 
I'm looking forward to what Glee will bring in the second half of the season. I only hope the show can keep being consistent, and that, given it's success, won't get too big for it's boots.
Should I See It?
Yes. Loads of fun!
All pictures courtsey of Fox.
