Glee

[Katsuya]

So, that was probably hands down the best episode of the season so far. Like, even better than Duets. This little run they've got going (the Superbowl episode not counting) is making me feel very happy and like we're going in the right direction back towards the first season standards. Finn's speech about the different types of girl drunks was hilarious and Rachel's sudden realisation that being dumped by a gay guy was her perfect inspiration is so right for the character. Even if Kurt did go all preachy again for a bit...especially after his "foray" with Brittany that seems to have been retconned out of history >_>

ETA: Also, my love for Beiste grows every week. It's nice for Will to have an adult friend who isn't mad in some way. Plus, Figgins stole the entire show with "and now, performing Tik and also Tok by rapper Ke-dollar sign-ha..."

Edited February 23, 2011 by Katsuya

[GoGo Yubari]

Nah. Maybe somewhere in the top five only by virtue of how bad the season's been. Certainly better than the Bieber episode last week, at the very least, and certainly not as big of a trainwreck as I was expecting, but for me the highlights of the episode were the smaller things ("My Headband," the return of Principal Figgins' amazingly awkward, lifeless school assembly speeches). This is the best they've handled the Will/Emma dynamic all season, though, because I'd much sooner see Will genuinely trying to be a good, supportive person and being undone by shit like getting piss-drunk and trying to drunk dial her than... well, the utter creep that was in the Rocky Horror episode.

The bit with Kurt's biphobia was... ehhhhh. It's tough because on one hand, it's IC for Kurt to be a petty asshole over guys he likes (or, well, is obsessed with). On the other hand, the show really hasn't exactly done much to refute him in the slightest in any serious way and of all the characters, Kurt is prone to being the soapbox character for Ryan Murphy. Of course, his thing with Brittany was him sort of doing what he accused Blaine of doing but still. Maybe if that plotline hadn't ended as flippantly as it did.

Cautiously optimistic for Gwyneth Paltrow coming back on the whole, not optimistic in the slightest about some fucking romance plot between her and Will.

[Katsuya]

TBF, I think the entire Kurt/Brittany plot was just one massive roundabout way for him to sing Rose's Turn.

[thatblindgeye]

I dont know if this was the best episode of the season, but I enjoyed it.

The addition of Lauren has grown on me and I am actually liking her addition to the Glee club. Im not sure if she should be singing any solos, but her one from the other week wasn't bad once she got into it.

I was actually surprised at Coach Beiste's singing with Will. I REALLY enjoyed their little duet, same with Blaine and Rachel. I'm really looking forward to seeing what original song they come up with; though I'm hoping it'll be a bit more upbeat than the one Rachel sang at the beginning of the episode.

Of course what made the episode was Brittany

[Nick Adams]

Just got around to watching. That was interesting, to say the least. I knew the moment that Emma said that she didn't receive a message that what actually happened with Will's drunk dial was what had happened.

It was sort of odd to hear songs on the show that the cast didn't sing. Unless they actually did faithful recreations even for the background music.

[naiwf]

So I just got around to watching the first three post Super Bowl episodes this weekend, and my God were they awful. I'm going to hope you guys are right and that "Blame It on the Alcohol" is better, but it almost seems like the first 13 episodes of the series were written by a different set of writers than the people responsible for the last ~20. I like Brittany as much as the next guy, but they've overexposed her tremendously this season and the only times I've really liked her lately is when she channels Rachel and mentions how people are jealous of her talent or how she's the real trendsetter in the mix. The only characters left that I've consistently liked are Becky and Lauren, and they can't really screw either one of those two up. The one thing that Glee has always done well is the large scale performances by the opposition, but even then that only makes some of ND's performances look somewhat lackluster in comparison. Aside from rooting for the underdog, there's no way that Will's group of misfits is on par with the Warblers, let alone Vocal Adrenaline, and it's not realistic to have them considered as threats when their lead male is a horrible dancer and the worst featured singer in the group to boot.

[GoGo Yubari]

The only characters left that I've consistently liked are Becky and Lauren, and they can't really screw either one of those two up.

Oh my god, yes they could. They could screw Lauren up so hard and I'm patiently waiting for them to do so.

[GoGo Yubari]

Man, Naya Rivera deserves an Emmy nomination for tonight's episode. Definitely not a win, but a nomination.

[Katsuya]

Yeah...seriously, she's been putting in consistently good performances over the entire season really, but this was just an amazing show by her. I like how it was sort of the "right" way to go about it in comparison with Finn/Kurt last year (coincidence that both of them came in episodes before Regionals), and Brittany letting her down as best she could was really touching. I'll maintain that those two are the best pairing I've seen on TV in a while, they play off each other so well.

It was also nice to see Glee actually remember something from the last episode too and have Burt and Kurt have "the talk". It's only a matter of time now until Blaine and Kurt get together I'd have thought, especially after the way Burt was hammering home the "only do it with the person you really care for" stuff.

Oh, and weekly Lauren . Her and Puck make a great couple and I loved her motivation to be the next Kardashian. Plus, it was actually nice to hear someone tell Brittany that she's doing something stupid instead of just letting her get away with cheating death each week.

[Downward Spiral]

The frustrating thing about that episode, I thought, was Gwyneth Paltrow. I think the character is awesome, and I actually think she fits in with the show far better than I could have ever hoped (mainly cause I cannot *stand* her normally), but I just hope she becomes a regular or semi-regular character. Because they only have her for one-shot episodes, she almost has to be the focal point of the show. Which is a shame, because she has such a good chemistry with the characters that she would work brilliantly by just taking a back seat.

That aside, Santana and Britney were once again amazing last night, and Burt continues to be phenomenal.

[GoGo Yubari]

I wouldn't want her showing up more than three to four times per season, I actually thought her use this week was diminishing returns on her first one.

[thatblindgeye]

Going into the episode this week I thought it was the season finale. Even though I enjoyed the episode, I was disappointed that that was going to be the finale; thankfully that isnt the case as the show will return sometime in April.

That said, I liked the way they had a few of the kids show off original songs during the episode. Trouty Mouth should have been a contender .

I was a bit upset that they didnt continue off from the amazing Brittany/Santana scene from last week (really, one of the best scenes from Glee period), but I couldnt really expect it since this week was all about original songs and Regionals.

I WAS very happy that they finally pulled the trigger on Blaine and Kurt. Im glad they did the bit of slow build for it, as it made the scene where they kiss matter more, especially with Blaine talking about having a moment of realization when Kurt was singing Blackbird. That said, I can't say I enjoy the two singing a duet together. I dont think their voices gel that well when they are both singing at the same time. It might be Kurt's higher voice that does it, but I think they do tons better when they sing seperately.

I was a bit iffy about the original song idea as the episode went on, especially when The Warblers did Raise Your Glass since it was a nice upbeat song, but I enjoyed Get It Right from Rachel, and I LOVED Loser Like Me, which had that upbeat tempo that I prefer to hear in songs from the show. I would have had New Directions win based solely on Loser Like Me.

I was hoping the song would get someone else to sing lead, or at least have the song be a bit like Dont Stop Believing from last season where everyone got a part to sing. Especially after Rachel just had her own solo, I wanted to hear the other characters get a chance to sing. What Kurt said about Blaine and The Warblers is true with Rachel and Finn for New Directions. They get all the attention while there are other people in the glee club that have amazing singing talents. I can understand they are the proposed leaders of the club, but still. Puck has a better singing voice than Finn, Brittany and Santana have proven they can sing very well... The song was still fantastic, but having Rachel and/or Finn be the lead for every 'big' song while having the rest of the group just sing in the glee club room at school isn't how I want things to continue.

If we get a glimpse at Nationals this season, or even if they wait until next season, I would like to see a more serious take on the competition than what they do with Regionals. It is good fun, but I want to see more songs from rival glee clubs with a serious take on everything rather than something over the top every time. Though seeing Sue punch the Mayor's wife was great.

Oh, and a bit of a potential spoiler for Season 3:

Apparently, Ryan Murphy has plans of graduating the characters at the end of Season 3 and bringing in new characters.

[GoGo Yubari]

Yeah, the season 3 thing isn't a spoiler. I'm pretty sure it was worded like it wouldn't be the entire cast (unless it now would) but I'm curious as to who they would keep and who they wouldn't.

Anyway, last night was okay. Best bit was "Trouty Mouth" for sure, because I love that Santana is incapable of even writing a love song without it degenerating into a series of insults.

[EWB's Best Poster.]

http://www.esquire.com/video/#v909770639001

yeahh thats good times

[thatblindgeye]

I really loved this past weeks episode. Not the top 3, but definitely one of the best. It didnt feel like it was 90 minutes either. The pacing was done well. I thought some of the "love yourself for who you are" stuff was a bit daft sometimes, but overall I really enjoyed the way they got the message across. Seeing Kurt return to New Directions and seeing his moment with Blaine was tear-inducing, and I cannot wait to see the writers pull the trigger on bringing the Santana/Brittany storyline to the final climax.

Plus I would have to say that Rachel and Quinn singing their mash up together had to not only be one of, if not the, best mashup on the show thus far, but also one of the best duet pairs, if not the best.

[GoGo Yubari]

I wasn't super-into it because I don't care about Rachel and/or Emma drama. But the Santana subplot was awesome as always, they've finally found a way to make Karofsky an interesting character and not just a two-dimensional antagonist and I'm actually genuinely interested to see where he goes from here, and holy shit Brittany was a badass for that one moment there. Of the many ways they've written her this season, I like the way they've written her in her two big scenes with Santana in the past few episodes the best.

[EWB's Best Poster.]

Yeah Brits a scene stealer when given the chance. Love her character the best.

And it was good for the gay bully to become more than a gay bully with actual sentances that werent straight from after school specials.

[thatblindgeye]

So the season finale has come and gone and Im glad that they didnt have New Directions win Nationals. It was a nice episode, bit too Rachel/Finn heavy for me, but I enjoyed it. The second song they sang was amazing, on par with Loser Like Me.

One thing I must say is that I cant stand how they have the characters in the show act like Finn and Rachel are the godly duet couple that will defeat any judge that dare give them a bad score. I LOVE Rachel singing when it is the right song, and I dont mind Finn at all, but there are duos that are 10x better at duets than Finn and Rachel. Just getting to actually hear Santana and Brittany () sing in the second song during Nationals was amazing. Give those two and Puck more time to shine if anything.

[GoGo Yubari]

I thought the finale was awful. Since I have zero interest in Finn and Rachel as a couple unless they miraculously don't break up within five episodes of season three starting, and I couldn't give less of a fuck about anything Will does, there were zero stakes to anything. Vocal Adrenaline were irrelevant, the challenge of writing songs that close to the deadline was... well, first of all it was shockingly flippant, but it also just didn't feel like a challenge at all ("oh, well, I guess we've done all the other stuff we needed to do, time for a bunch of high schoolers to write a hit song in like a day!"). I don't have a problem with New Directions losing again but in "Journey" they did an amazing job of making it really feel like they were going up against insurmountable odds; an absolute juggernaut in Vocal Adrenaline doing one of the most iconic songs in rock history, and a very competent group in Aural Intensity pandering to the base egos of the judges. This time the episode was structured so it felt like everyone gave more of a fuck about being in NYC than about being in Nationals. If nobody seemed to be taking the competition seriously, why should I feel bad that they didn't place?

Plus the Quinn cliffhanger from last week turned out to be a total bust. I mean, in a realistic way; I could absolutely see someone like Quinn making an empty threat that they had no real weight behind, but this isn't reality, this is heightened teen show choir soap opera stuff. All that for "I'm going to tell on Rachel and Kurt" and then crying about how nobody loves her? Amazing. And sadly, that was one of the best scenes in the episode (along with "My Cup" and the Brittany and Santana "yep, we're milking this for another season" scene). The nicest thing I can say is that at least three months from now I'll probably have gotten the sour taste out of my mouth and will have missed certain members of the cast enough that having them back on TV will be pleasant.

Also on an unrelated note, I'm going to sigh and shake my head when Jane Lynch is nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Emmy's for last week's episode whilst Naya Rivera gets nothing. What the fuck are they even going to do with Sue in season three? I love Jane Lynch but the character feels so played out at this point.

[thatblindgeye]

Naya Rivera needs some sort of award. I dont care what it's for, she just needs an award. I went into this show loving Michele Lea, but after two seasons Naya and Heather Morris are at the top of my list for different reasons. I never would have thought that they would turn Santana into such a great character, and as Ive said I never would have thought that they would turn a Santana/Brittany lesbian shtick into something serious and amazing.

Compared to the Regionals episode, this one definitely fell flat, but the little things from this episode made it enjoyable for me. Getting to actually hear Brittany sing again, and not just a Spears cover, let alone sing My Cup, is just something that helped me forget that the episode barely touched on "oh shit nationals right?" Im beginning to get sick of Finn/Rachel just because, we get it, they love eachother but dont know what the fuck they want. If they have them break up in season 3 just to have them get back together again in season 3, I will pull my hair out.

Jane Lynch I love just because she is supposed to be the bad guy of the show, but the shit she does is so over the top that you cant really HATE her. That and when there are the rare moments where she is serious Ive loved them. But I agree. Naya should get an award for her portrayal as of late.