matthew morrison

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REVIEW: Glee “The Spanish Teacher”

February 8, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Hola Gleeks! Nothing makes me happier than entitled American people butchering other languages resulting in hilarious nonsensical translations and this week’s Glee was mui completo of it. When a tenure position opens up at McKinley the race is on to secure the coveted position. Sadly Mr. Schue is on the bottom of the pile due to his complete and utter lack of a grasp on the spanish language which happens to be the subject he teaches. Oh had you forgotten that too? I thought I was the only one. Seems to me that he spends 100% of his time in the choir room but I could be wrong. Anyway, he signs up for a night class to learn some Spanish and ends up meeting his Latin Fairy Godfather…David Martinez (Ricky Martin).

Before the cast names have stopped flashing on the screen Schue (Matthew Morrison) has invited David and his bon bon to sing for the Glee club and teach them what it means to sing with duende and spins a horrifying tale of a future where we all speak Spanish. Horror! Mr. Martinez puts the kids at ease immediately with his tight blue jeans and his white teeth and his rapidly oscilating tush as he reminds those of us who forgot he existed just how sexy he is. Do you really want it? Oh yes.

Meanwhile outside the choir room plot is happening and this week it involves Sue (Jane Lynch) and her dusty vagina. Seems she wants to fill it with a baby and she wants a few ounces of Mr. Schue’s baby gravy so the kid will have good hair. Sue seems to have calmed down a bit this year and I like it. That doesn’t mean that we don’t get the snappy one liners anymore. They just come mostly from the coach of the McKinley Guppies, Roz Washington (NeNe Leakes). Color me sorprendido but I actually dig NeNe as the sassy Roz. She may be the most annoying Real Housewife on television but get her away from Kim and Sheree and give her a script and she’s actually quite funny. And let’s not forget that when she enters a room she OWNS IT. Her delivery is a little stiff from time to time but she got all the good lines this week. Roz is making a move on Sue’s job and she’s relentless.

It wouldn’t be Glee without a hot mess of unresolved relationship drama and this week it was mostly about Mercedes (Amber Riley) trying to figure out if she really likes hot blond muscular trouty mouth Sam (Chord Overstreet) or that tank of a man she wanders the hall with. Emma (Jayma Mays) suggests they not speak for a week to determine their true feelings. I wonder if they’ll find another way to communicate? A way that involves music?

In other unresolved relationship drama news the word is out about Rachel (Lea Michele) and Finn’s (Cory Monteith) engagement and no one is happy about it. It’s Kurt (Chris Colfer) that throws the biggest monkey wrench in the works with his locker room pep talk so it’s anyone’s guess how that will play out. Will and Emma have a minor tiff after Will is a supreme douchebag to her, but in the end the make up nice and make kissy faces.

So how was the music? I’m glad you asked. Ricky Martin dominated this episode with two performances, “I’m Sexy and I Know It” and “La Isla Bonita” with Santana and both will find their way to my iPod soon. “Bonita” is probably my least favorite Madonna track but they killed it. I think it was Ricky’s oscillating tush that put it over the edge. Mercedes made her feelings for Trouty Mouth known with a Spanish version of Gloria Estefan’s “Don’t Wanna Lose You Now” and Sam returned the favor with “Bamboleo / Hero“. It was Mr. Schue’s horrific rendition of “A Little Less Conversation” while dressed as a matador that really made the hour special. Kudos to Santana for calling him out on his embarrassing stereotypes.

Despite the treasure trove of one-liners from NeNe Leakes this week my favorite quote goes to Coach Bieste who delivered managed to cleverly work in a reference to “her little Cooter” while discussing Emma’s “Taint Misbehavin” educational pamphlet about how to properly clean one’s genitals. Well played Bieste. Well played. Next week it is Valentines Day and I’m betting there will be some tears.

What say you Gleeks? Should Ricky Martin shake his bon bon across the choir room again this season or is he terminado?

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REVIEW: Glee “Mash-off”

November 16, 2011 by 2 Comments

Fall means many things. It means rain in Atlanta, Christmas trees are going up at Wal-Mart and Glee is smushing perfectly good songs together into weird and ill-placed mash ups. Season Three has been no picnic. Tonally it is all over the place and Sue sylvester is wearing on my nerves. And while I am in favor of any storyline that involves Puck (Mark Salling) being sexy I don’t see where this Bermuda Triangle of fail concerning Puck, Shelby and Quinn with poor Baby Beth stuck in the middle is headed. Won’t someone think of the children?

“Mash-off” pits the rival glee clubs against one another in a friendly sing-off that Schue (Matthew Morrison) and Shelby (Idina Menzel) hope will restore the peace. But this little project is anything but friendly. The contest hasn’t even begun before Santana (Naya Rivera) starts hurling insults at Finn (Cory Monteith). Her motives are not entirely clear here and frankly she’s acting like a crazy person. I think the intent was to trash talk New Directions until they ran away whimpering but hurling fat jokes at someone who is neither fat nor has any body issues to begin with is just stupid. Even the other Troubletones thought it was lame. Who are those other girls anyway? Do they have names? Finn reacts as you would expect and hurls a few lame insults back at her that fall pretty flat. Santana is quick to remind us that her childhood was an experiment in neglect and terror and his insults can’t harm her. His next idea is even more confusing. Dodge ball? Really? Violence is always the answer when singing doesn’t work right?

The dodge ball match was a slaughter with the TroubleTones coming out on top, and ending in an all out assault on poor Rory (Damian McGinty) who ends up bloodied and whimpering on the gym floor. Imagine the stories he will tell his friends back home after his time in America is over. It is a horrible activity for school that I had blocked from my memory because I was never very good at it. When you are over six foot tall in the 9th grade you end up with a lot of exposed skin for the red ball to connect with but this isn’t about me. The spectacle gives Kurt (Chris Colfer) and idea for a worthy cause to base his campaign for senior class president on so I guess some good came out of it.

This race for president is perplexing to me. Shouldn’t this issue have been resolved like the first month of school and not a week before the holiday break? And who is that weird guy with the epic mullet? He gives me nightmares and I hope he vanishes into the sea of letter-jacket wearing extras soon. Rachel (Lea Michele) surprised no one but Kurt by dropping out of the race after she has a moment of clarity while discussing college with Shelby and thus begins the transition from bitchy Rachel to adorable Rachel for the second half of the season. Kurt has this president thing in the bag.

Let’s not forget the race for Congress between Sue (Jane Lynch) and Burt Hummel (Mike O’Malley) that serves no purpose other than providing a nice clean exit strategy for Burt and Carol at the end of this season. I realize Glee doesn’t exactly operate on any realm of reality but this subplot isn’t worthy of Saved By The Bell much less a flashy network show like Glee. Let’s hope it is resolved before the Christmas break. I don’t want to spend 2012 watching Sue and Burt debate anything. Mr. Belding for Congress!

Back to the angry lesbian. Teenagers are evil spiteful basement dwellers so when Finn called Santana out publicly for not coming out I wasn’t surprised. That doesn’t mean I agree with it. Outing someone is never cool and I hope that they make that point clearly and not send the message that it is a valid weapon in the war we call high school. Finn certainly seemed clueless about the impact of his statement and I can’t really hate on Santana for slapping him. I can’t really hate on Finn either because he doesn’t have a spiteful bone in his body. It was a mistake and one that will have repercussions. Kudos for Mr Schue, Burt and Sue coming to her aid when the mysterious other candidate uses the info against Sue in a campaign ad. Compassionate Sue always comes out of left field and surprises me. I wish she’d hang around more.

Also getting called out this week was Quinn (Dianna Agron) who is only slightly less evil and vindictive than Santana. I’m glad Puck came clean to Shelby about their plot to take back Baby Beth even if his motives were a bit creepy. This is another subplot that needs to be wrapped up post haste. Glee seems to be on a mission to make us hate all the girls at once this year. The only one not being horrible is Brittany (Heather Morris) but I’m sure I can find some reason to get mad at her if I think about it long enough.

The music was actually pretty good this week which is a nice change. I wasn’t nuts about Puck’s Van Halen tribute “Hot For Teacher” and I didn’t like Schue and Shelby’s “You and I” mash up until the second listen. As a child of the 80s I was really diggin the Pat Benatar/Blondie “Hit Me With Your Best Shot/One Way Or Another” and Hall and Oates “I Can’t Go For That/Dreams“. Who doesn’t love Hall & Oates? And who doesn’t love Puck, Finn, Artie and Rory with pornstache? The double dose of Adele at the end with “Rumor Has It/Someone Like You” was well done and expected given that you can’t turn around these days without Adele providing the soundtrack. I did think the transition from Santana running from Sue’s office in tears immediately to the stage to sing was a bit weird. Someone needs to have a chat with the editor. And would someone PLEASE give Blaine some pants that fit! I am tired of looking at his ankles.

Glee is on break for Turkey Day and won’t be back for two weeks. But when it does return we have a fine, fresh fierce Katy Perry cover to look forward to, and you’ll like it.

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REVIEW: Glee “The First Time”

November 9, 2011 by Leave a Comment

 

When I heard the kids at McKinley were getting their groove on this week on Glee I flashed back to the “Like a Virgin” number from season one and wondered which Rihanna song they would use to vocally violate each other. The cynical me was assuming that somehow they would screw this up. Instead Team Glee treated us to a solid hour of television about teen sex that was neither gratuitous nor tawdry but still managed to upset one or two concernstipated conservative groups. Well done Glee for taking something that could have been a mess of bad porn dialogue and clumsy foreplay montages and turning out something respectable and downright sweet.

The hormonal pot at McKinley is stirred when Artie suggests that Rachel “Put A Berry on Top” Berry (Lea Michele) and Blaine “Sex on a Stick” Anderson cannot possibly convey the emotions required to play Maria and Tony in West Side Story if they haven’t had sex. I could totally buy into Rachel’s untarnished chastity but Blaine can fornicate with a glance and the poor boy just can’t help it. The fact that he seems so clueless about it just makes him sexier and demonstrates what a talent Darren Criss is.

Faced with this new information about how she can improve her performance Rachel leaps into action and directly onto lanky and clumsy Finn (Cory Monteith) whom she plans to violate before opening night. Blaine seems a bit more perplexed by the situation until he meets resident rogue and sexual predator Sebastian Smythe (Grant Gustin) who is the newest Warbler and wears the navy blue blazer well. Sebastian is a bit of a cad and reminds me a lot of another famous Sebastian of the Manhattan Valmonts who was also devastatingly attractive and morally loose. Sebastian makes a play for Blaine and invites him out to the local gay bar Scandals.

Oh Scandals. Kudos to Glee for getting the small town gay bar so very very right. Atlanta is not really a small town but we have bars exactly like that, ones I used to hang out in quite a bit back in the 90s (Buddies I’m looking at YOU). It was nice to see a gay bar portrayed as something other than a bath house for Abercrombie models with coke addictions for a change. I do wish Kurt had struck up a conversation with the Cher drag queen though. Oh missed opportunities.

Back to the sex. Typically on Glee when fornication is involved things go horribly wrong so when Rachel reveals she decided to give Finn her precious flower to help her acting it was no shock that he responded badly. A drunk Blaine doesn’t fair much better after a night of dancing at Scandals. Poor Sebastian’s plan backfired a bit and sent Blaine running into Kurt’s pants at the end of the night, but when Blaine tries to manhandle Kurt in the car he gets rebuffed and storms off. All this drama was juxtaposed with thoughtfully performed songs from West Side Story, a musical I’ve never really cared for and am not afraid to admit it. Revoke my Gay Card if you must. The interest rate is too high anyway.

The kids weren’t the only ones getting lucky this week though. In one of the weirder subplots we’ve seen on Glee Artie (Kevin McHale) counsels Coach Bieste on her love life and after a pep talk with the hunky coach Cooter from Ohio State he manages to get the two out on a date. I love that Coach Bieste (Dot Marie Jones) is getting some hunky love but the scenario with Artie was just a bit too weird for me. I enjoyed his insecurity about directing to be more compelling by far and his speech about being in a wheelchair was very touching.

Opening night comes and goes with everyone still a virgin, but it isn’t long before the fire in their loins erupts and our favorite McKinley virgins take that very after-school-special next step toward adulthood complete with soft lighting and creative camera angles. When Rachel and Blaine take to the stage for their post-coital performance they are positively glowing with sexual awareness. This pivotal episode stumbled a bit here and there but overall it was good stuff and there was plenty of drama. I really felt for Finn when he had his meltdown after being told his football career was ending in high school. Cory Monteith did a fine job conveying Finn’s sense of hopelessness knowing that Rachel is destined for a bright career on Broadway and he feels his options are gone. Her response that his “dreams are not dead, he just outgrew them” was perfect. And I enjoyed the closure that came with Kurt’s encounter with his former nemesis and newly hatched bear cub Dave Karofsky at Scandals. I hope that isn’t the last we see of Max Adler. The confrontation between Mike Chang (Harry Shum Jr) and his father before opening night seemed a bit out of place though. I get that they needed to explain his Dad’s reaction but it felt a bit like a scene they couldn’t find a place for.

What about the music? I’ve said before West Side Story isn’t one of my favorites but there are some decent songs from it. Blaine and Rachel’s “Tonight” is decent enough given it was performed before their sexual awakening. The Warblers had some fun with Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl” but without Blaine on lead it lacked something. The choreography was tight though. The real treat this week was Santana who made “A Boy Like That” and “America” her bitches. Rachel and Blaine rounded out the hour with “One Hand, One Heart” over the foreplay montage.

It is very annoying that this episode is treated as something so controversial and polarizing when teens are having sex on TV all the time in other shows that no one seems to get upset about. I suspect the fact that Glee does pull in a bit younger demographic than they really intended to has something to do with it, but I think the larger issue with concernstipated conservatives is not so much that teens are having sex on Glee but that gay teens are. No one seems at all upset that Puck routinely sleeps with older women while cleaning their pools.

Next week it appears Glee is diving headlong into the rival glee club drama and Puck is making his move on Shelby.

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Glee: “Pot O Gold”

November 3, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I have to wonder after seeing this most recent episode of Glee if executive producers Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk are too busy with American Horror Story to pay any attention to their singing cash cow. “Pot O Gold” was written by Ali Adler who is new to the Glee team and the ex-girlfriend of Sarah Gilbert and it was a big mess.

The dilemma this week, as with most weeks, is that Sue is still on her tired and at this point ridiculous campaign to cut funding for the arts in school all because she hates Will Schuster’s hair. Some weeks Sue is funny but this was not one of those weeks. Each season she seems to evolve just a little only to be reset back to default settings. I really thought we had broken through a wall with the death of her sister and her seemingly genuine appreciation for what the New Directions did for her, but that is all gone and I am getting bored with her fast.

Also boring but in a different way is the manic schizophrenic bi-polar-esque breakdown of Quinn Fabray. She started out this year as a pink haired skank channeling Betty Rizzo and now she’s back to wearing sweaters and pretending to want to sing while she plots the reacquisition of the baby she gave up for adoption back in season one. Quinn has acknowledged since day one that she doesn’t believe there is any future for her outside of Lima, Ohio but I don’t understand why she wants the baby back so badly and so suddenly. For someone so down on herself she seems strangely confident that she’d be an amazing mother despite having no discernable income to speak of and the only prospects for a man to help out being Puck who only wants to clean pools and doesn’t seem all that into her anyway. But she’s only 17 and teens are stupid! Maybe so, but I don’t buy it. Further adding to this mess is her plan to have Shelby declared unfit. Puck quickly realizes this plan is cray cray and sabotages the plot before it gets out of hand. Oh and he spent half the episode with his shirt off so YAY PUCK!

Speaking of cray cray, Brittany took her special blend of nutty to a whole new level this by believing her new live-in exchange student Roy Flanagan is a leprechaun. I feel bad for Damian McGinty that his introduction to the show after winning The Glee Project was so silly and contrived. The gag was old before the first commercial break and they drug it out for the entire hour! He did get two good songs in though, and the boy can sing. The good news though is that Brittany and Santana are officially dating and I think “officially” means “secretly” in this case. And Santana uses her power over Brittany to lure her into joining Shelby’s all girl show choir The Troubletones. With New Directions splintered Roy gets his chance to shine despite being shoved around the halls of McKinley by jocks with inexplicably epic mullets.

With so little to like about this episode I must give mad props to Burt Hummel. His decision (with some prodding from Will) to run for Congress against Sue was the one plot development to come out of this week that I really enjoyed. I have a good feeling he’ll win which will open up the door for the Hummel’s to leave the show when Kurt graduates at the end of this year. The seed was planted for Finn to take over running the auto shop should Burt head off to Washington which gives Finn a future to grab onto that doesn’t involve going to New York and the basis for some friction with Rachel. Sue in Congress just doesn’t make sense and suffering a landslide defeat to Burt would send her spiraling into another level of madness that could actually be funny.

Now what about the music? Roy’s “Being Green” was a bit sappy for my taste and seemed a little forced, but I’ll cut the kid some slack since he’s new. He really showed his range on “Take Care Of Yourself” even if the song was a bit weird. Blaine’s “Last Friday Night” was fun but crammed into the plot with a shoehorn. I did enjoy Puck’s “Waiting For A Girl Like You” but it wasn’t clear if he was singing to Beth or to Shelby. It could be both I guess. The highlight of the hour was “Candyman” by The Troubletones. Brittany, Santana and Mercedes together are a force of nature and that is just a great song.

Glee returns next week with lots of sex and more boys kissing!

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REVIEW: Glee “Asian F”

October 5, 2011 by 2 Comments

This week on Glee Mike Chang, the former wall flower and butt of many borderline inappropriate Asian jokes stepped out of the shadows and rubbed his awesomeness in everyone’s face. Boo yah! I’ve suspected for quite a while that Mike was more than just an amazing set of abs and fly dance moves and he proved it this week with his first solo and…get ready for it…his own subplot! And there’s more! Mercedes and Emma got some much deserved face time this week on what had sort of become The Finn and Rachel Show and I say “bravo” and “more please”.

The awkwardly titled “Asian F” focused mostly on Mike Chang (Harry Shum Jr) making the worst mistake an Asian student can make by getting an A minus on an exam. Please take a moment to let that sink in. I’ll understand if you need to walk away from you computer for a moment to gather yourself. Better? Okay. In reaction to the horror of this Mike’s father (Keong Sim) asks him to pull out of Glee club and potentially stop seeing “that girl” Tina Cohen-Chang who for some random reason is running around McKinley wearing vampire fangs and threatening to drain people. In the end he chases his dream instead and shares a touching moment with his mother (Tamlyn Tomita) in the choir room. Later he auditions for the musical with “Cool” from West Side Story and he actually has a pretty decent voice. Go Mike!

The race for senior class President heats up this week as Brittany (Heather Morris) uses what her momma gave her to whip the girls of McKinley into a frenzy of political awareness and girl power with a big flashy rendition of Beyonce’s “Run The World (Girls)”. Brit has the moves to pull it off but vocally I think Santana (Naya Rivera) would have run that mutha. I do want to know how Brit pulled off that magical costume change in the hallway though. Even Kurt (Chris Colfer) seemed confused. Doesn’t McKinley have a dress code? Anyway, Brit’s successful pep rally performance makes her opponent Kurt a little nervous but he was too busy being an awesome boyfriend to Blaine (Darren Criss) to let it bother him too much. The way he supported Blaine for the role of Tony was awesome and their scene on the steps was just too sweet. And how cute did Blaine look in his little bowtie?

Amidst all this drama the casting for the big school musical West Side Story must go on and Mercedes (Amber Riley) is fed up with Golden Child Rachel (Lea Michele) and ready to unleash her Level 72 Howling Fjord Diva Monster on everyone. She auditions first with Jennifer Hudson’s “Spotlight” and wows the judges. But when Mr. Schue (Matthew Morrison) pushes her over the edge during Booty Camp she explodes and sprays the room with her superiority complex before stomping off stage. This leads to a Dreamgirls dream sequence featuring the whole cast performing Effie’s “It’s All Over” starring Kurt’s impossibly high falsetto and Quinn’s monstrous beehive.

 

Afterward Mercedes seems to regret her tantrum for about thirty seconds then moves on to ace her audition for Maria, forcing a call back and a diva-showdown with Rachel. The support of her boyfriend Shane (LaMarcus Tinker) gives Mercedes the extra confidence she needed to sing Rachel off the stage with “Out Here On My Own” from FAME and upset the Golden Child so much that she decided to launch her own misguided campaign for class President so her senior year doesn’t turn into a gaping void of mediocrity. In the process she managed to alienate just about everyone though, so things aren’t working out very well for Rachel at the moment. Even Finn (Cory Monteith) seems ready to turn against her again.

 

The real story this week though was Emma’s heartbreaking bedside breakdown after the disastrous visit from her Ginger Supremacist parents. The scene was superbly acted by both Jayma Mays and Matthew Morrison and gave us a look at why Emma has the issues she does. Poor Will was left speechless and with no idea what to do he decides a Coldplay song is the best way to help. Let me go on record as saying Coldplay is NEVER the answer to anything but the song “Fix You” seemed to fit the circumstances well.

In the end Mercedes decides she has truly outgrown New Directions, quits the group and declines to share the role of Maria with Mercedes. Instead she seeks out Shelby (Idina Menzel) and joins her nameless rival vocal group hoping to get the star treatment she feels she deserves. Not really shocking at all but should set up some interesting conflicts down the road. With the winner of The Glee Project joining the show soon I foresee a show choir battle coming up of epic proportions.

Glee seems to be trying some new things this season and I applaud the effort. Bringing Mike, Mercedes and Emma to the spotlight this week was a wise move and really showed off their abilities. Emma is wonderful and almost stole the show completely with just one scene. Mike is the real star this week though. Bravo to Harry Shum Jr for surprising us all.

Glee is taking a three week break so something related to some silly sports thing can happen. I’ll miss it but it does free up my Tuesdays for a while. See you in November!

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REVIEW: Glee “I Am Unicorn”

September 28, 2011 by 1 Comment

I don’t know if it’s just me or not, but I sense something is different about Glee this year. The tone is darker and the songs seem to blend more effortlessly into the narrative instead of the “EVERYONE STOP SO WE CAN SING” vibe from last season. In fact it sort of mirrors the transformation Quinn has made this year. Glee has traded in its blond hair and pom poms for a nose ring and a smoking habit. I kind of like it.


The message this week was that everyone is a special little unicorn and they should shout that fact to the rooftops instead of hiding it. McKinley’s most special unicorn Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer) is running for senior class president but doesn’t want his campaign to be “too gay” and his campaign manager Brittany (Heather Morris) feels it should be as gay as possible. This is very unlike Kurt and I don’t get why they decided to make him insecure about his masculinity this late in the game. His argument about not getting romantic leads opposite Kate Hudson has some merit, but I loved his father’s suggestion that he may have to write his own way to the big time. Reminds me of something my father said me when I mentioned dreams of wanting to be an animator for Disney. “Why would you want to spend your life drawing what Disney wants you to draw instead of what you want to draw?” Well said Dads. Kurt finally does come around, mostly, until his dreams of playing Tony in West Side Story are dashed because he’s too delicate.


Let me go on record that I love seeing Coach Bieste (Dot Marie Jones) and that freakish bony ginger Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays) involved in the New Directions daily operations. I know it won’t last for long but it’s a nice change of pace. I thought their meeting about the casting was extremely well done and I ached for poor Kurt as he listened to them debating his butchness after his bouncy rendition of “I Am The Greatest Star” from Funny Girl. Bieste got all the good lines in this one.

“He owned that song like it was his prison bitch, but I want a Tony that excites my lady parts.”

 

His chances of getting the role are pretty much sealed after his laughable Romeo and Juliet scene and Blaine’s complete ass kicking of “Something’s Coming“. Talk about owning a song. He brought the smack down on it and bought it breakfast in the morning. As far as talent goes Blaine (Darren Criss) is the male Rachel and I would start calling him Blainchel if that wasn’t sort of lame. His lack of screen time outside of song performances is criminal. I want to see his parents and family life. I want to see whose posters he has on his bedroom walls.


I am also digging on Mr. Schue’s newfound focus and drive when it comes to his glee club. He came into the new school year with a mission and isn’t shying away from telling it like it is, especially when it comes to Quinn (Dianna Agron) and her skanky attitude. I still don’t quite understand what sent her over the edge. Maybe I should watch the final episodes of last season again or something, but her pink hair and granola knit cap look more like a Halloween costume than anything. I get that she has given up on being loved and it is sort of hard to watch. And I don’t get where her sudden desire to mother the kid she gave up for adoption is coming from. It seems at odds with her “hey look how punk I am” persona and her complete rejection of the idea of doing anything resembling parenting with Puck (Mark Salling). Cut to the final moments when the old Quinn shows up in a sundress and vows to get full custody from Shelby (Idina Menzel). WTF?


Ah Shelby. I do adore Idina Menzel and she is wonderful in this role. Her scene with Puck when he sees his daughter for the first time was magical. Her reason for being back seems a bit forced with the new McKinley show choir created solely to provide nightmare Sugar with a musical outlet competing with the New Directions. I suspect there is a surprise or two in store on that front. And what about Finn’s dancing? I’m glad he found his groove instead of bailing.


Finally I should mention Rachel’s performance of “Somewhere“. Lea Michele can do almost anything vocally and she tore this song to pieces. It gave me chills. It has always been my favorite Barbra Streisand song and I think Lea’s version is at least as good as Babs. Well done Miss Michele.
Next week on Glee things get real when the competition for the role of Maria heats up and the divas battle for top billing. Tune in Tuesday at 8 on Fox.

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‘Glee’ goes purple for the big premiere

September 20, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Glee roared back onto Tuesday nights with a bunch of changes and a lot of new faces. Team McKinley wasted no time in dealing out the whos and whats and got us all up to speed within the first few minutes. Lauren (Ashley Fink) is gone, from Glee Club at least and possibly from our consciousness and that is just a crying shame. Also gone is Trouty Mouth Sam (Chord Overstreet) who we found out for sure dated Mercedes for a hot minute back in June and has since moved away. Mercedes (Amber Riley) has since moved on to a big hunk of chocolate lovin who wants to make cocoa babies with her. About time Mercedes got some. Wait, I keep forgetting these are high school kids. Anyway, Quinn (Dianna Agron) also seems to be M.I.A as the gleeks convene in the choir room for some melodic geekgasms with Mr. Schue.

Schue (Matthew Morrison) has his work cut out for him this year now that Sue (Jane Lynch) is running for local congress and is hell-bent on ending federal funding for the arts in public schools. Schue and his lady Emma (Jayma Mays) go on the offensive with a glitter-bomb during Cheerio tryouts that unfortunately backfires. Schue and his songbirds are also facing a humiliating Nationals loss and the inevitable backlash from the student body. He hoped to get thing going again with his weird and misguided Purple Piano Project but all he managed to do was get one set on fire and another destroyed by Hurricane Sue. So far the year is not off to a good start.

The winner of The Glee Project made an appearance when Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Rachel (Lea Michele) went to a NYADA (New York Academy of Dramatic Arts) mixer to kick off their Broadway dreams. McKinley’s two stars got served a piping hot ladle of truth when the other hopefuls basically danced and sang circles around them and they were left crying in Rachel’s Chevy Volt while garden-hose rain poured down.

There were some fun moments, my fave being the delusional Glee club hopeful Sugar whose audition was the stuff nightmares are made of and her Aspergers the stuff of comedy gold. I hope we see more of her shouting inappropriate things at people in the future. The big shock of the night came from Quinn who finally showed up looking like an extra from The Legend of Billy Jean with pink hair and a band of new friends who call themselves The Skanks. I don’t really know where this complete change of character came from but her wistful looks at her old castmates doing jazz hands means it probably won’t last long. I kind of like the pink hair though.

More big news came when Blaine (Darren Criss) transfered to McKinley to spend more time with his boyfriend Kurt. This spells trouble for Finn’s spot as the male lead but I think it will be a nice breath of fabulous air for them. I especially liked Blaine’s sassy red pants but I think I’ll miss the cute Warblers blazer and their tight choreography. Oh, and let’s not forget that Santana (Naya Rivera) was banned from Glee Club for being a traitor! That won’t be good for anyone cause you know she’s a spiteful little thing.

The music didn’t dominate this episode which was nice. I’m guessing since they had a lot of exposition to get through there wasn’t a lot of room for warbling. But the songs they did sing were pretty good. The lunchroom Go-Gos party with “We Got the Beat” was appropriately peppy but nothing I feel I need to download on Itunes just yet. Kurt and Rachel’s song from Wicked “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead“ was wonderful of course. I really should see that show eventually I suppose. Blaine tore up “It’s So Unusual” but Blaine tears up everything and he can keep right on doing it as far as I’m concerned. I wasn’t nuts about the medley the NYADA kids did but the “You Can’t Stop the Beat” finale was good stuff.

My favorite quote:

Brittany: I have pepperoni in my bra.
Santana: Those are your nipples.

Glee seems to be getting back to it’s fun season one roots this year and I say bring it on. Things got a bit heavy handed last year despite some great episodes. This premiere brought enough shake ups and the promise of our seniors leaving at the end of this year should be enough to keep things interesting. Welcome to another year of Glee folks.

Tune in next week when we find out what the heck “I Am Unicorn” means.

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