Glee-Tastic: A Glee Episode Review

No show on TV can make me feel such an array of emotions with a single episode… Anger, embarrassment, disbelief, and nausea to name a few. Let me start off by saying, I get why people enjoy this show. It’s light and it’s fun, the characters are endearing, the musical numbers are interesting, and the guest stars are huge. That being said, this show makes me want to punch something.

Not long ago I found myself in the unfortunate position of conversing with a gushing Gleek who claimed that Glee was ‘robbed’ at the Emmys. Nothing annoys me more than Glee fans who refuse to admit that this is one of the most poorly written shows on TV. For a writer, this show is a nightmare. As I watch it, I rock back and forth, alternating between burying my head in my hands and shaking my fists at the TV gods screaming ‘Why, why?!’ The plots, the character motivations and the seasonal arcs are completely convoluted and absurd. On top of that, they keep recycling the same terrible plot devices over and over. How many more times can they threaten to shut down the club? How many more times can Rachel and Finn almost have sex? Apparently that number is infinite.

This week’s wedding episode was no different. First of all, who the hell can plan a wedding in a week? Kurt Hummel, aka ‘Super Gay’ that’s who. Is Ryan Murphy trying to break down gay stereotypes, or enforce them? I can’t keep track anymore. Since the show ended with Finn dedicating the song ‘Just the Way You Are’ to Kurt, (which features the lyrics ‘She’s so beautiful… Girl you’re amazing’) I’m going with the latter. Also, if I were Kurt’s stepmom, I’d be pissed. If my kid tried to hijack my wedding and turn it into a showcase for his lame Glee club, he’d get written out of the will. But that’s just me.

One bright-ish spot in this episode was a guest appearance by comic genius Carol Burnett. When I heard that she’d be playing Sue’s mom I thought, ‘Come on Murphy, give her something good to work with.’ Instead he provided her with his idea of a B-plot, which was basically series of one-note scenes that kept beating you over the head with the same thing idea, (‘Sue – You abandoned us! Sue’s Mom- But I was killing Nazis!’), followed by a lacklustre ending. No plot progression and hardly any good one-liners. Her talents probably would have been wasted on the Glee crowd anyway. Most of the viewers probably saw her and thought: ‘Like, that’s totally the grandma from Post Grad!’