20-odd episodes after it began, with a few weeks hiatus, and dealing with everything from teenage pregnancy to dieting to homosexuality and to what constitues a 'funk' number, Glee finished its first series on Monday 14th June, here in England anyway.
Although I was originally less than impressed with Glee, once it got going, it good pretty good. And recently, the characters and plotlines have been developed, meaning that the majority of characters are now no longer 2D, based on a certain 'gimmick'.
For example, the gothic-Asian-with-a-stutter Tina (Jenna Ushowitz) has lost the stutter and it was her identity crisis that triggered the performance of the Lady Gaga numbers in a recent episode. Wheelchair-Guy Artie (Kevin McHale), has also been fully developed, so we see him as more of a fully-formed character, as opposed to 'the disabled one'. I'm also hugely impressed with the development of Quinn (Dianna Agron) as a character, the writers managed to capture the unhappiness she has over the 9 months in which she is pregnant, without making her overly sympathetic or overly bitchy. I would like to see more of Mike Chang (Harry Shum Jr) and Matt Rutherford (Dijon Talton) as they seem to be relegated to the role of 'additional glee club members', and deserve some more chances to develop as characters.
My favourite scenes, however, come when Kurt (Chris Colfer) and his dad (Mike O'Malley) are on screen together, dealing with Kurt's sexuality. The scenes are poignant and touching, but not overdone.
There has also been some good guest appearances. Kristin Chenoweth as April Rhodes, ex-pupil of McKinley, was both funny and heartbreaking, and showed off her wonderful voice on tracks such as 'A House is Not A Home' (which she now sings 8 times a week in the Broadway revival of Promises Promises). Chenoweth's one-time Wicked co-star, Idina Menzel also appears as Shelby, the trainer of New Directions' rival club Vocal Adrenaline, who is also Rachel's (Lea Michele) mother, and showed herself to be a better actress than her appearance in Chess suggested. Jonathan Groff, who appeared opposite Michele in Spring Awakening, also guested as Jesse St James, the lead singer of Vocal Adrenaline, who seems interested in Rachel for a time-he too shows off a wonderful voice on songs including 'Hello' and 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.
The only performances that I have been a bit...meh...are that of Lea Michele as Rachel and Corey Montieth as Finn. I would like to put this down to the fact that their characters are a little simplistic-very talented annoying star of New Directions & nice ex-football player. Yet, Amber Riley faced similar issues with Mercedes-black diva-yet managed to make her performance smart. Michele is gifted with an amazing voice, but unfortuantly, seems to struggle the most with lip-syncing to the recorded vocals, which can be a little distracting at times.
Yet, overall, Glee has its heart in the right place. The writers didn't allow the final episode to be cliche-ridden, and the wonderful rendition of 'Over the Rainbow' sung by Matthew Morrison (Mr Schuster-who I could watch all day) and Mark Salling (Puck-another character who has become far more interesting) needs to get onto my iPod asap. The adult characters, especially the wonderful Sue Sylvester played by Jane Lynch, continue to be interesting, and the celeb guest spots-Neil Patrick Harris as Mr Schuster's one-time glee club cohort, Josh Groban and Olivia Newton-John as themselves, have been mostly succesful, and not at all cringy.
Glee would be nothing, though, without its songs, and here are some of my favourites (Chris Colfer performing 'A House is Not A Home' with Cory Montieth, Lea Michele & Jonathan Groff performing 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' and the Glee Club performing a Journey Medley at regionals) :
Although I was originally less than impressed with Glee, once it got going, it good pretty good. And recently, the characters and plotlines have been developed, meaning that the majority of characters are now no longer 2D, based on a certain 'gimmick'.
For example, the gothic-Asian-with-a-stutter Tina (Jenna Ushowitz) has lost the stutter and it was her identity crisis that triggered the performance of the Lady Gaga numbers in a recent episode. Wheelchair-Guy Artie (Kevin McHale), has also been fully developed, so we see him as more of a fully-formed character, as opposed to 'the disabled one'. I'm also hugely impressed with the development of Quinn (Dianna Agron) as a character, the writers managed to capture the unhappiness she has over the 9 months in which she is pregnant, without making her overly sympathetic or overly bitchy. I would like to see more of Mike Chang (Harry Shum Jr) and Matt Rutherford (Dijon Talton) as they seem to be relegated to the role of 'additional glee club members', and deserve some more chances to develop as characters.
My favourite scenes, however, come when Kurt (Chris Colfer) and his dad (Mike O'Malley) are on screen together, dealing with Kurt's sexuality. The scenes are poignant and touching, but not overdone.
There has also been some good guest appearances. Kristin Chenoweth as April Rhodes, ex-pupil of McKinley, was both funny and heartbreaking, and showed off her wonderful voice on tracks such as 'A House is Not A Home' (which she now sings 8 times a week in the Broadway revival of Promises Promises). Chenoweth's one-time Wicked co-star, Idina Menzel also appears as Shelby, the trainer of New Directions' rival club Vocal Adrenaline, who is also Rachel's (Lea Michele) mother, and showed herself to be a better actress than her appearance in Chess suggested. Jonathan Groff, who appeared opposite Michele in Spring Awakening, also guested as Jesse St James, the lead singer of Vocal Adrenaline, who seems interested in Rachel for a time-he too shows off a wonderful voice on songs including 'Hello' and 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.
The only performances that I have been a bit...meh...are that of Lea Michele as Rachel and Corey Montieth as Finn. I would like to put this down to the fact that their characters are a little simplistic-very talented annoying star of New Directions & nice ex-football player. Yet, Amber Riley faced similar issues with Mercedes-black diva-yet managed to make her performance smart. Michele is gifted with an amazing voice, but unfortuantly, seems to struggle the most with lip-syncing to the recorded vocals, which can be a little distracting at times.
Yet, overall, Glee has its heart in the right place. The writers didn't allow the final episode to be cliche-ridden, and the wonderful rendition of 'Over the Rainbow' sung by Matthew Morrison (Mr Schuster-who I could watch all day) and Mark Salling (Puck-another character who has become far more interesting) needs to get onto my iPod asap. The adult characters, especially the wonderful Sue Sylvester played by Jane Lynch, continue to be interesting, and the celeb guest spots-Neil Patrick Harris as Mr Schuster's one-time glee club cohort, Josh Groban and Olivia Newton-John as themselves, have been mostly succesful, and not at all cringy.
Glee would be nothing, though, without its songs, and here are some of my favourites (Chris Colfer performing 'A House is Not A Home' with Cory Montieth, Lea Michele & Jonathan Groff performing 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' and the Glee Club performing a Journey Medley at regionals) :
