GLEEwind: Episode 1.22 "Journey"

QUICKIE OVERVIEW


The Glee kids go to Regionals for their showdown with Vocal Adrenaline...with Sue as one of their "celebrity" judges.  Quinn has her baby.   The final fate of the Glee Club is determined.





WHAT I LIKED

There was very little humor in this episode, which was appropriate for the subject matter...high school kids are usually that tense about a competition, and add to the fact what was on the line...yeah.

New Directions' performance was spot on and a TON of fun to watch, and the reactions from the crowd...and the judges...were believable.

Although I wish Vocal Adrenaline was more than the Jesse show....I refuse to believe VA are the be-all end-all of show choirs with only one lead vocalist...the juxtaposition of their performance with Quinn's labor and birth did have some nice moments.

Quinn wanting Mercedes in the birth room.   Good payoff to their building friendship over the course of the second half of the season.

Quinn not keeping the baby.   That felt right.

In an evening with little humor, the judges room had some really funny moments.   And the end of the scene...especially the words from Ms. Newton-John...planted the seeds for what was to come.

New Directions losing.   The only believable way to end things.  As a former producer of a vocal competition, the judging and how it played out is entirely believable to me.   And it gives New Directions somewhere to go for the coming year.

The auditorium scene.   A final thank you for what Will tried to do (at least at the time).   Unlike many, I didn't cry during the episode, but that scene came close.

The Sue/Will scene.  Perfect sense...both the grudging respect Sue showed and the fact that, well, there's be no Coyote without the Road Runner.   It gave them the story reason to keep Glee together without the Glee kids winning/placing.

The end scene.   It really displayed, wordlessly, the connections and friendships that have developed over the course of the past year, along with hints of what's to come.




WHAT I WAS 'MEH' ABOUT


Pretty much everything involving Emma tonight.  I'm not actively hoping Will doesn't end up with her...especially after that hall scene that really felt forced.  Really not an Emma fan at the moment.

The scene with Quinn's mom felt WAY too conveniently timed, and I didn't buy the attempted reconciliation.   The well-timed water breaking allowed the writers to avoid that question for right now.

That was a really fast delivery...especially since most of the moms I know talked about being in labor for nearly 24 hours or more.   Even assuming Vocal Adrenaline did untelevised numbers, that's really pushing believability...

WHAT I HATED
 
...but not nearly as much as Shelby adopting Quinn's baby.  In a word, bulls&#t.  The adoption process is nothing like that, it's too convenient an ending, and it really shows how selfish and heartless Shelby is by avoiding the daughter she gave birth to just because they didn't "grow up together" in favor of this new bambino.   Bull cookies.   I defend a lot of the plot holes and outlandishness of the show ("Seinfeld" suspended disbelief just as often, if not more, than this show), but that was just too over the top.

LINE OF THE NIGHT





 Tie: 

"Your hair looks like a briar patch. I keep expecting racist, animated Disney characters to pop up and start singing about living on the bayou." (Sue)

and...

"Kiss my ass, Josh Groban..." (Sue)   (I don't care what was said after, that just makes me giggle every time I hear it.)

THE MUSIC




The Journey songs were very well sung, and I liked the interplay between the singers during both the mash-up and the "Don't Stop Believing" revisit...that key change was really cool.


"Bohemian Rhapsody" was...dull.   Well sung, yeah, but nothing different than what I'd hear from Queen.   Jonathan Groff has a good voice, but I really don't get the love for him as a performer, at least not based on what he did here.


"To Sir With Love" was one of the five best tracks of the year.   Appropriate to the story, and really well sung...the arrangement made the song seem not dated, which is hard for music from that era.


"Somewhere Over the Rainbow" was the version originally performed by Hawaiian singer Israel "Iz" Kaʻanoʻi Kamakawiwoʻole.   I liked the singing, but didn't love it except for Matt's harmonies with Mark.   But it, again, got the point across for the scene.

MY FINAL THOUGHT

It's going to be a long summer.


Until next time, don't stop believin'


(NOTE:  With Fox's reruns of the series this summer from Episode 1, I will probably do reviews as they air, although they'll obviously have the benefit of what's going on later in the series to draw from.)

GLEEwind: Episode 1.20 "Funk"

(PROGRAMMING NOTE:  This episode was chronologically filmed BEFORE last week's episode "Theatricality", but the programming decision was made to exchange the order - thus the reason for my misnumbering)

QUICKIE OVERVIEW


Jesse rejoins Vocal Adrenaline, crushes Rachel's heart, and puts the Glee kids in a massive level of depression.  Mr. Schu tries to use funk music to re-energize the group, while also giving Sue some payback.  After vandalizing Vocal Adrenaline's Range Rovers, Puck and Finn go to work for (now former) Mrs. Schuester at Sheets 'n Things

WHAT I LIKED/FOUND INTERESTING

• Why does Jesse's galpal in Vocal Adrenaline remind me of Charlene "Cha-Cha" DiGregorio?  (aka the hoochie dancer in the movie "Grease")
   
• The first seduction scene between Schu and Sue was cute (and well sung), but the office scene later was hysterical.  I needed a massive suspension of disbelief to get through this plotline, but that comes with the territory of liking this show.
• OK, with two eps left, they finally justify Jessalyn Gilsig's paycheck enough to make the divorce final.  That said, if the scene with Terri and Finn sets up hijinks for Year 2, it could make for some fun.
•  The "Unwed Mothership Connection"?  Hilarious, even if the preggers dance routine was highly, highly creepy.
• OK, Quinn didn't exactly evoke memories of Aretha.  But the bile about Dianna Agron's inability to sing and act just isn't accurate.  She needs material that fits her, and no one's expecting her to star in a remake of "Sophie's Choice", but her character has really, really grown on me, and I hope the "changes" stick next season once the bambino pops out.
• Nice pearls, Sue.   With the TRACKSUIT.
• Brittany, with the backwards Cheerio's outfit, chasing after the newspaper nerd...that was her one moment this episode but it was funny and creative...it took a 2nd watch to catch the backwards outfit.
• "Mr. Chooster."  *heh*  And nice, subtle reminder in that scene that he's a Spanish teacher since it wasn't brought up recently.
• Wow, the Rachel parking lot scene was cruel.   But it did what it was supposed to do, which is rally the troops...
• ...and rally they did in the final number.  Really, really fun to watch. Before anyone goes off on Quinn dancing like that at the end pregnant, please see this video.  "See you punks at Regionals" indeed.
  

WHAT I WAS 'MEH' ABOUT

• Cory Monteith needs to stop rapping.  Mark Salling...marginally better.  But it's not as funny as when Matt Morrison does it.
  
• It was curious to me why, after complaining about only being brought out to wail like a black girl and after having relationship issues with Puck, why she would be out there doing her best Martha Wash imitation on "Good Vibrations".   Guess she's a better sport than we thought...
  
• Here's hoping Mr. Schu starts learning not to stoop to other levels...I understand wanting to "get some back" after everything Sue had done, but what he actually did just really struck me as beneath him, and I hope Emma calls him on it next week, as by the previews those two are going to be going at it.
  
• Sue keeps bringing up Will having to "win" at Regionals.   This is incorrect...I distinctly remember Figgins' saying Will had to "place" at Regionals earlier in the season.  That said, it might just be part of Sue's mentality that she's not remembering things correctly.
  
• People complaining about how "sudden" the Jesse betrayal was.   Consider two things.   The first being that this and "Theatricality" was filmed out of order, so if you didn't know that, I get how folks were surprised, but really, if you put the two eps in properly filmed order, Jesse makes more sense...but I think the producers really wanted to pimp NewDirs vs. VocalAs the week before the finale, so I get why they did it.
  
  The second is that it makes sense if you look at the full timeline.   Jesse felt betrayed by Rachel in "Bad Reputation", goes off with his VA pals in "Laryngitis", comes back to Rachel...to make sure the tape from his director, aka Rachel's Mom, gets delivered, then, in the original timeline, he leaves New Directions, mission accomplished.   Technically, it could be seen as Jesse only intimating that things were fine between him and Rachel to complete his original mission for Shelby, and that once that was finished, he was done, after feeling betrayed by Rachel.   Yeah, it's not Shakespeare, but it does make linear sense.   You can call "Glee" out on a lot of story issues, but I feel this isn't one of them.

WHAT I HATED

We're good here this week...some annoying stuff as listed above, but nothing truly stupid.

LINE OF THE NIGHT

 "Oh, you know what Wednesday is, right?  Hump day." (Schu to Sue.   SO wrong, but so funny...)






(Honorable Mention:  "I have this compulsive need to crush other people's dreams."  "Yeah, that's what Mr. Schu said." - Terri & Finn, in that order)


THE MUSIC


Very mixed bag this week, focusing on "funk" as a theme, either in style or in name, except for one instance.  "Another One Bites the Dust" wasn't all that, especially as something geared to intimidate New Directions, as they've done more impressive numbers than that in the past.  "Tell Me Something Good", with Schu rolling that perfectly coiffed hair over Sue's shoulders...ye gods.   It was however, well sung.  "Loser" was funny, especially when everyone in the store starts singing along. 

"It's a Man's, Man's, Man's, Man's World"...OK, James Brown and Dianna Agron have no business being in the same zipcode under normal circumstances, but she did the best she could with what she had, and the writers really should try to find material that better suits her niche.   She's not untalented, but she had as much business singing that song as Aretha Franklin does singing emo rock.

"Good Vibrations" was fun for what it was, and Mark Salling carried it OK, but it was a throwaway number to hammer the joke of how clueless Terri really is.   Fortunately, the show was saved musically by "Give Up The Funk", which was absolutely a hoot to watch and listen to, even if they had to censor the lyrics a bit.  The song really showcased just how much fun that cast is having in what they do.

MY FINAL THOUGHT





 As I said before, I get why they switched this show and last weeks...to really pump up the ultimate showdown for next week's finale, and in that realm, it got the point across.   But other than that, the show seemed to be a bit all over the place, with Will's divorce getting roughly two minutes of airtime and a new subplot of Terri possibly going Mrs. Robinson on Finn introduced a bit late in the season for anything to come of it soon.   But not every week can be a home run, and I'm hoping that the season finale really does hit it out of the park.

PREDICTION:  New Directions doesn't WIN regionals, but it places, satisfying Figgins' edict from earlier in the season.

Until next time, don't stop believin'.