What’s happened to Glee? In May of 2009, Fox aired the pilot of a new show that was edgy, but featured remarkable vocal performances by a bunch of unknown actors. Nearly all the songs were a cappella, and sounded unproduced, which was incredibly impressive for a television show. The characters were flawed, yet in some way identifiable, and multidimensional. The glee club’s advisor, Will Schuester, was likable even as he forced students to join the club by planting drugs in their backpacks. The students were not caricatures, but had personality.
Critics loved Glee, and were ripe with anticipation for the series to start in the fall. In September when the show officially premiered it took a while for viewers to tune in, but once they did, it was clear the show was a hit.
Then came the themed shows, which were followed by the guest stars, and somewhere along the way the writers just gave up trying to create a compelling storyline, or develop the characters at all. The quality of the musical performances hasn’t exactly declined, but they are auto-tuned, overproduced, covers, for the purpose of selling them on iTunes. They no longer fell genuine, or as raw as they did at the beginning of the first season. The students’ reasons for singing are no longer organic and no longer flow with the plot.
I don’t think I can continue to tolerate this show. This week’s episode, "Special Education," was the final straw for me. The glee club’s climb to sectionals was not as dramatic as last year, and there was no meaning behind the songs they chose. The romantic story arc is messy, and superficial, with the students only experiencing minor heartbreak when discovering their partner’s infidelity. Will Schuester’s reaction to the discord within the group, is to shout at them and remind them they’re a team? It’s hard to care about what direction that story will go. The only part of the plot that has been fleshed out is Kurt’s problem with the school bully, but even that has fallen flat with the same issues occurring every week.
I will say that Sue Sylvester is still as funny as she was in the first episode. That Adidas tracksuit is the only good thing left.
