The rise and fall? of Glee

When I heard about the concept of glee I can honestly say I had no interest in it whatsoever. A show about attractive teens who sing, a program which is half musical, both put me off ever watching. This post will contain spoilers. Season 1 Part 1 first paragraph.

Then a friend recommended it to me and I thought I would have a look. I was almost instantly hooked. Not because of the barnstorming performances, the talented actors and actresses or even because of Sue (Jane Lynch). I was hooked by the drama, the unfolding storylines that ran through the first part of season 1, as well as many of the little side plots. For me the show whilst exhibiting exaggerated sterotypes of characters who spontaneously burst into song while walking down a corridor or in the middle of class felt human and somehow real. It did not matter that you had to suspend your disbelief as suddenly a team of american football players performed Beyonce to win a match, it just simply worked. Part of the power of the show lay in its antithesis of the title and the dark humour which was cleverly written in. The storylines built nicely and both main plotlines involving Finn, Quinn and Puck, and Mr Schuester and his wife's faked pregnancy were acted and written superbly.

This led Glee to become an inevitable hit, one of the most popular shows out at the time and as with many mainstream popular shows, Glee lost its way.

From the offset of the second part of season 2 we were greeted with some strange writing decisions. Characters suddenly acted out of character or performed sudden U-turns in beliefs/morals. We were greeted with mutiple themed episodes, where the theme drove the episode and the story took a back seat. There were some strong moments and Glee continued to deal with issues but they felt forced, as if they had been put in just to fill the gaps between each showpiece performance. Exaggerations were continued with characters failing to grow but into bigger stereotypes of themselves. Even an episode produced and directed by Joss Whedon felt out of place, and although entertaining, ultimately pointless. The conclusion to the series was inevitable and ultimately disappointing in its execution if not content.

Then came the second season with even more hype surrounding the introduction of new characters and a whole new group of celebrity fans wanting cameos or for their songs to feature. The way in which the show is written seems ultimately has changed, with stories now being fitted together to work with the songs being sung. Progression has been discarded in favour of emotional set pieces which allow the actors to yo-yo from emotion to emotion.

Glee may still have legions of loyal fans and be an entertaining show. But for me it has lost the elements which made it great. (The story and the human characters) I will still be watching for now, but possibly not for long if it continues on the same path.