The Glee Finale: I’ve Got Some Problems

In case you’ve been living in a box of some kind, the season finale of Glee aired Tuesday night. Maybe you’ve heard of the show? It’s that one about high school where they sing a lot? No no…not High School Musical. This is way better. These kids are witty, talented, awesome caricatures of every drama kid, jock, or cheerleader you met in high school. And they sing awesome songs. So you can imagine my soaring expectations when I sat down to watch the season finale. My friends and I even threw a party involving not only champagne, but (brace yourselves) a cake. We were pumped.

Sadly, when the end credits rolled we were not impressed. In fact, dare I say it, we were slightly unimpressed. I considered writing a letter to Ryan Murphy expressing my displeasure, but instead I’ve decided to vent like any truly savvy fan should – through a blog. Take that, Ryan Murphy! Now, before I begin, I want to make clear that I did not hate this episode. In fact, I quite enjoyed it, but I thought there were some major problems that need to be addressed because I don’t want them to carry over to season 2. This show is too great to get sloppy with age. Here were some of the problems I saw – in no particular order – that prevented the finale from reaching television greatness. Ryan Murphy – pay attention…

1. What the hell happened with Jessie?
Okay, now I would be perfectly fine accepting the fact that Jessie is just a mean guy who wanted to use Rachel for his own sick, weird pleasure. Villains are fun to hate. I can get behind this. But if that was his overall point, then why did we have to listen to him tell Shelby – seemingly with feeling – that he liked Rachel and didn’t want to hurt her? Was that just a ploy? Was he still acting? Or did the writers throw that in and then decide…meh, no time. Let’s just make him evil.

I wanted some closure for these two and Glee didn’t give me anything in the season finale. To me it felt almost like they thought that we–the self-proclaimed Gleeks—wouldn’t notice. If this was the case – Ryan Murphy: for shame. I noticed. I hella noticed. I noticed so much I’m writing a blog post on it. Your viewers are not stupid. Don’t pretend we’re Brittany, which brings me to my next point…

2. Not enough Brittany!
You’ve given us this amazing character who says wonderful things like, “Dolphins are just gay sharks” and “I think my cat is reading my diary.” I understand that perhaps you don’t want to overuse her. Then maybe her shtick would get old and suddenly you’d have to, heaven forbid, get rid of her. No. Wrong. Unacceptable. Pacing is key. I encourage this. But this is the season finale! Sure, cut out her lines the episode before the season finale, but this is when you’re supposed to pull all your stops! Dazzle us! Give us the best one-liner that’s been used all season. Hell, give us a monologue! We crave it.

3. Let’s see some character development.
When the first episode after Sectionals aired, my friend complained that everything had regressed back to how it was when the show started. At the time, my response was, “Dude. If you’re watching Glee for the character development, you are going to be horribly disappointed.” After sitting through another half a season though, my tune is changing. There should be character development, or else, what is the show but some funny lines and good music? I refuse to let Glee become this. It deserves more. If Ryan Murphy wants to make this show great, he needs to stop structuring plots around guest stars and songs.

And he can start with Rachel and Finn. We learned in the finale that Finn is apparently in love with Rachel. OMG! So exciting! We’ve been waiting so long for this and they are just perfect for each other. RIGHT? Well, to be honest, I have no idea. I have wracked my brain for one moment in the show where they have had a conversation that made me go, “Oh, yeah, I see why he likes her.” But it hasn’t happened. In fact, all that we’ve gotten from Finn is him telling us repeatedly that Rachel is really annoying. I’m completely fine with him realizing that he’s actually in love with her (plenty of television romances start off with annoyance), but we have to actually see it. Finn can’t just tell us he loves Rachel. I want to watch the progression.

This extends to a variety of other characters. Puck is in love with Quinn now more than ever before? Was I the only one that was tempted to roll my eyes in this scene? What exactly has Puck done to show his love for her? Sure, there were some signs in the first part of the season and he sang her a sweet song a few episodes back, but these moments are few and far between. Again, I want to see that Puck loves Quinn. Not be told that he does.

I would say that at this point, the only truly developed characters are Kurt, Rachel, Will, and Finn and even then, this doesn’t extend into their relationships. Ryan Murphy: you do not need to spell everything out for us. Show us instead of telling us for once.

4. Rachel’s mom…what happened there?
When I found out Idina Menzel was going to play Rachel Berry’s mom I was stoked. Not only were we bound to get some pretty awesome duets, but long-lost parent plots are always interesting. I mean, clearly this would take us right through the finale. Shelby would bond with Rachel and convince her to join Vocal Adrenaline and then next season the New Directions would have to win her back. It was genius. What a fantastic turn of events.

Except…none of this happened. Instead, Rachel and her mom decided by the end of the following episode that they’d rather not be in each other’s lives. Rachel’s mom wanted a baby, not a teenager. Um…okay. Anticlimactic, much? I’ve questioned many times why the Glee writers decided to go this route. I assume it had something to do with Idina Menzel not being able to commit to more than one season. As a result, they wanted to come up with a graceful way for her to bow out of Rachel’s life.

Newsflash: Nothing about her plot was graceful. Let’s examine Shelby’s actions in season one:

1. She tasked a teenage boy in her Glee club to befriend her daughter under false pretenses.
2. She forced a connection with Rachel through a tape (even after Rachel expressed to Jessie that she was not ready).
3. She decided approximately two days after meeting Rachel that she wanted next to no relationship with her.
4. She didn’t reprimand her Glee club for egging Rachel.
5. She once again rejected Rachel’s offer for a relationship and instead adopted a new baby.

Okay. Let me try to wrap my head around the number of problems. Number one, am I supposed to sympathize with this character? Was I supposed to sigh with happiness when she picked up Quinn’s baby? If that was the case, they took a wrong turn somewhere many episodes back because I could care less about this woman. She seems like a fairly heartless individual. But perhaps that was the point? Maybe we’re supposed to be pitying Quinn’s baby and next season will be all about springing her from Shelby’s evil clutches? Somehow I doubt it. Second, Ryan Murphy, what was the point of this character? As far as I can tell, nothing has changed since her arrival. You could have taken out her plot completely and no character would be the wiser. Rachel stayed exactly the same. The Glee club stayed exactly the same. Jessie stayed exactly the same. Even Shelby didn’t change much. She still seems selfish, rude, and talented.

Why not wait a year to introduce this plot? You could have established early on that Rachel wanted to find her mother instead of springing it on us randomly. The reunion would have meant more. You could have extended the plot and introduced Shelby to Rachel’s dads. I mean, frankly, the number of directions you could have taken this storyline are vast, and despite the endless possibilities, at the end of the day you took it in the most boring direction possible – nowhere.

5. New Directions lost.
I won’t complain too much about this one. I can even understand their reasons for doing it, but I am extremely worried that next season is going to be alarmingly similar to the first season, so prove me wrong Glee writers.

6. There was no “Don’t Rain on My Parade” moment.
Perhaps you just can’t top it. Lea Michele’s rendition of “Don’t Rain on My Parade” was amazing. It made everybody I was watching it with want to rewind and see it again because nobody – not even a prior Broadway star – should be that good. Perhaps because of my absurdly high expectations, their Journey medley fell flat. Don’t get me wrong: it was great and very sentimental, but it didn’t floor me. In fact, I think they’ve done better practice songs throughout the second half of season one. For a finale, I deem this unacceptable. Blow me away.

7. The pacing was off.
I found the pacing of this episode to be frustrating. The New Directions perform their big number at the half-hour mark and by the time the results are announced, we’ve all pretty much figured out that they’re going to lose. Where’s the suspense? I understand that they wanted to juxtapose Jessie’s rendition of Queen to Quinn giving birth, but I’m just not sure this was worth it. I think the New Directions’ performance would have packed much more of a punch if it had come right before the results were announced. We as an audience would have been on a high from watching them perform and would have felt the sting when they didn’t even place. Instead, I was left with a feeling of vague disappointment. Next time, I want my dreams shattered!

8. All and all, it was a little too sentimental.
Okay. It’s a season finale. I get that it’s supposed to be sentimental, but seeing Mr. Schuester cry in his car to Journey was a bit much. Part of the previous brilliance of Glee has stemmed from its ability to balance sarcasm, drama, over-the-top characters, and sentimentality with ease. This episode felt a bit off. There were too many crying moments that weren’t broken up with a Brittany comment, or Sue Sylvester coming in and calling somebody fat. Perhaps I’m just a cold-hearted bitch (most likely), but things got a bit too cheesy for me. Bring on the snark!

So that’s the gist. I’ve said my piece. I hope that all of the Glee creators take my advice to heart. As for the rest of you, what’d you think of the finale? Love it? Hate it? Let me know!

thanks to Nathan@ My Dog Ate My Blog