The Ten Best (and Five Worst) Performances From Season Two of Glee

Let's not front: Glee can be inconsistent from week to week (and sometimes even within the span of a single episode), but when everything comes together in a perfectly realized musical moment, it hits highs that simply can't be met by most other shows. With that in mind, then, Vulture has selected ten of the best performances from Glee's second season, presented alongside five other performances we remember for all the wrong reasons. The ultimate verdict? Please, Glee, keep this in mind for season three: more Naya Rivera, less singing to the dead or disabled.

Best: "Forget You" (From "The Substitute")
When it was first announced that Gwyneth Paltrow would be singing Cee Lo's "Fuck You" — and the sanitized version, no less — it seemed like a hilarious cosmic joke. The thing is, Glee was totally in on that joke, and Paltrow's performance was such a giddy rush of pure dorkiness that it probably transformed the gal's entire career. (It also gave Vulture this priceless picture of Paltrow throwing mad side-eye, and you'd better believe that we have milked it on every Paltrow post since.)

Best: "River Deep, Mountain High" (From "Duets")
No big fantasy production or elaborate costumes needed here: just pure soul.

Best: "Teenage Dream" (From "Never Been Kissed")
This instantly iconic performance has been rehashed countless times since — and may suffer in retrospect after a season of Warbler overload — but it's still terrific. Just as "Don't Stop Believin'" was Glee's signature first-year song, this Darren Criss jam may be season two's most memorable moment.

Best: "Trouty Mouth" (From "Original Song")
Obviously, the best original song Glee has in its arsenal. They could have won nationals with this! (But in all seriousness, Naya Rivera is surely this season's MVP. And we really do love this song, no lie.)

Best: "Friday" (From "Prom Queen")
Just like "Forget You," this was a groaner of a concept: Would Glee really stoop to cover a YouTube novelty? And yet, instead of parodying that which had already been parodied to death, the Glee rendition celebrated something that few "Friday" postmortems have ever really acknowledged — namely, that after you've listened to Rebecca Black's song countless times, it goes all the way past wrong and actually sounds kinda good somehow.

Best: "P.Y.T." (From "Silly Love Songs")
We were tempted to include in this list the Artie-led performance of "Blame It on the Alcohol," which charmed us with humor and swagger. At the end of the day, though, we had to give the honor to "P.Y.T." It's perfect on Artie's smooth, boy-band voice, and we love to see him getting down with Brittany.

Best: "Dog Days Are Over" (From "Special Education")
Group numbers come and group numbers go, but this one somehow stuck around. Maybe it was the contact high we got from their joy at winning regionals, or maybe we were impressed at the vocal dexterity involved in navigating Florence and the Machine's loopy tempo riffs and non-melody. In any case, we dug it.

Best: "I'm a Slave 4 U" (From "Britney/Brittany")
We always knew Brittany could dance, but this is where we learned that Brittany could dance. Like, dance. If case you've forgotten since then, here's a fuzzy video mash-up of the Brittany/Britney versions. Which is which? Who cares?!

Best: "Rolling in the Deep" (From "Prom Queen")
Look, we are obviously partial to Jesse St. James (to the extent that we refuse to refer to him by anything other than his full, marvelous name), but wherever your loyalties lie, this was an awesome song, made only better by the voyeuristic addition of the drama-club kids painting sets in the background. Haters be damned!

Best: "As If We Never Said Goodbye" (From "Born This Way")
This captured Kurt's moment perfectly: the diva, returned from exile, full to bursting with hope and song. Kurt delivered an inspired performance — restrained, uplifting, and pitch-perfect — and honestly, would you have expected Kurt to mark his return with anything but Andrew Lloyd Weber?

Worst: "This Little Light of Mine" (From "Comeback")
This was the song that Mr. Schue sang to the cancer kids, which made Sue Sylvester nearly tear up. You totally suppressed that this ever happened, right? Sorry to reopen the wound!

Worst: "I've Had the Time of My Life" (From "Special Education")
We've watched the entire second season of Glee, yet we're still not entirely sure what Sam's singing voice sounds like. (Our best guess is that it's the guiding vocal for all of Cory Monteith's tracks.) Something else we're not sure of: how the hell New Directions advanced on their quest to nationals after performing this weak-sauce song.

Worst: "Pure Imagination" (From "Funeral")
Ugh, what? What?

Worst: "Do You Wanna Touch Me" (From "Sexy")
If only they'd let Gwyneth's pitch-perfect first episode stand on its own. Instead, Holly Holliday returned a few weeks later and tried to have another "Forget You" moment right off the bat, re-creating the location, the spontaneous group dancing, and the song-ending non sequitur, all to diminishing returns.

Worst: "My Funny Valentine" (From "Silly Love Songs")
​What was even happening here? We still don't know.

source: nymag.com