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Watercooler: No Glee in Finaleville
What a surprise. They lost Nationals. Last night, Glee closed out its creatively crippled, nearly intolerable second season with the perfect metaphor for the show itself: No effort, no reward. For months, the once-fabulous musical has stumbled like a mouthwash-swilling transient, wandering far, far away from what it has claimed to be about (music education in schools) to preach about bullying, canonize Kurt, demonize Rachel and pretty much bum us out. Seriously, Sam's poverty and a funeral episode? Fun, really. Thanks...
What a surprise. They lost Nationals.
Last night, Glee closed out its creatively crippled, nearly intolerable second season with the perfect metaphor for the show itself: No effort, no reward.
For months, the once-fabulous musical has stumbled like a mouthwash-swilling transient, wandering far, far away from what it has claimed to be about (music education in schools) to preach about bullying, canonize Kurt, demonize Rachel and pretty much bum us out. Seriously, Sam's poverty and a funeral episode? Fun, really. Thanks.
All the while, the promise of Nationals — and a finale-worthy production number — was pushed further into the background. So much so that once the kids got to New York City last night, they didn't even have their song list in place. Hell, they didn't have songs written yet, much less any rehearsal under their belts, or any idea of who would be taking lead vocals. Nobody should have been shocked when New Directions failed to rank among the top 10 finalists! A thrown-together mess, no matter how loudly performed, is still a mess — much like this show has been in Year 2.
It's like nobody's even trying to keep the joy, the giddy fun and, yes, the glee of the show's early days alive. Instead, it's become all soapbox posturing, studded with paper-thin cut-outs who randomly pop in from the sidelines to drop a quippy line and then stop mattering again. Seriously, is Tina a person or just a quota? How come Artie or Mercedes never factored into the bullying storyline? And is Quinn a bitch or just off the meds we never knew she was on? Honestly, the kid she birthed last season has probably developed more than these characters.
New Directions lost. And so did the viewers. Our only hope is that the optimistic emotion of the episode's final scenes — the Sam-Mercedes twist, Brittany and Santana's love talk, Finchel's reunion — are a sign of improvements to come. Otherwise, this show choir may need to change its name to No Directions.
What did you think of Glee's finale?