Neil Patrick Harris Disappoints With “Glee” Appearance; “Dream On” Review

The entirety of “Glee” cannot be better epitomized than by the very existence of “How I Met Your Mother”‘s Neil Patrick Harris. He acts. He sings. He is in tune with musical theatre. He cracks some of the best jokes each week on television. He possesses no shyness for self-deprecation.

His appearance on the “Dream On” episode of Glee–in an episode directed by his “Dr. Horrible” helmer Joss Whedon no less–thus had all the makings of an eagerly-anticipated classic. The idea of seeing NPH interact with the likes of Matt Morrison’s Will and Jane Lynch’s Sue, coupled with the possibility of the actor collaborating on musical numbers with the ever-talented ensemble made this as exciting to “Glee” fans as the “The Power of Madonna” episode.

Unfortunately for those fans, while “The Power of Madonna” was a classic, “Dream On” is at best a routine “Glee” episode and at worst a creative disappointment.

Neil Patrick Harris guests as Bryan Ryan, a standout glee club member during Will’s high school days. A brash, arrogant, cocky performer, Bryan simultaneously served as a bully and a rival to Will but nonetheless had talent that could not be denied. Unfortunately for Bryan, like so many of Will’s high school contemporaries-including Kristin Chenoweth’s April–he failed to take off as a theatrical performer and now finds himself on the school board.

Bitter about his failed theatrical career, Bryan has a vendetta against glee (evidence includes the fact that he is in an outreach group for show choir washouts, cue a lame cutaway scene also starring Molly Shannon) and plans to slash the New Directions as part of the Board’s budget cuts. In order to save the club, Will’s mission is thus to help Bryan move past his bitterness towards show choir and experience the joy the arts can bring.

The quest initially includes a duet over “Piano Man” at a bar and later leads to a show-stopping rendition of “Dream On.” It leads to a riotous interaction–which comedically cracks that the arts are taking precedence over sports and may or may not include “anger sex”–between Bryan and Sue Sylvester. But it does not lead to anything particularly memorable for the long-term, and for an episode that features two other potentially hard-hitting storylines, the feature attraction manages to sap much of the energy out of the hour.

The problem is not so much Neil Patrick Harris’ performance–though he is not as dynamic and funny as he is in his other roles, he is perfectly up to the task of performing on one of television’s quirkiest shows in years. Rather, it is simply a poorly-drawn character that has no punch or feeling of importance. Chenoweth’s April Rhodes was given some color, and the actress received an opportunity to shape an individual that would become infinitely relevant to the “Glee” universe. NPH’s character is a throwaway, and it serves no purpose other than to justify some musical numbers.

In addition to relying on an overused plotline (do we really need another authority figure trying to shut down glee club?), the character himself also has no tangible connection to his storyline companions. They tell us Bryan and Will were rivals in high school, but save for the actual declaration of their rivalry, an ironic line about the one girl Bryan could not bed and the fact that they go head-to-head in this actual episode, there is no believable chemistry between the two. No matter how much Will reads scripted lines about Bryan’s past, he is never able to convince viewers that the two actually had any sort of meaningful dynamic in high school. The flaw is significant, as instead of welcoming a performer like NPH into the “Glee” universe, it reduces him to an outsider–to a “standard” guest star.

And, for the most part, the characters do nothing to work him into the storyline. The New Directions kids express sadness and worry at his rant about dreams not coming true (a rant that, to its credit, does spur the other two major storylines in the episode), but they rarely approach him as an actual person. Similarly, when their coach Will makes a big decision at the end of the episode, they frame their feelings in terms of how Will is affected, rather than in terms of how it impacts Bryan.

April’s primary connection to the show was her character’s relationship with Will, but she also took a much more active role with the kids–and even performed with them. Bryan has no such relationship, and given that the chemistry with Will is already suspect, he feels completely distant. If not for NPH, the character would be a total bust, as it carries no more personal relevance to the storyline than someone like Eve’s Grace Hitchens character.

For as universally talented as NPH is, the fact that he is not as dominant a performer as a Kristin Chenoweth or a Idina Menzel also hurts the impact of the episode, as he really cannot carry a performance the way they could. His duet with Morrison on “Dream On” is fantastic, but it not as if he carries the song or leads his duet to a place previously untouched–it is very much a two-way street with Morrison, if anyone, stealing the show.

Ultimately, while NPH brings audiences some nice one-liners and a solid musical performance, his turn on the show is forgettable, and fans will not be clamoring for a Neil Patrick Harris encore anytime soon.

Elsewhere, Kevin McHale’s Artie and and Jenna Ushkowitz’s Tina get some much-needed screen time to further their relationship. The two characters have phenomenal chemistry and have become fan favorites, and as “Glee” occasionally finds itself too consumed with Lea Michele, Cory Monteith and Matt Morrison, seeing the duo receive a third of the focus was a welcome treat.

How that time is utilized, however, is somewhat disappointing. Though the story itself is sweet, features some emotional scenes (including Emma, of all people, having to be the cold, hard voice of reason) and concludes with a nice musical number, the entire arc is reflective of an ongoing issue with the show–“Glee” tends to rehash the same basic stories every time it wants to touch its fans.

Without spoiling much, it should be pretty clear what an “emotional” storyline involving Artie entails. And, yes, it does hit hard. But guess what? “Glee” already touched on that side of Artie’s life in “Wheels,” and when push comes to shove, this episode adds nothing to the viewer’s understanding of his character. Though it is nice to see Tina work with Artie on his issue, the end product of their bond is nothing groundbreaking. It does nothing to seriously reposition Artie for future installments of the show–everything, and it was all known to the viewer anyway, is entirely self-contained.

This failure to move forward with dramatic storytelling has become a major problem for the world of “Glee.” On the recent “Laryngitis” episode, the writers even managed to strike out with a storyline centered on Kurt (the brilliant Chris Colfer) and his father (the surprisingly-also brilliant Mike O’Malley). The bond between Kurt and his dad has, bar none, been the best dramatic storyline on the show, but after all the brilliance and emotion demonstrated in “Preggers,” “Wheels” and “Home,” last week’s episode set the show back. It was the first time in which there was absolutely no progression; viewers were hearing and witnessing the same father-son challenges about which they had already learned. Stories have to evolve and move; “Glee” is lucky its dialogue is so sharp and its acting is so incredible, because without that ability to make viewers smile regardless of what is going on, the show would be taking a lot of heat for its storyline inertia.

One might think the episode’s third plot arc contradicts the aforementioned criticism. After all, it features Rachel (Lea Michele) pursuing an answer to a lifelong question and her boyfriend Jesse St. James (Jonathan Groff) shedding some light on why Shelby (Idina Menzel) enlisted him to go “undercover” (in a sense) with the New Directions. Pretty big developments, right? The problem is that “Glee” had not been building to these revelations in a way that would particularly make viewers care.

Regarding Rachel’s plight, while the question itself has lingered her entire life, it has never played prominently into her behavior on the show. The viewer is told of its importance, but he has not already seen it–and he would only know the big reveal is coming had he read online spoilers or looked at the guest casts for future episodes. It is hard to knock a storyline that produces a tremendous rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream,” but it is the performance–not the story–that will make viewers get emotional for the big reveal. The reveal itself almost comes across as a “so what,” since it was an issue only made important within the context of this episode (though, to “Glee”‘s credit, it does appear to be setting the stage for an ongoing arc).

As for the reveal regarding Jesse, while it is positive in the sense that it was not the painfully predictable answer to why he would be spying on the New Directions (granted, an aspect of the reveal was fairly predictable, but it is not likely that a casual viewer guessed the entirety of it), it also felt flat because “Glee” has done nothing to build around that arc. After letting the viewer in on Jesse’s apparently devious plan via a glance he and Shelby shared at the end of “Hell-O,” the show had effectively dropped that aspect of his involvement, focusing more so on the love square (Rachel, Puck, Finn, Jesse) than the fact that a member of Vocal Adrenaline, the rival glee club, is now performing as a member of the New Directions. The reveal again feels disappointing, as the show did nothing to make viewers believe that a reveal was even necessary.

So, all in all, an episode that produces some wonderful musical numbers, a few great lines and a priceless interaction between Neil Patrick Harris and Jane Lynch. A solid episode of television? Absolutely. Worth watching if you’re a “Glee” fan? Of course. But the episode itself is pretty by-the-books “Glee,” and it does nothing to live up to the hype of a beloved director working with a fan favorite guest star.

And, on that note, while Joss Whedon definitely showed comfort and proficiency working with the “Glee” cast, it is not as if his direction in the episode has any sort of unique voice. It is not as if one would have been able to guess Whedon directed this episode without knowing he was involved, so it almost comes across as, “what’s the point?” It seems like it was more of a treat for Whedon and the cast than his fans or fans of the show.

“Dream On” airs Tuesday night after “American Idol.”