“Glee” Season Finale Goes “Over the Rainbow,” Unveils Brilliant Drama

In 2007, “Friday Night Lights,” easily the best decade’s best family drama, wrapped its first season with a state championship victory for its Dillon Panthers. “Glee,” which has emerged as one of television’s most creative and engaging comedies, ended its brilliant first season with the regional show choir competition and thus provided itself with an opportunity to follow in the footsteps of FNL’s happy ending.

Instead, “Glee,” which has already been picked up for two additional seasons, took a more long-term approach, having its central New Directions place third (out of three) in the competition. A smart choice, the hourlong finale ended happily enough to avoid viewer disappointment yet heartbreakingly enough to keep intrigue on the competition plotline going forward.

Save for strong episodes in “The Power of Madonna,” “Home” and “Theatricality,” “Glee”‘s spring term has, on the whole, been more flawed and inconsistent than its fall collection of episodes. But the finale more than made up for any shortcomings in the back nine, delivering an episode that was even more touching and entertaining than the fantastic fall finale.

The music
Pivotal to the success was the absolutely phenomenal soundtrack. Coming off last week’s funk-themed episode, in which none of the songs truly popped with audiences, “Glee” had a lot of pressure to deliver on the musical front. It did.

Following an absolutely excellent Journey medley (“Faithfully,” “Anyway You Want It/Lovin’, Touchin’ Squeezin’,” a new version of “Don’t Stop Believin'”) that again demonstrated what wonderful chemistry the New Directions cast–notably Lea Michele and Cory Monteith–shares, Vocal Adrenaline took to the stage with a show-stopping version of “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Vocal Adrenaline’s performances had always been audibly and visually stunning, but with the group finally given a personality by way of Jonathan Groff’s Jesse St. James, things escalated to another level; finally, there was an actual singer to take the lead and engage the viewership. Groff stunned, delivering the best vocal performance of his tenure on the show. For as enjoyable as the Journey medley was, “Bohemian Rhapsody” in a league of its own.

Granted, hilariously and uncomfortably synchronizing the number with the long-awaited birth of Quinn’s baby did not hurt the intensity of the number.

After their heartbreaking loss, the New Directions dedicated a strong rendition of “To Sir with Love” to their coach Will, who later returned the favor with the Israel Kamakawiwo’ole rendition of “Over the Rainbow,” his best performance outside of the “Don’t Stand So Close To Me/Young Girl” mash-up.

Released as an EP, the “Journey to Regionals” soundtrack is currently in first place–ahead of the “Eclipse” soundtrack and Christina Aguilera’s “Bionic”–on iTunes.

The storyline
The big picture storyline was simple: with Sue Sylvester joining the celebrity judging panel of Josh Groban, Olivia Newton-John and Rod Remington, all hope was essentially lost for the New Directions. Already against the formidable Vocal Adrenaline (and less threatening Aural Intensity), the group now had to deal with a judge that has made it her personal mission to end the club.

In a twist (albeit a predictable one), however, Sue ended up being the group’s biggest defender. Initially prepared to rank them at the bottom, Sue, a compassionate educator at her core, started to feel sympathy over how coldly the other judges spoke about the apparently “poor” New Directions’ shortcomings. Then, when the comparison between the New Directions and Sue was made clear–like them, she was a misfit who did not belong–Sue became a full-fledged supporter of the group and ended up ranking New Directions first.

The Sue twist was nonetheless a risk on the part of the writers. While it was obvious that Sue would end up voting for the New Directions, it was not an inherent requirement that she do so out of empathy or emotion; since Sue is known as a ruthless competitor, the decision simply could have been justified by an opinion that the New Directions were the best performers (as she thinly tried to claim later in the episode). Moving Sue further in the direction of vulnerable humanity, as first evidenced by how she cared for her sister in “Wheels,” makes for excellent television (and gives Jane Lynch great acting opportunities), but it also risks making her obnoxious, take-no-prisoners character seem excessively insincere.

Other plot developments:
— Quinn had her baby, whom was adopted by Shelby. Shelby kept Puck’s desire to name her Beth. Prior to the birth, Quinn’s mother had attended the regional competition and later confirmed that she split with Quinn’s father and wanted her daughter to come home, where there would be a nursery for the child if needed.
— In a culmination to the gender-centric focus of the back nine, the episode featured the male characters stepping up. Puck stood by Quinn as she gave birth and confirmed his feelings for her. Finn professed his love to Rachel shortly before Will, his role model, did the same to Emma (who is now dating her dentist, reportedly to be played next season by John Stamos).
— Per the original arrangement with Figgins, the New Directions’ loss at regionals meant that the program would be cut; Model UN was scheduled to takeover the rehearsal room. Touched by the kids’ dedication of “To Sir, With Love” to Will, Sue realized how important the club was to the New Directions and how Will had helped make everyone better and more confident. In the final deal of her blackmail arrangement with Figgins, she requested that the club be given one more year to prove itself.

Going Forward
— The hip-hop/funk songs need to be greatly limited. They are neither musically appealing nor commercially viable (they do not sell nearly as well as the contemporary pop/rock covers).
— In what had to be a response to Headline Planet’s review of the first few episodes last summer, “Glee” definitely improved a lot of the lip-syncing and illogical musical production issues for the back nine. It would still, however, be nice to see the characters more frequently perform stripped-down, auto-tune free selections that at least give the impression they could be realistically delivered from within an auditorioum or rehearsal room.
— Guilty pleasure music from the 60s, 70s and 80s has sold extremely well (“Sweet Caroline,” “Jessie’s Girl,” etc) and should be featured in most episodes–the early appeal of “Glee”‘s soundtrack was that it would be a musical set to pop/rock songs, and it would be great to see the show provide more offerings in that realm.
— With that in mind, the show should definitely not exclude all Broadway numbers, show tunes and standards. It would actually, in fact, be nice to see a more diverse collection of songs from this realm, especially as it relates to mainstream musicals.
— More unique covers. Lea Michele and Idina Menzel’s rendition of “Poker Face” was one of the musical bright spots this show; “Glee” should attempt to craft similarly-clever and unique arrangements in season two.

— Reports have said that rising stars Brittany and Santana will receive more screen time going forward; that revelation made for phenomenal news.
— Even if the other supporting characters are not going to receive significantly more focus, they should still be given more engaging storylines. The “how I deal with being different” arcs, particularly the tear-jerking moments between Kurt and his father, were great at the beginning of season one, but they started to grow tired and repetitive by season’s end. Positive news to this effect came several months ago, when reports surfaced that Kurt would be getting a boyfriend on the show. Not everything has to be about relationships, but it would be nice to know what else, besides the handicap, matters to a person like Artie.
— A Sue flashback episode needs to happen.
— Episodes told from the perspective of rarely-featured characters, like Mike and Matt, would be intriguing.