I went to New York last week for a White Collar set visit so I missed out on reviewing Glee’s amazing finale last week. I’ll admit it, I cried like a baby during most of the episode. I felt like Sue (Jane Lynch) was ridiculing me when she made a crack about Will’s penchant for constantly crying. I didn’t talk much about Glee since it came back from break because frankly the episodes didn’t live up to the promise shown in the first half. While it lacked narrative drive and too many songs, there were still a couple of stand out moments like Will (Matthew Morrison) and Neil Patrick Harris’ amazing vocal duel on Aerosmith’s Dream On, or Mercedes (Amber Riley) doing a tear inducing Beautiful or the heartfelt Glee club version of One. When Glee works, it’s simply amazing.
I wasn’t looking forward to the finale, but I was blown away by how good i was. All the reaction shots and watching this rag tag bunch of misfits pull together is what made this episode great. More so than the overall story. I hated the Power of Madonna and Lady GaGa episodes, it’s too early in the show’s run to be doing gimmick and theme episodes.
Puck’s (Mark Salling) reactions to watching Quinn (Dianna Agron) deliver the baby were priceless. The delivery scene was punctuated by Vocal Adrenaline’s really awful, robotic performance of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. For some weird reason Rachel (Lea Michele) stayed and watched the performance while the rest of the group took Quinn to the hospital. I was disappointed that after spending the last 8 or 10 episodes showcasing the rest of the club’s talent that when they finally get to big dance and the performance was all about Rachel and Finn (Cory Monteith), I also didn’t like that they pulled the Journey card once again – great performance, but we already saw it several times during the first 1/2 of the season. I loved how happy they were after the performance.
When they get back to the school and find out the club is no more, their special thanks to Shuster was absolutely perfect. Everyone in the club talked about how Glee changed them, I loved Finn telling Will that he was like a father to him and taught him how to be a man. When they broke out into To Sir With Love surprised me because it’s such an obscure song – that I’ve never heard before, but perfect for that moment. When Will cried, I cried.
Cast Talking about To Sir With Love
When it’s time for Will to thank the club, he and Puck do a beautiful version of Over The Rainbow – the Israel Kamakawiwo’ole version that always makes me cry. Watching the Glee Club appreciate this gesture was perfect.
Somewhere Over The Rainbow
Overall I wouldn’t rate the 2nd half of the season of Glee as great as the first half but it was strong and this finale hit all the right notes. It’s already been renewed for the next TWO seasons so we don’t have to worry about it going anywhere. I just hope that next year they finally settle on a tone for the show and stick with it. It’s been all over the place this year, but almost every episode still had that one memorable moment and it’s these moments that makes everything leading up to it so worthwhile.
Final Grade A
EM Review by
Michelle Alexandria
Originally posted 6.13.2010