New Season of Glee Premiere Review!

 If you haven’t heard of Glee by now, you also have no idea what electricity is, the fact that the Beatles broke up, and that Michael Jackson is dead. Glee is the television phenomenon from Fox that is enjoying such high praise and adoration you’d think it was the final year of Friends instead of a freshman series. People can’t get enough of this show.

That fact was highly evident when I caught the season 1.5 premiere at The Grove near Hollywood, California, this past Saturday. Thousands of Gleeks (Glee-geeks, not people spitting) poured into an area designed to hold barely hundreds to catch an early glimpse of the latest episode of Glee. I try to be as spoiler free as possible, so don’t expect much detail on anything after the first 30 minutes of the episode.

The first new episode since December picks up a few weeks after the members of “New Directions” have won sectionals. Everyone is thinking with their big sectionals win the days of being the losers are over. We are beautifully reminded very quickly, that the status quo at William McKinley High School hasn’t changed in the slightest. The glee kids are still at the bottom of the social ladder and Shuster is still going to have to fight tooth and nail to get the program any respect.

In the last episode, Will Shuster (Matthew Morrison) found out his wife was faking her pregnancy, so he left her to be with the guidance counselor that was secretly in love with him, Emma (played adorably by Jayma Mays). Quinn (Dianna Agron) finally revealed to Finn (Corey Monteith) that the real baby she was carrying wasn’t his, but his best friend Puck’s (Mark Salling).  This led to Rachel (Lea Michele) finally making her move on her unrequited love, Finn.

Picking up from that soap opera climax, Quinn is now dating Puck, who is telling his pregnant girlfriend he doesn’t want to be seen with a fatty. Smooth, seriously, every girl I talk to loves this character. And I have no idea why. He is a giant ass.

Rachel is now dating Finn who has switched gears from sucking at football to sucking at basketball. I’m sure next season he’ll suck at baseball. She has even gone so far as to make crazy dating calendars, with her and Finn’s heads photo-shopped onto kitten bodies.

Jane Lynch’s awesomely cathartic Sue Sylvester is back after blackmailing her job back from the principal with a staged sex photo. She is just as funny and biting as ever, and I dare to say even more acid tongued. Her Machiavellian schemes to take down the Glee club continue as she looks to use Rachel Berry’s personal life to unravel the gang from within.

Speaking of Ms. Berry, after finding short lived happiness with Finn, he turns around and dumps her saying he needs to “explore his inner rock star.” The idea of just one girl doesn’t seem to be enough for our young Finn. He belts out The Doors’ “Hello, I love you” and goes out on a date with two Cheerios. Meanwhile, Rachel meets Jesse St. James, her counter part in the rival show choir program Vocal Adrenaline. He oozes charisma, and I mean oozes. The character is slimy as hell and you can see it from a mile away. They break out a duet of Lionel Richie’s “Hello”.

Mr. Shuster is now with obsessive compulsive Emma. The greatest thing about their relationship in this episode is that they only watch Jerry Bruckheimer movies, because that’s all the DVDs Shu’s ex left behind. We also find out that Emma is *spoiler* shock, a virgin. I was actually a little pissed about how they handled Shuster’s reaction to this. He gets disturbed and disappointed, way to ruin a good thing, idiot. Why would anyone have a negative reaction to finding out someone is a virgin? Are you that big an asshole?  

Apparently yes, because ten minutes later he’s making out with Vocal Adrenaline’s coach, played by Idina Menzel (the second witch from Wicked to appear on this show).

It comes out that Rachel is dating a member of vocal adrenaline and everyone in the choir tries to put a stop to it, while Sue sees an opportunity and tries to push it forward.

The musical numbers in this week’s episode include the already mentioned Doors and Lionel Richie covers as well as Neil Diamond’s “Hello Again”, ACDC’s “Highway to Hell” as done by Vocal Adrenaline (with some awesome/hot costuming), a far superior version of All American Rejects’ “Gives You Hell”, and lastly the Beatles “Hello Goodbye”. Did anyone spot the theme here? Yes, this week is all about saying hello or saying go to hell, depends on who you’re talking to. The disappointment from the first half of the season continues as only Shu, Rachel, and Finn do any lead vocals. I get it Lea Michelle has pipes, but I watch this show for the rest of the cast more than I watch for her. Let Dianna Agron sing, she’s only gotten what, one song so far? You’ve got a deep bench there Glee, use it!

Some of the highlights of the episode are finally seeing the inner workings of vocal adrenaline, Coach Sylvester setting up a William McKinley High’s old maids club, and Finns date with Brittany and Santana. The only quote I will ruin in advance is Brittany’s classic dialogue, “Did you know dolphins are just gay sharks?” It’s dialogue like this that keeps me coming back again and again.

This episode provides a great launching pad for what we’ll be seeing the next few months. Shuster trying to figure out what (or who) he wants, Sue being cantankerous and deliciously evil, and Finn finally having to fight for a girl instead of being the prize the girls are after. We don’t really get too many details on what’s up with Quinn and Puck or how Artie, Kurt, Mercedes and Tina are dealing with the post sectionals social life let down, but hopefully we’ll get more ensemble specific eps soon.

If you watched Glee this past fall or caught the pilot a year ago and couldn’t stand it, this new episode isn’t going to change your mind. If you’ve never seen Glee, I highly recommend jumping on now, as the plots on this show only get more outrageous and this is the simplest time it’s been in months. For a show that is less than a year old, these kids have had more issues than Jonathan London’s long box. And with a Joss Whedon directed episode, featuring Mr. Neil Patrick Harris, you’ll want to be as up to speed as possible.