Glee

I usually love Naya and Santana, but I agree that the episode was too Santana-heavy. I wondered if that was partly because Lea and maybe Chris and a few others were unable to handle doing more than they did, so they beefed up Santana's stuff to fill the episode? Either way, it felt a bit lopsided, especially since Finn and Santana weren't characters that generally were put together. Quinn's absence was definitely glaring. I did at times feel uncomfortable, knowing that I was watching actual grief, not acting, and there were a few heavy-handed moments, both acting and writing wise, but all in all I think it was a fitting and loving tribute to Corey/Finn, and they made the best of a very difficult situation. The scene with Carol and Burt early on killed me, it was absolutely heart wrenching.

Yeah, I got the sense that it was so Santana-heavy because it was probably too much for Lea to do more than two scenes. And of the teen characters who were in the episode, it makes sense to me that she would be the most affected after Rachel, Kurt, and Puck, given that Finn played a big role in her coming out. But the big role in the episode did seem really jarring next to the complete absence of Quinn.

I haven't watched it yet, but I do plan to, even though I haven't watched in a couple of seasons. I'm quite sure I'm going to cry through the whole thing. I actually am sort of glad to read reactions before seeing it; it's not something I really feel like being surprised about.

Why wasn't Quinn there -- did Dianna Agron not want to do it?

I haven't watched since...like season 2 I think, but I was wondering about Quinn's absence. Without her, without asking too much of Lea Michele, it makes more sense that Santana had so much to do. I wonder what the deal with Dianna Agron was.

I thought it was a good tribute to Cory Monteith, and difficult to say much beyond that. I didn't find it personally as wrenching to watch as, say, Newsradio's farewell to Phil Hartman, but I respect that the actors were struggling between acting and their real grief.

I read on TWoP, I think, that Dianna told someone that she was "not invited" to participate. I don't know if that was in an interview or a fan on the street, but the sense seems to be Ryan Murphy hates her (I have no idea why, I'm not really connected to the behind the scenes stuff). Her absence was a real shame, and I'm sorry for her if she wanted to participate and wasn't able to.

I would have replaced all those Santana heavy scenes with group scenes. (Well, and I would also have replaced her with Quinn in the scenes with Sue, but you can't have everything.) Just the kids sitting around telling stories, singing songs from the past (live, even) talking about how they first met him, some of them real from the show, some of them new (like Santana's poop story.) Just bonding over the shared experience of knowing him and knowing each other and what glee club meant to them. This episode kind of wrapped up the original cast more than ever with Puck's exit and Santana's statement about never coming back to Lima, so a farewell to that group as a whole wouldn't have been amiss, especially since I'm guessing that the increased ratings for this episode came from people like many of us who mostly stopped watching but tuned in to pay respects.

Artie also could have had a bit more to say since he had a nice dynamic with Finn, and Sam as well could talk about being discovered in the shower and all that. I wouldn't have even minded a few words (just a few) from the newbies as Finn really was their coach for a long time and they bonded with him, and there would be a wistfulness to Finn's future as a teacher and all the kids he would have inspired being cut short.

As for Dianna, there's no official word. Dianna said in an interview that she wasn't asked and didn't seem thrilled about it. Ryan Murphy claims it was just a matter of scheduling blah blah and that he put in all the regulars and everyone else who asked, implying that Dianna needed to ask to be in it. Which is bull because Mark indicated in a (private, but it leaked) Facebook post around the time of filming that he thought he was done with Glee but got the call to come back for it. So.

I guess I'm not upset about Will taking the jacket because it seemed just another example of typical Glee writing, where they want to go from point A to point C without thinking of the implications of point B along the way. They wanted the last scene with Will crying into the jacket, and they also wanted it to be a surprise that he took the jacket. So they show a scene where he accuses Puck to throw us off the scent, without stopping to think about how terrible it is for a teacher to let a group of grieving students turn on another grieving student for an action HE did.

And normally that's the kind of writing that would drive me crazy, and is one of the reasons I got fed up and stopped watching Glee in the first place, but in this instance, I didn't care. I didn't realize until it happened how much I needed to see Will completely lose it. Not from a voyeuristic point of view, but because as good as it sounds to talk about celebrating the person's life and moving on while respecting his memory, it just sucks when someone you love dies young with so much potential, and seeing the character who had been the inspirational rock for everyone else just finally cave in and weep - it felt terrible, but also weirdly helpful, like it's okay to not want to move on right away and just cry.

Yeah, there is definitely no way I can watch this episode ever again, as just typing about it is getting me choked up.

I thought Will taking the jacket and accusing Puck about it was insane, but then I rewatched the pilot on Netflix and remembered the first interaction between Will and Finn was Will pretending to find pot in Finn's locker, so that kind of bookended the whole thing as far as Will and Finn and morality goes.

(There was also a line in the pilot where Finn said he didn't have a drug problem. Urk.)

I thought it was a little jarring that Lea Michele was essentially sobbing during her performance while her vocal track went on unimpeded.

I would have a lot less problems with Will-Took-The-Jacket plotline/reveal if he hadn't essentially joined in on accusing Puck. Break the fight up and tell Puck something vague about how everyone's upset, but hopefully the jacket turns up blah blah blah. SOMETHING that isn't being such an ass-face lier and being the final push for making Puck leave his hometown.

I would have a lot less problems with Will-Took-The-Jacket plotline/reveal if he hadn't essentially joined in on accusing Puck. Break the fight up and tell Puck something vague about how everyone's upset, but hopefully the jacket turns up blah blah blah. SOMETHING that isn't being such an ass-face lier and being the final push for making Puck leave his hometown.

Same. I'm never sure if the show intentionally has Will be a screwed up man child, or if Ryan Murphy's in denial about how the character is. I like to think Will returned it later on, but I'm not sure that was what they had in mind either.

I did love how the episode did Seasons of Love, and how in a way it's actually probably the closest use of the song to its original intent. Seasons of Love isn't supposed to be a happy milestone song, it's about getting through some pretty serious hardship and remembering those you loved and lost. It's a heavy song, and Glee did it perfectly.

Was I the only one slightly disappointed that they didn't take full advantage of the "non-canon, unaired Christmas episode" by having Rachel, Santana, Kurt and Sexy Santa have a full-on liquor-fueled foursome that they would then vow to never speak of again?

Hey, look who kissed and made up.

There was a lot of attention paid to the fact that Dianna was not in the Cory/Finn memorial episode. I'd bet more than Ryan Murphy was expecting (b/c his head is indeed that far up his own ass). This might be damage control on his part.

Never Enough wrote:There was a lot of attention paid to the fact that Dianna was not in the Cory/Finn memorial episode. I'd bet more than Ryan Murphy was expecting (b/c his head is indeed that far up his own ass). This might be damage control on his part.

I'm pretty sure of it. And when he let it leak that Lea Michele wasn't fond of her, and that was the "real reason" she wasn't invited, it looked like he was pointing fingers at the mourning girlfriend, whether it was accurate or not.

If that had been Series Finale, it would have been a solid, appropriate one.

It's not, so it's just odd.

That said, I have to confess: I really, really, really just adore Gwyneth Paltrow here. Seriously. Her transitioning from playing Temple Grandin to singing a Studio 54-tinged version of "Party All The Time" might just be the most gloriously surreal thing ever put on television.

I'll admit it - I cried during "Don't Stop Believin'". And during the Finn voiceover at the very end.

And you're right, River Thames, that would have been a good series finale.

Also, why can't Mike Chang move to New York. I'm okay with losing everyone else, but I still love me some Mike Chang.

That should have been the series finale and then come back in the fall with a NYC based spinoff (but without Artie, can't stand Artie).

I always love when Will sings so I was happy when he joined in DSB. All the little moments of him dancing with some of the kids or having a quick duet with each kid. I especially liked the parts with him and Rachel. I know that the show has always made a big deal about the bond between Finn and Will but Rachel and Will had their own special bond starting early in season 1 also. That whole performance choked me up a bit and reminded me that I used to really really care about this show.

I didn't even mind the newbies getting their little goodbye moment in the rehearsal room.

That said, I have to confess: I really, really, really just adore Gwyneth Paltrow here. Seriously. Her transitioning from playing Temple Grandin to singing a Studio 54-tinged version of "Party All The Time" might just be the most gloriously surreal thing ever put on television.

I have to agree with this! This version was so very, very fun that I've been listening to it on and off all morning.

Everyone, you are welcome. I knew my singing would heal all.

I know Glee is hardly a documentary of real life, but holy cow, tonight's episode takes the cake. Even if you can accept that Rachel would have gotten the lead in a big Broadway show right out of high school with no training or experience, I can't even with the people coming and going from her dressing room *during* the show, the producer appearing at intermission to inform her that the New York Times review is important (and this apparently being news to Rachel) and freak her out, the producer deciding on the spur of the moment to have a cast party after opening night, and the star of the show blowing off said cast party. Have these people ever even seen a Broadway show, let alone learned the slightest thing about how they work? Lea Michele has appeared in several shows on Broadway, for the love of little green apples. (I'll give them the NYT critic being in the audience opening night, which isn't how they've done it for decades, because it's a nod to Broadway tradition.) Gah.

One of the bright sides of the show going to NY only meant that we wouldn't see the high school cast any more which I thought also meant no more Sue. I hate Sue. I loathe that character now and her having a huge subplot for no good reason really really really bothered me.

I don't get it - I thought they had the season finale already. There was a new episode last night?

No, simply the 100th/101st episodes effectively shut down all the plotlines in the high school-- which would have worked as a season/series finale-- so now the show is entirely in New York.

Chris Parnell deserves better than this. Woe.

MLIS wrote:I know Glee is hardly a documentary of real life, but holy cow, tonight's episode takes the cake. Even if you can accept that Rachel would have gotten the lead in a big Broadway show right out of high school with no training or experience, I can't even with the people coming and going from her dressing room *during* the show, the producer appearing at intermission to inform her that the New York Times review is important (and this apparently being news to Rachel) and freak her out, the producer deciding on the spur of the moment to have a cast party after opening night, and the star of the show blowing off said cast party. Have these people ever even seen a Broadway show, let alone learned the slightest thing about how they work? Lea Michele has appeared in several shows on Broadway, for the love of little green apples. (I'll give them the NYT critic being in the audience opening night, which isn't how they've done it for decades, because it's a nod to Broadway tradition.) Gah.

Finally saw this on On Demand last night, and would echo this entire post, adding that evidently Rachel developed amnesia with regard to the contract she doubtless would have signed with the show's production company. Plus, wasn't this always billed in the past as her dream role? So she's willing to lie to her producer and fly out to L.A. just like that? And Kurt isn't willing or able to call Shue and have him counsel her on her insane lack of judgment?

Lack of continuity continues raging on, which is both frustrating and unsurprising.