Glee

So, Glee returns, and I'm still watching, because why the hell not.

Actually, these opening two episodes were pretty solid. After spending the fifth season more or less handing Rachel the world on a silver platter, having everything collapse on her, sending her crawling back to Lima, was a good touch. On the whole, several good choices were made, including and especially having the four new NEW New Directions being characters that were nothing like the originals (and not weak-sauce 2.0 versions that the new New Directions were in Seasons 4 and 5.) Plus, musical numbers were strong. The only thing I didn't care for was Blaine/Kurt drama, because it bores me senseless. Blaine, on the whole, is pretty boring now.

Agree, I kind of stopped watching season 4 and 5 and saw them on and off ( so no idea what happened to all the new people but did follow NY) I also don't get why we need more Kurt Blaine drama

So, that's it. The end made me cry, but I wasn't sad to see it go. I will say that this past season did a lot to repair a lot of the disappointment I felt with the show for the past two seasons.

Because it's the end, I'm only going to name the things that I loved about the last two episodes. (The disappointments I had were minor at best, anyway.) I loved the 2009 episode. I had forgotten about Terri Schuester and how crazy she was. And Howard! I had forgotten about Howard. I have to give a hand to all of the actors, but especially Lea Michele, for reverting to their "pilot" selves. Like, they all did it pretty well, but I hadn't realised just how much Rachel had changed until being reintroduced to Rachel 1.0, and remembering how much I ADORED her psychotic ambition.

Matt Rutherford! I actually squeaked with joy when I saw Matt Rutherford! Of all the actors who've been on Glee, I thought Dijon Talton got the shortest shrift, so I was glad to see him again. And Burt Hummel. I'm glad they didn't retcon his character. The 2009 Burt wasn't comfortable with his son, even though he wanted to be, and I thought it was great to see that again. An idle wish is that I wish they would've brought back all the originals for 2009, but I can see how maybe it would have been that much harder to negotiate around the obvious absence of Finn.

I LOVED that they ended the 2009 episode with the original version of "Don't Stop Believing". And I cried seeing Finn (and Cory) again.

I also enjoyed the final episode, though not as much as the penultimate one. I really wish we could have caught up with all of the Glee kids, if even just briefly. Or even if we could only get to the main ones, it would have been nice to know what Britney and Santana were up to. What Mike was up to. Tina and Artie. Puck and Quinn. It was sappy, but it was nice to see Rachel get her Tony. And see her happily settled with Jesse St. James. If they were going to settle her with someone other than Finn, I get why it was with him. And it made way more sense than her and Sam.

I did like it that they brought it back around to Will and musical education. I liked a lot of the final relationship beats and the final songs. I could have done with less Klaine, but I could always do with less Klaine. I still (quite probably unfairly) blame the introduction of Blaine as one of the show's biggest missteps. No, not the introduction - the point when he became a star, and not a secondary character. But I digress.

I believe that final number included all the Glee members except for of course Finn, and oddly Rory. Or was Rory there and I just missed him? I got verklempt watching that final number. Seeing everyone all together again. I know that the cast became infamous for the infighting and the drama, but everyone really seemed to mellow in the last year, so I hope that they had a great time together, one last time.

Glee was many things over the years, many good, many not. But at its best, it fulfilled the promise of its name. So, I'll be willing to forgive the parts that made me angry or annoyed or, worst of all, bored, and look back fondly on the show. (And maybe just forget that seasons 4 and 5 even happened.) Even though I'm glad it's over, I'll still miss it.

From what I understand Rory and Marisa Benoist were the only notable absences. Both were invited but had scheduling conflicts.

I'm so happy that Rachel ended up with Jesse St. James.  I've been shipping that hard since season one, and the ending I always wanted for Rachel, even when Finn was in the picture, was for her and Jesse to go to New York and take over Broadway.  At the same time, though, it does feel strangely conflicting being happy with Rachel's ending knowing that it only happened due to a real-life tragedy.

Seeing everybody together at the end really made me wonder about the cast in real life and who hates who, who loves who, who hated who but now they're cool.  I can't wait until somebody gets hard up for cash and writes a tell-all.

I know that the cast became infamous for the infighting and the drama

I haven't kept up with the show since just before Cory died, so I'm curious - what was all the infighting and drama? The only thing I've ever read is that Lea Michele and Diana Agron don't get along. What else was there?

eventide82 wrote:

I know that the cast became infamous for the infighting and the drama

I haven't kept up with the show since just before Cory died, so I'm curious - what was all the infighting and drama? The only thing I've ever read is that Lea Michele and Diana Agron don't get along. What else was there?

Last year there was apparently a big thing between Lea Michele and Naya Rivera, and possibly Lea having an affair with Naya's fiance? I'm fuzzy on the details, but that plays a big reason of why A. Naya just plain vanishes in last year's season finale and Brittany is suddenly "visiting" and B. why Naya was only in, like, 4 episodes this season and never in a one-on-one scene with Rachel.

RiverThames wrote:

eventide82 wrote:

I know that the cast became infamous for the infighting and the drama

I haven't kept up with the show since just before Cory died, so I'm curious - what was all the infighting and drama? The only thing I've ever read is that Lea Michele and Diana Agron don't get along. What else was there?

Last year there was apparently a big thing between Lea Michele and Naya Rivera, and possibly Lea having an affair with Naya's fiance?  I'm fuzzy on the details, but that plays a big reason of why A. Naya just plain vanishes in last year's season finale and Brittany is suddenly "visiting" and B. why Naya was only in, like, 4 episodes this season and never in a one-on-one scene with Rachel.

Oooh, I hadn't heard the bit about Lea having an affair with Naya's fiance. Though... I don't really buy that part. I just don't see Big Sean being Lea's type or vice versa, quite frankly. I do believe that they had a falling out.

There was also the apparent bad breakup between Naya and Mark Salling. And Dianna and Ryan fighting over her exclusion from Cory's memorial episode. And I thought there was some sort of triangle between Jacob Artist, Melissa Benoist, and Blake Jenner. And it all started with Dianna and Lea mysteriously going from being BFFs (seriously, those two were like, inseparable in the beginning) to no longer speaking to one another.

I think Lea and Naya were both pretty big divas on set. The focus on the two of them in New York was inevitably going to lead to an explosion.

Ooh, interesting, thank you!

I knew there were issues but so many? I don't believe either that Big Sean is lea type.

You don't have to believe me on this, but I know someone who knows an insider (I know I know) and I don't think any of that Lea/Big Sean stuff is true. The fight between Naya and Brad was completely between Naya and Brad (and got very very messy and was the reason for Naya's reduced status in the last season) and was only tangentially related to Lea.

Oooohhhh any specific details about what the Naya/Brad fight was about? I hadn't heard anything about Brad being involved, just the Lea part that the tabloids reported.

The Lea/Big Sean thing came from blindgossip, which us regulars of the Guess Who, Don't Sue thread can tell you, is 80% stealing info already out there from other sources, 20% fanfic embellishment. So yeah, I'd say the truth is that Naya had drama on set that was well reported by other more reliable sources, and the Big Sean crap was typical blindgossip BS.

I stopped watching this show ages ago, but I still followed a lot of the gossip, so to add to what others have said, there were lots of rumors that Chris Colfer/Darren Criss had issues and that Chris was totally over all the Klaine storylines.

swsa wrote:The Lea/Big Sean thing came from blindgossip, which us regulars of the Guess Who, Don't Sue thread can tell you, is 80% stealing info already out there from other sources, 20% fanfic embellishment. So yeah, I'd say the truth is that Naya had drama on set that was well reported by other more reliable sources, and the Big Sean crap was typical blindgossip BS.

I stopped watching this show ages ago, but I still followed a lot of the gossip, so to add to what others have said, there were lots of rumors that Chris Colfer/Darren Criss had issues and that Chris was totally over all the Klaine storylines.

Chris and me both, sister. (Okay, I'll leave Blaine alone.)

As for the Naya stuff, there are two separate rumours I heard. 1) That she had a total hissy fit because Lea was late to set and keeping everyone waiting, and she raised such a stink that they fired her because they couldn't fire Lea. But on the particular day that they reported this happening, Lea wasn't shooting and was in fact on GMA or KTLA or something like that with Ryan Murphy. Something with filmed proof that it was erroneous. 2) That Naya had become increasingly hostile to the show's directors, and would no longer follow their direction, to the point where they wouldn't work with her. She got two warnings and after the third Brad Falchuk fired her on the spot. I don't know how accurate that is, but of the two, I'm more inclined to believe the latter.

I believe that Naya had hissy fits etc, from the first season of Glee there were rumours of her being a bit crazy (keying a car over a break up etc) and I think there was also something with Kim K (apart from her trying to look like her half the time)

I remember the story about Naya keying a car - I think it was Mark Salling's car and both of them denied it (Salling even noted on Twitter that the model of the car she apparently keyed wasn't the model of car he owned/drove).

Why my brain has retained this info I have no idea, but there you go.