Glee Finale Recap: Lights, Camera, Macktion?

Glee "Sectionals" (8.5/10)

Miracles happen every day, my friends. Sometimes women lift cars to rescue children, sometimes the Cincinnati Cardinals win a baseball game (my first sports reference! Dan Rather, eat your heart out). Sometimes, even more shockingly, Glee comes up with a terrific episode that bolsters my confidence for the second half of the season.

The road to the sectionals (which is the title of the DVD set, by "pure" coincidence) was not without its pitfalls. To pick a glaring example, there were times when certain stories were MIA for two or three episodes at a time. But I decided, as I clicked "Watch Live TV" on my Tivo screen, that I was going to watch this finale as if I knew what had happened, but not how it did. And the result was astounding. By depriving myself of any prejudices about blunders past, it helped me to enjoy what was a very successful follow-through on what had been promised in the pilot.

But first I have to complain for a skinny minute about a few minor grievances the show committed tonight. I'll list them as they are in my notes.

The Bad Things:

- The suspicion = knowledge plot point at the beginning had me reeling on the ground in abject horror. Thank God the episode got better from there.

- The pedophilia coming from one of the judge's ("Those girls shook it in all the right places") was not as funny as the producers intended.

- What in the name of all that is camp was Mercedes wearing during her rendition of "And I'm Telling You..."? I'm not a fashion critic, but that top was FUG.

- What was with the size of the trophy? They make that for a competition between three teams who didn't have to even compete in a qualifying round? It just didn't jive logically.

- Why did the ghetto school steal the wheelchair thing? That only makes sense when the McKinnley high students did it. When the black kids preformed like that, it would have appeared to be totally out of the blue and without context.

Anyway, like I said, these are relatively minor complaints. Now we shall move on to...

The Good Things:

- The episode had a distinctly satisfying conclusion. Even though everyone knew what was coming, Jayma May's incredible acting made it seem unpredictable and magical.

- I was totally wrong about Amber Riley's version of "And I'm Telling You..." It was great. And, like Lea Michele's later song "Don't Rain on My Parade" (my personal pick for best performance of the season) it didn't sound produced or studio-ized.

- I stand by my critique of the Kelly Clarkson song, but it the "You Can't Always Get What You Want" number had me smiling throughout the whole thing.

- Just like last week, the reveal of Quinn's baby's father's (that's a lot of possessive forms, peeps!) identity was done very organically. Diana Agathon really got to show off her acting chops tonight.

- I guess this was a girls' episode, because Jane Lynch, while not bitingly funny like she usually is, was in top shape dramatically. Her spot-on delivery of the rapid-fire dialogue didn't even make me think about the cliches that were pouring out her mouth (until just now.) The woman surpassed Matthew Morrison's feeble acting in every single scene, and she should be commended for that.

- The judge's panel (apart from the statutory rape hiccup) was very funny and very well done. In an episode that wasn't banking on the humor, it was a nice relief.

- It was nice to see Will and Emma hit it off, but it was equally nice to see Rachel and Finn NOT get together. It would have been a cheese overload, and it was a great call on the part of the producers.

Final Thoughts:

Glee certainly didn't bring it this season like I wanted it to. The baby subplots got old fast, the romance was a episode-by-episode affair, and the illogical reasons for things wore thin by the seventh installment. Nonetheless, I am still intrigued by what could have been a train-wreck finale, and was turned into a great show. With Terri out of Will's life (for now) and with all the secrets revealed, maybe the wait until April will give the writers time to find the magic again. And if they do, this could turn out to be a great show after all.