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.

Glee Recap: Lea-Lovin'

Glee "Mattress" (6/10)

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful girl with a beautiful voice. She lived in a land called Broadway and sang for the joy of the American people. Then one day, as soon as it had come, it was gone. The girl left the street that had brought her joy, and she was exiled to a place that auto-tuned her voice and made her character unlikable. The evil writers strung her up and had her sing, then changed it into garbage for their own amusement. But, one day, the girl said "Screw this" and decided to rise above the petty and illogical writing, the awful mutilation of her voice, and her weak-vocally-and-acting-wise partner to produce television magic. And it was known throughout the world as the day Lea Michele saved Glee.

Okay, so that might be overkill, but there was still not a lot to latch on to in this episode. Oh no, they draw on Finn's face with marker! Oh no, Emma is still going to marry the fat dude (am I the only one who thought that already happened?)! Oh no, the quick-fire recap was rendered useless by the amount of material! Oh no, Matthew Morrison is starting to reveal that he's not that good of an actor! But, even through all that, Ms. Michele gave her best performance to date as Rachel Berry. So I'm dedicating this recap to all the GOOD things that happened at McKinnley High this week.

- While the auto-tune was as tragic as ever, the lip-synching was mostly on point.

- Apart from the cheesy "I WILL talk to Figgins!" declaration from Will, the first scene was well-shot, well-written, and show-cased Jane Lynch's deadpan comedy nicely. The line about her not needing tear ducts actually got a chuckle from me. Between that, Sue's corner, and her comments to Quinn, this was a great episode for Lynch.

- Rachel singing Smile might have been drastically over-produced, but it was still enjoyable and fun to watch/hear. Again, kudos to Lea for making the best out of a bunk situation.

- Getting to the commercial was much less forced than plots in episodes past.

- If you take the mattress scene at face value, it was a pretty awesome musical number. The choreography and such was done very well. Even though I wish they hadn't given the exposition about "performing" (as if they could learn all that in fifteen minutes) it was a solid "movie musical" song.

- The way Will found out about Terri's non-pregnancy was totally legit. I expected some big soap opera moment where she told someone who told someone who told him, but this was a very pleasant surprise. And strangely enough, the scene where he confronts his wife is a much better vehicle for her. Gilsig is a powerful actress, and this plot point showed just how incredible she is. This scene was also logical and well-thought out.

- I'm not sure why the company would pay them in mattresses, but it sure made for a convenient segue.

- We got a Big Bang Theory cross-over with the photographer!

All in all, this was a decent hour of television. Which means it was a huge comeback from the last two weeks. Here's hoping Glee can continue this ascension into the mid-season finale.