Glee from beginning to end
The Glee pilot aired on E4 this Tuesday, which made for an interesting compare and contrast having just seen the finale.
Obviously the stories aren’t completely superimposible but there was a very obvious point of connection between the two Finn-rides-in-and-saves-Glee scenes. In both of them we have Rachel trying to fire up the troopers and Finn providing the music and getting people to contribute what they do best. Finn doesn’t really change between the two episodes, he’s just had a lot more crap happened to him (the whole baby drama of doom). Rachel similarly, but with less crap. The people who’ve changed aren’t the stars but the ensemble they’re interacting with. In the pilot each gleek was an island of outcast, in the finale they’ve come together, they’re a team. Rachel is less abrasive in the finale not because she’s developed better people skills but because she doesn’t need to be. Mercedes and Kurt are already way ahead of her in seeing what has to be done. By the finale the only people Finn has to call out to do what they do best are the dancers who joined the group halfway through the season.
Glee probably exists because of American Idol but I think one problem with Idol is that it implicitly sells the message that music is a no sum game, that’s it’s all about winners and losers. Glee, however, is not Idol. It’s a musical show not a talent show and in musicals the show’s much more the thing than who wins the part. I don’t think Glee was ever really about the underdogs triumphing over the cool kids, it was about the underdogs coming together. And they have. The party-line scene in the finale teaser wasn’t just a set up for Brittany’s fabulous dating revelation, it was there to show us the party. There was also a melancholic edge to the finale in Finn’s telling Rachel she had what she wanted, the solo, the chance to be a star, which echoed Mr Schue telling Finn how it sucks to be special. The three white leads get to be stars of the show but they get there alone. Don’t Rain On My Parade was a tour de force and the perfect Rachel song at the perfect Rachel moment but when it comes down to it the underlying emotion, defiance? self assertion? lacks the universality of Mercedes’ plea for the other kids to love her.
ETA Also the judges were absolute perfection, as was the choreography recap number and “love ya like a sista” is possibly Sue Sylvester’s best ever put down of Will.
Obviously the stories aren’t completely superimposible but there was a very obvious point of connection between the two Finn-rides-in-and-saves-Glee scenes. In both of them we have Rachel trying to fire up the troopers and Finn providing the music and getting people to contribute what they do best. Finn doesn’t really change between the two episodes, he’s just had a lot more crap happened to him (the whole baby drama of doom). Rachel similarly, but with less crap. The people who’ve changed aren’t the stars but the ensemble they’re interacting with. In the pilot each gleek was an island of outcast, in the finale they’ve come together, they’re a team. Rachel is less abrasive in the finale not because she’s developed better people skills but because she doesn’t need to be. Mercedes and Kurt are already way ahead of her in seeing what has to be done. By the finale the only people Finn has to call out to do what they do best are the dancers who joined the group halfway through the season.
Glee probably exists because of American Idol but I think one problem with Idol is that it implicitly sells the message that music is a no sum game, that’s it’s all about winners and losers. Glee, however, is not Idol. It’s a musical show not a talent show and in musicals the show’s much more the thing than who wins the part. I don’t think Glee was ever really about the underdogs triumphing over the cool kids, it was about the underdogs coming together. And they have. The party-line scene in the finale teaser wasn’t just a set up for Brittany’s fabulous dating revelation, it was there to show us the party. There was also a melancholic edge to the finale in Finn’s telling Rachel she had what she wanted, the solo, the chance to be a star, which echoed Mr Schue telling Finn how it sucks to be special. The three white leads get to be stars of the show but they get there alone. Don’t Rain On My Parade was a tour de force and the perfect Rachel song at the perfect Rachel moment but when it comes down to it the underlying emotion, defiance? self assertion? lacks the universality of Mercedes’ plea for the other kids to love her.
ETA Also the judges were absolute perfection, as was the choreography recap number and “love ya like a sista” is possibly Sue Sylvester’s best ever put down of Will.