Episode Review for gleeverse
Episode Name: Journey To Regionals
Director: Brad Falchuk
Air Date: June 8, 2010
The season one finally was the culmination of everything that they had been working for all season. The members of New Directions were going to be competing in Regionals, the singing competition. Unfortunately the excitement they should be feeling is diminished when they find out that Sue Sylvester is one of the judges.
Worried about the glee club ending because they were positive that they wouldn’t be able to win with her as a judge they couldn’t find a way to enjoy themselves at the group party at Mr. Schue's apartment and instead lamented on their club and how it would soon be over. It was a melancholy way to start the episode but an important one nonetheless, showing the bond that developed between the members of said club. At the party the group touched Schue, so much so that later on while driving in his car he broke down crying because he felt so bad for them.
Schue, however, talks up the kids and they go on to perform at Regionals. There Finn declares his love for Rachel and they face off against Vocal Adrenaline- lead by Rachel's ex-boyfriend Jesse St. James. Quinn goes into labor and the team rushes her to the hospital, all except Rachel to stays behind. Quinn has her and Puck's daughter Beth; Vocal Adrenaline wins the competition and New Directions doesn’t even place. And as for Beth? Well, Rachel's biological mother, the director of Vocal Adrenaline, adopts her and keeps the name Puck had chosen for her.
Having lost the competition the glee club knows that they're no longer going to be allowed to stay on at McKinley. As a goodbye and a thank you to Mr. Schue the group sings to him 'To Sir, With Love', tells them in their own way how much glee club has changed them and how glee club will never be over because he's glee club- and he was a part of all of them. This moves Schue to tears- and surprisingly moves Sue to tears, who was standing in the back listening.
Later Sue informs Schue that she convinced the principal to give the glee club another year. And, in return for them singing to him, Schue sings 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' to his glee club, bringing a close to an emotional season finale.
It's hard to pick a favorite scene from this episode so it ended up being a toss-up between two. The first being the birth of Beth. It was quite an emotional scene and I liked the editing between her being born and Vocal Adrenaline's performance. And the expressions on all of their faces when Beth finally makes her appearance was moving. It brought me to tears and when the episode aired I was going through a phase where basically nothing made me cry. The other scene would be when you find out that Sue voted for New Directions to win the competition. It was nice to see her defending the club for a change and it was nice to see that deep down inside she genuinely cares about the kids.
My least favorite scene from this episode is definitely when you get to go into the room with the judges and they talk about who they think should win the competition. I hated the idea of them all being undeservedly cruel about the kids. Yes, it was a competition but they went overboard on how they talked about the kids. They made it seem like it was a professional competition and not one for school. And in reality that wouldn’t happen. I was disappointed in the way that scene was played out even if they had two decent guest stars in that scene.
I have a tie for my favorite musical number. The first one and the best one would have to be 'To Sir With Love'. It was a lovely, emotional song and it fit wonderfully into the episode. watching the kids try to express to Schue how much they cared about him and how much the glee club had changed them. they sang it beautifully and the song itself is a lovely one- even in the context of the movie its from. I cry each time I watch that scene.
My second choice would definitely have to be 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow'. It’s a classic song and one of my favorites and I liked the simplicity of the performance- Schue and Puck sitting there, playing their instruments and singing while the rest of the glee club sits there and listens. I enjoyed the idea of Schue wanting to thank the kids, in his own way, for singing for him and also celebrating them getting another year. And, in truth, it was nice to hear Matthew Morrison get to sing again as more often than not they make him rap.
Picking my least favorite song of the episode was extremely easy for me as well. I didn’t enjoy Finn and Rachel singing 'Faithfully' all that much. Now, it’s a lovely song and I think they did a pretty good job of it but at that point I was over with hearing Finn and Rachel do so many duets and I thought that it would be nice to hear someone else do the duet for the competition. It's hard to explain what about it I didn’t like specifically, just that I didn’t like it.
Despite some of the flaws in this episode I had to admit that this was one of my favorite episodes of the season. It was a great ending to the season and the storyline was written out very well.