Glee Squee!
Last episode and not a cliffhanger in sight. Just stories to be further delved into next season. As it should be.
Glee season 4, episode 22, All Or Nothing
Firstly, yay, Joe and Sugar are back. I imagine Sugar goes off on her dad's business trips with him with a private tutor whenever she disappears for a few weeks. And Joe was on exchange in Ireland these past few weeks, staying with Rory! This isn't in the episode, but it's in my head, so why not?
Secondly, I like that Kurt and Santana are now friends. The tissue-passing moment was sweet.
Speaking of the performances, this time we get one group with better vocals (another acapella group) and one group with better dancing but only one singer (like Vocal Adrenalin). She's a great singer and the dancing is fantastic, but a variety of voices will always win for me.
If I was judging the performances on the show...
The Waffletoots: great voices, great arrangement, and it's a song from The Muppets, so yay! But this isn't a choir competition. It's a show choir competition, so I'd mark them down for lack of dancing. They may have moved more in their other two songs, but since I didn't get to see them, I'm going to assume not. You can listen to the full version of the song here.
Frida and the Drones The Whosyourdaddies (sp?): one singer with a great voice and lots of great dancing from the whole group. Lots of energy and fair song choices given the theme. But there's a reason I didn't like season 1 of Glee. I'm never going to be a fan of Rachel and her backup swayers, no matter how much I love her voice. I want variety.
New Directions: Lots of singers, all of them good (everyone got showcased this time). Two out of three good song choices given the theme, one of which was original, giving them points for creativity (the third song being plot-related for Unique, although in the episode edit her part was cut, so I always recommend listening to the studio versions of songs). Lots of energy, but only middling on the dancing.
So it would come down to the latter two groups for me, and honestly I'd be swayed towards New Directions because of the variety of voices and the inclusion of an original composition. That, for me, trumps the lack of dance skills. And if the judges are anything like me, because surely I can't be the only one like me, then that explains why New Directions wins the night.
And New Directions really needed to win this one to prove they belonged in the competition, given that they only got to this point because of the cheating scandle.
I figured it was Unique who was behind "Katie's" profile, because she has the best reason out of any of the girls to stay hidden, but it was still fun reading everyone else's speculation (my favourite crack theory was Lord Tubbington). I hope we get more of her perspective next season, now that the mystery is over with, because I really like the idea of where this could go. I want to see her and Ryder work through this and at least become friends again.
And I still adore Marley and Unique's friendship! I love that Marley covers for her to protect her, but then Unique comes clean to be honest and let Marley off the hook. Love. That. Friendship!
I also love that Sam calls Santana because he's worried about Brittany. And Santana listens. Yes, everyone be friends with everyone else, please! *smushes them together in a heap* They'll never be best friends, but they care about the same person, and that builds bridges between people.
And actually, I can see Brittany doing something out there like quantum physics (even if this was all just luck). String theory? Would make perfect sense to her. Maybe you'd just have to approach it as a philosophy rather than getting hung up on the maths.
Someone who actually understands numbers verfied the ones on Brittany's paper.
It's a great send off episode for her, complete with her sitting on an empty stage in a deserted auditorium, as fireworks go off behind her. Very fitting and well done. And she gets to go out as a winner too.
And finally there's Blaine, ignoring Burt's words from last episode. Or is he? There's nothing wrong with buying a ring and waiting. And he hasn't asked the question yet. And even if he does, getting engaged doesn't mean you have to get married in a hurry. There's nothing wrong with a long engagement period either.
So I'm not going to judge him.
This season has really upped the focus on working towards your dreams; for Rachel it's Broadway, for Kurt it's getting respected and valued for his difference, for Finn it's finding a dream (teaching), and it turns out that Blaine's dream is Kurt. That's so abundantly clear by this episode. Blaine's the boy who has everything, except what he really wants, his dream, which is Kurt, and that's what he has to work towards now.
I love that he takes his two best friends ring shopping with him. Blaine, Sam, and Tina need to move to New York and be the second set of room mates in that Friends-like scenario. I really like this trio.
And trust Blaine to make friends wherever he goes. Jan and Liz are adorable. They are beautiful and still completely in love. They've really been through it all together: AIDS, Don't Ask Don't Tell, Ellen Degeneres, they broke up twice and got back together twice.
And I did get a little heart flip when Jan dropped down on one knee.
One thing Glee likes to repeat is the story that people never really grow up. From Isabelle hiring Kurt because she was once the wide-eyed backwater kid from Ohio too, to Schuester who quite obviously never grew up, to Jan in this episode remembering what she was like at Blaine's age and running with that hope and excitement to propose to her partner. Somewhere inside, we're all always going to be that innocent and aching teenager. That never really leaves us.
I think that's what the whole show is premised on actually, because why else would so many adults be watching a show about teenagers?
Another important thing is that Jan and Liz chose to settle in Ohio because they both loved it there. I think this is the first time on the show where we've explicitly seen people who didn't find their happiness by escaping Lima. They chose it. Implicitly there's plenty of people who love Lima (Burt, Carole, other kids' parents), but most of the main characters see their happiness as dependant on leaving the town. The truth of course is that you can be happy anywhere, as long as it's what you choose for yourself, so given this focus on pursuing dreams, I think this is a good point to make.
So that's the end of season 4.
I have loved this season so much! So many great episodes and moments. *happy squirmy feet* Looking forward to whatever insanity season 5 brings already.
Glee season 4, episode 22, All Or Nothing
Firstly, yay, Joe and Sugar are back. I imagine Sugar goes off on her dad's business trips with him with a private tutor whenever she disappears for a few weeks. And Joe was on exchange in Ireland these past few weeks, staying with Rory! This isn't in the episode, but it's in my head, so why not?
Secondly, I like that Kurt and Santana are now friends. The tissue-passing moment was sweet.
Speaking of the performances, this time we get one group with better vocals (another acapella group) and one group with better dancing but only one singer (like Vocal Adrenalin). She's a great singer and the dancing is fantastic, but a variety of voices will always win for me.
If I was judging the performances on the show...
The Waffletoots: great voices, great arrangement, and it's a song from The Muppets, so yay! But this isn't a choir competition. It's a show choir competition, so I'd mark them down for lack of dancing. They may have moved more in their other two songs, but since I didn't get to see them, I'm going to assume not. You can listen to the full version of the song here.
Frida and the Drones The Whosyourdaddies (sp?): one singer with a great voice and lots of great dancing from the whole group. Lots of energy and fair song choices given the theme. But there's a reason I didn't like season 1 of Glee. I'm never going to be a fan of Rachel and her backup swayers, no matter how much I love her voice. I want variety.
New Directions: Lots of singers, all of them good (everyone got showcased this time). Two out of three good song choices given the theme, one of which was original, giving them points for creativity (the third song being plot-related for Unique, although in the episode edit her part was cut, so I always recommend listening to the studio versions of songs). Lots of energy, but only middling on the dancing.
So it would come down to the latter two groups for me, and honestly I'd be swayed towards New Directions because of the variety of voices and the inclusion of an original composition. That, for me, trumps the lack of dance skills. And if the judges are anything like me, because surely I can't be the only one like me, then that explains why New Directions wins the night.
And New Directions really needed to win this one to prove they belonged in the competition, given that they only got to this point because of the cheating scandle.
I figured it was Unique who was behind "Katie's" profile, because she has the best reason out of any of the girls to stay hidden, but it was still fun reading everyone else's speculation (my favourite crack theory was Lord Tubbington). I hope we get more of her perspective next season, now that the mystery is over with, because I really like the idea of where this could go. I want to see her and Ryder work through this and at least become friends again.
And I still adore Marley and Unique's friendship! I love that Marley covers for her to protect her, but then Unique comes clean to be honest and let Marley off the hook. Love. That. Friendship!
I also love that Sam calls Santana because he's worried about Brittany. And Santana listens. Yes, everyone be friends with everyone else, please! *smushes them together in a heap* They'll never be best friends, but they care about the same person, and that builds bridges between people.
And actually, I can see Brittany doing something out there like quantum physics (even if this was all just luck). String theory? Would make perfect sense to her. Maybe you'd just have to approach it as a philosophy rather than getting hung up on the maths.
Someone who actually understands numbers verfied the ones on Brittany's paper.
It's a great send off episode for her, complete with her sitting on an empty stage in a deserted auditorium, as fireworks go off behind her. Very fitting and well done. And she gets to go out as a winner too.
And finally there's Blaine, ignoring Burt's words from last episode. Or is he? There's nothing wrong with buying a ring and waiting. And he hasn't asked the question yet. And even if he does, getting engaged doesn't mean you have to get married in a hurry. There's nothing wrong with a long engagement period either.
So I'm not going to judge him.
This season has really upped the focus on working towards your dreams; for Rachel it's Broadway, for Kurt it's getting respected and valued for his difference, for Finn it's finding a dream (teaching), and it turns out that Blaine's dream is Kurt. That's so abundantly clear by this episode. Blaine's the boy who has everything, except what he really wants, his dream, which is Kurt, and that's what he has to work towards now.
I love that he takes his two best friends ring shopping with him. Blaine, Sam, and Tina need to move to New York and be the second set of room mates in that Friends-like scenario. I really like this trio.
And trust Blaine to make friends wherever he goes. Jan and Liz are adorable. They are beautiful and still completely in love. They've really been through it all together: AIDS, Don't Ask Don't Tell, Ellen Degeneres, they broke up twice and got back together twice.
And I did get a little heart flip when Jan dropped down on one knee.
One thing Glee likes to repeat is the story that people never really grow up. From Isabelle hiring Kurt because she was once the wide-eyed backwater kid from Ohio too, to Schuester who quite obviously never grew up, to Jan in this episode remembering what she was like at Blaine's age and running with that hope and excitement to propose to her partner. Somewhere inside, we're all always going to be that innocent and aching teenager. That never really leaves us.
I think that's what the whole show is premised on actually, because why else would so many adults be watching a show about teenagers?
Another important thing is that Jan and Liz chose to settle in Ohio because they both loved it there. I think this is the first time on the show where we've explicitly seen people who didn't find their happiness by escaping Lima. They chose it. Implicitly there's plenty of people who love Lima (Burt, Carole, other kids' parents), but most of the main characters see their happiness as dependant on leaving the town. The truth of course is that you can be happy anywhere, as long as it's what you choose for yourself, so given this focus on pursuing dreams, I think this is a good point to make.
So that's the end of season 4.
I have loved this season so much! So many great episodes and moments. *happy squirmy feet* Looking forward to whatever insanity season 5 brings already.