There isn’t much I can say about “Mash Off” that I haven’t said in pretty much all of my other ‘Glee’ reviews. It does some things horribly (“Hot for Teacher,” Quinn trying to steal back her baby, the student body president race), and some things — one in particular — extremely well. And since I’ve spent a large amount of text slamming everything that genuinely sucks about the show, I’ll change it up and focus more on what I liked. Continue Reading

Three big stories this week, each presented to varying degrees of success. Let’s start at the top with the Mike Chang-centric portion of the episode. Continue Reading

I know this is late, and I wish I could write more, but this is gonna be a short one. I feel like I’ve been writing so much this week (with a lot more to come after tonight) that I don’t have the time or enthusiasm to write about ‘The Purple Piano Project’, a premiere that left me feeling mostly indifferent towards the show. Continue Reading

Glee
Aired 5/24/2011

After watching the episode, it’s no wonder the title is “New York” and not “Nationals.” Most of the hour is dedicated to the city, presenting it as some kind of urban wonderland, where all your dreams can come true. Where, if you want to perform on a Broadway stage, all you have to do is break into the theater and the janitor will give you your 15 minutes. Combined with the singing and dancing, “New York” the episode makes for a nice advertisement for New York the city, but I had a lot of difficulty remaining interested in the show itself with all the attention being diverted to the place, and not the people. People meaning Rachel and Finn and Quinn and Kurt and the rest of this group of misfits who, as Will says, we’ve watched ‘grow into mature young men and women’ for the past two years. And while that statement isn’t 100% accurate, once the show decides we’ve seen enough of New York and the real show begins, seeing New Directions perform on a stage that seems light years away from Lima was a pretty joyful experience. Continue Reading

Glee
Aired 4/26/2011

Glee came back from a month-long break last week with “Night of Neglect,” a mediocre episode that wasn’t really about anything, just a series of subplots thinly connected to an attempt to raise funds for Nationals. Last night’s unnecessarily extended episode returned to themes of acceptance and liking yourself for who you are. It’s a fitting story for this group of outsiders, and although there’s some good material here for Rachel, Quinn and Emma, “Born This Way” reminded me a little too much of last season’s “Theatricality,” complete with inspiration via the almighty Gaga. Continue Reading

Glee
Aired 03/15/11

Regionals are here, and I’m pleased to say New Directions (and the show itself) performed much better here than they did at Sectionals with an episode that contained some big moments for Rachel and Kurt, musically and emotionally. Glee club’s win here was pretty much expected, but their sweetly-played victory was abruptly and horribly cut short by one of the dumbest and most logic-defying things I’ve seen anyone do on the show (and there have been a lot of those). Continue Reading

Glee
Aired 03/08/11

Gwyneth Paltrow returned as the free-spirited but emotionally damaged (for some reason) substitute teacher Holly Holliday on last night’s Glee, a very busy hour that managed to successfully juggle several significant subplots. Thankfully, the after-school special vibe that the show previously gave off when dealing with issues like disabilities and religion was largely absent, as the episode’s theme of sexual education was merely used as a clothesline on which to pin some strong character development. While any Will story seems to be a weak link in any episode these days, this week’s subplots involving Kurt and Santana were very strong, with one tying into the physical nature of sex while the other dealt with the emotional side. Continue Reading

Glee
Episode 2.12
Aired 02/08/11

Throughout this sophomore season of Glee, an all-around solid episode has been rare. There are many things about the show that frustrate me to no end, and the show itself, even when it’s good, can be frustrating because when I watch an episode like “Silly Love Songs,” it reminds me how strong it could be if the writers were more consistent with the characters’ voices (not their actual voices). Continue Reading

Glee
Episode 2.11
Aired 02/06/11

The Super Bowl is one of the most watched television broadcasts of the year, if not the most watched. The post-Super Bowl timeslot is an opportunity for whatever network airing it to attract a slew of new viewers for whatever series they decide to air. This year, FOX decided to give that timeslot to Glee. Continue Reading

Glee
Season 2, Episode 10

It would take a pretty cynical person to attack the aspirations of this particular episode of Glee. As cheesy as they can be I tend to like holiday episodes, and while there were a few elements that didn’t quite work, this is the first episode in several weeks where I felt like no one acted out of character, and the various subplots were refreshingly lacking in the excessive histrionics the show is known for. Continue Reading