Editor’s Note: The following review contains spoilers from “Glee,” including the mid-season premiere episode “Hell-o”; the article contains a tag where the spoilers begin.
Four months after the mid-season finale aired, original episodes of the award-winning “Glee” returned to Fox Tuesday night.
“Glee,” a musical dramedy, centers around the struggles and successes of the McKinley High School glee club and its adviser William Schuester (Matthew Morrison). Tuesday’s episode dealt with the aftermath of “Sectionals,” bringing along with it new drama and characters.
Spoilers begin here: The first 13 episodes followed Will as he tried to reestablish the glee club, which had fallen from its heyday when he attended McKinley High. He manages to recruit enough students to legally compete, including spoiled drama queen Rachel (Lea Michele), football star Finn (Cory Monteith) and cheerleader Quinn (Dianna Argon) and renames the group New Directions.
However, cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) does not take kindly to anyone stealing her squad’s spotlight and vows to destroy the club.
Eventually, despite the drama between the members of the club and the school’s teachers, the group manages to win sectionals in the last episode before the long break.
Despite the glee club winning sectionals, Principal Figgins (Iqbal Theba) threatens to cut off funding if Will is unable to lead his club to victory at the regional competition. Will and his organization also face (the usual) sabotage from Sue. In an attempt to prepare for regionals, Will asks his students to come up with songs to sing that focus on the world hello.
After its extended hiatus, “Glee” returns with its cheery, musical formula. Though the show is unique from anything else currently on the air, it seems as if it is starting to repeat itself.
The first episodes in the series dealt with Rachel maturing from a selfish diva into someone who wanted to have friends and work together with them as a team. Viewers experienced plots where she was lured away from the show choir by Sue in an effort to break-up the group.
“Hell-o,” the newest installment in the series, focused on Rachel being alienated from the club because she chose to have a relationship with the male lead for Vocal Adrenaline, which is New Directions’s major competition at the regional competition. Though there are interesting possibilities by adding new characters, once again targeting Rachel to destroy McKinley’s club from within just seems like the writers have run out of ideas, and it’s only the first season.
The show has three things working for it: funny one-liners, talented performers and interesting characters with possibilities.
While “Glee” has been consistently funny and quotable, the plot lines have been stuck in the same rut all season. The show has a diverse cast of characters with intriguing plot lines of their own.
Instead, the writers seem to always focus directly on Rachel, Finn and Will. Even the new characters played by Idina Menzel and Jonathan Groff, who both have the potential to shake-up the status quo of the show, are automatically paired with the leads.
Though they are obviously the main characters, other equally talented actors sing and act just as well as the leads.
Maybe if the story focused on the secondary characters a bit more, the stories wouldn’t feel so stale after only 14 episodes.
Despite the seeming repetition of the plot, “Hell-o” opened new doors for the characters that could take the story in a new direction, one more focused on music and the club members’ desire to become better performers.
The music featured in the episode, though performed beautifully, seemed to be secondary to the drama within the plot. After episode 13, which almost entirely focused on the songs and the competitive nature of the show choir, the mid-season return was a letdown.
The one group number was a cover of The Beatles’ “Hello, Goodbye.” However, once again, the solos were given to Michele and Montieth instead of other characters. Almost every big number done in “Glee” has featured the two leads, while pushing everyone else aside. A little diversity in the music would showcase all of the talented singers on the show, instead of shoving one or two singers down the viewers’ throats every week.
So, while the premiere episode of “Glee” was funny and at times touching, it felt like the characters were taking a step backward from the maturity they developed during the first part of the season. Hopefully, the episodes to come will focus more on diversity and music and truly reach its potential.