Before I continue, it's important to note that there are SPOILERS ahead. Notably, there are not only spoilers for these particular episodes but a lot of storylines are wrapped up so there may be spoilers for mid-season episodes as well if you haven't been keeping up. So, this is my obligatory SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! Furthermore this post will include a lot of video recap which speaks for itself so I apologize in advance for any lack of a witty rapport.
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To rectify said mistake, I shall now confer upon all of you the fantasticalness that has been the end of the first season of Glee.
Let's start with the Funk episode.
Now, I have to say that I care very little for the funk genre of music. There's something about it that is so horribly 70s that makes me want nothing to do with it. Furthermore, it tends to seem exceptionally fabricated and camp to me (granted, most of the people who grew up with that music would say the same about today's pop music), but it's just the way that I feel personally. Now, that being said, Glee takes it to a place where I can really relate to this style of music. This seems to really be the musical strength of the show. They could sing "Mary had a Little Lamb" and based on the context they would make me love it. There's something to be said for the power of visuals and storytelling and these spill over into the music that the show puts out for our enjoyment.
While the episode's music turns out great, I don't think I necessarily cared for the plot very much. Here's why: the Jesse St. James storyline for whatever reason kind of fell into a black hole and then came back to slap us in the face. In the episode "Bad Reputation," Rachel hurts all of the guys - Finn, Puck, and Jesse - by having them star in the awful, awful video and rendition of Run, Joey, Run but each thinking they were the sole star. At the end of the episode we see Jesse walk out of the choir room, like everyone else, quite hurt. However, this is never really explained to us, but apparently in Funk, we find out that he had actually completely left the glee club, something that was never really flushed out, and I had to comb back through the episodes to piece together an understanding of it. More confusingly, he has moved back to Carmel High to be in Vocal Adrenaline, though he and Rachel had seemingly made up as he helped Shelby get in touch with Rachel. The last we saw Jesse, he had put on the tape of Shelby singing, "I Dreamed a Dream" for Rachel. Yet, now he's completely slighted and back at Vocal Adrenaline? My guess is that this is mostly a function of some scenes that never made it into the final aired versions. Supposedly when the episodes are released outside of iTunes over the summer, they will have extended content, most likely including some scenes that makes this whole void of a storyline much more understandable.
So here we are in Funk, with Jesse and Vocal Adrenaline performing "Another One Bites the Dust" to psych out New Directions. Honestly, compared to past Vocal Adrenaline numbers like "Rehab" and "Mercy," it didn't do much for me. What did do it for me in this episode? Two things. The first is Quinn's solo performance of "It's a Man's World." Now, there's something slightly disturbing about the fact that it include teen mothers who are all very pregnant dancing around the glee club choir room, but that aside, Dianna Agron continues to blow me away. In some of her early songs like, "I Say a Little Prayer" or "You Keep Me Hangin' On" her voice comes across as a little weak or breathy, but here, you can see that the girl has some amazing raw talent and soul. Yes, I have to admit that, like Mercedes, I also was like, "Um, what?" when Quinn announces that she wants to do a funk number, but this totally made me take it back!
Now, the other song that makes me really love this episode and somewhat redeems it's crappy storyline elements is the final number, "Give Up the Funk." Now, when I first saw that this was on the song list for Glee: The Music, Vol. 3, I have to say that I wasn't sure what to think. Basically there were two ways that it could have gone - completely horrible trainwreck or mountain of flaming awesomness. Which way did it go? Definitely the latter.
Also, although you may think it's totally dubbed in, that actually is Chris Colfer (Kurt) at the beginning of the song. He confirmed it on his Twitter page, noting that even the other castmates didn't believe it was him at first. The lines at the end from Jesse and the girl from Vocal Adrenaline bring the episode full circle and give us lots of hope for regionals. That being said, I don't have much else about this episode considering I didn't even like it THAT much, at least compared to the others, so let's move on to the awesomeness that is Journey!
Now there are a couple of things right off the bat that let us know that this isn't going to be the simple tour down the yellow-brick road that we would like it to be. Fresh off of the Cheerios' win at nationals (which Kurt is a part of by the way), Sue Sylvester is asked to be one of the celebrity judges at regionals along with, we later find out, Olivia Newton-John and Josh Groban (who have both had guest spots on Glee in previous episodes), and the Ohio TV anchor who was also a judge at Sectionals. This immediately sends everyone in the Glee club into a panic. How could they possibly even place when Sue, who has spent the entire season trying to sabotage and destroy the glee club, is one of the judges? We would later find out that this was actually the least problematic thing facing them at regionals. First, let's start with the 6 minutes of your life that should always leave you smiling. If it doesn't, you may, in fact, be a jerk. I'm just sayin'.
I don't really know what I can say here. "Faithfully" was actually the first Journey song that I ever fell in love with and I think Finn and Rachel killed it (note: this is right after Finn tells Rachel that he loves her and hopes to have a second chance with her - this is the first story line that gets some closure in this episode). Second, the mash-up of "Any Way You Want It / Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" is now on repeat in my iTunes. Lastly, and I think most importantly, I was surprised that Glee not only brought back but revamped and possibly topped "Don't Stop Believin'" which was kind of the inaugural song for the series and the one that really put it on the map. However, here we see that the song has evolved from the initial 6 voices that made us love it (Rachel, Finn, Artie, Tina, Kurt, and Mercedes) to the entire Glee club, most notably showcasing Puck and Santana. Again, I would just like to point out the fact that it's a total travesty that they hid Naya Rivera's voice under a rock for the majority of the season. It's absolutely amazeballs! Yes, I love Mark Salling's
The other major number of the episode was Jesse St. James (Jonathan Groff) and Vocal Adrenaline performing Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody." Again, like many songs that show up in Glee, I honestly never really cared for "Bohemian Rhapsody" before. I know, I know, that's like some great travesty against music, but it was just never my thing. I would like to say that this performance helped that, and it did a little bit, but it's just hard to cheer on Vocal Adrenaline when we've been groomed to hate them all season. The song overlaps quite nicely with Quinn giving birth; I'd just like to say that the fact that Quinn gives birth in the course of one song is definitely preposterous and while you could say that there's a time difference, the rest of the glee club is shown in the waiting room during the montage, however, I chalk this up to just one of the things that Glee takes a bit of realistic license with and that I have to accept. That being said, you can judge for yourselves (note: This is one of the few songs throughout the season that airs in its entirety and takes up pretty much entire segment of the show):
Now, since I've warned you of SPOILERS! I'll just go ahead and say that unfortunately New Directions doesn't even place at regionals. Vocal Adrenaline takes first place (BOOOOOO!) with Aural Intensity taking second. This leaves us in doubt as to what will happen to the glee club (though given that the show has already been renewed through season 3, it would be ridiculous to think that the club was going to get canned). Ironically, it's Olivia Newton-John and Josh Groban who end up sinking New Directions' chance at winning. Their cynical attitude leads them to choose the big production effects of Vocal Adrenaline over the "rag-tag bunch of misfits" from New Directions. Now, can we say that New Directions truly deserved to win? It's hard to say. Realistically, the glee club is in fact made up of misfits who have been together for less than a year and for the better part of that hated each others' guts. However, their talent is impossible to deny. It could be that they didn't have the stuff to stop the production juggernaut of Vocal Adrenaline but also the cynicism of the judges feeds into most of it. Back to that ironic part. Sue? For everything she did, she ends up letting her integrity as an educator and coach direct her decision though Will will likely forever think that she's a horrible monster who voted against New Directions for the sake of hurting them.
So basically we see that Glee will return to us for another year (actually 2!). We wrap up the major storylines of the season:
1) Finn and Rachel getting together
2) Quinn's pregnancy (and the baby's subsequent adoption by Shelby - awesome!)
3) Will and Emma (I didn't mention this but Will confronts her and wants another chance, though she'll supposedly get together with her dentist)
4) New Directions vs Vocal Adrenaline
5) Sue vs. the world.
All in all, it wasn't the ideal outcome. New Directions didn't place at regionals. But for a storyline perspective, I can't say that it was a bad decision. Let's say that they had won, then what? Where do you go from there if you set the bar that high? Would they then go on to win nationals? That would pretty much kill the premise of the show in two seasons. This way, we can see New Directions start another year with a new-found respective for each other and their craft and continue to bring us joy in music and hyperbolized stereotypes. Loves it! Can't wait for season 2! Until then, stay Gleeky!
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