I'm tiring of writing weekly reviews of Glee. I think I've stuck with it for so long this season because (a) I have fond memories of the blissful fun it delivered for much of season 1, and (b) it can sometimes be an enjoyable show to critique even at its worst. But lately, I just feel like Glee's running on fumes, and the way it goes about trying to conjure new stories is becoming ridiculous. What really annoys me is when Glee tries to hide patently absurd ideas behind a shield of political correctness; such as Puck (Mark Salling) falling head-over-heels in love with Lauren (Ashley Fink). It's just a ridiculous mismatch, but if you dare question it you'll be condemned for being sizeist because of Lauren's fuller figure. I just don't think Puck (who always cares so much about what his peers think) would be so openly interested in Lauren, or that Lauren wouldn't be jumping at the chance of dating Puck instead of teasing him.
After last week's assurance that Quinn (Diana Agron) was now convinced she prefers Finn (Corey Monteith) over Sam (Chord Overstreet), this episode reversed all that and Quinn's affections swung back to Sam because he's formed a Justin Bieber tribute act. Not only does all this make Quinn look like a ridiculously fickle and superficial cow, but it just smacks of the writers being incapable of allowing a relationship to breathe and build to anything. Just recently, marriage was on the cards for Quinn and Sam, weeks after they'd started dating! I just can't get invested in TV romances that don't have a natural spark of life. Instead, you can feel the writers moving the characters around like toy marionettes. Sam ends the episode by moving onto Santana (Naya Rivera), like a Ken doll ditching Barbie for Cindy.
One chunk of this episode focused on Sue (Jane Lynch) joining the glee club for a week, as a consequence of her "Sue-icide" bid with vitamin pills, to shake her out of a depression. It was an amusing idea to have the club's enemy within, and I quite enjoyed seeing Sue try and sabotage Rachel (Lea Michele) and Mercedes' (Amber Riley) relationship by whispering poison in both their ears, turning diva against diva, but it wasn't really much to get excited about. And Glee again took one of its sanctimonious turns, with Mr Schue (Matthew Morrison) taking Sue to cheer up kids in a pediatric cancer ward, singing "This Little Light of Mine". You can't knock the good intentions behind such scenes, but they're just so mawkish and demand that Sue, for a brief moment, becomes Jane Lynch in a tracksuit. A part of me suspects this kind of thing sits easier with American sensibilities.
That's about all I can muster this week, without starting a diatribe about Justin Bieber. Thank heavens this episode acknowledged that many people think the acorn-haired teenybopper's an embarrassment to music. It may not have been that way if Bieber had agreed to a cameo, like Britney Spears.
In all seriousness, what are your feelings about Glee reviews here? Is it time to call it a day, or just be a lot briefer? And what did you make of "Comeback"?
written by Ryan Murphy / directed by Bradley Buecker / 15 February 2011 / Fox
