'Glee' - 'Journey': I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
New Directions heads to regionals for another showdown with Vocal Adrenaline in the season finale.
Puck and Mr. Schue jam in the "Glee" finale.
Though "Glee" the show hasn't grabbed me the way it has a lot of other viewers and reviewers, the writing about "Glee" has been some of the most fascinating TV criticism of the season. There were times, in fact, where I made an effort to watch an episode just so I would understand what Myles McNutt or Todd VanDerWerff were writing about it.
The finale seemed more tonally consistent than a lot of the season, and the "Bohemian Rhapsody" sequence was the kind of moment you either go with or accept that you just shouldn't be watching the series. My major issues were that New Directions' Journey medley wasn't nearly as impressive as we were supposed to think it was, and that the final results didn't make sense based on what we saw of the judging room.
(Also, while Matthew Morrison's performance of it was quite good, I've long believed that the Israel Kamakawiwo'ole version of "Over the Rainbow" needs to be banned from all movies and TV shows for a very long time due to overuse, and this moment did nothing to change that belief.)
Still, you're much better off reading Myles, or Todd, or HitFix's Ryan McGee recap, or my old partner Matt Zoller Seitz's excellent essay for Salon about the show's "radical sincerity" than you are in reading me again discuss my ambivalence towards the show. So go follow a link or three, and feel free to comment here with your own thoughts on both the finale and this first season as a whole.
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All through his childhood, Alan Sepinwall's relatives told his parents, "All that boy does is watch television! How's he going to make a living doing that?" His career as a TV critic has been 15 years and counting of his attempt to answer their concerns. "What's Alan Watching" is a blog whose title is self-explanatory: Alan watches TV shows, then writes about what he watched. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com
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June 9, 2010 at 10:05AM EST Reply to CommentYeah, "meh" just about sums the finale up.
christy
June 9, 2010 at 10:09AM EST Reply to CommentI totally agree that what people write about Glee has been fascinating. It seems like everyone I read and everyone I talk to like or dislike totally different things about the show. People talk about it being immune to criticism, and I don't think it's just because its fans won't listen to reason, but because it has this weird unique quality where everything that's bad about it could be good if you thought about it another way and vice versa.
I like how the surface message of the show is often that it's OK, sometimes actually fun, to be uncool, and how watching the show, and liking the show, is ALSO both uncool and fun.
Carrie
June 9, 2010 at 10:24AM EST Reply to CommentLove the shout-outs to Todd and Myles, who do great work.
I mostly liked this finale as an episode, but it was hard for me to view it as a single entity in light of what has happened in the spring season of the show. If it was the first episode I had ever seen, or if I had somehow blacked out and missed the rest of the back nine, I would have loved it. As I was viewing, however, all I could think was that it sort of came out of nowhere, picked up a few random coherent throughlines from the season, and wrapped them up because that's what you're supposed to do in a finale.
And I'm totally with you on the Israel Kamakawiwo'ole song. As soon as will pulled out the ukelele last night I thought "This song? Why not just do Hallelujah next and get it over with?"
olucy LOL. Or even better - You Can't Always Get What You Want.
June 9, 2010 at 12:20PM ESTjenfullmoon I am so over Hallelujah. OTR isn't quite as overused yet, but still, yeah. I think they just did it because the actors were performing the song on tour already.
June 9, 2010 at 1:59PM ESTpamelajaye I could go with YCAGWYW, but Hallelujah (LOL, btw) is not about dreams (do they usually use it when someone has died? Joan of Arcadia.. maybe... no, that was Warren Zevon's song), West Wing (Mark Harmon) I may need Songs on TV any moment now. Tunefind.com isn't going to work for me - it does not go back far enough.)
June 11, 2010 at 2:01PM ESTchristy
June 9, 2010 at 10:26AM EST Reply to CommentOh, and also! About the Israel Kamakawiwo'ole song. It's funny, because I thought about that song earlier in the episode when they brought "Don't Stop Believin'" back, about how that song is in one of those phases where it pops up in really significant but essentially unrelated pop culture places in quick succession--in this case, The Sopranos, Glee, and Rock of Ages. Then I started thinking of other examples and of course the first was that ukulele song, how it was just everywhere for a while--eToys commercial, Meet Joe Black, etc. Then they ended up singing it in this!
I didn't really like this version, regardless of its overuse. It's missing the two best parts: the awesome strumming pattern, and the transition to and from "It's a Wonderful World."
Asta77
June 9, 2010 at 10:47AM EST Reply to CommentThe finale seemed more tonally consistent than a lot of the season, and the "Bohemian Rhapsody" sequence was the kind of moment you either go with or accept that you just shouldn't be watching the series.
I accepted I shouldn't be watching the series. My negative feelings have been growing all season long and I realized last night I'm just not enjoying the show at all any longer. I thought Quinn giving birth intercut with the 'Bohemian Rhapsody' performance was ridiculous, especially her calling out "Mamma" just as it was being sung. But the nail in the coffin for me was the adoption at the end which I feared was coming as soon as we saw the conversation between Rachel and her mother.
nic919
June 9, 2010 at 10:54AM EST Reply to CommentI find Glee is one of those shows that I watch while doing chores but I will stop and watch the musical numbers. Sue and Kurt are the only characters I care about at this point, especially in the back nine. Rose's Turn was pretty amazing.
I hope things are planned a bit better next year in terms of plot because this could easily be like the OC, with a buzz filed first year and then a quick crash into irrelevance.
Col Bat Guano
June 9, 2010 at 11:18AM EST Reply to CommentI enjoyed the first few episodes of the show, but ever since the return it just hasn't felt the same. It seems like they lost the humor somewhere along the line and although the finale had a few bits (and Jane Lynch is always funny), it seems too self-important now.
LJA
June 9, 2010 at 11:39AM EST Reply to CommentI rather enjoyed Glee before its winter hiatus, but have absolutely despised it since it came back. Pre-hiatus, there was a quick humor that reminded me of Pushing Daisies that has been woefully absent during this second half of the season. Without it, I found myself becoming less engaged with each passing episode with the Joss Whedon/NPH episode being the most disappointing (and least funny) of all. Major fail.
As for Israel Kamakawiwo'ole version of "Over the Rainbow" being overused, I *still* loved it when The Blanks performed it on Scrubs during My Way Home.
chrisis Back then when Scrubs did it it wasn't as overused yet. Same with "Don't Stop Believing", it too was used on Scrubs (in the appropriately titled "My Journey") before everyone else used it (even before The Sopranos).
June 9, 2010 at 2:34PM ESTLen VT
June 9, 2010 at 11:53AM EST Reply to CommentNot really a Glee fan but watched a bit of the finale. The only thing I can say is agree 100% with you that Israel Kamakawiwo'ole version of "Over the Rainbow" needs to be banned from all movies and TV shows for a very long time. Should have been banned after the 2002 season of ER when Dr. Greene died.
June 9, 2010 at 12:00PM EST Reply to CommentI watch a ton of TV, but somehow I've never heard that arrangement of "Over the Rainbow." I've seen multiple references to its overuse online this morning. It's lovely! Sorry everyone else is tired of it.
justjoan123
June 9, 2010 at 12:31PM EST Reply to CommentThey like this
justjoan123
June 9, 2010 at 12:39PM EST Reply to CommentAt least this version of SOTR had the virtue of being a true amalgam of the original and the remi, neither Arlen nor Israel.
Indeed
June 9, 2010 at 12:53PM EST Reply to CommentI adore musicals and music so Glee is a show I tried very hard to like. I gave it the whole season. But episode after episode has been a disappointment to me. While I like aspects of some of the characters, overall I just don't care at all about them or their stories. The music isn't doing it for me either.
This will not make the cut next season.
rachelmed
June 9, 2010 at 1:11PM EST Reply to Comment"Over the Rainbow" may be overused but I think their cover of "To Sir With Love" made up for it. They did a really great job with that song.
justjoan123
June 9, 2010 at 1:32PM EST Reply to CommentThat's it! They should bring Lulu on as recurring, imported artist in residence. Seriously. I can't begin to count how many times I saw "To Sir, With Love" in the theater, spending my teenage allowance to moon over Sidney Poitier and girl-crush on Judy Geeson. But Lulu had my heart.
Red Medicine
June 9, 2010 at 1:43PM EST Reply to CommentI'm glad to see that at least one mainstream TV critic has standards; this show was pathetic from the start. No wonder David Simon granted an interview in light of The Wire's finale to Sepinwall alone.
jenfullmoon
June 9, 2010 at 2:02PM EST Reply to Comment"My major issues were that New Directions' Journey medley wasn't nearly as impressive as we were supposed to think it was, and that the final results didn't make sense based on what we saw of the judging room."
Well, inherently ND isn't quite as good as VA. This is pretty obvious. ND's only advantages over VA are "heart" and Rachel, pretty much. So I was expecting them to come in third anyway.
It is also entirely possible that Josh Groban voted for ND to come in second, or it came into some kind of tie. Either way, for plot suspense they had to have at least one judge claim to like ND.
----b----
June 9, 2010 at 3:08PM EST Reply to CommentI see "Glee" as of a piece with the show "Popular" from some years back (both masterminded by Ryan Murphy).
"Popular" was a show I half liked and half hated. In it, Murphy treated his 'heroes' as (to me) fully rounded, likable and sympathetic, but his villains were grotesque gargoyles and the humor surrounding them was so crass and hateful it really took me partially out of the show.
Now, years later with Glee, I think Murphy has REGRESSED instead of improved. The only characters I really like are Will, Finn and the pregnant cheerleader (Murphy favored the top cheerleader and football player in "Popular" too)and Kurt's had some good moments - especially the episode where he came out to his father. All the other characters are under-dramatized or annoying to one degree or another. I don't even begin to understand the 'humor' in the situation of the two off-puttingly obnoxious women connected to Will (his wife and his fellow teacher - an actress who I found charming in "Heroes"). I am rather depressed by the oppressive hysterical edge of Rachel's character. I am completely baffled by the accolades given to Jane Lynch's character, who I find as funny as being repeatedly hit on the head with a blunt instrument.
The show also has had a creepy obsession with pregnancy - the connections between Will's wife fake pregnancy and Sue's obsession with the cheerleader's being pregnant - and then that WEIRD musical number last week with the pregnant girls flinging their pregnant bellies around like no REAL pregnant person would actually do.
And the music numbers? How come in old hollywood movies - whose sound technology was PRIMITIVE compared to what's available now - they could smoothly transition the sound of people's speaking voices with their singing - but Glee cannot? Which is to say, the heavy-handed reverb in the music numbers TOTALLY takes me out of the 'reality' of the show. Maybe its that most modern popular music is obsessed with reverb - I don't know...
At first, I really WANTED to like Glee because I like the concept and I DID like Popular more than I disliked it. But I for the most part gave up on it - although I have seen a few recent episodes in the vain hope that it would improve - and I will say this, the finale was not nearly as obnoxious as the episode that preceded it.
Here's hoping it improves next year...
June 9, 2010 at 3:29PM EST Reply to CommentI also enjoyed the show at first, but felt like it lost a lot of its charm after coming back after the winter hiatus. Far too much of the plot in the second half of the season has been a total rehash of the first half. I knew it was coming, but despised the first episode back where they had to basically "break" everything that had been tied up in the mid-season finale. Were they just not expecting to get a full order of shows, and didn't have material for more than half a season or what? I don't know.
Also, the musical numbers in the second half seem to have become about a million percent more "produced" than they were before. Perhaps they're getting too focused on selling Itunes downloads, I don't know.
All in all, the finale WAS one of the better episodes of the second half, however. I do also agree that the Journey medley really failed to blow me away like it was supposed to. It started out amazing with Finn and Rachel, but then just seemed to drag on through.
I also don't quite understand the Bohemian Rhapsody number, how was that glee club at all? It was basically a solo performance with backup dancers.
I fear that Glee may suffer from the same fate as another recent phenom, Heroes. It started out gangbusters as well, but the team behind it just couldn't support the same quality level, and the show died a lot quicker than most people expected.
Lyn2 Thank you! As a vocal performance teacher, I've been waiting for someone to point out the obvious since the Sectionals episode where Rachel sang a solo version of "Don't Rain on My Parade". Show choir competitions have rules in which an entire number cannot be a solo - for goodness sakes, it's a "CHOIR" competition. I found the show unrealistic but likeable in the first half of the season, after the hiatus, I can hardly stand it because it's stretching the believability to the limit and trying too hard to be funny and preachy at the same time. Oh yeah, and that was a really big premature baby Quinn had, wasn't it! She was only like 18-20 weeks pregnant a couple weeks ago. I don't think I'll be back watching next season.
June 9, 2010 at 4:08PM ESTpamelajaye I noticed as well - it was not an ensemble piece. With Rain on My Parade I was too distracted by "not a ballad."
June 11, 2010 at 4:03PM ESTI'm not fond of the mashups, generally, either. Does that make me "old"?
Dezbot
June 9, 2010 at 4:05PM EST Reply to CommentI was a little puzzled by ONJ's attitude toward Sue. Didn't they get along in the Physical video?
Andrew so your comment is really old but here's why i think ONJ and Sue weren't getting along. In the episode where they made a somg together, ONJ didn't give any royalties to Sue after the song became a hit again, so Sue told her "You're dead to me."
December 2, 2010 at 2:52PM ESTDezbot
June 9, 2010 at 4:06PM EST Reply to CommentI was a little puzzled by ONJ's attitude toward Sue. Didn't they get along in the Physical video?
james in athens
June 9, 2010 at 5:30PM EST Reply to CommentI just don't see the appeal of this show!
BigTed
June 9, 2010 at 5:39PM EST Reply to CommentWhat bugged me is that Morrison DIDN'T sing Israel Kamakawiwo'ole version of "Over the Rainbow." He did it about halfway, with the ukulele and some higher notes, but he skipped most of the melody changes and stuck with the original.
To me, this was insulting to the audience -- it was as if they didn't think kids would stand for a version they hadn't heard before.
insularium
June 9, 2010 at 9:18PM EST Reply to CommentI just found the finale very cheesy. Agree that New Directions was very meh. Didn't think much of the Vocal Adrenalin version of Bohemian Rhapsody - not that the bloke did a bad job, I just couldn't help thinking how inferior it was to Freddie and how interested I'd be to hear Adam Lambert sing it. I'm also over Rachel's whiney voice. I'll pay she hits the notes but the facial expressions and the whine are grating now.
About the only thing I found I cared anything about was what Sue was up to. Without her journey in this episode the finale would have completely stunk.
Hobart
June 9, 2010 at 10:47PM EST Reply to CommentThe best thing about this show is something completely absent and something I wouldn't have believed a year ago if you paid me: Mike O'Malley as Kurt's dad Burt.
Every time he is onscreen the show suddenly feels real in a way it rarely does otherwise. I was only half paying attention during the Gaga episode and then the scene where he tear into Finn for his homophobia had me absolutely transfixed.
helene i was totally waiting for this comment. Kurt's dad and homophobic Finn was the high point of the entire season. What for me Glee is really about - acceptance, family in any shape or form, and love.
June 9, 2010 at 11:03PM ESTpamelajaye
June 11, 2010 at 1:56PM EST Reply to CommentI'm a total sucker for To Sir With Love and I much prefer the Hawaiian version of Over the Rainbow to the original - while it does remind me a bit of Mark Green dying, it also reminds me of My Way Home on Scrubs, and the day I heard Scott Bakula's mother singing it before I got to meet Scott (and actually say more than 7 words to him for the first time)... and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.
Josh is cute, but underused. Perhaps I was spoiled by Ally McBeal. Related: last night, season finale of Brothers & Sisters. I have not watched Parks & Rec - nor do I want to. Leave me my dreams of Robert and Sam.
Sometimes when I watch Glee, I have trouble paying attention to stories going on during the songs, as I am singing them. TSWL is much easier to sing when following someone else. Tried it at Karaoke and some notes are just hard. Never tried again.
Yes, there could have been more Journey. Though I find that songs I hated due to Played to Death Syndrome, at the time, make me smile now. Any song that includes the word Dream or Believe will stand you in better stead, in competition, I feel - see Susan Boyle. I wonder if that applies to Hope as well.
I was crying while singing at the end and ever since Ally McBeal, I have found that a sign of a good episode (even if the adption of Beth went off even easier than Cuddy's baby).
I suppose the fact they lost was better - you would expect they would win. Coming in 3rd was just sad - and the names of the other teams? Aural Intensity? New Directions is nice - though it does sound like a drug rehab center.
I'm a sucker for Glee even though the plots are silly (at least they got rid of Jessalyn's psycho wife). Some are less silly. The finale worked for me.
froggytuff
June 11, 2010 at 7:13PM EST Reply to CommentThey like this
Caravelle
June 16, 2010 at 5:05AM EST Reply to CommentI liked the episode well enough but I agree with most of Alan's points. Especially on the Journey medley : why do I get the feeling they're always doing the same choreography ? At least in "Sectionals" they hadn't rehearsed so it looked charming, but here it just looked random. Or maybe it wasn't shot right, that's a thing that annoys me with shows involving performances, when they cut to this and cut to that we don't see much of the peformance as a whole.
Aaanyway, I wanted to point out that the results aren't actually inconsistent with what we see of the judges' room. Although I had to get out the spreadsheet to figure it out...
We know Sue's vote; we know that Olivia Newton John put New Directions last, and given what an egotist she seems to be here she might've put Aural Intensity first. We also can guess the news guy put Vocal Adrenaline first, and he seemed to be following Olivia's lead on New Directions so let's say he put them last.
This puts every group with a vote for first place, Aural Intensity has two votes for second place, New Directions has two votes for third place and Vocal Adrenaline has one of each. From there on it hinges on that Josh guy : all he has to do is vote Vocal Adrnaline, New Directions, Aural Intensity and we get the result. And while he expressed a liking for New Directions, he also was agreeing with Olivia at the end about Sue. I'll grant if I'd been predicting the result just from the judge's room I would have predicted he'd put New Directions first place but the actual result isn't what I'd call inconsistent with what we saw.
pamelajaye That Josh guy. Amusing. I found a website long ago called That Josh Groban Guy. It was for all the people who had not heard of him yet...
June 30, 2010 at 7:09PM EST