Glee, Episode 22: "All or Nothing"
The fourth season of Glee was the very definition of a transition season. From the moment that series creator/executive producer Ryan Murphy announced that the majority of the shows core characters would be graduating, fans were speculating as to how the show would handle it. A lot of people assumed that the show would drop a lot of it's sprawling cast, but that is not what happened. They all remained series regulars. There was talk of a spin off featuring Rachel and Kurt in NYC. This was another rumor that was quickly dispelled. As the season premiere approached, more details were given as to how this season would work. The gist is that the show would alternate between Lima and the New Directions and Rachel/Kurt in NYC.
It's hard to split the focus of a show and to accomodate the multitude of characters. Glee did a great job. While they were trying to ingratiate the new kids to the audience, they kept the familiar faces front and center. As the season progressed and viewers warmed up to the new kids, the show could leave NYC for an episode and you barely noticed. Not every new character was a winner, Marley Rose being case in point. She was set up to be ND's new Rachel and she just became kind of a giant annoyance with a lunch lady for a mom and a fake eating disorder. Then there was Kitty, a Cheerio, who started out the show as needlessly cruel and not in the Santana way, but ended the season biting wit in tact and softer around the edges.
This season had "trainwreck" written all over it, but it wasn't one. There was still Glee logic that you sort of just have to go with, like Kurt getting an internship at vogue.com despitet the fact that he has zero fashion experience. It still delivered some stand out episodes, like "Britney 2.0" and the devasting "The Break Up." So, going into this season finale I had high hopes, since the season as a whole was so strong and the news that the show had been picked up for not one, but two more seasons. Imagine my surprise when Glee delivered one of it's weakest season finales and one of it's worst episodes to date.
The focus of the episode was on the character of Brittany. After testing at genius levels on her SAT's (remember, this is Glee), Brittany has a meeting with MIT. She of course bombs the standardized test that she is given, but the people at MIT are intrigued by things that Britt-Britt scribbled on the back of the test in crayon. Apparently, they hold some sort of scientific value and they compare Brittany to Einstein(!) and make her an offer. When Brittany heads back to McKinley, she is needlessly cruel to her fellow Glee clubbers, demanding their Regionals performance focus on her. It's not just New Directions, Brittany quits the Cheerios and burns her uniform in front of Coach Roz. Will and Sue confront her and she takes them on "Fondue for Two" where she reveals that the celebrity father of Sue's daughter, Robin, is Michael Bolton. Sam finally calls Santana, who flies back to Lima to find out what is going on with Brittany. Before their Regionals performance, Brittany tells everyone that she has received early admission to MIT and she has decided to go. She was trying to lessen the pain of saying goodbye by being a bee-yotch. She gives a pretty tearjerking speech about how much glee club has meant to her over the years and how the ND'ers are her family.
In other news, Ryder finds out that it is Unique who has been catfishing him, even though Marley tried to take the rap to protect her friend. Ryder decides to cut Unique out of his life altogether and quit glee club after Regionals. After they win, Ryder and Unique share a quick hug, that may point to some romance next season. Blaine is still planning on proposing to Kurt and meets an older lesbian couple, adorably played by Patty Duke and Meredith Baxter. Blaine didn't propose to Kurt, but at dinner at Breadstix, Patty proposed to Meredith. It was super sweet. Well, not just then. After New Directions win at Regionals, more on that in a minute, Emma shows up in the choir room and she and Will finally tie the knot. Blaine is clutching the ring box, but the show ends before he pops the question.
Finally, what about Rachel, you may be asking. Well, she had her Funny Girl call back where she sang a devastatingly amazing version of Celine Dion's "To Love You More." The producers tell her they'll let her know and... that's it. Yep. One Rachel scene in the finale and that is it.
This finale was puzzling in a lot of ways. I could understand the focus on Brittany. Heather Morris recently announced that she was pregnant and is due to give birth in September. So, when Glee begins filming it's fifth season she will be very preggo. The writers needed to find a way to get rid of her and this is it. I enjoyed her speech and was a fitting send off, if this is it for her, which I very much doubt. The rest of the finale was very underwhelming. Rachel's one scene being the first thing. I mean, this is good for a cliffhanger, but I was hoping for something more substantial. There was no mention of Finn. Cory Monteith entered rehab before filming of the season's last two episodes. The last we saw him, Will had convinced him to come back and help with the glee club and that was it. No explanation for where he is. The catfish plotline fizzled. Was there ever any doubt that Unique was the one that was doing it, especially after their confrontation about what it means to be transgendered?
Also, New Directions' Regionals performance was underwhelming to say the least, especially after we saw their competition, the Hoosierdaddies, fronted by Frida Romero, played by American Idol runner-up, Jessica Sanchez. There is no way, in real life, that the New Directions could have beat them, especially with their lackluster, almost dance-free performance. Well, they always have Nationals to redeem themselves.
Final verdict: Glee's season finale was a disappointing end to what was up until then a very satisfying "transitory" season. There is talk about FOX wanting to move the show to NYC for good. The next season will be split in two blocks. My guess is that the first half will finish out the school year, and more than likely, when it returns, maybe after a time jump, the series will say goodbye to Ohio.
So, what did you Gleeks think? Am I off base with finale? Enlighten me in the comments.
No comments:
Post a Comment