Wednesday, November 28, 2012

'Glease' by Glee

This week on Glee was the second part of the Grease two-parter. It wasn't as atrocious as the first part, but it still wasn't very good either. Grease is one of my favorite musicals, and so it was a little disappointing to see it be given such a lousy treatment. My biggest qualm with this episode was that they really didn't show much of the musical, even though that was the major part of the episode. With Rocky Horror and West Side Story we actually got to see a good portion of the musical. However, with Grease, most of the songs were done in the regular Glee fashion, and then of the three actual performances from the show we got to see, the finale was done as a dream sequence with Rachel and Finn replacing Ryder and Marley. Completely pointless. Well, I think it's time to get to the music!

One of the most iconic songs ever from a musical, the male leads did a great job with the song. Vocally, I thought it was great and a lot of fun. However, them just walking into the garage where Finn now works and doing a whole choreographed routine right there was a little ridiculous. Why can't they at least make this show somewhat feasible?

This was a really weird number for me. Instead of Marley as Sandra Dee singing it, Kitty sang it impersonating Marley. All of the girls and Wade have a slumber party, and while Marley is out of the room Kitty takes advantage of the situation to mock Marley. She dresses up like her and sings the song. It was a really stupid concept. Luckily, Kitty has a great voice and she really sang the song well.

Finally some Blaine! Blaine's number was by far the best of the episode, and it made sitting through all the other dribble bearable. Blaine carried off the number flawlessly, and it was really well done. And I loved how the number almost looked exactly like it did in the movie. It was perfect!

Throughout the episode, Kitty has been resizing Marley's outfits to make her think she's fat, and Marley resorts to forcing herself to throw up after every meal to lose weight. It's actually very sad, and one of the only good story lines the writers have included this season. Just as she's about to go on, she is feeling nervous and delivers this beautiful reprise. It's short and sweet, and just shows how talented of  a singer she is.

Most absurd plot twist: since Wade dropped out of the show, Santana comes in minutes before the show starts to take on the role of Rizzo. Isn't she supposed to be at school? Ugh, I hate these absurd plot lines. Anyway, it's a brilliantly done performance as Wade sings with Santana as he is in the audience lamenting his decision, and then it switches to New York where Cassandra is dancing with Brody, and they're getting hot and heavy. Later we find out that Cassandra slept with Brody and then answered Rachel's phone call. I think it's safe to assume that the Brochel relationship isn't going to be happening anytime soon. As for the song, it was very good and well done. With three great voices like this you really can't go wrong.

The final number of the night is the epic finale. We finally get to see the actors in their starring roles for really the first time, and before you know it we're in a dream sequence where Rachel and Finn have taken over the two lead roles. It was really the worst thing they could do. McKinley is no longer all about Rachel and Finn so why are they still dominating the school? I just don't get it. How is the audience supposed to fall in love with the new characters if we never get to see their talent or how well they can bring to life these new people? It's a fun number and was a great homage to Grease, but I wanted to see the actual performance instead of a dream sequence.

Finally, we got back to New York in this episode. Rachel has an audition for an off-Broadway show and she tries to get Cassandra to help her or even join her. Cassandra is as ruthless as ever and tries to dissuade Rachel from doing it. Rachel fights back, and this is what makes Cassandra sleep with Brody to infuriate Rachel. I was shocked when it happened as I think Brody is exactly the person Rachel needs to be with at the moment. The biggest problem I had with this episode was the ease of the graduated members to come back and either see the show (Kurt and Rachel) or become a part of the cast on the day of (Santana). It's just so preposterous that I can't even believe the writers think we're going to buy this. Ugh, it just makes me so frustrated. Otherwise, it was a decent episode, but I'm not head-over-heels in love with it.

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