Pilot
Glee Episode Review
In which there is much singing and some dancing. (Part of the Glee! Whee! project.)
What Happened
Spanish teacher Will Schuester learns that the teacher in charge of his school's Glee club has been fired. Remembering his own high school sucess in Glee, Will volunteers to take over. The principal tells Will that if they manage to place at Regionals, the club can continue. Otherwise, he's renting the auditorium out to Alcoholics Annonymous. Will finds himself in charge of a small crew of misfits, including proto-starlet Rachel Berry, diva Mercedes, fashionisto Kurt, stuttering Tina, and wheelchair-bound Artie. Needing some more kids, Will blackmails quarterback Finn into joining in the hopes of attracting some of the more popular kids.
Warned that Glee club is the lowest rung of the high school popularity ladder, Will is unaware of just how miserable some of his students are. Rachel, for example, routinely gets slushies tossed in her face and Kurt periodically gets tossed in dumpsters by jocks unimpressed by his Marc Jacobs spring collection. Finn also finds himself the target of his teammates, until he points out that they can't win without him. He has a passion for song and isn't about to let them bully him out of Glee.
Will's wife Teri isn't charmed with his career move. She wants him to quit teaching and become an accountant. When Teri announces that she's pregnant, Will agrees to get a job that has better benefits. Emma, the guidance counselor at the school, hide her massive crush on Will long enough to remind him of how much he loves Glee. Watching the kids rehearse, Will can't bear to abandon them and decides to stay.
What Amused Me
"You want hard? Try being waterboarded. That's hard." Pretty much the first words we hear, sets up Glee's tone perfectly.
What Impressed Me
Teri hits a perfect pitch during her scenes with Will. On the one hand, everything she is saying is perfectly true. And yet and yet, it's impossible not to notice that she's manipulating him by "sadly" jamming her verbal thumb into what she has to know is a tender spot. (On the other hand, that's not justification for risking Teri's peanut allergies killing her just so you can savor Emma's PB&J, Will!)
What I Loved
It's almost impossible to lay out the spirit of Glee in such a simple plot synopsis. The use of quick-cuts, juxtapositions, unreliable narrators, and wicked, over-the-top humor is so finely balanced that it has to be seen to be believed.
The music - despite the reliance on Journey of all things - is so right. It has to be or the whole thing falls to pieces. From Kurt's "Mr. Cellophane" (gorgeous voice on Chris Colfer) to Finn bouncing away to "Can't Stop This Feeling," it all works. Lea Michele sings "On My Own," which could have been such a cliche, but she makes it work and it underscores Rachel's lonliness perfectly.
What Did I Think?
Glee catches the spirit of the average musical in all its absurdity. Plot twists spin past too fast to examine, but the emotions expressed in song fill everything in, smooth it out and lift it up. Glee commits to itself in a way that a lot of shows just don't have the gut to do; it's great to see.