In season one, Glee was a little musical show that became a smash success. Its mix of after-school-special, snark, and earnest musical numbers earned it a wide fan base from teens listening to Beyonce and other top 20 hits to musical theater nerds with a collection of original cast recordings. Fox was so impressed with the show's ratings and avid fan base that they renewed it for two more seasons. When Glee started their second season in the fall of 2010, they had every advantage a show could hope for, which raises the question of whether going from the underdog to a network favorite led to better TV. While Glee still brings in huge viewership every week, I'm not sure that their fan love is quite as deserved in the first half of season two.
At the start of season two, the glee club and cheerleader's budgets have been cut to beef up the football team's budget. Principal Figgins has also brought in a new football coach Shannon Beiste (Dot-Marie Jones) to replace former coach Ken Tanaka who conveniently suffered a nervous breakdown between the end of first and beginning of second season. Other newcomers to the cast include exchange student Sunshine Corazon (Charice), transfer student (and new quarterback) Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet), Emma's new boyfriend Carl Howell (John Stamos), Kurt's new love interest Blaine Anderson (Darren Criss), and charming substitute teacher Holly Holliday (Gwyneth Paltrow).
First off, I don't want to outright bash the show or the second season. There are some great parts about season 2. Some of the new cast members are really fantastic. Dot-Marie Jones brought the right combination of toughness and heart to Coach Beiste, and Gwyneth Paltrow was surprisingly endearing crooning School House Rock and Cee-Lo Green. Darren Criss, formerly known as Harry Potter in YouTube's “A Very Potter Musical,” is clearly going to be a star beyond Glee. Also, several supporting characters like Santana, Britney, and Lauren have had the chance to be in the spotlight, and Kurt's bullying storyline was both timely and inspiring for young struggling LGBT youth. I also appreciated that the show tackled dealing with students' varying religious beliefs in a school environment in the episode titled “Grilled Cheesus.” In a season with so many throwaway episodes, it was refreshing to see them take on something of real substance.
Unfortunately, season 2 overall has been rocky at best. Episodes like “Britney/Brittany” and “The Rocky Horror Glee Show” felt gimmicky and hollow, and the show's writers and directors seemed more interested in reproducing Britney Spears music videos or scenes from a cult musical classic than creating something new and inventive. Also, some of the character developments this season were pretty disturbing. Rachel Berry in season one was controlling and a little crazy, but at her core, she was a girl with her mind focused on life after high school which was admirable. In season 2, she sends Sunshine to a crack house, orders Finn to quit the football team, and generally swings from self-centered conceit to depression and self-deprecation often in the course of a few minutes. At first, I thought they were trying to write Rachel as a moody teenage drama queen, but after a few episodes, I realized that they were just writing Rachel inconsistently and not letting her truly grow as a character.
Now, Glee executive producer Ryan Murphy has made the news several times this year for not taking legitimate criticism well. I'm not talking about the homophobic commentators like Victoria Jackson who lose their minds over a gay kiss but rather people that simply don't enjoy Glee such as Foo Fighters lead singer Dave Grohl and Kings of Leon. Even fans like myself have felt compelled to bring up the show's shortcomings. We don't do it because we feel like being jerks or want the show canceled. Quite the contrary. We know that Glee has an incredible cast and is capable of being more than recap of this week's top 20 hits, and we want the creators to know what we like and don't like about the show.
I find it fitting then that the first episode of second season of Glee kicks off with a veiled laundry list of complaints about the show last year. The mouthpiece for these complaints is Jacob Ben Israel, the school blogger and a character so ridiculous that he might as well have been created by Eric Cartman to perpetuate negative Jewish stereotypes. (Seriously, the hair and the pseudo-Hebrew lettering on his microphone is beyond crazy.)
He insults character after character, telling Mr. Schuester to stop rapping, pointing out Rachel's control issues, and finally asking Kurt bluntly, “When will you Glee clubbers accept the fact that people hate you because you're nothing but a glorified karaoke club designed to make the inventors of auto-tune millions of dollars?” Kurt retorts, “You know what, Jacob? It doesn't take much courage for people to park their cottage cheese behinds in their barcaloungers and log onto the internet and start tearing people down, does it? But you know what does take some courage? Standing up and singing about something. So here's a message for everyone who reads your blog. Next time, instead of posting an anonymous comment online, say what you have to say to my face.”
Now, I was (and still am) a huge fan of the first season of Glee. I told my friends to watch it, and I blogged about how smart and funny it was because I was afraid that a musical TV show wouldn't last long on Fox. Other fans made podcasts, YouTube video recaps of their favorite episodes, and Facebook fan groups for the show. Today, most of the cast members are on Twitter, and the official Facebook group for Glee has over 13 million fans. In that scene, Ryan Murphy was using Kurt's character to vent his frustration with the internet community that isn't caught up in Glee, but in the process, his rant became a slap in the face to the internet community that played a huge part in making Glee a success.
I sincerely hope that Glee will rediscover what made it great in season one as they finish up their second season and look ahead to season three, and I believe the best way to do that is for the creators of Glee to listen to their fans. Maybe Ryan Murphy will sit down in his barcalounger, log onto the internet, and read what the show's fans have to say, keeping in mind that not every critic is a hater looking to “tear people down.”
One last note about “The Rocky Horror Glee Show,” I can't help but express disappointment that a show which claims to embrace outsiders of all types changed the lyrics in “Sweet Transvestite” from “transsexual” to “sensational.” There are transsexual teens in their audience that would have benefited from affirmation instead of more cross-dresser tranny jokes. This episode took a musical that pushed boundaries, neutered its subversive side, and then tried to cash in on people's love for the original show. If they weren't willing to go all-in with a Rocky Horror Picture Show episode, then they shouldn't have done it at all.
DVD Bonus Features
Special features include a new song, a making-of featurette on “The Rocky Horror Glee Show,” two other featurettes with Brittany and Jane Lynch, video of the cast at Comic-Con 2010, and a Glee music jukebox for fans to replay their favorite songs.
"Glee: Season 2, Volume 1" is on sale January 25, 2011 and is not rated. Comedy, Dance, Musical, Television. Directed by Brad Falchuk, Ryan Murphy. Written by Ian Brennan, Brad Falchuk, Ryan Murphy. Starring Amber Riley, Chris Colfer, Cory Monteith, Dianna Agron, Jane Lynch, Jayma Mays, Jessalyn Gilsig, Kevin Mchale, Lea Michelle, Matthew Morrison.
