Glee actress Jane Lynch
Before we start, I think it’s absolutely critical to say there are going to enormous spoilers in here.
Following the news of Glee’s entire cast returning, it got me thinking. Why? Why dedicate part of the show to Rachel’s life in New York?
While Lea Michele has always had the goods vocally, Rachel Berry’s appeal had all but gone. The success obsessed mini-Streisand always only had a very limited timeframe. The character only worked in small does to start with.
The show as a whole though needs to take a long hard look at itself and realise the failings of its third series.
The music may have stayed to the same high quality, and the stage-show angles gave the show a nicely different feel, but still the show paled in comparison to its opening years.
A complete lack of guts and any form of edge made an already soft show feel positively limp. Removing Sue as a villain and entering no-one as a direct replacement felt like cheap pandering to a small group of fans who felt that the only that should ever stop the New Directions was Zeus himself.
Having Jane Lynch is a fantastic resource. Just, please don't waste her on making nice with Schuester when she could be throwing sticks at students.
Add in the massive cop-out recoveries of Korofsky and Quinn, and the show absolutely lost all of its teeth last year and became far too indulgent, with far too many characters.
What needed to be done was a cull. Let the class graduate, never to be frequently seen again. Strip it back to the remaining characters and then create a couple of new kids to fill in the gaps. Skins have done it twice and it had it worked out brilliantly both times.
If most of the cast members only return for a solitary episode, then there’s still hope, but as long as Rachel Berry’s still in most of the episodes and Sue’s being nice, then the show won’t reach the highs it did in its debut year.
Sharp witted, quick to the punch line, sarcastic and yet still warm-hearted, happy and oh-so musical. That’s how Glee used to be, let’s just hope Ryan Murphy and his team of writers can get back to that great place.
FemaleFirst Cameron Smith
Tagged in Glee Jane Lynch Lea Michele