GLEE 1.2 - "Showmance"

[SPOILERS] If you liked the pilot, I don't think you'll be disappointed with the follow-up "Showmance". I'm still not sure there's mileage in Glee's premise, though. I mean, where do you go after the club assumedly win its dance competition in the finale? But for now it's surprisingly good fun if you enjoy high school comedies and/or musicals. The pace of events was also quite surprising, with a lot going on to keep your attention. The only thing distracting me right now is that dubbed singing, as it's so apparent that the songs (like "Gold Digger") aren't being performed live. The cast instead mime to a polished studio track that'll be released on iTunes to further line Fox's pockets...

Still, this episode did a great job of letting us know where the season might be headed. Firstly, the Glee club performed in front of the entire school at assembly as "New Directions", although they took it upon themselves to perform the sexually-suggestive "Push It" to prevent being a flop. It worked and they got a standing ovation, but the appalled administrators immediately take steps to ensure future songs are more sanitized. This struggle to be an accepted club with self-determination is sure to be a recurring theme.

Secondly, Will (Matthew Morrison) has taken on a janitorial position to supplement his income, not least because wife Terri (Jessalyn Gilsig) is pregnant. Only, unbeknownst to her husband, she's not. Terri's having a "hysterical pregnancy" because she's just so desperate for a baby.

And finally, evil gym teacher Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) sent an "undercover agent" into the Glee club, namely celibate cheerleader Quinn (Dianna Agron) from her Cheerios troupe, who proves to be surprisingly adept at singing and dancing herself during her audition for Will. Is it wrong to already assume she'll come to realize the dorky Glee club is a lot more supportive of her as a person than cheerleading practice?

Overall, this was exuberant and fast-paced, which is what you demand from a high school comedy-musical, really. I can't fault it too much, and I was particularly surprised by how fast Finn (Cory Monteith) and Rachel (Lea Michele) have kissed – which appears to signal just how prepared Glee is to grab hold of the usual clichés, chew them up, and spit them out as quickly as possible. Again though, I'm just worried Glee's going to have a fantastically entertaining first season, then find it has nowhere to go in year two. Lest we forget, this was originally a movie idea of Ryan Murphy's, so it'll be interesting to see how well the writing staff turn it into a continuing drama series.

Did everyone else enjoy it? Or are you tired of the heavy E4 promotion and instead going to make a protest against Glee-dom? Also, a word of warning, please don't post any spoilers if you've seen future episodes but want to comment here. Anything of a spoiler-y nature will be deleted and you risk being "blacklisted" from commenting here in future. So play nice. Also, I'm not sure how conducive Glee will be to weekly reviews, so who's up for "open threading" this series, possibly?


11 January 2010
E4/E4 HD, 10pm

written by: Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk & Ian Brennan directed by: Ryan Murphy starring: Matthew Morrison (Will Scheuster), Lea Michele (Rachel), Amber Riley (Mercedes), Chris Colfer (Kurt), Kevin McHale (Artie), Jenna Ushkowitz), Cory Monteith (Finn), Mark Salling (Puckerman), Jessalyn Gilsig (Terri), Jayma Mays (Emma), Iqbal Theba (Principal Figgins), Patrick Gallagher (Ken Tanaka), Jane Lynch (Sue Sylvester), Diana Agron (Quinn) & Valorie Hubbard (Peggy)