Hi all -
I just finished watching the series. Didn't want to come to the thread beforehand in case I got spoiled. The funny thing is when the show was originally on, I was SO against it. I don't know why - I think Community making fun of it and the place I was at in my life (college) made me think less of the show. I decided to start binging it because I needed a show to watch on the treadmill, and figured a show with songs would work well for that. I was right! It truly was the perfect treadmill show - that mix of funny, silly, and always easier to run to songs.
I think seasons 1-3 were great. I did feel the show started to go off the rails when Rachel went to NYC, and they were focusing mostly on that. To be honest, I just didn't care. What was so great about Glee for me was the dark humor in the high school setting and how they made fun of themselves. My husband and I are simultaneously watching Dawson's Creek and boy, the tone is so different. Those teens are so morose, they have no joy in life, and the show does not depict high school well or accurately all. I just loved the high school feeling of Glee. While I do think there's lines that wouldn't cut it nowadays, I think the show understood that at the time, and some of those "non-PC" moments...well they knew what they were doing and almost making fun of themselves. When I was watching the show, I was never really taking it all that seriously. During S3, I think - when all of them are graduating, and there's that song they dance to on stage all together in that "senior year feeling" - I just loved that moment. I can't remember what song it was now. And I just remember being sad at the same time being nostalgic about my own senior year experience and then thinking about all the kids during COVID who won't be able to experience that.
Clearly I am watching this years after the fact, so I don't get or know about any of the drama. I do think Cory Monteith, both on and off the show, seemed to be the heart of the show. Once he passed away, it couldn't be the same. I didn't really mind S6 but that was mostly because they were back in high school again. I do think that the S6 "new kids" were overall better and more interesting than the Marley/Jake/Ryder ones. Jake grew on me as time went on. Ryder was just there. Kitty was evil at the beginning, but I think she ended up being very entertaining by the end, and I guess that's why they brought her back for Season 6. I have to admit I wasn't really a fan of Marley - felt she was a Mary Sue and honestly just boring (and come on, her song-writing sucked). However, I didn't know all of that stuff about the domestic violence and Blake Jenner and wow, ok - that certainly would have colored my viewing of those episodes.
I sort of wish they had never done the NYC storylines because I do feel like that's where it went downhill. Oh well. Still watchable I guess.
It was weird watching the series finale...boy, they made the wrong choice in skipping ahead to Fall 2020. LOL Yikes. And with Sue's flash-forward, Jeb Bush being re-elected to his second term. I mean - if only!
On a shallow note, Sam/Chord with the long hair was IT for me. When he went to the hairdresser to chop it off in that NYC episode, I was like noooooooooo. His hotness went down at least 40% for me with that haircut. LOL On a similar note, that performance of "Applause" is one of the most crack-tastic moments of the show. Honestly it cracked me up with their outfits.
Anyway, now I've finished Glee and I am very sad.
