S06.E13: S06.E12: 2009 / S06.E13: Dreams Come True

[Sara2009]

I think the " Rachel needs all the solos" stuff was just the writers trying to cover their butts.

[Cranberry]

I really want someone to splice the pilot and 2009 together into one big episode. They should do that as a special feature on the DVDs.

[fakeempress]

 

So I'm glad kids today had Glee, I just wish they had had a better show, than it was, after the first few seasons.

MTE. I think regardless of quality, for a lot of kids today it is their Dawson's Creek, or in my case their My So-Called Life. 

[caracas1914]

I actually would have liked if they had continued with angry Goth facade of Tina from Season One..  Sure she could have been insecure inside but I thought she looked hot in her faux Goth attire.

 

The ridiculous primary colors and frumpy clothes  made her a female Blaine.

Edited March 22, 2015 by caracas1914

[jaytee1812]

I actually would have liked if they had continued with angry Goth facade of Tina from Season One..  Sure she could have been insecure inside but I thought she looked hot in her faux Goth attire.

 

The ridiculous primary colors and frumpy clothes  made her a female Blaine.

 

Tina looked awesome as a goth. I always thought the point of the change in wardrobe was that she was trying to be like Rachel/Blaine.

[phoenixrising]

2009 Tina was the most I'd ever liked Tina. She seemed to have more personality, and we could've gotten Tina and her struggle to maintain her goth group and her Glee group. Tina probably would've been one of my favs if we had THAT Tina.

[AndySmith]

Because she's Rachel, not Mercedes. She's not expected to do without a loving partner and to be strong. In fact, she has to have a OTPing and all the solos. She needs them more.

 

Which is kind of sad. Well, not kind of.

 

I really want someone to splice the pilot and 2009 together into one big episode. They should do that as a special feature on the DVDs.

 

That's how the final episode should have been done from the start, especially if they wanted to contrast how the kids were, versus how they are now, and how they will become.

Edited March 22, 2015 by AndySmith

[phoenixrising]

Did Rachel seem...off to anyone else? I've mostly seen praise for Lea, but I felt like something about the acting wasn't right, although I might just be unsettled because while she's physically changed some, it's not as obvious and Chris, and Kevin, Amber, and Jenna are about the same. Idk, she seemed less energetic to me than pilot Rachel, and something about her looked severe, although that might just be physical changes plus the costuming choices.

[caracas1914]

 I mentioned this up thread, her look was off.   It's not just that Lea is older, it's that she seemed almost Joan Crawford scary.  Of course it can be she just can't pull off (understandably)  the ingenue look  anymore  and the mannerisms of early Rachel aren't that easy to emulate with no teenage innocence to compensate.  But yea, I felt even her speech patterns weren't quite the same, she started losing the distinct  Rachel way of speaking a few years back and I don't think she got it back just right.

Edited March 22, 2015 by caracas1914

[tom87]

Seemed controlling of Jesse when he was telling Rachel her thank you list if she won the Tony.

yea becasue she took it so seriously.

 

Humor.   

[Myrna123]

Did Rachel seem...off to anyone else? I've mostly seen praise for Lea, but I felt like something about the acting wasn't right, although I might just be unsettled because while she's physically changed some, it's not as obvious and Chris, and Kevin, Amber, and Jenna are about the same. Idk, she seemed less energetic to me than pilot Rachel, and something about her looked severe, although that might just be physical changes plus the costuming choices.

I think the main issue is that the most talented costumers and hair/make-up people moved over to other Murphy/Falchuk shows. If the Season 1 crew was still there, all of the actors would have looked better, but especially Lea and Chris--not so much because the crew would have remembered how they had been styled but just because I think they were really amazing at their jobs.

[Ikki]

Rachel's acceptance speech was the only part that actually made me tear up, and that was in part because Sutton Foster went to my high school and has thanked the drama director during her own acceptance speeches, which in itself makes me all emotional. But I thought the two hours were enjoyable enough overall.

[KaveDweller]

There's "mature and become less selfish" and there's "put your life on hold at the age of 25, put your body through the irreversible changes of pregnancy, go through the agony of childbirth, and then give away your first child to someone else". The whole thing was absurd and left a really bad taste in my mouth.

 

Yes, but these writers aren't that nuanced.  But like others, I didn't get the sense that the baby was Rachel's biologically, just that she was doing that actual carrying. Which is still a huge deal, but much less of a huge deal than if it was her actual child.

[fakeempress]

I think the main issue is that the most talented costumers and hair/make-up people moved over to other Murphy/Falchuk shows. If the Season 1 crew was still there, all of the actors would have looked better, but especially Lea and Chris--not so much because the crew would have remembered how they had been styled but just because I think they were really amazing at their jobs.

Yeah. I suppose the old makeup crew would be able to tweak her eyebrows with a little movie makeup magic; as caracas says it's one drastic difference. Lea now favours the thick eyebrows look, but 2009 Rachel noticeably didn't. Not to go into the issue of Chris's hair and makeup at all, the only good approximation was in the body shop scene. 

 

eta: For those who don't follow Chris, he managed to make himself look younger just last May:

Edited March 22, 2015 by fakeempress

[TV Anonymous]

I agree with this, yes. Besides what Cleo said, the pregnancy bothered me because it stole Rachel's moment. That was the height of the series, or was supposed to be: Rachel achieving success and having her dreams come true. So it should've been about HER award and her marriage and if she was pregnant it had to be her and Jessie's. I felt like the show showing its true colors again and reminding us all how much they kiss the men's asses. Sort of like how they spent like 3 years dealing with Emma's issues and her virginity, then it was thrown away as a random gift to Will for winning Nationals, and not only that it was shown in like a throw away part of a montage, if I remember correctly. Augh.

 

Even though it is not explicitly said, the impression I have is that Rachel an Jessie do not have any child yet. And that gets me scratching my head. What kind of married couple would allow the wife to be a surrogate before they have a child on their own? While the risk may be quite low, there is always a chance for a woman that her pregnancy may be her last. As well, there are other risks related to the woman's own health caused by the pregnancy. And Rachel may not know that, as she never bear a child before. In addition, the one year pregnancy and birthing cycle may not be the most comfortable for a married couple, physically, mentally, psychologically, financially.

 

Therefore, sacrifice is one thing, but going through all of that before one's own and without apparent compelling reason makes no sense at all for me.

Yes, but these writers aren't that nuanced.  But like others, I didn't get the sense that the baby was Rachel's biologically, just that she was doing that actual carrying. Which is still a huge deal, but much less of a huge deal than if it was her actual child.

 

As Kurt and Blaine are both males, whose egg can that possibly be?

[caracas1914]

God, Glee morphed over to become "the New Normal".

[fakeempress]

 

As Kurt and Blaine are both males, whose egg can that possibly be?

Kavedweller is probably referring to Quinn interjecting in the 100/101 episode scene that she donated the egg for the Klaine spawn.

Edited March 22, 2015 by fakeempress

[SNeaker]

Even though it is not explicitly said, the impression I have is that Rachel an Jessie do not have any child yet. And that gets me scratching my head. What kind of married couple would allow the wife to be a surrogate before they have a child on their own? While the risk may be quite low, there is always a chance for a woman that her pregnancy may be her last. As well, there are other risks related to the woman's own health caused by the pregnancy. And Rachel may not know that, as she never bear a child before. In addition, the one year pregnancy and birthing cycle may not be the most comfortable for a married couple, physically, mentally, psychologically, financially.

 

Therefore, sacrifice is one thing, but going through all of that before one's own and without apparent compelling reason makes no sense at all for me.

 

Rachel's own birth mother was unable to have children after her. They never stated explicitly why, but the implication was a hysterectomy. I always thought that contributed to Shelby's behavior. Having a child for other people and then not being able to have one of your own would be fairly traumatic.

[natyxg]

Even though it is not explicitly said, the impression I have is that Rachel an Jessie do not have any child yet. And that gets me scratching my head. What kind of married couple would allow the wife to be a surrogate before they have a child on their own? While the risk may be quite low, there is always a chance for a woman that her pregnancy may be her last. As well, there are other risks related to the woman's own health caused by the pregnancy. And Rachel may not know that, as she never bear a child before. In addition, the one year pregnancy and birthing cycle may not be the most comfortable for a married couple, physically, mentally, psychologically, financially.

 

Therefore, sacrifice is one thing, but going through all of that before one's own and without apparent compelling reason makes no sense at all for me.

 

Rachel is also at the height of her career, a career in performing that relies on her being fit and attractive and thin and all of those other unfair superficial things that sadly do exist in that world. Pregnancy would just get in the way, then. It's why so many actresses wait so long to have babies, unless we are talking about an oops baby.

 

Like, seriously, being a surrogate =/= being a sperm donor, yet that's how lightly they treated the situation. The whole thing made no sense to me and it felt like they completely ignored the reality of the situation, specially for the woman here, Rachel. That shouldn't be so shocking, I guess, cause this is glee. But it really ruined what could've otherwise been a fitting ending for Rachel, in my book, because she felt used to prop up Klaine's happy ending, and it wasn't necessary to do.

[jaytee1812]

The other thing that struck me about the surrogacy was. How the hell are Kurt and Blaine financially stable enough to have a baby via surrogate. Even if Rachel is doing it out of the goodness of her heart that stuff still costs a lot of money. Not the kind of money a couple of 25 year olds would have, even if they're doing okay career wise.

[Higgs]

But like others, I didn't get the sense that the baby was Rachel's biologically, just that she was doing that actual carrying. Which is still a huge deal, but much less of a huge deal than if it was her actual child.

A huge deal it was. First, for the surrogacy to have represented a true "full circle" in Rachel's life, she would have to have been the biological mother, just as Shelby was for her. Second, a merely gestational surrogacy could be gotten anywhere, and Rachel would not have taken on the burden, nor would Kurt have ever asked, nor would Kurt have accepted if she had offered, if she didn't contribute something more than a womb. Third, and most important, the Rachel-Kurt relationship was the longest-lasting, most mutually supportive*, selfless**, natural***, and profound bond between peers on the show.

Full disclosure: I couldn't stand Kurt for many early years and consider Chris's voice to be not merely bad, but literally painful.

*No one praised Rachel's talent more often than did Kurt - not even Finn or Will. The reverse was even more true.

**Kurt's mother hen protection of Rachel throughout the FG process was the most selfless act seen on the series, because if Rachel were successful Kurt faced the possibility that she would leave his world forever. In contrast, when Finn put her on the train, it was because he was smart enough (and, yes, he WAS smart enough) to understand that it was necessary if they were ever have any chance of making a successful marriage.

***Shared tastes, knowledge, and the gay. It might be like this: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/those-youve-known-lea-michele-and-jonathan-groff-reunite-on-glee/

[CleoCaesar]

But like others, I didn't get the sense that the baby was Rachel's biologically, just that she was doing that actual carrying. Which is still a huge deal, but much less of a huge deal than if it was her actual child.

 

I dunno, if I'm carrying a fetus inside my body for 9 months and then pushing it out, I'm pretty sure I'm going to regard that as my child. Hormonally I would be bonded, and DNA wouldn't matter all that much to me. I'm not against surrogacy in principle, but to me there is kind of a creepy aspect to it on some level. What if Rachel gives birth to the baby and falls in love with it, as mothers typically do when they see their babies? What if giving up the child she bore throws her into postpartum depression? What if she refuses to give away the baby and Klaine sues for custody? All real-life scenarios.

 

Like I said, it was a really distasteful ending. And a really dumb one, because in real life laws surrounding surrogacy require the surrogate to already have had at least one child.

 

Rachel's own birth mother was unable to have children after her. They never stated explicitly why, but the implication was a hysterectomy. I always thought that contributed to Shelby's behavior. Having a child for other people and then not being able to have one of your own would be fairly traumatic.

 

Exactly. Not to mention there was a really sad "like mother, like daughter" vibe to the whole thing. Shelby and Rachel both essentially become incubators for a gay male couple. That's not poetic symmetry, it's just kind of bleak.

[Myrna123]

RIB have the sensibilities of an 11year old. Pregnancy = tummy bump then baby!! Yay!!!

[tom87]

Probably would have made more sense for Rachel to  have donated an egg, but Ryan needed that visual of her being pregnant.

[wayne67]

It took me a long time to get around to watching this episode mostly because at one point I liked the show then found it amusing in broken kind of way then just watched it because sometimes the songs were good and the humor was amusing in a dad joke kind of way. Funny for not being at all funny like those puppets...

 

This episode was mostly dull. It was kind of weird seeing the 30 year olds playing their 25 year old selves playing 15 year olds in the first episode with that one scene where they were young again for realsies in the DSB song. The second with all the flash forwards strained belief as they didn't even make any effort to show them having aged or changed over 5 years... 

 

Glee is so bad for continuity and any grasp on logic. Will wasn't that great a teacher and I don't think he'd be an awesome principal. It would have been nice if we ever saw Will teaching instead of giving pep talks, most of his lessons involved random artist with a 30 second vague explanation and then apparently leaving the children to arrange their own choreography for songs they had selected. The only time I can remember Will doing anything resembling teaching was when he was demonstrating to Roderick and the footballer dance moves and he seemed mildly frustrated when they didn't get it the first time.

 

*sigh*

 

Glee definitely had some great moments but they became more and more infrequent relying heavily on music and emotional manipulation to excuse terrible plotting and character development.

 

Oh well it's over now.

Edited March 22, 2015 by wayne67

[TV Anonymous]

Glee is so bad for continuity and any grasp on logic. Will wasn't that great a teacher and I don't think he'd be an awesome principal. It would have been nice if we ever saw Will teaching instead of giving pep talks, most of his lessons involved random artist with a 30 second vague explanation and then apparently leaving the children to arrange their own choreography for songs they had selected. The only time I can remember Will doing anything resembling teaching was when he was demonstrating to Roderick and the footballer dance moves and he seemed mildly frustrated when they didn't get it the first time.

 

Just remember this: Will is a Spanish teacher who does not speak Spanish.

[natyxg]

I dunno, if I'm carrying a fetus inside my body for 9 months and then pushing it out, I'm pretty sure I'm going to regard that as my child. Hormonally I would be bonded, and DNA wouldn't matter all that much to me. I'm not against surrogacy in principle, but to me there is kind of a creepy aspect to it on some level. What if Rachel gives birth to the baby and falls in love with it, as mothers typically do when they see their babies? What if giving up the child she bore throws her into postpartum depression? What if she refuses to give away the baby and Klaine sues for custody? All real-life scenarios.

Like I said, it was a really distasteful ending.

 

 

Basically, this.

 

Not to mention there was a really sad "like mother, like daughter" vibe to the whole thing. Shelby and Rachel both essentially become incubators for a gay male couple. That's not poetic symmetry, it's just kind of bleak

 

And this.

 

However, it would be even worse to me if it was her egg, and the Shelby mention made me think that it was. Inseminating Rachel with Kurt or Blaine's sperm would be waaaay cheaper too and something that could easily be done privately. So basically she would be getting pregnant to give her child up for adoption. That has to be REALLY hard, not this puppies and rainbows thing they tried to make it come across as.

[jaytee1812]

However, it would be even worse to me if it was her egg, and the Shelby mention made me think that it was. Inseminating Rachel with Kurt or Blaine's sperm would be waaaay cheaper too and something that could easily be done privately. So basically she would be getting pregnant to give her child up for adoption. That has to be REALLY hard, not this puppies and rainbows thing they tried to make it come across as.

Which Rachel knows given she saw how messed both Quinn and Shelby got as a result of doing the same thing. I can't see Rachel putting herself through that.

[natyxg]

Which Rachel knows given she saw how messed both Quinn and Shelby got as a result of doing the same thing. I can't see Rachel putting herself through that.

 

Yep.

 

And then what was the plan exactly? That she would be aunt Rachel and have no say in her daughters life while she was seeing her all the time? And that would be more puppies and rainbows?

 

Yeah, no. That is not how things go.

[Ceeg]

However, it would be even worse to me if it was her egg, and the Shelby mention made me think that it was. Inseminating Rachel with Kurt or Blaine's sperm would be waaaay cheaper too and something that could easily be done privately. So basically she would be getting pregnant to give her child up for adoption. That has to be REALLY hard, not this puppies and rainbows thing they tried to make it come across as.

 

Plus, it's not even a Shelby/Rachel situation, where Shelby takes her money and never sees Rachel again until she's grown. But with the Klaine baby, Rachel will literally have to see a child, that has half of her DNA that she carried for 9 months and then birthed, on a regular basis for the rest of that child's life. Talk about blurring already blurry lines.

 

I think we have all officially put in about 100x more thought into this situation than RIB+ did.

[caracas1914]

Mama Rachel would insist on singing lessons at 6 moths.

"Uncle" Jesse would advice the kid on a show biz career.

Kurt and Blaine would live "Whose afraid of Virgina Wolf" in their married state,

 

That would be one fucked up kid.

[natyxg]

I think we have all officially put in about 100x more thought into this situation than RIB+ did.

 

lol. Well, I thought all of this as I was watching the scene because as a woman I immediately put myself in Rachel’s shoes. It did not require that much thought. So i think it was a case of who they had more empathy with, and after six years of Glee we know who that is.

[Glorfindel]

Rachel is also at the height of her career, a career in performing that relies on her being fit and attractive and thin and all of those other unfair superficial things that sadly do exist in that world. Pregnancy would just get in the way, then. It's why so many actresses wait so long to have babies, unless we are talking about an oops baby.

Plus that a pregnancy often changes a woman's voice permanently (making it a bit lower in timbre and sometimes range) and is disastrous when it comes to the stretch of the abdomen muscles. There's also the possibility of her having to throw up for all of those 9 months, and the bile and retching could damage her vocal chords.

No way a succesful young Broadway singer like Rachel would take that risk.

Edited March 22, 2015 by Glorfindel

[phoenixrising]

lol. Well, I thought all of this as I was watching the scene because as a woman I immediately put myself in Rachel’s shoes. It did not require that much thought. So i think it was a case of who they had more empathy with, and after six years of Glee we know who that is.

I was so horrified for Rachel. I get the idea of Rachel being selfless here, but that's beyond selfless. Have your own kids first, at least. And even for my best friend in the entire world, I'd need serious compensation.

[tom87]

They could have easily had jumped ahead 10 years instead and it would have made about 5% more sense.

Edited March 22, 2015 by tom87

[shantown]

I finally watched both episodes. Really underwhelming. The "2009"  episode was a sad reminder of what used to be, but hasn't existed for three seasons. "Dreams Come True" was a messy timeline of poorly written, random scenes. The final song was nice because I enjoyed seeing some of the old characters again, but I still can't believe some characters didn't get so much as a solo line in that song. (I won't even get into the solo songs argument.)

[AndySmith]

the Rachel-Kurt relationship was the longest-lasting, most mutually supportive*, selfless**, natural***, and profound bond between peers on the show.

 

Too bad they had to kick to curb/ignore/pretend it never happened Mercedes-Kurt friendship to do that.

 

Will wasn't that great a teacher and I don't think he'd be an awesome principal.

 

At least he stopped "rapping" after the first few seasons. We should at least be thankful for that.

 

Will was the worst.

 

If they needed an incubator for Kurt & Blaine's child, shit, just assign that to Quinn, it would have given her something to do/reason to appear in the final episode besides being in the final song.

Edited March 22, 2015 by AndySmith

[Scarlett45]

Too bad they had to kick to curb/ignore/pretend it never happened Mercedes-Kurt friendship to do that.

 

 

I really did miss the Kurt/Mercedes friendship. It seems that after Kurt found Blaine, and their conflict over religious expression in "Grilled Cheesuz"(spelling) they had a rift between them. I could see Kurt and Rachel growing closer, being in NYC together, and living together but I wish they didnt sacrifice Kurt and Mercedes so much. 

[methodwriter85]

None of them ever did.

 

Chris Colfer was actually just a year out of high school when he started the show, I believe, and season 1 Kurt easily passed as a 15-year old. Which made the contrast between Chris now and him trying to look 15 again and failing miserably pretty funny. It is so rare for guy to hit his growth spurt at 19-20. If it hadn't been for that, he probably would have stayed high school-looking for a long time.

 

Amber, Lea, Jenna, and Kevin were all pretty believable as teenagers in season 1. Mark always pushed it, Cory always looked like a cute boyish 25-year old, and Diana and Naya always seemed more like bitchy college sorority girls than high school kids.

 

I am really glad this show didn't have Rachel end up with her Finn-stand-in. Thank god.

 

Were Marley and Ryder in the crowd at the end? I spied Puck II there, but I didn't see them. Melissa Benoist does sound like she's got to be pretty busy right now.

[SNeaker]

Ryder was there and came in with Unique and Dreadlocks dude. Melissa couldn't make it, apparently.

 

That number ended up being incredibly lame and disappointing, and for the life of me I don't understand the logic of the order in which characters came into the song. The only thing notable about it to me was that Jacob Artist also having facial hair now makes him and Mark look even more like believable brothers.

[caracas1914]

I thin it's fandom that has that Kurt/Mercedes rift due to the religious issue in Grilled Cheezuz. They were actually good by the end of that episode, it was more an agenda to pair Kurt with Rachel, and of course Kurt and Blaine.

Technically Kurt had dialogue/scenes with Mercedes as " friends" through the first five seasons, which has to be the only " platonic" streak that lasted that long.

It shows how horrible this season went that Kurtcedes didn't even get that this year.

Edited March 22, 2015 by caracas1914

[AndySmith]

I actually liked the final number. If anything, it was the highlight of the episode.

 

As for the logic of the order in which the characters came into the song...yeah, it could have been better, but this is Glee, logic left the building (or auditorium?) years ago ;)

Edited March 22, 2015 by AndySmith

[Sara2009]

I actually thought some of Will's rapping was endearing.

[Ceeg]

As for the logic of the order in which the characters came into the song...yeah, it could have been better, but this is Glee, logic left the building (or auditorium?) years ago ;)

 

They did fine with Don't Stop Believin in Season 5. They had Rachel out first, then Kurt, then the rest of the original 5, then the rest of the original ND, then Blaine and Sam, then the noobs, and finally Will. That order made sense, and that number was nice and fitting and nostalgic in the right ways, while also giving each person in the cast a little moment.

 

I Lived was a terrible mess, though. IMO.

[AndySmith]

True, but they had more characters this time. I'm not sure how it would have worked, and when certain people would have fit in.

 

Yeah, it was kind of messy...but it was really fun, and worked for me.

[Camera One]

Out of all the series finales I've seen, I thought that was decent.  I mean, it didn't fix any of the gigantic problems the show had, and I didn't expect it to.  But there was nothing too insulting to fans and they didn't really destroy any of the characters, which is already a good thing for finales.  Of course, my expectations were rock bottom, but still... this show can be much much worse than what we got.

 

The first hour wasn't as boring as I thought it would be, given the prequel aspect and the expected retread (though there was a bit of that for sure, especially with the Rachel/Mercedes conflict).  I expected them to give some screentime to all the originals, but it was fine overall.  I didn't understand the whole bet thing with Artie and Tina either.  So the goths bullied Kurt and Rachel as well?  

 

The second hour was a mess, but I didn't care that much.  As usual, some of the entertainment value comes from how stupid some of this stuff is, such as Will and Sue's musical number.  She's now hanging out at Will and Emma's house to watch Rachel's award show?  Alrighty then. I was so tired of all the see-sawing she did the entire season, it's hard to see Sue as permanently reformed.  

 

I don't understand why Will wouldn't coach any of the Glee Clubs now that he was Principal.  Principals can still volunteer for extra-curricular activities, especially if it's something he supposedly loves and lives for.  The back and forth time jumps were abrupt.  Was Mercedes going to the Mountains of Tibet to record her album?  Could Will just random hire someone like Sam with no qualifications as a teacher?  At the very least, that should have been a "5 Years Later" thing.  I was never a huge fan of Jesse St. James, so he and Rachel together was a little WTF, but again, whatever.  Since Sam freed up, they might as well have thrown him and Mercedes together, just to make some fans happy.

 

Oh well, it was fun to see Matt Rutherford again.  I agree the final song's entrances made it really hard to tell who was there.  From far away, I thought Unique was Mercedes and Ryder was Sam.  They could have brought them back earlier, on Will's first day as Principal, since those old newbie students could have re-enrolled at McKinley.

Edited March 22, 2015 by Camera One

[Glorfindel]

I've finally been able to find the time to write down my thoughts on the last 2 episodes of Glee. These episodes showed exactly why Glee was so good once but also why it went down the crapper so spectacular.

I enjoyed ‘2009’ for the most part (except for a few nitpicks). The 'kid' actors were doing their best (Amber improved so much!) despite them obviously being so much older now, and it focused on the characters I fell in love with these many years ago. They were quite careful with the original concept/material, and ending it with the original Pilot's ending was a very nice touch, with Finn being there and all. ‘Dreams Come True’ however was a mess and I’m sure Ryan, Brad and Ian pulled several muscles while they were padding themselves on the back in their self congratulatory writing ego trip.

 

Although there wasn’t much new happening in ‘2009’ this episode provided some background stuff that explained the characters and why they did what they did back then more, and it brought back the old season 1 feelings. So to have that throwback to the beginning of Glee at the very end of the series was sweet.

 

- I’d forgotten how terrible Terri was (and how awesome Jessalyn is), and how she kept Will small. Their relationship was so fucked up, but interesting and often funny to see how it blow up in season 1.
- Rachel said that she was the only one in Sandy’s former glee club, but in the Director’s Cut of the Pilot it was shown that Mercedes, Tina and Kurt were in it too. I guess it being the Director’s Cut doesn’t make that canon, but still.
- When Rachel started to talk/sing ‘Popular’ it almost seemed to me like her voice was dubbed and she was lipsynching, that’s how much I felt Lea was imitating Kristin Chenoweth in the recording of that song.
- So Artie and Tina basically were bullying Rachel and Kurt too before glee club was formed. I really didn’t need to know that, and found them auditioning for Glee on a dare strange, as they clearly enjoyed glee club from the start.
- I understood why Kurt would be the one most hesitant to have Finn in the glee club, even though he had a crush on him. Finn was one of his bullies after all, and he was also right in thinking that once Finn joined it would bring other jocks and cheerleaders into the safe haven of the choir room.
- It was clearly fan service, but I found the Blaine cameo unnecessary and completely out of sync with the rest of the episode. ‘2009’ was a sort of tribute and throwback to the Pilot, with a lot of the season 1 characters in it, and it was jarring to see someone in it who joined in season 2.

 

- So Rachel got all the solos over Mercedes because she was the most pathetic? I don’t know who this is the most insulting to, and how it messed up their character's world view the most: Mercedes or Rachel?
Going by the rest of season 6 and a large part of season 5 I’d say Rachel.
- But really, I hate the meta middle finger from RIB here: their justification for Rachel getting all the solos is that “she needed it more”. It's pathetic alright, but not the way they meant it in the episode. And how they had Mercedes' mom(?) say that it only made the WOC stronger to be neglected and considered less than the white girl by their teacher (who should know better). Fuck that.
- Talking about Mr. Shue: Puck and Karofsky throw a slushie in Rachel’s face right in front of Will and he does nothing? Worst.Teacher.Ever. Also for not considering Artie or Kurt worthy of having solos as leading men (and for basically doing what Rachel demands). And we all know Will promising the original 5 that they would divide the solos was a big fat lie (although he probably believed it himself). Which made all the praise of Will in the last episode so ironic and false ringing.

 

‘2009’ wasn't a perfect episode, and it drilled home some injustices to characters that may not have been the writers' plan from the start but which did have their roots in the real Pilot and then were continued over the seasons. But I loved the feeling of being back in season 1 again, when I fell in love with this show and its characters. They should have made it the actual show’s final episode imo.

 

 

As this is getting long already I’ll make a new post about ‘Dreams Come True’.

Edited March 22, 2015 by Glorfindel

[Glorfindel]

The final episode of Glee was a mess. Glee didn't end with a bang, it didn't even end with a whimper. It just.....ended.

The only time I teared up was when I saw the honest sentimental reactions of the The Glee cast (not so much the characters) in the ‘Teach Your Children Well’ scene, as we know that was the last scene they filmed, and I mentally said goodbye to them at that moment.

 

The last scene however didn’t make me feel anything all, and I rolled my eyes repeatedly during the episode everytime RIB waved their magic wand and shook fairy dust into the air to bestow yet another big win or succesful career on one of the characters. It all felt undeserved, rushed and silly fanfic wish fullfilment. The flash forwards were hollow as we saw nothing of the actual work and struggles that brought the characters to what they have 5 years from now. There was nothing authentic or remotely heartwarming about it, and it was all tell but no show.
I didn’t care about Rachel winning her Tony, and all the cute kids in the world can’t hide that in no way Klaine would be happily married 5 years from now. The surrogate mom thing was one of the most WTF?! things Glee has ever done and that’s saying something. And seeing them all get ogether in the future to cheer Rachel on felt awkward and forced, as none of the other characters got much if any closure or focus at all.

 

The Sue/Klaine scene was so awkward (even ignoring Klaine thanking Sue for locking them up and stalking them) and full of meta. Out of the blue Sue tells Kurt evusively how his high school struggles and bravery changed her life, and then Blaine gets at least 2 character based digs within a few seconds. But the writers themselves created Blaine and wrote him that way, including him living together with Kurt’s former bully, and they deliberately pushed Kurt to the background and made him seem less in favor of Blaine for years!

And yet in their last episode they acknowledge (through Sue) how iconic Kurt was for the LGBTQ community and Glee. They probably wanted to bask in the critical acclaim some of Kurt’s storylines got one last time, but seeing how they treated Kurt in later seasons it all seemed very weird and hypocritical. I wonder what BTS shenanigans caused that last moment turn around.

 

And talking about hypocritical: all the emphasis on the school of arts and the importance of Will and the glee club at McKinley felt unearned too, and not only because Will wasn’t always such a great teacher (although in my headcanon he has bettered his ways 5 years from now). It was the writers using the sledgehammer again and pretending that season 6 was actually about arts education as they stated at the beginning of the season, when time and time again they showed disdain for the real teachers out there (with actual degrees and semester long lesson plans!), and were blatantly ignorant to (or simply unwilling to learn) how real choirs, performing art colleges (like NYADA) or schools in general are actually run and handled.

As a choir director and music teacher myself this irked me at times throughout the series, but RIB said it would be an 'important!' arc in the last season but then never took the trouble to show anything decent or remotely realistic when it comes to teaching the arts (like making college drop-out kids and even no-college, football assistant Sam the new choir directors!), and that seriously bugged me.

 

- The scene at Mr. Shue’s house, with all the kids running around in front of the tv, reminded me of Terri’s sister Kendra and her brats.
- I admit I laughed when Sue kicked over piano Brad’s stool and he fell. That was so random, lol.
- Why would they cut all the sports teams in an arts school? There must be kids who like both singing and sports? And so Beiste lost his job after Will became principal?
- Rachel’s and Mercedes’ solo songs were oddly placed in the episode and didn’t make much sense to me: they were clearly only there to make them sing one last time. As we already had multiple solos from these 2 this season I would have preferred one or 2 little small group numbers, like from the original season 1 group or any other McKinley group really.
- Already mentioned in this thread, but the lyrics distribution and where the characters stood and entered the stage in the final song was completely messed up.

 

I won’t miss the Glee that was presented to me in its final hour, and I will never watch another Ryan Murphy/Brad Falchuk show again. But I will miss most of the characters (especially the ones from the first season), the songs, and mostly the dynamic of the cast. They worked hard on Glee and deserve all the praise they got, and I wish them well in their future jobs.

Edited March 22, 2015 by Glorfindel

[methodwriter85]

Yeah, I was in college when Glee started, and I liked it, but I don't have the same emotional feels for it like I do for the O.C. (The first and fourth seasons, anyway), or Veronica Mars, as I was in high school when both those shows started.

Edited March 23, 2015 by methodwriter85

[phoenixrising]

I expected to feel something during I Lived, but I just got pissed it was several bland white guys, Rachel, and literally a second of Mercedes. But I guess that represents what Glee became.