Saturday, September 28, 2013

Glee - Love, Love, Love


Glee returns for a Fifth Season with the first of two Beatles episodes as Mr. Shue (Matthew Morrison) welcomes the New Directions back (from apparently some kind of mid-semester break as no one has graduated) with an assignment on the music of the band's early years. Sue (Jane Lynch)  returns from her suspension as well to promptly frame and force Figgins (Iqbal Theba) out as she takes over as McKinley High's new principal. Her first order of business is to demand national championships from both the Glee Club and the Cheerios if Will and Roz Washington (NeNe Leakes) want to keep their jobs past the end of the year.


In New York Santana (Naya Rivera) gets Rachel (Lea Michele) a job with her at the Broadway Diner as Rachel redoubles her efforts to land the lead in the Broadway revival of Funny Girl after she learns the male lead (Ioan Gruffudd) and director (Peter Facinelli) express concerns that she may be too young and green for the role which leads to an impromptu public performance of "A Hard Day's Night" with the help of her fellow singing waitresses.


Blaine (Darren Criss) goes overboard with his attempt to throw Kurt (Chris Colfer) the biggest wedding proposal ever with the help of New Directions, the Warblers, and Vocal AdrenalineKitty (Becca Tobin) and Artie (Kevin McHale) begin hanging out. Although she admits to having more than platonic feelings, her fear of what the other Cheerios may think about her dating a guy in a wheelchair forces the cute pair to keep their new relationship on the down low. Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz) outs the couple, forcing Kitty to admit the depth of her feelings for her new boyfriend and Blaine to enlist Sam (Chord Overstreet), Ryder (Blake Jenner), and Jake's (Jacob Artist) help for an intervention to help Tina with an elaborate performance of "I Saw Her Standing There."


Although its very unclear as to how much time has actually passed since last season's finale, the show accomplishes quite a bit to set up the major storylines of the new season. I like Artie and Kitty together, and their unlikely pairing also forced the show writers to remember Tina was still on the show for more than just mooning over Blaine (whose proposal is the definition of overkill). It looks like Rachel may eventually get her dream role, but the show is going to make her earn it, at least for the next few episodes.


Other musical performances include Rachel singing "Yesterday," Kitty and Artie performing "Drive My Car" during a carnival montage, Kurt and Blaine perform "Got to Get You Into My Life," Kitty and Artie sing "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away," Blaine leads the New Directions in a performance of "Help," and for his proposal Blaine enlists the help of all his friends for the episode's closing performance of "All You Need Is Love."

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