Glee

[Eastcoastmom]

Same here. Glee has been so strange this season--either I really enjoy the episode (Sue's sister, the wedding) and it reminds me why I love this series or I feel like it is fluff....

I think the keys are:
-more kids, less crap with Will and his wife and his girlfriend
-more Sue, her character just adds a great element that is so fresh and unexpected
-less songs (just to do songs):select the songs based on the plot
-underdog theme
-comedy (sometimes I honestly laugh out loud...eg-many of jesse st. james's lines, such as how vocal adrenaline prepares and handles setbacks.
-relationships amongst the kids--highlight them being a team
-make us feel (really feel--glee has made me cry with joy or sadness many times!) for the characters

Great post. I really loved last night's episode. Sue, imo, was becoming just too over the top. Last night's episode had just the right balance of tart/snarky Sue with a bit of sweetness and normalcy thrown in for good measure. I loved how the kids took the Willy Wonka theme and just ran with it and the song they sang at the funeral brought me to tears. I loved how Will got up to finish reading the eulogy and during the song/slide show how Sue squeezed Will's hand. I cried throughout most of the episode.

[ilovefootball25]

Same here. Glee has been so strange this season--either I really enjoy the episode (Sue's sister, the wedding) and it reminds me why I love this series or I feel like it is fluff....

I think the keys are:
-more kids, less crap with Will and his wife and his girlfriend
-more Sue, her character just adds a great element that is so fresh and unexpected
-less songs (just to do songs):select the songs based on the plot
-underdog theme
-comedy (sometimes I honestly laugh out loud...eg-many of jesse st. james's lines, such as how vocal adrenaline prepares and handles setbacks.
-relationships amongst the kids--highlight them being a team
-make us feel (really feel--glee has made me cry with joy or sadness many times!) for the characters

more Sue, but only the Sue from last season or last night. I liked it when she was both Will's friend and foe. Earlier this season she was just downright mean to everyone...Will and the kids.

[JavaJo]

Ok...I know I'm in the minority here but I don't dig the Jesse character. At all.

I loved last nights episode and I found myself tearing up on more than once. I'm glad Sue took Becky back in. Poor thing! I get why Will didn't let her join the Glee club at such a late date, but couldn't he have at least made her his "assistant"? He could have given her something to do.

My fear is that Sue is going to come back meaner than ever. Earlier in the season, she'd have these touching moments and then she'd go back to being rotten. But later, they really had her going off the deep end. So I'm not sure which way they'll take her. I'm hoping she just goes back to being rude and conniving and a little bit mean, instead of downright evil.

[Critical]

I can't stand Jesse's character. I like JG, but the character is superfluous now.

I'm going to disagree about the show being better when it focuses most on the kids. The thing that was great about the first season was the split between the high school and the private lives of Will and Sue and the other adults. IMO, the show lost the plot when ALL it did was focus on the kids. Let's face it: teenagers are pretty vapid and self-involved. If the show focuses only on them, it becomes less interesting, imo. I don't have any interest in watching another version of High School Musical.

I read an interview with Jane Lynch about this episode and she said filming was particularly poignant because she loved working with Robin Trocki who is in her 50's and, therefore, is quite long-lived for someone with Down Syndrome. Apparently, Robin's sister would always come to set with her. It was a bit of a parallel to Sue and Jean.

I'll be curious to see how Jean's death affects Sue long-term. I have a feeling that this change in her won't last long.

[Eastcoastmom]

Critical, did the woman who played the role of Jean pass in real life? If not, I am wondering why they decided to write this storyline.

[Critical]

As far as I can tell, she did not. That's the first thing I thought because of her age, but I did some searching and I think she's still living, thank God.

[Lil Bit]

Ok...I know I'm in the minority here but I don't dig the Jesse character. At all.

I loved last nights episode and I found myself tearing up on more than once. I'm glad Sue took Becky back in. Poor thing! I get why Will didn't let her join the Glee club at such a late date, but couldn't he have at least made her his "assistant"? He could have given her something to do.

My fear is that Sue is going to come back meaner than ever. Earlier in the season, she'd have these touching moments and then she'd go back to being rotten. But later, they really had her going off the deep end. So I'm not sure which way they'll take her. I'm hoping she just goes back to being rude and conniving and a little bit mean, instead of downright evil.

I'm right there in the minority with you about the Jesse character. And I have trouble buying the notion that Mr. Schuster would allow Jesse to be so mean and bully his Glee kids the way he did, because he knows what they have put up with from the other students.

I cried through most of the episode too. Hopefully Sue will keep some of the softer side we saw this week. I have trouble dealing with what I call the "mean girl" syndrome and I always find myself jumping to the underdogs defense.

[PWS]

Serious attack on the tissue box when I watched this last episode.
I didn't quite follow Finn... he breaks up with Quinn when she's just said something really nice to him (Proud about how the organized the funeral), and then after she's made some vapid statements about next year and the prom and he pushes her away again, when she leaves he's yelling that he loves her.
I realize his motivation was the lack of the kind of connection Sue talked about, so that maybe explains the initial timing, but what was that last I love you about? Anyone?

[Critical]

I think it was less the lack of a connection with Quinn and more that he does feel that way about Rachel. Hearing Sue's speech just made him realize what he had to do. You can love someone and not be in love with them. That's what I got from it

[JavaJo]

I think it was less the lack of a connection with Quinn and more that he does feel that way about Rachel. Hearing Sue's speech just made him realize what he had to do. You can love someone and not be in love with them. That's what I got from it

That's what I got from it, as well. He cares about Quinn but he's in love with Rachel.