Review: Glee Season 2 (To Date)

Glee is a show that is, at least in terms of story if not ratings, rapidly going downhill in its second season. Some people might not think so, but in the five episodes of Season 2 to date, I have had serious problems with the story and the characters.

For those who don't know, Glee revolves around a high school glee club that is considered the lowest of of the low by their school. The show airs every Tuesday at 8pm on Fox. Each episode features covers of popular songs that are sung by members of the club. The quality of the covers is always up for debate, but they usually reach number one on iTunes the day after a new episode airs. Season 1 started with the club having to build itself from the ground up and ended with the them losing at the regional glee competition.

Anyway, Season 2 picks up the fall after their unsuccessful attempt at a trophy. The kids arrive at school believing that their very meager success has moved them up in the social hierarchy at their school only to find out that they are still considered the bottom of the totem pole. Also, the club needs new blood after one of their members transferred to a different school so they go on a recruiting drive. The first episode ended with the club failing to recruit any members and making a new rival.

I had no problems with first episode because it had a similar feel to the series pilot episode. However, the other four episodes of Glee Season 2 could not keep that momentum alive. The second episode was a Britney Spears-themed episode and all of the covers were of songs that she had recorded. I thought this was a terrible episode because it revolved around the glee club members having hallucinations while at the dentist (I am also not a Britney Spears fan, but that is another story). This was only the second themed episode (the other one was not one of my favorites either) they had done so I thought that it was just a misstep. The very next episode revolved around a well known religious figure being seen in a grilled cheese sandwich. The sheer stupidity of that completely took me out of the episode even though there were some touching moments in it. In this episode, and the one that followed it, I was also not particularly pleased with the song choices because they did not seem to fit the singers' voices and some of the choreography seemed absurd to me. I am not going to go into the most recent episode because that would probably take an entire review all itself.

Despite the bad story, there have been some bright spots in Glee Season 2. The brightest of them would have to be Jane Lynch as cheerleader coach and sort of villain Sue Sylvester. Lynch, who won an Emmy for Season 1, is the only actor who seems to have shown up for Season 2 since the moment they started filming it. Everyone else seems to come and go.

Regardless, I will still be watching the show if only because I hope that this is only a sophomore slump and not indicative of what the show will be like in the future (they were picked up for a third season in May).