Glee – The Televisional Equivalent of Natty Ice

What do I mean by a televisional equivalent of a beer that’s made effectively enough, but ultimately is derivative and unsatisfying? Precisely that.

Over the course of its first season, Glee has somehow managed to create a flurry of praise and a cult following. Even I was enticed at first by their well crafted showmanship and creative remixes of songs (especially their mash up). But by the 2/5 mark of the season, the show basically showed it was just a series of repeats. Will’s wife somehow managing at every turn to hide her pregnancy from her husband; Finn unrealistically dealing with his football and glee club commitments; Rachel trying to find a balance between her personal aspirations and becoming a better team player; Sue using all sorts of underhanded tactics to excise threats to her own interests. Same over and over again.

But while shows like 30 Rock, Arrested Development and Seinfeld create worlds in which there is full acknowledgement that their characters are essentially cartoon characters that are not supposed to grow, the idea of Glee is that these characters, in spite of inhabiting a world of song and dance, are supposed to evolve, and are supposed to change. Because they’re in high school, things happen and there are supposed to be consequences. But they don’t, barring a few last and penultimate episodes so far that twist and big reveals happen. Yes, Will does finally realize his wife and her sister are utterly reprehensible and that he needs to take more charge of his home life. Yes, Sue finally gets what’s coming to her after all of her machinations. Yes, Rachel finally understands more and more what it means to be a team player. But the evolution of these characters is not shown effectively. Will needs a giant metaphorical kick in the groin to realize how out of touch he is. Sue only in the very last episode of the season so far gets significantly reprimanded, in spite of the unethical and borderline criminal choices and actions she has executed. Rachel does become more of a team player, but the process is not shown effectively, she does not convey how and why she progressively realizes the importance of the glee club being a club and not a one woman show.

Perhaps this is the curse of the musical genre, to forsake effectively presented character development for the sake of the musical numbers. But look at a movie like Cabaret, where Sally Bowles and Brian Roberts realize progressively over the course of the film what kinds of people they are, and what choices they have to make, and that their fates are doomed in their own ways. Their characters are interesting, three dimensional, and they evolve. Not to mention that the music is both catchy and entertaining. And call me crazy, but the environment of the rise of Nazism in a fading Weimar Germany seems to be a far more pernicious place than a contemporary Midwestern American high school. And considering how much Glee makes high school out to be a battlefield, the characters don’t seem to be going through too much change and don’t seem to be wising up to deal with changing developments in their struggles.

The only moderately compelling characters of Glee are Sue Sylvester and Quinn Febray, because the audience sees nuances in their characters, understanding their motivations and seeing how they change for the worse and better. If anything, a show just on Sue Sylvester would have been interesting, since her character is almost Shakespearean in how tragic she can become. The other characters are just stereotypes and caricatures. Rachel is the delusional budding star. Finn is the imbecile jock. Mercedes is sassily bitchy. The principal always somehow has his hands unenthusiastically tied. Emma is the misunderstood wallflower. Puck is the brooding moron. For a show that’s attempting to be different, it should be populated with characters that are different. Kurt’s struggle with his identity early on in the season was compelling, thoughtful and employed an entertainingly interesting way of exploring who he was through dance and gridiron football. But now, he’s just flamboyantly bitchy one. Yes there are a number of characters, but too few of them are explored effectively, either to show why they are the way they are, or what else there is to them besides their facades.

Unless the last few episodes of the first season that will resume showing in April provide these characters with better depth, do yourself a favor and stop watching Glee. Pass it over like you pass Natty Ice over at a grocery store and go for something with more substance. Want to listen to different takes on old songs? Watch a cover band or listen to a remix on YouTube. Even one of the adaptations of Pop Idol would be less of a waste of time.

-By Chareth Cutestory