Glee Had Lost its Plot
Posted: January 21, 2012 Filed under: Things I Find Interesting Leave a comment »There I finally said it. Glee has become unbearable. Here’s why:
1. The plot appears to be driven by songs selection. The dialogues foreshadow or allude to the song lyrics and as a result they appeared to be contrived, forced and inorganic.
2. Plot and storyline gravitates towards one which offers the most opportunity to slot in songs. The recent episode contains a shameful example. Will Schuester intends to propose and asked students to suggest some songs by, yes, putting up full-fledged performances, complete with choreography and theatricality. How believable is that when a mere song suggestion (thrown out verbally, by pronouncing or spelling out song titles) would suffice? More so when the same group of students have their national (regional) show choir competition coming up and they appeared to have not done anything substantial.
3. Can we see less of Lea Michelle? And increasingly, Matthew Morrison too. Other characters deserve a chance too.
4. In the heydays of Season One, I loved the characters for their depth and dimension. Now the very same characters and their characterization seemed to be dictated by the songs selection that controls the plot line. I cringed when Sue Sylvester became a nice lady suddenly, dancing along when Emma (not Sue’s friend at all) sings.
5. There are too many “song ex machina” (for lack of better term), referring to the quick-fix resolution of storylines through song. For example, Person A has been having a rough time. After singing a song, she feels better. Not that life isn’t like that, but it’s been used too often and sometimes the song just isn’t compelling enough to effect such dramatic changes.
6. General lack of direction for this season. Back in Season One, it was about a new glee club consisting of underdog school members that have a lot to prove via show choir competitions, will many interesting sub plots in between that still eventually adds to the larger plot. Right now I don’t sense any over arching plot that coheres into a whole.
I will still watch Glee because I remember how it speaks to me powerfully back in Season One. I hoped that will return in upcoming episodes.
