Glee: Jazz Hands + Spirit Fingers = Fabulous!

Meet Will Schuester, a high school Spanish teacher who’s a former glee club kid and new leader of the school’s ragtag glee club.  He wants to bring joy and inspiration to the students but the principal is dedicating all available extracurricular funds to Sue’s award-winning cheerleading squad, “The Cheerios.”  So Mr. Schuester will have to pay out of his own pocket if he wants the glee club to continue.  He accepts, renames the group “New Directions,” and holds auditions, where we meet our wacky kids: Mercedes the sassy black girl like I see on TV, Kurt the fey, Tina the goth lesbian, Arty in the wheelchair, and Rachel the perfectionist with two gay dads who is inspired to sing “On My Own” in response to the taunts of her peers and a certain generic Slurpee thrown in her face.  Their first number? “Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat,” lead by Arty sitting down in his wheelchair, who thinks Mr. Schuester is using irony to make his point.  We’re at the first commercial break and I’m already hooked!

We meet Mr. Schuester’s wife, Terri, who works at Sheet ‘n Things on her feet four hours a day, three times a week.  It’s a difficult life for her and she’s unsympathetic to her husband’s issues or interests in glee club.  So after a brief encounter with the former glee club teacher–Sandy with his long-distance girlfriend but fired for making a pass at a male student, Mr. Schuester goes to Sue for help getting new students to join.  She explains that in the high school social hierarchy, glee club is in the subbasement.  So he makes another plea to the football team.  Unfortunately, only Gaylord Weiner and Butt Munch signed up and, frankly, they’re tone deaf.

But in a stroke of luck, Mr. Schuester overhears Finn singing in the gym locker room (“Can’t Fight This Feeling Anymore”), plants some marijuana on him (courtesy of Sandy’s new drug trading occupation), and blackmails him into joining glee club in exchange for not reporting the incident to his mother.  You see, his mother’s pride is everything to Finn since his father was killed during the first time America went to Iraq to fight Osama Bin Laden.

At the first practice with Finn (“You’re the One That I Want”), Mercedes, who is Beyonce and not Kelly Roland, isn’t pleased with the new dynamic.  At home, Mr. Schuester is having other issues.  His wife wants him to earn more money and become an accountant because she wants a real life and glue gun that works–they compliment her three mahogany toilet brush holders.  But Mr. Schuester is not giving up yet on the kids and enlists the help of fellow teacher, Emma Pillsbury the germaphobe who seems to have more of a connection with Mr. Schuester than he does with his own wife.  I’m sure we can see where this could lead.

New Directions goes to see Carmel High School perform “Rehab,” and it is amazing.  Finn lies to his friend about having to help with his mother’s prostate surgery and then brushes off Rachel’s advances.  Even though she’s the young ingenue and everyone expects the two to get together, Finn has a girlfriend, who’s a cheerleader and the head of the virgin group.  It’s frustrating, ahem.  And after the concert, Finn’s friends figure out that women do not have prostates and they belt him with paintballs.

Our conflict comes when Mr. Schuester comes over to find out his wife is finally pregnant.  He gives his notice and the glee kids are sad that he’s leaving them.  Emma is also sad about the news and wants him to think about it some more.  Meanwhile, Finn is leaving glee club but has a change of heart after he see his girlfriend tease Rachel and his friends lock Arty in a portable toilet because it’s not like he could get hurt–he’s already in a wheelchair.  So Finn goes back to rehearsal and is sorry for his silly and rude behavior to them.  He organizes them to put together a new show.

As Mr. Schuester is walking out of the school, he hears something from the auditorium.  It’s New Directions singing a poorly lip-synced version of “Don’t Stop Believing,” with a synthesized accompaniment.  Anyway, it’s peppy and inspiring enough for Mr. Schuester to change his mind and to stay a teacher.  Awwww.

So that was the pilot of Glee.  Perhaps I’m biased because of my affinity for high school musical theatre, but I watched it twice and really enjoyed it both times.  While the concept is nothing complicated, the writing and humor are spot-on and even the cut-aways aren’t as distracting or overdone to the point of detracting from the actual story.  Even the characters that are supposed to be over-the-top, e.g., Sue, are ably done and blend nicely with the subdued performance of Matthew Morrison and the brutal honesty from the duet of Rachel and Finn.  Now will others find it as entertaining?  Let’s hope so, otherwise we’ll have another great show the critics all like but never catches on with a sustainable audience.  And we all know we don’t need that.

For another opinion on this episode, check out The Best New Show That Might Not Get Canceled by Robin Reed.

Listen to The J Factor with J.B. and Jaimie here or on iTunes.

Season 1, Episode 1: Pilot (originally aired May 19, 2009)

For more on Glee, click here.

Returns Fall 2009 on Fox

Photographs courtesy of Fox and IMDbPro