Glee Review: Don’t Stop Believing

Usually, I like my season finales to have a twist or a huge shocker that makes me wish I could skip summer and go straight to fall. Tonight’s Glee had none of that, but it was still an enjoyable hour of television and a worthy season finale for a show that’s all about acceptance.

It’s finally time for Regionals! And per the deal with Principal Figgins, New Directions must place in the finals at Regionals in order to get another year at McKinley High. They seem to have a likely chance of pulling it off until Will Schuester finds out that Sue Sylvester is one of the judges (since she’s a “celebrity” coach and everything).

The Gleeks are pretty down in the dumps and are convinced they won’t win until Will speaks to Emma and finds a little inspiration from the radio. Emma reminds Will that “loving what you’re doing is way more important than winning or losing.” She also decides that now would be a good time to let Will know she’s dating her dentist, Carl.

Then through some sort of divine intervention, Will hears “Don’t Stop Believing” playing on the radio and it brings him memories of New Direction’s early days. He decides on the spot that their Regionals set list will be made up of a Journey medley. It’s like coming full circle and I actually really like this idea.

Accompanying Sue at the judging table is the legendary Olivia Newton-John, Josh Groban and some cocky news anchor whose name I really can’t be bothered to remember or write down. As far as I’m concerned, New Directions brought the house down with their renditions of “Faithfully,” “Any Way You Want It” and “Don’t Stop Believing.” Their performances always have soul, while the other Glee clubs seem to be running on autopilot. Maybe they do have a shot at winning…

Quinn’s mother is surprisingly in the audience after kicking her pregnant daughter out of the house earlier in the season. She confronts Quinn after the performance and begs for forgiveness – right at the moment Quinn’s water breaks. Now we get to watch one of the strangest birth scenes ever with Quinn popping out baby Beth while Vocal Adrenaline performs a show-stopping performance of “Bohemian Rhapsody.”  Actually, that should read “while Jonathan Groff performs” since he’s the one carrying his group.

At the end of the episode, we find out that Shelby is the one to adopt baby Beth. Did you know adopting a baby in Ohio is like picking your favorite fruit from the grocery store? Neither did I! But anyway, Shelby’s adoption could lead to some interesting moments next season with Rachel and Quinn.

Back in the judging room, Newton-John turns out to be one hell of a bitch and puts Sue in her rightful place of not being a celebrity. She’s only an “underachiever with delusions of grandeur.” After taking her fair share of verbal lashings from the judges, Sue decides to stick up for her school’s team and votes New Directions to take the number one spot. Unfortunately, Sue’s vote wasn’t enough to secure them a first (Vocal Adrenaline) or second (Aural Intensity) place win. Glee club is officially disbanded.

A lot has changed for the kids of New Directions during their past year as glee club members. Friendships that otherwise wouldn’t have been formed are now stronger than ever, confidences have been boosted and the amount of slushie casualties have significantly decreased. And they owe it all to Mr. Schuester, so they gather one last time in the auditorium to perform “To Sir, With Love.”

Sue conveniently enough walks in at this precise moment and – wait – are those tears I see?! Say it ain’t so! Sue uses her blackmail powers against Figgins for good this time and secures Glee club another year. Even though we probably all saw this coming, this still deserves one big HOORAY!

For the most part, this episode felt like any other week on Glee. It was sweet and touching, but not unlike anything we haven’t seen before. That’s not to say it wasn’t a good episode, because it was. It was a VERY good episode for Glee. But that’s all it was.

It would’ve been interesting to keep the Glee club disbanded until next season and have the kids fight for their club to be reinstated; just something along those lines. Unfortunately, I feel like there’s no burning desire for me to watch the second season, especially if it’s going to be the same old stale storylines and lack of character development. I’m still trying to figure out when Finn and Rachel became so madly in love with each other. They had a cute crush going on in the beginning of the season, but now it just became too much out of nowhere.

Well, Glee, it’s been an interesting roller coaster ride this season, and I can only hope you don’t suffer from the dreaded sophomore slump next season.

For another opinion about this episode, check out A Gleeful Journey by Allison Toner.

Season 1, Episode 22: Journey (originally aired June 8, 2010)

For more on Glee, click here.

Tuesdays at 9pm on Fox

Photographs courtesy of Fox and IMDbPro