Glee

When Glee first started, I'm not going to lie to you, I was excited beyond recognition. I mean, a musical TV show staring Lea Michelle was probably exactly what I would have wished for if I happened to stumble across some sort of magic lamp.
I grew to love that little ragamuffin of a show. It was sweet, quirky, had interesting characters and of course, they randomly broke out into song. My world was complete.

Then the first season ended. And everything went to crap.

I really couldn't put my finger on it, but for some unknown reason, I hated the second season of Glee more than I hate not together Ross and Rachel. It was campy and preachy and the whole thing felt like a poorly written after school special. I had given up on it. I would watch occasionally to see Darren Criss being a boss, but other than that my interest had completely vanished. The little show that could broke my heart.

But then the third season came along, and I thought "hey, I used to really love this, why not see what's in store for the glee club this time around."

And it's amazing.

I cannot express to you my joy at discovering how fantastic this third season is. And in understanding why I love this season so much, I can also understand why I hated the last season too.
Rachel Berry: I think she's the most consistent character on the show, in so much that she's consistently a horrible person. That was a major factor in me hating season two; she was such a huge focus of that whole season. My personal opinion is that, if you create a character who is so mind blowingly annoying that even the characters in the show don't like her, maybe you should try to develop her to a tolerable point. When she was introduced in the first season, I figured that she would undergo major character development. And while her unrequited love for Finn in the first season distracted us from the fact that she was selfish, shallow and kind of a sociopath, when that died down, all we were left with was an annoying character who you just wanted to shoot in the face. What the third season is doing right is humbling her. As someone who went through the whole MT College auditioning process, when she first oh so boldly stated that she was going to Julliard, I was a little peeved at the writers. But her and Kurt getting their faces melted off by some other arguably more talented kids was an awesome dose of reality.

Quinn: I think Quinn is my favorite character, and something the second season completely screwed up was her development. One of the things that made the first season of Glee so great was Quinns pregnancy and the story line that flowed out of that. Then along comes the second season and they barely acknowledge the fact that she even had a baby. Her character completely went back to normal and as an audience we forget the fact that last season she was knocked up by her boyfriends best friend and was kicked out of her house. That is quite possibly the most aggravating aspect of the second season. Now, the third season is picking back up where the second season should have, dealing with this teen girl who just went through some massive emotional trauma. And I love the fact that they brought Idina Perfecthumanbeing Menzel back to be apart of it.

The music: In watching the third season as it airs and in thinking back to the second season, one thing that sticks out to me as a massive throwback to the first season is the way they incorporate the music into the lives of their characters. In the first season, you just stopped and sang a song in the middle of a scene to express a deeper emotions that words alone just can't. That's what a musical is. In the second season they kept looking for logical reasons for people to be singing, while simultaneously forgetting the fact that there is no socially acceptable reason for people to break out into a choreographed song and dance, and in that they made themselves look like idiots. I realized that this past week as Will began to sing Coldplays "Fix You" to Emma. There was no explanation for why he should be singing that to her, except for that his emotions overflowed into that song. Like I said before, that's what a musical is. That's how the songs in the first season worked, and I really hope the third season continues this way.

Overall story line: Before this third season started, I made some pretty strong arguments that Glee should have been a mini series. As someone who watches a lot of TV I can say that I believe that the first season of Glee really was awesome television. Then we get into the second season and it just felt like they were grasping for anything to make it interesting. Yes, bringing in Darren Criss was a smart and interesting move, but apart from some minor subplots, the whole thing was just a glorified after school special. There was no driving force. There was no need to prove to the school/world that this show choir/TV show could be more than what everyone thought it would be. Maybe it's West Side Story, or the college auditions or just the general sense of impending adulthood which gives this season a overriding purpose. Whatever it is, I like it.

Glee has somehow managed to jump the shark, and then unjump it one season later. I don't know how that works. Do you have to drive the boat backwards? Does Henry Winkler have to be involved? I should ask Ryan Murphy, because I'm super curious. It probably involves voodoo dolls, ritual chanting and Lea Michelle's blood. Because, let's face it, she's obviously not human.