How Glee Won Me Over

The day has finally come when I can count myself among Glee's many fans. The biggest hit and most buzzed about show of the season, Glee just never sat right with me. Months ago I reviewed the pilot, an episode that had me wanting to turn off my TV part way through. But here we are in mid October and the Ryan Murphy show has finally worked it all out. They've given hearts to the kids they villified in the pilot, they've given the spotlight to the sidelined characters that deserve it, they've even managed to turn Matthew Morrison's flawed but aggravating hero into someone I want to see on the screen (all the time, in fact).

It was slow at first; Rachel (my least favourite character) was still dominating the episodes, Finn was being treated as a god and not as a directionless oaf and all the other characters were little more than their outer appearances (Mercedes as the diva, Quinn as the bitch, Puck as the bully, Kurt as the flamboyant victim). But the progress was starting. Quinn's storyline picked up, and the additional screentime meant that both her and Puck were given more dimensions. That story didn't hurt Finn either, he was taken off his pedestal and communicated to the audience just how clueless he was, creating pathos where once there was none.

As for Mr. Shue, I don't know how they did it but he got cool. Not cool in the "he's the young hot teacher and he radiates cool" kind of way but in the "he's actually really endearing and can look like a fool and still make it work" kind of way. Matthew Morrison's easy charm started to shine through and the downplaying of the role of his wife was greatly appreciated (because she is not very funny and basically just in the way, a plot device if you will).

The musical numbers are still dubbed to within an inch of the their lives but, for the most part, they're a hoot. And the show does a good job of getting a ton of numbers into each episode.

So, finally, I get to like the show I've always wanted to like. It just too a little longer than I thought.

To read the progression of My TV's Glee coverage, click the "Glee" tab on the right hand side of this page.