Just Because I Watch Glee Doesn’t Automatically Make Me a Gleek

It was recommended by a good friend of mine. She said I should watch it, since I’m a theater person. My best friend seconded it a few weeks after, when I mentioned in passing that I want to write my own musical. She also advised that I watch High School Musical. I don’t think I’m ready for that just yet.

Now, I’m no expert in songs and chords and notes and all that, and what piano lessons I took when I was ten I forgot when I entered high school. Still, I must say, for a music noob like me, at least half of the songs in the first season (well, at least the first fifteen episodes, leading up to the sectionals) made it into my playlist because of their ‘superbness,’ whatever that meant. The more memorable ones are Kurt’s (okay, and Rachel’s too) cover of “Defying Gravity,” Artie’s version of “Dancing with Myself,” and “Rehab” by Vocal Adrenaline. And of course, “Taking Chances” too. Oh wait. Also Puck’s version of “Sweet Caroline.” But mostly because I like him, at least, during that part of the show. More specifically, during that scene. I can’t really say the same for the rest of the series. I still like him better than Finn though. But I digress.

Now for the life of me, I wouldn’t know if the singers missed a note or screwed up the covers (mostly because I haven’t heard the originals to begin with… I know, I suck), but those are the songs that mostly stick to mind. The song I hated the most is “I Could Have Danced All Night,” but maybe it’s because I got disturbed at the close up shots of Emma’s and Will’s faces. The “Hair/Crazy in Love” medley was annoying too, but most probably because I hated the hairography idea.

Unfortunately, Glee has probably one of the most annoying female leads I have ever seen in my entire history of watching television. And yes I have seen a lot of shows since I was a kid. Rachel has a lovely voice, if not only for the fact that, as Kurt rightly said it, I’d want to put a sock in her mouth every time she speaks. If it was the writers’ desire to create an impossibly annoying character who sings like a diva, then they wrote Rachel pretty well. Seriously, most of the time, I just want to yank her out of the screen and gouge her eyes out. I usually root for characters that most people don’t like, villains even, but Rachel. Oh Rachel. I can’t even begin to express how much I want to tape her mouth with duct tape and take it off only if she needs to sing. (I personally like Tina and Brittany, the former because of the blue streaks in her hair, and the latter because she’s such a stereotypical dumb cheerleader you can’t really hate her any more than you would hate any other stereotypical dumb cheerleader. Plus she’s funny as hell.)

And Finn hasn’t won me over either. Perhaps it’s partly because he can’t tell his right from his left, partly because he kissed Rachel when he was still going out with Quinn (so Quinn got pregnant by his best friend, but that’s a different matter altogether), and partly because he’s so… Finn-like. I mean, I like Artie better than him, and Artie is given like half the screen time he’s given.

The episodes are more or less so-so as well. The singing parts were great (although for most of the songs, it was so friggin’ obvious that they’re dubbed – yes, yes I know, they have to dub the songs and all that crap, but meh), there were funny and memorable lines from some characters, but the series is really just like any other high-school-teenage-raging-hormones series. Well, except for the singing, that is. Most of the characters are stereotypical as well – the dumb jock, the popular cheerleader, the overachiever, and the list goes on. I would have wanted a little more variety, a more unique ensemble, but then again, I guess there’s not really much room for that in a high school flick.

Glee mostly reminds of Japan’s Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO) and Rookies, except that Onizuka and Kawato were charming at the very least. I still need to find that kind of charm from Mr. Shu, because as of the end of the fifteenth episode I still haven’t been able to connect with him too much. Plus the episodes from both Japanese series actually made me laugh. I could count in one hand the number of times I laughed out loud because of Glee. Oh wait, it’s not supposed to be a comedy? Bah. Could have fooled me.

I don’t really have high hopes for this series, but I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt and I am willing to watch the remaining of the first season to see if it could redeem itself. And I’m not saying it’s a bad show, I’m just saying I’ve seen better. I’ve had high expectations for this series, and I guess I was just a tad disappointed.

Or maybe it’s just Rachel.

Yep. Definitely Rachel.