Joss Whedon

Joss Whedon directing an episode of "Glee"? Whose dumb idea was that?

Whedon’s episode of "Glee," which airs May 18, is a disaster! I’m kidding. My only problem with Whedon’s turn at directing the Fox musical is that it’ll probably be his only one, given his busy schedule. But it’s clear from Tuesday’s highly enjoyable episode that Whedon really gets what this show is good at when it’s working.

There are two "Glees," you see — Good "Glee" and Bad "Glee," and they vie for prominence like an angel and a demon sitting on the show’s shoulders.

Whedon and co-creator Brad Falchuk, who wrote Tuesday’s episode, bring out all of Good "Glee’s" positive qualities, and quash the Bad "Glee" tendencies the show has been increasingly guilty of as it’s become more of a media darling.

In fact, the emotionally satisfying "Dream On" could well be my favorite "Glee" outing since the pilot.

Other weeks, when Bad "Glee" rears its over-Bedazzled head, way too many songs are shoehorned into the show, events seem to happen at random, there’s very little sense that the show is building on any themes or events that past episodes have touched on, and the proceedings feel frenetic and messy and stunt-driven. I’m not hating on the Madonna episode, by the way — I enjoyed that for the inspired tribute album it was. But the show has got to keep that kind of giant stunt to a minimum or there’s a real danger of Bad "Glee" running amok and pummeling Good "Glee" into the ground.

When Good "Glee" asserts itself (as it does every few episodes), dramatic moments are given a chance to breathe, a few carefully chose characters get emotionally resonant stories and, in general, it doesn’t feel like the show is trying to cram 10 lbs of stuff into a five-pound bag.

We all know that "Glee" is a comedic melodrama with music, but the show works best when it takes the world and the characters in it at least a little seriously. Otherwise it just becomes "Kidz Bop" for adults.

But "Dream On," which features the terrifically talented Neil Patrick Harris as Brian Ryan, a former show-choir nemesis of Will Schuester (Matthew Morisson), doesn’t have any of those problems. The big song-and-dance set pieces underscore the episode’s Whedonian themes — that it’s important to keep your dreams alive, even when you know that having hopes and aspirations means that your heart sometimes gets broken.

Without further ado, here are the Top 10 Things I Enjoyed About the Joss Whedon/Neil Patrick Harris Episode of "Glee" (and this list does not contain spoilers, except for one very mild spoiler at the end of the list):

10. Harris plays a character named Bryan Ryan. Does that last name sound familiar? Theoretically it could be a shoutout to "Glee" co-creator Ryan Murphy or any of the other tens of thousands of Americans named Ryan. But it’s probably a shoutout to me, right?

9. Did I mention that Bryan Ryan attended McKinley High School? And that my last name is Ryan and I attended McKinley Junior High School? Bet you didn’t know that "Glee" is my life story. Fact.

8. Can I just say how pleasant it was that there were some low-key moments scattered throughout the episode? Moments in which the characters had down-to-earth conversations and discussed realistic emotions? I know. "Glee" can still dial it down a few notches now and then — which makes it much more effective when the show, tonally and vocally, turns up the volume.

7. I won’t reveal the exact nature of Bryan Ryan’s flashback hair, even though 10 million "Glee" promos and videos over the next week probably will. It’s suitably awesome.

6. Harris and Morrison have a couple of really enjoyable duets. I think you can probably figure out one of them from the episode’s title.

5. Artie gets a terrific storyline. When "Glee" decides to put its heart on its sleeve, the show can be extremely powerful. In fact, in some ways, "Dream On" reminded me of a really good standalone "Buffy" episode, which, after all, concerned teenagers trying to figure out where they fit in a confusing and sometims brutal world. Not unlike the characters in McKinley’s glee club.

4. There’s a terrific dance number set to an ’80s tune in the middle of the episode. The choreography for that number, by "Glee’s" resident choreographer Zach Woodlee, is simply sensational.

3. Harris gets a couple of scenes with Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch). Two words: Want more!

2. The episode uses Harris’ many talents very well, but Idina Menzel, the coach of rival show choir Vocal Adrenaline, gets a terrific moment near the end of the episode as well. She kills with an iconic show tune that experienced something of a revival in the recent past.

1. There is tapdancing. ’Nuff said.