Joss Whedon

Glee: The Complete Season One Blu-Ray Reviewed!

A few months ago I got a phone call from my mother, and she was raving about this show called “Glee.” I’d heard of it but wasn’t sufficiently enthused by the concept to seek it out on my own, so she immediately sent me the first DVD set – “Glee: The Road to Sectionals” – in the mail. Not wanting to alienate the woman who spent more hours bringing me into this world than the total running time of the DVD set I had just received, I put it on and immediately had my socks completely rocked off because GLEE IS AWESOME.

Yes, “Glee” is awesome. It’s not a perfect show by any means, but it’s an energetic celebration of high school, serialized television and most importantly music that’s as infectious as a case of herpes and twice as fun as getting infected with herpes in the first place. With the Season 2 premiere airing tonight, the time at last came to review the release of the complete first season on Blu-Ray. Is it worth buying? Yes, even if you haven’t seen the series. You could buy this show completely blind and be perfectly satisfied, at least on DVD, but don’t worry, I’m going to review it anyway.

The series begins as the former Glee Club teacher at William McKinley High has been fired for inappropriately groping his students. Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) sees this as an opportunity to relive his former glory in Glee Club and becomes the new coach, only to find his position immediately jeopardized by Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch, in an Emmy Award-winning performance), coach of the school’s cheerleading squad, the top ranked in the country. Funding the Glee Club will eat into her own budget (which she needs for things like private jets), so she begins a weekly, Machiavellian campaign to destroy Schuester and his club of lovable losers who see Glee Club as their only opportunity to express themselves and bond with their peers. Meanwhile these students will deal with such issues as teen pregnancy, coming out of the closet and social politics, which doesn’t make the show sound very funny, but it is. It’s very funny.

As a series “Glee” is built on a very strong foundation. Much as “24” could be described as a serialized Jerry Bruckheimer movie, “Glee” functions as a serialized sports classic: a ragtag group of champions must overcome all odds and all comers in their quest to bring honor to themselves, their school and the very sport itself. That Glee Club isn’t actually a sport is purely coincidental. This is strong underdog storytelling full of memorable characters who occasionally even dare to act like teenagers, making foolish life choices based on immature emotions and often paying the price afterwards. The strong cast sells even the thinnest plotlines (“Hairography” is a low point in the series) and despite a sometimes uncomfortable reliance on auto-tuning they are all powerful performers, singing and dancing every week in showstopping numbers for television that are often the equal and sometimes even superior to their modern big budget movie brethren. Even the weaker episodes are filled with amusing and memorable moments, jokes, character development and performances.

But about those weaker episodes, it should be said that “Glee” is not without its flaws. It falls back on formula more often than it should, sometimes relying too heavily on the Glee Club’s “weekly assignment” to push the story forward more than the actual story itself does. Every week Will Schuester gives his Glee Club a new musical challenge. Sometimes it’s flimsy stuff, like an episode in which every song has “Hello” in the title. Other episodes manage this balance well, using Madonna tunes to convey female empowerment or stereotypically awful songs to illustrate the difficulties in overcoming a bad reputation. But these types of “American Idol” challenges can backfire, and never more obviously than the end of the Lady Gaga episode in which two characters are supposed to have a soulful, meaningful duet and are forced by circumstance to settle on “Poker Face” rather than something more dramatically fitting or memorable.

By the end of season one it also becomes clear that if “Glee” is to become more than a one season wonder it’s going to have to mix up the formula a bit. Sue Sylvester is as powerful and complex a villain as television has ever devised, but by the time the first season finale rolls around she’s too familiar, even too likable to remain the show’s primary antagonist. One of this season’s highlights was the Joss Whedon-directed episode “Dream On,” which pitted Will Schuester against a new enemy, an old high school rival (Neil Patrick Harris, who won an Emmy for the episode) who is determined to disband the Glee Club because his career in show business failed and wants to spare Will’s students bitter heartbreak and disappointment. The injection of fresh blood into “Glee’s” rogue’s gallery was a welcome breath of fresh air and an excellent example of the series’ potential to remain a quality show for some time to come, as long as the producers are paying attention.

But all of those comments and critiques are a mixed bag. Mostly positive, but mixed. So why do I love, love, love me some “Glee?” Because “Glee” may be doing more for music appreciation than every Guitar Hero and Rock Band installment put together. Music has become devalued in our culture. Omnipresent perhaps, and certainly beloved by many, but nevertheless it remains in the background of daily life, played offhandedly while we drive our cars, shop or even amuse ourselves in other, more active or visually stimulating ways. “Glee” is unique, these days, in that it places not just music but music appreciation at the forefront of every episode.

Whereas most movies and television series about performing artists emphasize the need for personal expression (your life is hard so you wrote a song about, etc.), “Glee” is an anomaly in that the entire series is actually about finding value in the hard work of others. What’s the point in pouring your heart out in verse if nobody feels your pain? “Glee’s” various protagonists use other people’s music – mostly show tunes and pop hits, granted, but still usually good stuff – to express their own innermost feelings, and the result is consistently entertaining due to strong choreography and energetic performances, but also occasionally a powerful reminder of the value of an art form we too often take for granted. Whether it’s a bizarre but memorable cover of “It’s A Man’s World” by a very pregnant cheerleader or a rather on the nose performance of “Jesse’s Girl,” the series provides endless examples of the value of even the most undervalued ditty.

Some have argued that “Glee” is a shoddy musical, wrapping its plotlines somewhat inexpertly around whatever pop hits could be acquired that particular week. True, certain subplots appear tacked on for the sake of a decent performance piece (“Bust Your Windows” is about as forced as it gets), but to call “Glee” a musical in the traditional sense of the word is to miss the point. With a few notable exceptions, usually at the start of the series when they were still working the kinks out, all the musical performances in the series are just that: performances. Certain numbers are fantastical interpretations of the characters’ inner hopes and desires (“Safety Dance” being the most obvious example), but almost all of them incorporate an actual performance of the song in question, grounding the series in the performance genre instead of the musical one. “Glee” is a show about the glee that derives from showmanship, and the inherent value that has to both individuals and our entire culture at large. Even the shoddier episodes have at least one moment or performance that elevates the series from light entertainment to a memorable glorification of artistic expression. Maybe that’s why "Glee" appeal so much to us critics: as professional appreciators, we just might be sensing kindred spirits at work.

As a product, the Blu-Ray edition of “Glee: The Complete First Season” should please new and existing fans alike without entirely wowing them. Mercifully shot on film, the series has a high key and often cartoonishly colorful aesthetic that translates well to high definition, but Fox has crammed so many episodes per disc in this set (5-6 each) that there’s not a lot of room for any of them to stand out in regards to detail or dimensionality. There’s absolutely nothing worth getting in a tizzy about, but there also isn’t a marked upgrade in presentation from the standard DVD release. Despite a pleasing array of special features, including a karaoke option (with a somewhat limited song listing, perhaps to emphasize the “Glee” karaoke videogame release) and a bunch of brief behind the scenes featurettes, only a visual commentary with the cast and crew is exclusive the Blu-Ray release. This commentary track features a large swath of the cast and crew watching the director’s cut of the pilot episode. It’s an informative track, but it’s a little dry and probably featured too many individuals in the same room for most of them to really contribute anything of value to the proceedings. As such there really isn’t very much incentive to spend the extra money to buy “Glee” in high definition, unless you have a particularly refined palette for such things.

“Glee” is a great series, but it’s not infallible and you’d be forgiven for worrying about the show’s potential going into a second season. Provided they add fresh blood to the stable of villains and don’t get bogged down in gimmick episodes this series might actually have legs. The DVD set of the first season is a “Must Own,” but the Blu-Ray edition doesn’t offer enough of an upgrade to make it a necessity unless you’re one hell of a hardcore Gleek… as indeed most of you are, or at least should be. Buy this set, and prepare to experience the glee.