Season 4....pretty good so far!

Richard Dower

Have to eat humble pie here, despite one or two dodgy eps. I think season 4 has been really solid!

Its like the best season since the back half of season one, NOTHING will ever beat those first 13 episodes....but S4 is a hell of a lot better then the crapfest that was season 3 and a lot of season 2.

I like all the new characters, even some recent dodgy plotlines have become more fleshed out, so yeah....season 5!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I think I said in one of the episode threads that I haven't watched since mid season 2 when it just got so awful I wanted to punch everyone.

I don't even know why I started watching again this season. It was only last week to be honest. I think I saw a clip of "Tell Him" on youtube and was curious to see all the new faces.

Anyway, I caught up on the whole season so far and it's not so bad. It's never going to match the first 12 episodes which were just amazing TV, but it's better than anything I saw after those original 12.

It still has a lot of the old problems it's always had. Most of which stem from there being so many characters, and then the fact that such a large chunk of each episode is given over to musical numbers there is very little time for any real character development. Things do tend to just happen very suddenly.

Of all the relationships started this season Jake/Marley is the most developed one and even then it's gone from will they/won't they to "I love you" in the space of a few episodes. Not that I'm complaining, I think they're adorable!

I know that anyone who stuck with this show all through the previous 3 seasons must be seriously invested in it and as such want to see all the old characters continue their lives on screen but I could do without the NY stuff completely. I used to love Rachel but at some point she stopped being Rachel and was just Lea Michele in rubbish clothes. Same goes for most of the original kids to be honest. They went from these hysterical stereotypical characters to just being on screen versions of themselves and I lost interest in any of them. So yeah, I'd be fine with them getting rid of Rachel and Kurt and focusing only on the school again. Think if they'd cut out the NY stuff from all the episodes this season how much more development they could have given to the Tina/Blaine, Sam/Blaine, Sam/Brittany relationships, and how much more they could have developed the new kids too.

I must say I think the new kids are all great additions. Kitty is 10 times more fabulous than Quinn ever was, and she can actually sing and dance too, so that's a marked improvement.
Ryder is like Finn 2.0, except instead of being awkward and annoying he's lovable and his dancing, or attempts at, come off so much more endearing than Finn's lurches around the stage.
Jake, I like, but I don't really see why they had him be related to Puck, other than to be able to keep bringing Puck back. He started with all this anger and a chip on his shoulder and it was all gone within 2 episodes. Which is fine, I like the character as he is now, but it seemed like a bit of a cheap ploy to have him be a Puckerman if they weren't actually going to do anything worth while with it.
And then there's Marley, who I adore! She might be the most normal and relatable character the shows ever had. No massive dreams, no ego, no desire to be the centre of attention, no vendettas or silly schemes. She just likes to sing and wants to fit in somewhere. And because of that allowed herself to be manipulated a little by Kitty. (I also love how the best Sue could do while trying to insult her was "absolutely stunning, kind faced, blue eyed girl!" and when Brittany and Sam were telling everyone what they thought of them Brittany said "I wasn't going to insult you, I was just going to say I think you're delightful." )

All in all, while not even nearly recapturing the brilliance of the original 12 episodes, I get more of the general feeling of the original episodes off this new season. As in it feels like a show about kids who like to sing and dance and who just want to do that and not be ridiculed for it. Of course there's still the random "lesson/issue of the week" stuff Murphy loves to throw in, and although it seems to be happening less there's still the shoe horning of random songs into episodes because he clearly just wanted to do them even though they contribute nothing and just bring any momentum an episode had to a screaming halt.

All of that said I fully expect Murphy to stick his oar in again soon and undo any good work that's been done while he's been off flogging his other shows. But until then I'll enjoy it while I can.

p.s. That was way more than I intended to write about this. If you read the whole thing I applaud you. Like I said I only started watching this season last week and I guess I just have a lot of feelings!!!

Wolverine359

^I read all of that, it was an enjoyable read! Yeah this season has been excellent in my books. I've been following the show weekly since it began, and while that first block of episodes before the hiatus was great, I feel that alot of people hold them up in way too high an esteem, mainly for setting the standard for the series. It's always been very enjoyable show in my eyes and sure some episodes are better than others, but it's always been about entertainment, escapism and fun for me and it never deviated from those criteria so I'm always happy. It's always been consistent in bringing a smile to my face. Been rewatching season 3 lately too and I'm loving the jokes and the song choices.
I wouldn't like it if they abandoned the New York parallel storyline, I love Rachel and Kurt too much, but yeah it does take time away from the McKinley saga. A spin-off would have been interesting but there were probably too many reasons for them not to go in that direction, I think it works pretty well anyway. Yay Glee!

Green Giant

Totally agree that season 4 has been excellent so far. In just a half-dozen episodes Marley has become arguably my favourite ever character, a great addition!

Still too much melodramatic Blaine-Kurt nonsense but overall it's been a great season to now. More please!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Green Giant wrote: »

Totally agree that season 4 has been excellent so far. In just a half-dozen episodes Marley has become arguably my favourite character, a great addition!

Marley is my favourite too, and the girl who plays her seems lovely in real life. I've been trying to avoid finding out too much about the actors that play the new kids because I found the old cast were so over exposed, I knew far too much about them and it became hard to distinguish them from their characters, but anyway..... while watching a few of the songs from the new series on youtube I came across these videos of "Marley" singing live at some show, not really sure what it was for but she sounds AMAH-ZING! I don't think she has any real ambitions musically speaking but I think she's fantastic. I know Lea Michelle has an amazing musical theatre voice but I couldn't listen to it for too long, she always seems to be putting so much effort in to it too, whereas this just seems so effortless...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNKpuVxVxng

Yes, that is the tiny girl from Modern Family too

Another one...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBsNKSby6pQ

olazbabes

I must admit season one was the best. I believe is about Mckinley and the glee club not Rachael and Kurt in New York. If anyone one notices in the previous seasons there is more drama and stories to follow e.g quinns pregnancy, rachael's ambition, kurts crushes , mr shuesters fake pregnant wife. What I mean is there was more tofollow. Now each episode is random and no links exist between them

bennyl10

baby got back.. this is reaosn for it to be cancelled on the spot.. or yano give money to the owner of the damn cover!