GLEE-Cap: Hell-O

At the beginning of "Hell-O," the kick-off to the second half of GLEE's first season, Will Schuester gives his group of singing, dancing high school misfits a lecture on re-introductions. "We need a new ‘Hello'," he says, emphasizing that New Directions needs to make a change befitting their name in order to make it to regionals.

The speech was appropriate for the return of the show and made me hopeful about the episode to come. Maybe the second half of the season of last year's surprise smash hit on Fox would begin, with this episode, to go in a new direction and transcend the dreck that the show had trudged through in the fall. I was fully prepared to greet the rest of this season with optimistic fervor.

But perhaps, with that set-up, I first need to make my own introductions and elaborate a bit on my stance on GLEE.

When I first heard about GLEE last year and watched the preview of the first episode, I had very high hopes for the series. Being a self-confessed theater geek (especially when it comes to musicals), the possibility of a well-written series about a high school glee club's trials and tribulations, complete with song, dance, and a couple of legitimately talented Broadway veterans was incredibly exciting. I thought, like many others, the series would turn out to be one of those quirky gems that no one would understand and would be quickly canceled after a season or so (Pushing Daisies, anyone?). It all seemed a little too good to be true.

And, as it turned out, it was - but not in the way I expected it to be. With each episode of the first half of the season, my optimism soured more and more as the labored, inconsistent and outlandish plotlines were piled on top of each other. The characters changed attitudes in single sappily sentimental episodes, the contrived circumstances mashed together that loosely resembled a plot became more and more unbelievable (not to mention stereotypical), and the liberal use of auto-tune was more than I could bear.

All of this aside, when presented with the opportunity to write on the show on a weekly basis, I decided to say "Hello" to GLEE again, thinking that I had perhaps been unfair and too judgmental. Maybe the four-month hiatus had given the writers an opportunity to think - really think - about the potential for the show and a chance to straighten out their storylines into a cohesive, compelling, and tightly-structured hour of television.

Shortly into the episode, however, I realized that I had hoped for too much. Within the first twenty minutes of the episode, every plot point that the finale had set out to achieve was completely and totally undone. Sue Sylvester, faculty nemesis of New Directions, has returned after being suspended from McKinley's halls for giving the club's sectionals competition their set list in hope of annihilating Schuester's group. Though the series would suffer sorely from the loss of the superbly dry performance of Jane Lynch, it feels as if she has never left; it perhaps would have been better to let her attempt to undo her suspension (and hey, it even could have done the series a service comically). The relationship between Will and Emma Pillsbury, the sweetly obsessive-compulsive school guidance counselor played by Jayma Mays, which finally reached its peak in the last moments of "Sectionals," has gotten awkward before getting anywhere else. The romance is seemingly over before the end of the episode, thanks to a particularly destructive appearance by Will's shrewish, pregnancy-faking wife, Terri (Jessalyn Gilsig). Similarly, the relationship between Rachel Berry and Finn Hudson, Lea Michele and Cory Monteith respectively, is quashed within the first twenty minutes, leaving the audience feel cheated and let down after thirteen agonizing episodes of "Will they or won't they?"

The episode also serves as a full introduction to Vocal Adrenaline, the Goliath to New Directions' David in terms of competition and no doubt one of the obstacles that will persist until the end of the season. Broadway vets Idina Menzel and Jonathan Groff respectively play Shelby Corcoran and Jesse ST. James, the former the coach of the club and the latter the star. Menzel gives a solid performance as the steely, work-obsessed Corcoran, while Groff brings a breath of fresh air and a sense of levity to the episode (and, not to mention, a Jim Morrison-esque charisma that Monteith could never hope to have). While it is not surprising to see that he and Michele, who starred together in Spring Awakening on Broadway as ill-fated teenage lovers, have wonderful chemistry, it is mercifully refreshing compared to the awkward moments of screen time between Michele and Monteith.

The "Hello"-themed musical numbers for the episode were, of course, auto-tuned to the extreme. The first, a bland and awkwardly introduced rendition of The Doors' classic "Hello, I Love You" meant to serve as a means for Finn to discover his inner Jim Morrison, is underwhelming and a disappointing opener for the season's performances. The Lea Michele-led "Gives You Hell," however, has an infectious, undeniable energy and is one of the few performances that has a non-labored motivation - Rachel's bitter anger at being dumped by Finn prompts one of the better moments of the show.

For those familiar with Jonathan Groff, it may pain them to hear his powerful, crystalline voice after severe technical processing; his singing is nearly unrecognizable in "Highway to Hell" during Vocal Adrenaline's rehearsal. This sentiment has generally gone for the silver-tongued Morrison as well, but viewers are treated to a surprisingly non-auto-tuned instance in which Will sings along to Neil Diamond's "Hello" while dancing with Emma. For a moment we can see the true talent that led to Morrison's casting on the show after receiving acclaim for his classical chops in South Pacific and Light in the Piazza.

As for Kurt, Mercedes, Puck, Quinn, Tina, Artie, and the nameless mass that make up the rest of the club? Well, save for a few typically snarky (and vaguely stereotypical) one-liners from Kurt and a couple of laugh-out-loud funny lines from vapid cheerleader Brittany (Heather Morris), they fade into obscurity. Despite being a glee "club," it would seem that the only time the group sings in unison is to back up Rachel or Finn; for all the importance put upon unity and teamwork, the writers seem to think that only focusing on a select member or two of the club is best.

As the episode ends with a performance of The Beatles' "Hello, Goodbye," the world of McKinley is much where it was before sectionals: Sue is seeking to destroy the club by whatever means necessary, the lovers are separated, and the club is on the verge of being dismantled by the school. Hopefully Ryan Murphy and company will prove me wrong in episodes to come - loathe as I am to admit it, the preview for next week's ‘Power of Madonna' episode of Jane Lynch singing "Vogue" is promisingly hilarious. As it stands, if this episode is any indication of where the rest of the season is going, the "new direction" is backwards.

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Television's most award-winning new series, GLEE was recently honored with a Golden Globe for Best Television Series, Comedy or Musical; a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series; and a People's Choice Award for Favorite New TV Comedy. The music from GLEE is an international sensation with "Glee: The Music, Volume 1" and "Glee: The Music, Volume 2" topping charts in Australia, the U.K., New Zealand, Ireland and Canada. In the U.S., over 4.5 million songs have been downloaded, and both albums have been certified Gold for sales in excess of 500,000 units.

GLEE follows an optimistic teacher who - against all odds and a malicious cheerleading coach - inspires McKinley High's Glee Club to conquer the world one singing competition at a time. GLEE stars Dianna Agron, Chris Colfer, Jessalyn Gilsig, Jane Lynch, Jayma Mays, Kevin McHale, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Matthew Morrison, Amber Riley, Mark Salling and Jenna Ushkowitz.

GLEE is produced by Ryan Murphy Television in association with 20th Century Fox Television. Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan are co-creators of the series. Murphy, Falchuk and Dante di Loreto serve as executive producers, while Ian Brennan serves as co-executive producer.

GLEE airs Tuesday nights at 9:00-10:00PM ET/PT.

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