April 18, 2013

Episode Review: GLEE, "Sweet Dreams"

Everyone was finally taking steps towards their dreams in the aptly titled "Sweet Dreams," which ended up being a largely serviceable episode of Glee with a few questionable moments... so, it was just another episode of Glee.

Finn got out of McKinley but he didn't get too far because he decided to enroll at the University of Lima so he could become a teacher. He quickly found out that college doesn't have to be a scary place, and it could even be fun, but he spent too much time partying it up and not enough time studying. Puck magically appearing out of nowhere didn't help much, but leave it to Finn's best bro to help him realize that balance's key to being successful in college.

Finn was not the only one trying to move forward. Will tried to whip the glee club into shape, but he was clearly changed after the ordeal involving his fiance and his best man. He was wildly out of touch, and he had to deal with the added annoyance of everyone having sudden changes in mood after the "shooting." When Blaine tried to rally the troops, he was shot down by Schue, but the reigning Teacher of the Year realized that something was off. He tried to make amends with Finn, but his protege was too busy having fun and refused to return to McKinley. Luckily for him, he remembered why he got into coaching glee in the first place after watching some of the kids sing an original Marley Rose jam. Finn also wised up and came back but only if he was Will's partner. When it was all said and done, Schue was refocused and thought it'd be a good idea to use one of Marley's songs for Regionals.

Oh, and Rachel auditioned for Funny Girl while Roz Washington showed up to take over the Cheerios and Becky acted all funny.

While watching "Sweet Dreams," I couldn't help but think that there's a halfway decent version of Glee that revolved around Finn and Puck as frat guys who occasionally sang acapella. Like a mash-up of Greek and The Sing-Off, and honestly that'd be my favorite version of this show. College is the natural next step when it comes to these kind of shows, and Glee could really capitalize on the change of location especially if it doesn't take things too seriously like the aforementioned ABC Family cult classic. Knowing this show, it will somehow figure out a way to mess things up and force Finn to NYC, but I think Murphy and Company finally solved the Season Five conundrum. Sam and Brittany join Finn at U of Lima, Blaine goes to NYADA, we get more time with the newbies, and Will gets fired for doing lame cartwheels. Easy as that.

As for Rachel's audition, it was nice seeing the OG's together again on stage, but I could not care less about anything that happened in New York. What else is new?

Other Odds and Ends:
  • THE University of Lima.
  • I let Glee slide on a lot of stuff, but as someone who's worked in higher education for over ten years, Finn just enrolling in college irked me. They could've at least said that the school was on the quarter system and the new term started in March or something.
  • Sam being his own twin was pretty entertaining.
  • Are Sugar and Joe going to be MIA until the competition episode?
  • I'd say it was nice to have Roz back, but we all know Sue'll be back before the season's over.
  • And Shelby's back for no apparent reason. At least her Broadway daycare business was a stroke of genius.
  • I'm sorry, buy Marley's original songs were too musical theatre-y.
  • Aww, Finchel.
  • Great Finn & Puck scene.
  • Was that a "Grilled Cheesus" callback?
  • OK, Roz's oath was pretty great.
  • Of course Will played soccer.
  • "Or a song about loving an octoroon."
  • "We've always known we were special. This is our chance to prove it."
  • Musical Highlight: "Don't Stop Believin'"
A few seasons ago, I probably would've taken an episode like "Sweet Dreams" to task, but it was a decent enough installment compared to the ones that preceded it, and that's a victory unto itself. Plus, it actually got me excited for what's to come even if my dream version of the show only exists in my head. Not so bad if you ask me.

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