Saturday, December 10, 2011

Glee Season 3: Hold On To Sixteen Episode Review

Hold On To Sixteen
Season 3, Episode 8

This was hands down one of the best episodes EVER. In fact, it was, arguably, better than any episode from last season. Seriously. I somehow enjoyed the awesome cheesetastic songs and the completely unrealistic twists and turns that always eventually lead to warm and fuzzy endings. I know. I know. It was no way near perfect - I actually think I have a couple of complaints and whatnot - but this really reminded me of the Glee I fell in love with back in Season 1. It wasn't preachy AT ALL and I was just happy to see some of the joy and some level of lightness back.

THE GOOD:

- Welcome back, Sam Evans! To be honest, I didn't realize how much I missed his character until this episode. Please let the trouthy mouth stay. Oh, and his scene with his parents was incredibly heartwarming.

- Lots of everything: one liners and insults, sincere and dramatic conversations, everything!

- That Kurt-Sebastian cat fight was both fantastic and hysterical. HAHA. I loved every moment of it.

- It was a bit weird to see Blaine so mad, but it actually gave his character more depth. And his scene with Finn was really executed quite well - actually, better than what I expected. Very nice.

- Wow! Tina finally got to finish a f*cking song without actually breaking down!! It's about time..

- I was totally ecstatic and quite impressed with how the show managed to give every member a part to sing during the Sectionals.

- New Directions' performance at this year's Sectionals might have been their best choreography yet! It wasn't flawless, of course, but this was so much better and more complex than anything they've done. EVER. So proud of them!  

- Harmony (The Glee Project's Lindsay) as a sophomore was actually a pleasant surprise. Clever move, writers!

- Rachel and Kurt mouthing Buenos Aires was cute and their reaction to Harmony was actually quite hilarious. This kind of subtle comedy works well with me, you know.

- Did I think Quinn's sudden complete turnaround from being one of the most crazy lunatics on the show to an incredibly likable character a tad unrealistic? Absolutely. But to see her sane again made my heart melt. Plus, I NEVER would have thought that Quinn would be the one to even get the girls to rejoin New Directions.

THE BAD:

- Shoot me! But I'm just not a fan of Mike Chang or his storyline. Not sure if it's the acting or what, but while he had a couple of sweet moments with his dad, Mike Chang's struggles just didn't convince me. I don't know.

- Oh, and it would have made a bigger impact - at least to me - if it didn't really work out between Mike and his father. That sounds awful, but it could actually strengthen Mike's character to have gone out on his own to show that he has what it takes despite his dad's disapproval. Besides, his father's sudden epiphany was a little jarring. Personal preference though.

- While I didn't exactly miss Sue Sylvester and her silly remarks, where was she in this episode? I somehow expected her to have, at the very least, made an appearance - especially since this year's Sectionals was held at McKinley High School.

- I figured, had they let Sugar Motta join New Directions after her awful but ironically engaging audition, they could have avoided the entire Troubletones situation no? (not exactly a bad thing, but whatever)

- Again, this maybe an unpopular opinion, but while I expected Santana, Mercedes and Brittany to rejoin New Directions at some point this season, I didn't like the was it was done because truthfully there needed to be more of a mending of the fence. I would have loved if they hadn't wrapped up everything with such a tidy bow and left something for us to chew on during the month break.

- The way Mercedes and Santana responded to Quinn's offer was a bit annoying. I mean, they obviously didn't want to join New Directions, but when Quinn guaranteed them a number for every competition, it was too easy of a welcome for them. Just because they threw a diva fit? It's like Mercedes and Santa learned nothing from this whole brouhaha. They were still complaining because they didn't want Rachel and Blaine to get all the leads, yet they just saw at Sectionals that EVERYONE - except for the obvious fillers, Damian included - got to lead at some point. So, yes, I was confused!

THE MUSIC:

RED SOLO CUP. I was entirely resigned to wanting to hate this performance because of it's dumb lyrics, but this reminded me so much of Season 1. It's fun and that's how the old group, choir room performances used to be. No set choreography, but just kids playing around. Also, the Sam-Santana moment was surprisingly endearing.

BUENOS AIRES was kind of spectacular. Harmony sounded amazing, her stage presence was incredible and the overall production was actually quite nice. I have to say, I wasn't a fan of Lindsay when she was on The Glee Project, but she's been terrific during her first two episodes on Glee. Can't wait to see more of her.

SURVIVOR/I WILL SURVIVE was actually good. It did pale in comparison with their Adele mashup just because I found their choreography here kind of all over the place, but they actually gave New Directions a good fight. As usual, Santana and Mercedes sounded great, I just hate I Will Survive as a song. HAHA.

ABC. This was a fun performance. Of course, it's kind of refreshing to see and hear Tina leading New Directions with this number and the fact that Quinn, Mike Chang and Kurt actually had their solo. Very nice.

CONTROL. I admit, I wasn't a fan of the audio, but the actual performance actually sold everything. Again, the choreography was solid - for New Directions, at least - and the vocals were quite good. I didn't think I'd enjoy this, but I did.

MAN IN THE MIRROR was probably their strongest performance in this Jackson medley. I LOVED that they showcased their five lead male vocalists and just made a strong case that New Directions has an impressive set of talented people - to think that it's just the guys sans Kurt.

WE ARE YOUNG made me feel weirdly emotional in ways I've forgotten that Glee could do. It had that Season 1 feel - you know, that no matter how dramatic the episode was, it still ended on a high note. They haven't done a rousing upbeat closing group number in awhile and this just had me smiling like a dork. One of Glee's best performances to date. No gimmicks, just pure classic performance!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the episode... just that I want to see more damian

Anonymous said...

Forgot ABC?

Inigo said...

I thought it was a fantastic episode too. The only bum note for me was the lesson: if you want your own way, have a diva hissy fit. As for your bum note, Sugar Motta, I'm okay with Will thinking the awfulness of her vocals would impact on the group's success and Shelby showing him that it didn't have to.

Phoebe said...

Why was the New Directions' performance lasted 8 minutes? It's 4 times as long compared to the previous two groups.

Nj Orange said...

I was surprised you didn't comment about the Sam-Quinn-Mercedes situation.

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