In just three short seasons, Glee has taken a nosedive from one of TV’s most beloved shows, to one of its biggest laughing stocks. What started as a self-aware, optimistic take on the horrors of high school has mutated into a self-righteous mess of nightmarish proportions, with bad plots flying every which way. Maybe we should just stop watching it and be done with it, but if Glee taught me anything, it’s to never give up on something you love. What will it take to get this giant back on its feet again? It’s a tough question to answer but we have some idea.
Here are the top five things Glee needs to change to get back on top.
5. Enough with the “character development”
It’s no secret that this show has serious problems with continuity, and enough is enough. It’s like each writer gave all the characters their own personality and didn’t discuss them with each other before they aired the episodes. So depending on who wrote the episode, Quinn (Dianna Agron) is either a tortured saint or a manipulative jerk, or Finn (Cory Monteith) is the sweetest, dumbest puppy who ever lived or an insensitive, selfish jock, and I’m sick of it. This isn’t character development, it just looks like everyone is on crack. Important things happen and then are totally ignored, like remember when Quinn and Mercedes (Amber Riley) were so close they lived together? Or all of those budget cuts in season two? Yeah, me neither. Writers, please get your act together. We’re not dumb, we just want a show that makes sense.
4. A sense of responsibility
So far in this show, we’ve had students dump slushies on each other, be sexually harassed and stalked by bullies, and shove each into lockers, and the only person who ever gets suspended is Rachel (Lea Michele) when she stuffs the election ballot box in Kurt’s (Chris Colfer) favor. Excuse me, what? The fact that no one ever faces the consequences for anything is just disturbing, and everyone gives each other horrible advice. For example, when Artie (Kevin McHale) suggested Rachel and Blaine (Darren Criss) lose their virginities in order to perform better in the school play. When would that ever happen in real life? What I liked about this show in the beginning was its realness (even with all the campy humor thrown in) and now that’s all out the window. And I hate to be the moral guardian, but there are a lot of little kids watching this show who could stand to learn a few lessons from all of this.
3. Kill off Finn
Okay, so this sounds a little harsh, but seriously, enough of Finn! I love Cory Monteith, I think he’s adorable, but he’s 10 years older than his character, and it shows. When you look more like Rachel’s creepy uncle than her boyfriend, you know it’s a problem. Plus, can we all just agree that they are the worst couple in the history of the show? They’re both terrible influences on each other, and to be honest, Finn is holding her back. He broke the last straw when he outed Santana (Naya Rivera). In fact, he does a lot of horrible things that everyone forgives him for immediately or never seems to remember, because apparently he is a saint. Give him that Ohio State scholarship and send him on his way.
2. A day in the limelight
When I first started watching this show, I was immediately drawn to Tina Cohen-Chang (Jenna Ushkowitz). She was dark, she was shy, and I wanted to know more. But unlike a normal TV show, Glee pretty much ignores its characters they don’t deem important enough for the current plot. Tina gets the worst of it, but it’s happened to basically everyone except for Rachel, Finn, Kurt and Blaine. I admit they’ve been doing better with this, but I think every major character should get at least one episode from their perspective, a la Skins. I want that Brittana kiss, writers. The solos are also horribly out of proportion, and now that Troubletones is dead it’s going to go back to being the Rachel/Finn show while everyone else sings backup. Give Quinn a solo!
1. Faberry
This is inarguably the best part of the show, and it doesn’t even exist. What am I talking about, you ask? The secret relationship between Quinn and Rachel, of course. According to the Glee Wiki, it’s the show’s second most popular pairing (after Kurt and Blaine) and if their love isn’t obvious to you yet, you need to go back and re-watch. Quinn has definitely had an obsessive crush on Rachel since the first episode (she was drawing pornographic pictures of her on the bathroom walls, after all) and Rachel is consistently the only person who is halfway nice to Quinn, and has shown she’s always cared about her. It only makes sense, and if any show can make this happen, it’s Glee. It doesn’t hurt that Lea Michele and Dianna Agron are very affectionate towards each other in real life. Now if we could just get rid of Finn…
So there you have it, the top five things that need to happen to make Glee one of the best shows on television again. Do you agree or disagree? What would you change about the show? Make sure you leave us a comment and let us know.
