Glee: Hell-O Review

There are only two shows that I follow and analyze to the point of obsession: Fringe and Glee. Had it not been as busy a week as it was I would've turned in a review much earlier, but I thought it best to delay it until now. So the show left off with Will and Emma finally getting together in extremely romantic musical fashion, Finn breaking up with Quinn after finding out about the whole pregnancy scandal, Sue Sylvester getting suspended, and the glee club winning sectionals. So now that they're back what could they possibly do to continue the series any further? Put simply, demolish all the hopes and dreams created after the winter finale.
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Since football season ended, Finn has taken up basketball, but still hasn't quite recovered from the whole Quinn thing. Rachel is finally with Finn, but is being kind of high maintenance with their relationship. Will and Emma are finally together, but having trouble developing their relationship after both of their recent romantic failures. Then Will discovers that in order for glee club to continue on, they have to place at regionals where they have to go up against the undefeated vocal adrenaline. And perhaps the greatest news of all, Sue Sylvester is back to her usual schemes.

There was plenty of emotional drama and development this week, much of which was used as an umbrella for hysterical scenes, and fun musical numbers. More than ever, Glee is feeling like an actual musical, and it's really working for them. The actors have all settled nicely into their roles, and can finally flex their acting muscles. Jane Lynch delivers plenty of great one-liners, but it was nice to see her minions Santana and Britney take on a larger role, and finally get their chance to shine ("Did you know dolphins are just gay sharks?").

The writers have also thrown some new characters into the mix, namely Idina Menzel as the head of vocal adrenaline, Shelby Corcoran. She does a good job of dropping some reality on Will and Emma's budding romance, but it seemed like it was just too easy for her to seduce Will. Maybe I'm just underestimating how attractive she is. Overall this was an extremely well written and executed episode, and it certainly paves the way for the rest of this season. I'm really looking forward to tonight's Madonna episode, so don't expect me to wait too long to do the next Glee review.

8.8 out of 10

Here's the link for the episode on Hulu: http://www.hulu.com/watch/139643/glee-hell-o#s-p1-so-i0