Today I will write about Glee's season finale aptly titled "Goodbye".
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| This week's assignment. |
Why This Ending is Big:
1. Everyone's graduating--Rachel, Finn, Kurt, Quinn, Santana, Mercedes, Mike and, yes, Puck. Sadly, senior class president Brittany is not. More on her later.
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| Seniors minus Brittany. |
2. Gloria Estefan guest stars as Maribel Lopez, Santana's mom.
My Thoughts on "Goodbye":
1. A lot has been said about Glee's faults--its issues with continuity, character development, sense and real-ness. But as I watched "Goodbye", I suddenly got misty and forgot about its faults. Lucky for me, I knew what hit me: Graduation Goggles.
First, let me tell you about Graduation Goggles. As our dear Aunt Robin explained in "The Exploding Meatball Sub", Graduation Goggles is "it's four year of bullies making fun of all the kids with braces even after the braces come off and they can walk just fine... but then on graduation day you suddenly get misty because you realize you're never going to see those jerks again."
This is why everyone on Glee was suddenly nice. Even Sue. Expecting a kind Black Sue was quite of a long shot.
As I see the Glee kids went up the stage (in no particular order hahaha!) I sort of forgot all the bad things they did and the crazy things they said, and the
2. As the episode went on, it became clear to me who (among the seniors, at least) are the stars of the show. Star quality was highly evident on how much screen time each character's goodbye took. I measured their goodbyes and ranked them--most to least important.
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| Glee's Big Three: Rachel, Finn and Kurt |
2.1 Kurt got his things sorted out with Blaine (sort of); gets a wonderful and heartwarming graduation gift from his dad (aka my hero) Congressman Burt Hummel, who danced "Single Ladies" with Tina and Brittany; got a solo to sing to the guys of New Directions; and found out he's not accepted at NYADA despite his amazing audition. A lot was going on for Kurt. Goodbye ranking: 3rd place.
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| Kurt and his boys |
2.2 Finn said goodbye to his mentor Mr. Schue, who admits to blackmailing him to get him to join glee club; had an extensive talk with his mom about his dad; got sung to by the juniors of New Directions (more on this later); and made a mature decision (for once in his life) to break up with Rachel to "let the universe do its thing". Also, he enlists for the Army to change (or whatever) his father's dishonorable discharge. Goodbye ranking: 2nd place
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| Finn graduates. |
2.3 Rachel was happy because she is prom queen, National show choir champion, going to NYADA, marrying the school quaterback/love of her life, and will be Quinn's college BFF. Then, she finds out Kurt didn't get in to NYADA and Finn didn't get in to that acting school. So, she made a mature decision to defer her admission for a year while she helps them out. Then, Finn dumps her on their wedding day so she can be in New York and follow her dreams. Goodbye ranking: 1st place.
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| Rachel dropped the dead weight that is Finn Hudson. |
The way she went from being happy to slightly happy to extremely sad to afraid showed me one thing: she is the star of Glee. All other characters' goodbyes were closely linked (Finn's) or related (Kurt's and Quinn's) or remotely related but still related (Puck's) to hers. Seeing everyone say goodbye to her as she went on a train to New York solidified this conclusion.
2.4. Quinn said goodbye to her past and said hello to her future. She said goodbye to her Crazy Mother Bitch and Cripple-in-Denial personas, Puck, Sue and, even, Artie. It continues to baffle me why Cheerios uniform needed to be returned (or retired, as in Quinn's case) when they don't even have numbers on them and are specifically tailored to a girl's measurement. One of the mysteries of Glee, I guess. Quinn said hello to her future (hello, Yale!) by giving Rachel a subway (or was that a train?) pass. Seeing all her issues sorted out and all goodbyes said, I realized, this is not good. It may mean that she won't be around next season. Oops. Goodbye ranking: 4th place.
And, more importantly, Quinn sent all her "ships" sailing.
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| FABERRY |
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| QUICK |
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| QUARTIE |
She even had moments with Joe, Mercedes, and the Unholy Trinity.
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| Quinn with Joe, Mercedes and Brittana |
2.5 Santana told her mom she didn't want to go to college under the cheerleading scholarship; found out her girlfriend (aka Everything's That Is Good In This Miserable, Stinking World) was not graduating; and received tons of money (read: enough to buy a Lexus and more shoes) to help her achieve her dreams, whatever they maybe. I would have preferred seeing her
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| Santana and her girls |
2.6 As for the other seniors, Puck gets a kiss from Quinn, a Puckerman A+ (read: C-) and a high school diploma; Mike gets into some Chicago dance school on scholarship; and Mercedes got signed as a back-up singer and will take classes at UCLA.
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| Mercedes, Mike and Puck graduate. |
3. Maribel Lopez rocks. She accepted Santana for being gay--when her abuela didn't; was happy when her daughter's girlfriend got into Purdue (even when it turned out to be not the University); and gave Santana the go signal not to go to college and enough money to go follow her dreams.
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| Maribel Lopez is, what we Pinoys call, a kunsintidora mom. |
4. Glee made use of flashbacks. Finally Glee realized the wonders that are continuity, consistency and memories. Showing the flashbacks (the original glee club members dancing Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat number, Kurt performing Single Ladies and Mr. Schue hearing Finn singing in the shower) alongside modern day moments sparked some hope in me that maybe, just maybe, Glee can start being
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| The original five singing Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat |
5. Murphy's Law trumps graduation goggles. If something is bound to go wrong, it will. Rachel and Finn broke up. Kurt didn't get into NYADA. Brittany did not graduate (for some reason I still couldn't believe). Santana has decided not to go to college. Life is unfair. Good thing Glee writers didn't succumb to the writer's version of graduation goggles (writing happy endings because it's graduation) and made believable endings, for a change.
6. Despite the graduation goggles, I still found parts of "Goodbye" problematic.
6.1 For the love of god (or whatever deity you praise), can someone tell me why Finn was singled out by the juniors of New Directions when they were supposed to say goodbye to all seniors?! Hearing Artie blurt out their half-baked reason, I felt blindsided, Survivor-style. Yeah sure Finn was nice to them but I felt that all seniors deserved to be sung goodbye to. Equally.
6.2 Why didn't Santana and Rachel went on the same train together? They were New York-bound anyway. Plus, it was hazy what Santana's dream was exactly (yeah she wanted to be famous, so?) and how she's going to get it (definitely not a sex tape). It is a far cry from the Magician's Code arc of How I Met Your Mother.
6.3 Why did Puck get at least two episodes to explain why he was graduating despite his failing grades and Brittany only got a minute or so to inform Santana (and us) why she was not graduating? WTF. The writers tried to be funny by blaming her 0.0 GPA or her skipped classes or her do-nothing presidency but it was, like Artie's reason, half-baked. If Brittany didn't attend classes, why was she in the classroom when Puck sang Hot for Teacher and Blaine sang You Should Be Dancing. See the photo below for proof.
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| Brittany in class ALL. THE. TIME. |
6.4 Was Sam really a junior? I'm not keeping track of everyone's high school levels but I guess the writers did not remind its audience enough what year level everyone was in, leaving most of us confused. I guess the writers were too busy writing Quinn's ridiculous story arcs or was punishing Chord Overstreet for leaving Glee for 7 episodes.
7. Aunt Robin is right, we can't trust graduation goggles. They’re as misleading as Beer Goggles, Bridesmaid Goggles, and That’s-Just-a-Bulky-Outdated-Cellphone-in-his-Front-Pocket Goggles. These graduation goggles made me kind. Too kind.
I wonder what kind of goggles (I'm-Just-Following-My-Dreams Goggles, maybe?) Glee writers will use next season. The writers can either: (a) let go of these goggles, start writing and bring to Glee the glory that was Season 1 or (b) hold on to these goggles by introducing seemingly deep plots/twists but dismissing them in just a huff. Remember how they dealt with Quinn's and Santana's issues in Seasons 2 and 3? I wish Glee writers wouldn't start Season 4 with Rachel, Finn and Kurt (and the rest of the seniors) in New York suddenly, following their singing/acting dreams.
8. My thoughts on Season 4: With Sue taking a backseat from her main villain role because of motherhood, Coach Roz (NeNe Leakes) aka Black Sue will be next season's main villain. Revealing her black plans (In Tagalog, maitim na balak. I know, racist.) to bring down Principal Figgins is, I believe, a glimpse of what's to come. Sue went through the Bring Figgins Down Phase. I can forgive Glee for this storyline rehash because I can't get enough of NeNe Leakes.
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| Coach Roz to Coach Sue: That's quite an accomplishment for a pregnant woman who acted so old she went to high school with Moses. |
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