In the spring of 2009, I sat down with my family on Tuesday night for the first time to watch the TV show “Glee.” This began a tradition for my family and then soon became a show I loved— including watching the “Glee” concert and never missing a single episode. After a while, I forgot it existed. Now, more than 10 years later, “Glee” is the most ridiculous show in the world. I can’t remember one thing from that show that doesn’t blow my mind. I don’t know if anyone else feels this way, but if you do, here are five things I want to discuss.
- Mr. Schu Singing “Toxic” by Britney Spears at the School Assembly
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Season two, episode two of the show “Brittany” is where the students get high at the dentist’s office and have Brittany Spears fantasies, you know, the usual. The director of the glee club, Will Schuester, their older, adult, teacher performs “Toxic” by Brittany Spears at the school’s assembly, and all the students get really h*rny. I was 10-years-old during season two of glee, and what did I do? I sang along. Now I just picture if my high school show choir director grinded on me in a bowler hat to a song by Brittany Spears in front of the whole school. Horrifying.
- Glee Club Singing “Proud Mary” in Wheelchairs
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In season one, episode nine, “Wheels,” the school finds out they don’t have the budget for handicap-accessible accessible buses to sectionals this year. The solution the show then takes is having each member of the glee club test out the “wheelchair” experience for days in hopes of being able to identify with him. Okay, what? That’s not even the extent of what we need to discuss. The craziest thing is that, at the end, the glee club performs the song “Proud Mary” by Tina Turner, all in wheelchairs as a dedication performance to Artie. This is season one, and my 9-year-old self really thought, “This is awesome.” And now I’m like, “Wait, did they really begin the show with that?”
- “What Does The Fox Say?”
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In season five, episode seven, “The Puppet Master,” Blaine hallucinates everyone as puppets, and then at the end, they perform “What Does the Fox Say” as puppet versions of themselves. Oh, and Adam Lambert performs it with them. The guy from American Idol. The amount of times the glee cast members accidentally or purposely get high to justify an absurd singing number is just *chef’s kiss.*
- “Bohemian Rhapsody” While Quinn Gives Birth
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I could try to complain about it because it is so weird. But, honestly, this was just so hilarious and good. Mostly because Jonathan Groff delivers lead vocals to Vocal Adrenaline. The idea that someone in the writer’s room was like what song should we perform while Quinn screams in pain and yells at Puck for impregnating her? “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
- Matthew Morrison
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That’s all.
If any other “Gleeks” are now grown and confused for their childhood, you’re not alone. I, too, would like to ask Ryan Murphy so many questions. Such as “why” and “who let you do this.” For now, though, I think I’ll focus on what the show did right. That show made me feel like I was capable of so much. That show showed me teenagers going through adult issues. Though contrived and dramatic, the characters on “Glee” felt real. The pain they went through felt real. A lot about “Glee” was problematic or chaotic, but the hopeful innocence of music mattered in the most hopeless disorganized situations. Before the show lost its way a bit and went for “clout” instead of art, it felt beautiful to see people care about the arts, friendships and reality of human emotion.