Welcome to another very special episode of TV or Not TV where I’m feeling very GLEE-ful.

Last night the mid-season finale of GLEE aired and I have to admit that the show really impressed me with what it was able to deliver on.  There was tension, there was drama and there was redemption. Oh yeah, there was also a lot of singing and dancing, but those are to be expected.

First and foremost I would like to say that it was nice to see a lot of the more soap opera like story lines coming to a close and I hope that they are able to carry the last nine episodes of the season in a bit more grounded fashion. The drama surrounding Quinn and her baby, the craziness of Will Schuester‘s wife Terri and her baby-faking, the depressing wedding plans of mysophobic Emma, and the ever escalating level of delusional superiority by Cheerios head coach Sue Sylvester all lead to many moments where I was wanting to yell at my television rather than watching it.

Yes I know that a show requires drama to carry itself along week-to-week and the characters need elements to create tension between them, but some of these story lines have in many ways distracted me from the show itself. A great example would be the episode titled BALLAD where we had the “A” story of Rachel developing a crush on Will and the “B” story of Finn being doubtful of his ability to sing a ballad in front of everyone and how to deal with the parents of his pregnant girlfriend. The “A” story kept me engaged and connected to the show because it was entertaining, comical when appropriate while being serious where needed and didn’t at any time take me out of the “moment” of just being a passive participant. The scene where Will sings to Rachel with Emma there was perfect in the way that the entire plan backfires on Will both with Rachel AND Emma. In contrast the “B” story left me extremely uncomfortable since I was first assaulted by a boy singing to the sonogram of an unborn child that, I knew, wasn’t his. Later when Finn sings to Quinn in front of her parents to get the message out that there’s a bun in the oven I was completely detached from the show because of the awkwardness of the scene and the pure unbelievability that anyone could be as much of a buffoon as Quinn was being at that given moment.

Last night’s finale was very well balanced and almost never took me out of the moment. Almost every storyline that has been dangling out there was resolved. Finn knows the truth about Quinn‘s baby, all of Sue‘s past transgressions were brought to light, Will dealt with last week’s fallout with Terri, NEW DIRECTIONS! went to sectionals and things seem to have majorly changed for Emma. In many ways this thirteenth episode of the show seemed to have taken a show that has had it’s head a bit in the clouds and brought it firmly back to Earth for a very stellar episode. The sub-plots that were set in motion in HAIROGRAPHY played out nicely in allowing us to see NEW DIRECTIONS! perform new musical numbers instead of the ones that were planned, which I am sure helped to fill out the two soundtracks that are now available from the show. We were even handed a nice little gift with the panel of judges for sectionals. It was an amusing contrast to have the hopes and dreams of the show choir in the hands of a group made up of quasi-celebrities and a city official, none of which really seemed to care about the job at hand.

My only complaint in last night’s episode was the choreography of the final musical number as Will is treated to the Kelly Clarkson hit My Life Would Suck Without You. Some of it was a little too risque for me to handle, but then again I’m a 38 year-0ld male that isn’t the real demographic here.

I don’t know what new directions NEW DIRECTIONS! will be taking us in the spring of 2010 but I hope this break will give the writers and producers a chance to help level out some of the characters and do something constructive with the feedback they’ve been given. The show truly is one of my guilty pleasures and if they can get it to where there are less moments where I shake my head in disbelief and frustration it may almost be perfect in my mind.

– Will Wilkins’ life would also suck without you.

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