Glee 6×1 & 6×2 Review: “Loser Like Me” & “Homecoming”

Glee came back for the final time this week and with a lot of the missteps the show took in the previous two seasons, it seems Ryan Murphy is ready to re-create the magic that captured the hearts of people around the globe back in Season 1. So, did Glee’s farewell season succeed? Let’s take a look.

How do you give your characters a clean slate? You wipe off everything you’ve been making them do and push the restart button. That’s exactly what happened in the premiere’s first episode ‘Loser Like Me’. In the first few minutes we got to know that Rachel Berry’s (Lea Michele) TV show turned out to be a disaster, her fathers were about to divorce, and having nothing else to do she decided to head back to McKinley to resurrect the Glee Club.

It wasn’t just Rachel who ended up going back to the high school though. Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet) was already there as an assistant coach, and Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer) decided to come back because NYADA required students to get some work experience in their third year. Blaine Anderson (Darren Criss) was also in Lima. After his and Kurt’s engagement ended he got a job coaching The Warblers, his previous singing club at Dalton Academy.

Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) was again the character that gave a lot of ‘meta’ during the episodes. She was the one who made the previous Glee Club members disappear by sending them to other schools. Anybody remember that lot? I only remember Unique, the rest are just a blur to me. Kitty Wilde was still there and I think she will eventually rejoin the Glee Club.

Rachel called the original cast back to help her recruit new members and that made up the plot for the second episode ‘Homecoming’.

In a sense everyone, including the viewers, got a fresh start. Will some fans be disappointed? Of course! We stuck with these characters for years as they tried to break away from McKinley and make something of themselves in New York but the show was never able to do anyone any justice. Now, it’s the last season and I guess we all have to accept that things have come full circle for us and some the characters. I personally enjoyed the two-episode premiere. Seeing the original cast back together was far better than the show trying to divide time between the McKinley and New York story lines, which never worked.

In a sense the show also told fans that it’s never too late to find another purpose in life. Even if your dreams didn’t work out the way you expected them to the important thing is that you don’t let failure keep you down. There’s always something else you can do, and who knows, that might be what you had been looking for all along.

The new characters were better than the ‘copies’ we saw in Season 4. The one who really stood out to me was Jane (Samantha Ware). That girl can really sing. I want more of her! I also liked the writers showing how hard it is to break tradition. Jane wanted to join The Warblers but being a ‘boys only’ singing club she couldn’t, even though she was majorly talented.

There was also a post-modern gay guy named Spencer (Marshall Williams), but right now I’m not really interested in knowing more about him. With the way things looks I wouldn’t be surprised if Sue uses him to spy on the Glee Club kids.

As far as the original cast’s story is concerned, Blaine dating Karosfsky felt weird to me. After ending things with Kurt, Blaine went and started dating the guy who bullied Kurt all through high school. I don’t know what the writers were thinking creating such a pairing. If they wanted to add in drama they could’ve thought of something else rather than a problematic relationship.

Santata Lopez (Naya Rivera) looked hot as usual. As did Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron), and the ‘Unholy Trinity’ singing ‘One less Problem’ was amazing to watch. Is it just me or does Brittany S. Pierce (Heather Morris) look hotter than before too? I don’t know, it’s as if the three girls that make up the ‘Unholy Trinity’ are back to awe everyone even more than before.

With the story primarily being about McKinley and the Glee Club, things have set up quite nicely for the future episodes. This time we have Kurt and Rachel’s Glee Club vs. Mr. Schue’s Vocal Adrenaline vs. Blaine’s Warblers. Now that’s a battle I’m really excited to see.

With only 13 episodes in the last season I have a feeling everything will be more fast-paced and there will be less filler than the previous seasons. Whether you loved the premiere or hated it, I for one am very happy that the focus is again on the original group and seeing Rachel and Kurt giving another life to the Glee Club is something I’m willing to watch in the last season of Glee.

What did you think of Glee’s two-episode premiere? Let us know!

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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