I have loved this show since the pilot first aired months before the actual series was set to begin its inaugural season. Call it the ‘wanna-be performer’ inside me but I absolutely love watching the reimagining of these classic songs come to life amidst the back drop of the outcast kids in high school. While I was never actually ‘that guy’ in high school I could certainly relate to how they felt and watching their struggle interpreted through amazing musical numbers is beyond fabulous.

Ohh yeah and the writing is at times pure genius. Glee is single handedly responsible for more facebook status updates and tweets than any other show out there.

Just in case by some odd happenstance you haven’t seen this show and have no idea what it’s about let me give you a very quick breakdown. William McKinley High School has lost their current Glee Club coach Sandy Ryerson (Stephen Tobolowsky) because of some alleged inappropriate touching of a male student and so in comes former Glee Club star turned Spanish teacher Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) to resuscitate this quickly dying program.

Through various means he’s able to put together a rag-tag band of misfits all of whom can sing (either over excitedly or reluctantly) and they slowly gel as a group and become an impressive vocal force.

The group includes self proclaimed star Rachel Berry (played by the amazing Lea Michele), football jock turned leading man the dim witted but sweet Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith) Mark Salling as Puck, another footballer who was taken in by the sirens song, Amber Riley as Mercedes the soulful and powerful chocolate diva of the group, Chris Colfer as the less than confused by his obvious homosexuality, Kurt Kevin McHale as the wheelchair bound Artie and his love interest the gothcially gorgeous Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz) three converted cheerleaders Naya Rivera as the vivacious Santana, Heather Morris as the almost to dumb to exist Brittany and Dianna Agron as the former queen bee turned pregnant chick Quinn.

And what would a group of underdogs be without someone to torture them and lord their own traditional success over their heads? Well, they’d be very uninteresting and as Sue Sylvester puts it herself, “That’s a world I just don’t want to live in.” Enter the amazing finally-being-given-the recognition-she-deserves Jane Lynch as the powerhouse Cheerleading Coach at McKinley High, Sue Sylvester.

Normally when I review a season long title I’ll watch the episodes and periodically go to my computer to type out a paragraph or two about some aspect of the show or the plot that happens to strike me at that moment. With Glee, it’s been a totally different process because the feeling I get from the show is always the same – complete irrational happiness, optimism and the desire to sing and dance my ass off!

So instead of new ideas and

reactions to the show I’ve spent my time running to my computer to jot down exact quotes from the show that just demanded to be mentioned in the review. These are only a few and to be honest reading them is nothing compared to hearing them. 50 percent of this show is the brilliant delivery of the actors. They really understand how to make the writers lines come off constantly fresh and sharp.

Quinn: “I had sex with you because you got me drunk on wine coolers and I felt fat that day.”

Puck: “That Rachel chick makes me want to set myself on fire, but she can sing.”

Sue: “Let me be frank, your husband is hiding his Kielbasa in a Hickory Farms gift basket that doesn’t belong to you.”

Terri: “I’m the new School nurse.

Will: But you don’t have any training.

Terri: Oh please Will, it’s a public school.”

Rachel: “I’m sorry about what I said yesterday; about calling you contemptible and deplorable.”

Finn: “Ahh that’s alright. I didn’t even know what those words meant.”

Kurt: “I don’t know why I find his stupidity charming; I mean he’s cheating off a girl who thinks the square root of four is rainbows.”

Will: “It’s come to my attention that many of you haven’t been treating the young ladies of our group very nicely lately. You’re disrespectful, bullying, sexist and I hate to say it misogynistic.

Finn: I have no idea what that means.

Brittany: When I pulled my hamstring I went to a misogynist.”

Santana: “It’s high time you lost the big V. Everything about you screams virgin. You’re about as sexy as a Cabbage Patch kid… it is exhausting to look at you.”

Sue: “So you like show tunes… doesn’t mean you’re gay… it just means you’re awful.”

Aside from the witty banter and brilliant one-liners, there’s also a lot of ‘pie in the face’ humor except now it takes the form of Grape Slushies. Also some other various food in the face too but the dreaded Slushie is definitely the monster of the group.

Musically the show varies from absolute home runs like the two versions of Don’t Stop Believing’, the first in the pilot and the second in the finale, the mash up numbers like It’s My Life and Confessions the entire Madonna episode (especially Express Yourself and Like a Virgin) and then the rest of the numbers which are all more than able to get your blood pumping and your feet tapping.

If the show suffers from anything musically it’s the fact that they have already gone through so many amazing songs that they are running out of ‘wow’ icon moments like the ones they had with Madonna. I don’t think they’ll ever be able to have another single episode that is as perfect as that one was. Even the subsequent Lady Gaga episode, which

was good, couldn’t compare to their romp with the material girl.

While the show is of course mainly a musical comedy it also has some very intense emotional moments as well which is one of the reasons that you become so invested in these characters and their lives. In the episode Mattress Will finally discovers the truth about Terry’s hysterical pregnancy and it’s an emotionally charged fiery scene between the two as they both realize that their marriage is coming to an end.

Also the moment when Quinn’s parents through her out of the house after learning of her pregnancy and when Rachel gets egged by Vocal Adrenaline and her ex-boyfriend Jesse are both moments where you can’t help but tear up for these girls.

Probably the most powerful scene of the season takes place in Kurt’s room as Finn finally blows up over all the “gay” stuff and uses the word ‘Fag.’ Even though Kurt lets it slide his dad (awesomely played by Mike O’Malley) doesn’t and gives one of the best speeches about the use of that word that I’ve ever heard on television. You wouldn’t use the ‘N’ word or the word ‘retard’ to describe someone so why is it OK to use the ‘F’ word? It’s just as hateful and just as hurtful. I was so relieved to see that they didn’t shy away from this hottest of hot button issues facing the gay community today. It’s going to take many, many more examples like this in pop culture for people to begin to realize how not OK this is.

The show has a litney of amazing guest stars but I think the most perfectly cast recurring character is by far Idina Menzel as Shelby Corcoran the coach of rival team Vocal Adrenaline and Rachel’s birth mother. The resemblance between the two both physically and vocally is uncanny. Lending her amazing voice that previously wowed people on Broadway in shows like Rent and Wicked only further adds to the shows street cred among the theater going community.

Also in that category are Kristen Chenoweth (also of Wicked fame) as crazy over the hill singer April Rhodes, Jonathan Groff as the sneaky leader of the competition Vocal Adrenaline, Josh Groban as… Josh Groban, looking-for-a-come-back Olivia Newton John and Neil Patrick Harris as Will’s old rival now school board administrator with a grudge, Bryan Ryan.

You can’t beat the guest stars on this show because so many actors in Hollywood who have been forced into straight laced standard drama or comedy roles in order to make any money or achieve any real fame got their starts in the theater and are so thrilled to see something musical theater finally catching on on television. I’m sure season two will continue to have amazing guest stars that will continue to wow audiences.

The special features on this 7

disc set are unbelievably extensive with some hits and some misses. Welcome to McKinley is a cheesy infomercial type of thing hosted by Iqbal Theba in character as Principle Figgins welcoming new students to the school, Glee Music Video is amazing with beautiful montage sequences set to Find me Somebody to Love. Full Length Audition Pieces isn’t what you expect it to be. I thought it was the actors auditioning for their parts but instead it’s just Mercedes ad Rachel auditioning in the pilot to be in Glee Club, which we’ve seen before. Fox Movie Channel Presents Casting Sessions is a little closer to what I was looking for but ends up being a little too heavy on suits talking and not enough behind-the-scenes in the actual auditions. Deconstructing Glee with Ryan Murphy is a little more on the mark but is far too short and Dance Boot Camp which is also great but is again, all too brief.

Jane Lynch, A to Glee and Meet Jane Lynch should have been the first 5 minutes of a much longer behind-the-scenes look at everyone’s favorite Glee character that they love to hate but sadly they were both short and disappointing. Sue Sylvester would not have approved. Three separate short segments called Things you Don’t Know About Cory, Amber, Chris are cute but pale in comparison to the last feature on Disc 4, Video Diaries where each cast member is given a flip cam on their trip to NYC for their first Up Fronts. These are a lot of fun to watch.

Disc 6 has the Glee Music Jukebox which has the individual numbers just a click away from three selected episodes which is cool, but if they really wanted it to be impressive they would have done it for every episode not just a few of them.

Disc 7 has the remainder of the special features including another jukebox with 2 more episodes represented, Glee Sing-Along Karaoke is fun if you know how to sing, Staying in Step with Glee is an awesome featurette where the choreographers of the show try to teach you some dance steps which is really fun, Bite Their Style is all about dressing like your favorite character, Unleashing The Power of Madonna was the feature I was looking forward to the most because I truly think that was the best episode that he show will ever be able to make and this behind-the-scenes glimpse of it was awesome. The final feature Making of a Showstopper is all about the finale episode’s take on Bohemian Rhapsody. I would have preferred a little more on the Journey Medley that New Directions performs but it was still cool to see.

I’ve encountered only two groups of people who dislike this show, crazy right wing conservatives who will only ever turn off Fox when either Glee or

Family Guy is on and musical theater performers who pick apart every technical aspect of the show more out of a sense of envy than of true critique. So unless you fall into one of those categories I know you’ll enjoy this show if you give it a chance. To the members of both of those incredibly different groups of haters I say give it its full chance and try to like t because it’s a wonderfully fun endearing show with a terribly talented cast and they deserve all the praise and viewers that they can get!