The Glee Season 4 Premiere: My 2 Cents

So, the premiere has come and gone. I was nervous for this season and I still am. But this episode was pretty good. Here are my thoughts. I’ll separate them into “New York” and “Ohio”.


New York:

• I love Cassandra July (Kate Hudson). Even though some of her comments toward the end bordered on bullying, I was just glad to see someone put Rachel in her place. The writers tend to ramp up the Rachel praise to ridiculous sometimes. Too bad I’m pretty sure it won’t last as I can see this plotline ending in one of two ways. 1) Cassandra is bitter because she is a has-been and is jealous of Rachel’s potential. 2) Cassandra sees potential in Rachel and is pushing her harder because she knows she can do better. Either way, Rachel will be vindicated instead of, you know, just bad at something. (UPDATE: It seems Cassandra thinks Rachel is just a bad dancer and not ready for rejection but is willing to work with her. Of course).
• The new guy, Brody, is quite interesting. I’m curious to see where this relationship is going.
• Rachel needs a roommate. I think Karen from Smash is looking.

Ohio:

• The seniors—except Artie and Sam—competing over being the “new Rachel” even adopted her attitude. And it was annoying. Thankfully they got better.
• Kurt was a bit of a sad sack. Thank goodness Blaine gave his boyfriend a much needed kick in the ass. Too bad the number wasn’t as engaging as usual. I normally watch anything Darren Criss is in.
• I do like the new characters so far. What worries me is the stress the show is putting on how these are the new versions of characters we came to love. Or at least tolerate. Kitty is called the “new Quinn” by Sue. Jake is revealed to be Puck’s half-brother. And the actor does a very good job at throwing in a few of Mark Salling’s mannerisms. And the “New York State of Mind” sequence really played up the fact Marley is the real “New Rachel.” Except she’s genuinely nice.
• I’m surprised Mr. Shue didn’t fill all the missing slots in New Directions immediately. They only needed four and Unique got one slot. So that left three. Of all the people who auditioned, only two were good enough? You don’t have to save the slot for Bland, Ryan. Last year, New Directions was ultimately comprised of 16 members.

So, so far a promising start. Let’s see how the season progresses, shall we?