REVIEW: Glee, Season 3, ‘Goodbye’

The season finale of any show is perhaps the trickiest of all, excluding the final ever episode of course, and although Glee delivered much of the required sentiment as several main characters bow out of McKinley High, it still fell victim to its’ own flaws.

Goodbye opens with a lovely reference back to the first ever episode, as the original New Directions members perform Sit Down, You’re Rocking the Boat. Anyway, this sets up an episode which is all about the characters saying goodbye, and the audience reminiscing on happier times. The highlight of the episode is possibly Burt Hummel dancing to Beyonce’s Single Ladies as a graduation present to Kurt, and any loyal viewers will know exactly why.

There were several suitable endpoints throughout the episode, and not one was the actual end of the episode, where Rachel heads off to New York without Finn or Kurt to start her new life at NYADA. This final part felt way too rushed as they introduce a couple of narratives and resolve them in about ten minutes. They should have either finished with the seniors’ performance of You Get What You Give, which would have left us looking at the new class and perfectly segued into next season, or ended on the graduation ceremony as they all stand on stage in their gowns belting out Springsteen’s Glory Days.

Meanwhile, Sue Sylvester and the swimming coach whose name I don’t care enough to remember agree to join forces and cause a mutiny at McKinley to oust the idiot Principal Figgins. But knowing Glee they will forget they ever did this by the time the next season airs. In fact they’ll probably forget half the cast just graduated and carry on as normal. You think I’m exaggerating, but Rachel Berry (despite being in New York) and Finn Hudson (despite moving to Georgia and joining the army) are both confirmed to return.

Ah, I almost forgot about Quinn. Having fully recovered from a near fatal car crash only eight episodes ago, she decided to spend her final days as a Good Samaritan. She gives Rachel a train ticket so they can stay in touch, and seduces Puck to get him through his final test. I think we’re supposed to forget about her relationship with the dreadlocked Christian. And remember the Irish guy? Yeah he’s still there, wearing green and being Irish.

As far as Glee goes, it wasn’t a bad episode, but as normal they had no idea what they were doing. It’s as though the writers get so carried away that they throw everything into the first fifteen minutes and have to blag the rest of it. But for those of us who gritted our teeth and endured every song, every dance, and every drama for the last three long years, it was a pretty decent send off.