The day has finally come and Glee is officially done and dusted and it's final two episodes - the flashback of 2009 and the flash forwarding of Dreams Come True merited their own blog. Here we go.
Six Years Ago: Pulling off a flashback episode that would hark back to and fill in the gaps of the Pilot episode was never going to be a simple task. Aside from the absence of Cory Monteith and the fact our cast have grown a lot since 2009, there's also the thing of not being able to recapture the magic of former days but the penultimate episode certainly took a joyous stab at it as Finn was poignantly alluded to at the right moments and we got to see how Rachel, Kurt, Artie, Mercedes and Tina all came to join Will's Glee club once again with a reprise of their audition music (as well as an unseen duet with Rachel/Kurt with Popular) and of course, another showing of Don't Stop Believing with Finn from the actual pilot episode. That was one of several moments in this two-parter that made me want to cry.
Hey Sugar: Of course re-exploring the opening episode did have some other mixed results. I had forgotten how condescending Rachel was towards Mercedes's talents, how manipulative Terri had been during her marriage to Will or that Burt wasn't always the most open minded during some of his early scenes with Kurt, not to mention how horrible both Karofsky and Puck were to Kurt at times too (as well as their horrid mocking of Tina's fake stuttering). However what I did find a little humorous was that Mercedes actually met Blaine and neither character actually remembered the encounter (granted how many times do you remember someone asking you for sugar?). It was a nice way of sliding Blaine into the events of the show's very beginning too.
Enemies/Friends/Enemies/Friends: The ongoing love/hate story between Will Schuester and Sue Sylvester came to it's natural conclusion in both episodes. I laughed when it was revealed that they were basketball buddies originally before they embarked on a six year love/hate campaign with each other. Watching both of them grow through the final two episodes was perfect. I'm not surprised that Will became principal of McKinley and had several different glee clubs and Sam as his second in command while Sue and Becky's reunion and the former becoming Vice President was the very thing I bought the show doing. Also, the more said about Will and Sue's duet of The Winner Takes It All, the absolute better. Oh and poor Brad.
Having It All: At it's heart, this show has always been feel good so learning that by 2020, most of our gang are successes is more than fine with me. Kurt and Blaine as influences on the future LGBTQ youth was wonderful as was Rachel carrying their future offspring, bagging a Tony Award and marrying Jesse while Artie and Tina made a movie together and got back together while Mercedes had a successful career. Speaking of Rachel - I really liked hearing This Time as well as Mercedes's Someday We'll Be Together and Will's Teach Your Children. Musically, both parts certainly hit it out of the ballpark for me.
They Lived: However the best part of this episode was the final five minutes. Literally seeing every character (except Marley but she's Supergirl nowadays) who has ever been in New Directions/Troubletones etc singing out One Republic's I Lived was a fist to the air moment of triumph following Sue's beautiful speech about the Glee club (see top quote) and spotting the various characters past and present was a joy to watch as well (though Terri being there was a little strange). I also love that the show dedicated the Auditorium to Finn as a parting shot to the series. Six seasons, over 700 musical numbers and 121 episodes, the show has finally come to an end. It hasn't always been the easiest of rides but it's hard to deny the impact the show has had on television (can you imagine both Nashville and Empire being on television without this show getting there first?) but as Rachel put it herself “Being a part of something special does not make you special, something is special because you are a part of it.” This show has definitely gone down in television for the iconic piece it was and these final two episodes gave the series the send off it deserved and that we as viewers deserved as well.
Don't Stop Believing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYi5aISmXN8
I Lived: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaqVwlkTENc
It's been an interesting six years, Glee but you went out in style.
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