Glee - Season 6 Review

US Airdate: January 9th - March 20th 2015

All things come to an end.

Last Song: The sixth and final season might have aired a while ago and the DVD might have been released for US viewers is also not too recent but given that it's now finished airing on Sky1, it seemed the right time for this blog to do one more review for the final season. And it was certainly an interesting one, wasn't it?

While fellow FOX stablemate and current E4 hit, Empire might have overshadowed proceedings, Glee's final year did it's best to reminder audiences why it was such a groundbreaking hit in the first place and the focus on New York was halted in order for Rachel and Kurt to come back and manage the New Directions with the occasional guest appearance from past cast members and some new characters also thrown into the mix.

The new characters turned out to be rather likeable and interesting enough - quirky brother and sister duo, Mason and Madison, soulful singers Jane and Roderick and post modern gay (yes that phrase actually got uttered on the show), Spencer who breathed some new life into the New Directions along with the returning Kitty, the only member from the second generation that the show made the effort to retain for most of the final season.

I do like the focus of Rachel and Kurt as mentors as it forced the pair of them (the former especially) to grow properly as characters and it was nice to see some of the former characters like Mercedes, Artie and Sam factor enough times even if there was a noticeable reduction in the amounts of screentime for Santana and Brittany while Quinn seemed to be barely there at times.

For shippers though, the season briefly had Kurt and Blaine seperated, the latter dating Karofsky before they got back together and married in the same episode that Santana and Brittany did while Quinn/Puck and Will/Emma were going strongly largely offscreen. Even better was the reunion between Rachel and Jesse towards the final episodes of the season, even though it highlighted how ultimately pointless Sam's initial pursuit of Rachel was for the majority of the final season.

As for the final two episodes - 2009 and Dreams Come True, the former turned out to be one of the best nostalgia trips the series had as well as a clever retelling of the very first episode while the latter felt like a genuinely deserving series finale, bringing everything to a beyond satisfying closing while at the same time perfectly encapsulating the central message the series has always strived for.

While for the most part this final season did manage to recapture some of the heights of it's earlier years, there were a few blips on the way. Beiste's transitioning story while touching definitely should've been set up in the previous season as it was a little rushed here, the rivalry with Vocal Adrenaline was a bit tiresome in parts and some of Sue's antics (in particular that godawful Hurt Locker two parter) were barrel scraping in their awfulness as well. Other than that, Season 6 proved to be a mostly good return to form for the show.

DVD Extras: Just a Music Jukebox, The Final Curtain and "Looking Back" Video Yearbook for features. I thought with the final season they would've added a little more.

Episode Ratings

6x01: Loser Like Me = 7/10, 6x02: Homecoming = 8/10,
6x03: Jagged Little Tapestry = 7/10, 6x04: The Hurt Locker Part 1 = 4/10,
6x05: The Hurt Locker Part 2 = 4/10, 6x06: What The World Needs Right Now = 8/10,
6x07: Transitioning = 7/10, 6x08: A Wedding = 8/10,
6x09: Child Star = 7/10, 6x10: The Rise And Fall Of Sue Sylvester = 6/10,
6x11: We Built This Glee Club = 7/10, 6x12: 2009 = 9/10,
6x13: Dreams Come True = 9/10

Glee Season 6 is currently available on DVD.