So this is it, huh? This is what you guys were freaking out about all summer? I admit, I haven’t seen the supposedly wonderful pilot, and picking up a series at its second episode probably isn’t the best idea, but…still, I have to say, I don’t really understand all the fuss about Glee.

A Fox summer sensation, Glee follows the occasionally musical adventures at William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio, centering on the school’s glee club (hence, duh, the title). Led by the school’s Spanish teacher, Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison), the club combats all the usual stuff — indifferent school administrators, hostile popular kids, et cetera — while singing and dancing their way through covers of songs like “Can’t Fight This Feeling” and “Gold Digger.” As you might imagine, given the title of the series, there’s an awful lot of perky, quirky humor on display here — but there’s also a strong underlying note of melancholy; not only are the kids in the glee club as dumped on as you might expect (in the first five minutes, club star Rachel [played by Lea Michele] stands up to a cheerleader and gets a pair of blue Slurpees to the face for her comeuppance), but the adults in their lives are also utterly unfulfilled. (more…)