By Jen Connors

The sophomore slump is not an uncommon trend in the entertainment world. It occurs with directors, musicians, and oftentimes on television shows. One show that has been greatly affected by the dreaded downward spiral is Glee.


On paper, Glee should not have worked. A musical dramadey about a high school glee club in the Midwest does not fit in in a lineup of vampires, nerd comedies and crime dramas. There was nothing about the show that pointed towards success…until the pilot aired. The show was dark but extremely comical, and the musical numbers actually showcased some talent. In an attempt to prove naysayers wrong, producers broke out a number that everyone was dreading: Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.” The song’s subsequent iTunes release smashed sales records and set the bar for the rest of the season. The show’s original thirteen-episode order became the first of the season to receive a full-episode expansion, thanks to its snappy dialogue, talented cast and the ability to incorporate its songs into the plot. After a four-month production hiatus, the back nine episodes premiered with more fanfare, more numbers and more guest stars. That’s when the show’s problems began.


With more musical numbers, the plot began to dwindle. Guest appearances were kept to a minimum during the first thirteen, with minor appearances by Josh Groban, Kristin Chenoweth, Victor Garber and Stephen Tobolowsky. With the exception of Chenoweth, none of the stars got singing time and none really took time away from the main characters. As the back nine began, guest appearances by Jonathan Groff, Idina Menzel and a reappearance by Chenoweth led to some steps back in the development of the main characters. After a ten episode arc about her unplanned teenage pregnancy, Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron) was shoved into the background until the episode before the birth of her child. Characters who had made tremendous strides in the first round of episodes were forgotten, those who had barely uttered a line got only one or two more. Dijon Talton, who had been in nineteen of the first twenty-two episodes, spoke all of two lines, the first not heard until the twentieth episode. The show began revolving around the music rather than the plot, with random songs thrown in that had nothing to do with what the characters were going through.
This season, the trainwreck has continued. Nine episodes in, there has been an abundance of stunt casting (Youtube sensation Charice, Gwenyth Paltrow and Carole Burnett, to name a few) and the addition of two more lead characters to take away what little face time the students receive per episode. In the most recent episode, “Special Education,” the character of Tina Cohen-Chang (Jenna Ushkowitz) sang her most notable solo since “True Colors” in the first thirteen last season. Agron’s character has been featured in three songs. Newcomers Chord Overstreet (playing Sam Evans) and Darren Criss (Blaine) have been featured in five and two songs, respectively. Five characters, plus followup appearances by Menzel and Groff, are being incorporated into the second half of the season. Since the beginning of the season, five have been introduced. Any progress any of these characters made last season has been long forgotten.

A lot of the show’s problems can be traced back to the show’s co-creator and co-executive producer, Ryan Murphy. Glee was originally his idea, with most of the plotlines and the current direction of the show stemming from him. Before the season began, Murphy made a series of promises about what was to come. Quinn Fabray, having spent the last season pregnant, would be a strong, independent woman coming into her own this season. Mercedes Jones, whose last crush was the openly gay Kurt Hummel, would find love. Rachel Berry, the star of the club, would be more tolerable and nicer. A Conservative Christian character would be added to promote tolerance. The budding romance between Tina Cohen-Chang and Artie Abrams would be developed and explored more. Many serious issues would be explored.


By episode four, Quinn, who had grown so much over the course of her pregnancy both literally and figuratively, had gone back to her cheerleading squad and had snagged a new boyfriend. Mercedes Jones was eating her feelings, with her most poignant storyline so far being a protest about the lack of tater tots in the cafeteria. Rachel Berry has been mostly shoved into the background, coming out for a ballad or two, but has reverted back to her uber-annoying, conceited ways. In all of the new characters, a religious person has not appeared. Tina and Artie are in completely different relationships, despite Murphy calling them the show’s “Cory and Topanga.” The only real issue that has been explored is gay bullying.
Bullying of any type should not be tolerated, whether it’s about clothes, income, friends or sexual orientation. With the recent suicides in the media over orientation, the storyline for Kurt Hummel could not come at a better time. However, the way Murphy is handling it is all wrong. Out of all of the students, Kurt, portrayed by Chris Colfer, has been getting the biggest storylines and most screentime. He is constantly being pushed into lockers and being called names. What is being done to him is terrible, and for the most part realistic. However, Murphy could not stop at that. A football player, who has been doing most of the harassing, kissed Kurt in the sixth episode, outing his character and his secret crush. After the bully threatened Kurt’s life, Kurt transferred to an all-male private school with a zero-tolerance harassment policy. He has been portrayed as the only character who can do no wrong all season, as if the writers have forgotten that he has been the bully before, and even was during this last episode. While Kurt was being called names, he was teasing Rachel, saying things to her about her “irritating personality,” her “grandmother clothes,” her bedroom, which looked like “where Strawberry Shortcake and Holly Harvey come to hook up,” and saying that he wanted to “shove a sock into your mouth.” While Kurt’s bullying has been taking center stage, Murphy has been forgetting about the other half of the bullied; the ones that are bullied just because. He has a club full of misfits, all of whom are routinely picked on, but he has never once focused on what happens to them. Bullying is the third-highest cause of suicide in teens, having been attempted by almost seven percent of high school students and considered by fourteen percent. One hundred and sixty thousand students stay home from school every day because of bullying, and Murphy has an incredible platform to discuss this, to prove to adolescents that they are not alone. Instead he is reliving his high school days vicariously through Kurt, giving him the perfect gay-activist potential love interest, plus an interested tormentor. Murphy is going by the illusion that if a guy picks on you, it’s not because he’s a jerk, it’s because he wants to be with you, another misconception he is letting his character buy into.


I keep wondering why I still watch this show. I have my reasons, of course. I still watch for the occasional glimpse at the show it used to be, just below its current surface. I watch for the passing glances between characters who used to be romantically involved and now sit across from each other and act like nothing ever happened. I watch for moments like the final ones of this week’s episode, with the group just having fun singing Florence + the Machine’s “Dog Days Are Over.” I watch because I still like the music, despite the generous and unnecessary use of AutoTune. Because a production hiatus is coming up after next week’s episode and the show has been renewed through the 2011-2012 season, I still have hope that one day it will be back to its former grace. I still have hope that Ryan Murphy will use this amazing platform he has to promote tolerance of everybody in a realistic fashion for high school students. In the meantime, a list of things that could be done to restore the show back to its original glory:
Resolve the Puck and Quinn storyline. Quinn Fabray and Noah Puckerman had a baby in the season finale. They flirted through the first thirteen episodes and were barely shown during the back nine, but when they had their moments, it was always for a good reason. As they stood watching their daughter sleep before giving her up for adoption, he confessed his love for her. They shared many loving glances in the final moments of the finale. Since then, they have not been shown speaking, only looking at each other once. Their story is incomplete, and after having a child together at sixteen they should have at least one conversation.
Let the characters see some type of development. Last year, all of the characters went through some pretty dramatic changes. Rachel became less selfish, Quinn became more understanding and maternal and Finn Hudson learned to love again after Quinn cheated on him with Puck, his best friend. All of the progress that all of the glee members made was forgotten as the season was written. Quinn is back to being a catty cheerleader, Rachel is unbearable and Finn is not exactly the most loving boyfriend in the world. These are young adults. Change is not something you can hide from. They’re growing up, and they should be shown maturing.
Enough with the guest stars. With an ensemble cast, it’s hard enough to get face time. With a never-ending parade of guest stars, it’s even harder. With Darren Criss immediately being promoted to series regular, Chord Overstreet approaching regular status and Harry Shum Jr. being promoted at the end of the season, either some of the characters have to start graduating early or the guests need to stop hogging up the hour.


Share the love during solos. Lea Michele (Rachel) has been featured in fifteen numbers out of the fifty performed in the last nine episodes. I love her voice as much as the next person, but Jenna Ushkowitz and Heather Morris have good voices as well. Naya Rivera and Amber Riley have each had their fair share of solos, but they could always do more. While Cory Monteith, Chord Overstreet and Chris Colfer have gotten the most singing time, male-wise, Mark Salling and Kevin McHale are pretty much going unused, and Harry Shum Jr has never really been given a proper opportunity to show off his voice.
Focus on the kids, not just the teacher. Matthew Morrison is incredibly talented, but he has been featured in all but two of the group numbers this season. He is also heavily featured interacting with most of the guest stars. This is supposed to be a television show about the students in glee club overcoming adversity and their underdog status, but it’s becoming more and more about Morrison’s overbearing, inappropriate, no-boundaries teacher every episode.