Glee: Six ways to fix it in Season 3

Last night Glee wrapped its rollercoaster of a second season on E4 as we watched (spoiler alert) New Directions take on the Big Apple, dance through Central Park and sing music from Lady and the Tramp. We even had the seed of a potential New York spin-off with Rachel, Finn, Kurt and Blaine planted. Most significantly, our favourite glee club didn’t even place in the top 10 at Nationals.

Looking back at the past season, I truly believe Glee is doing the kind of social commentary that’s really making people talk and driving change, so sometimes they’re entitled to a free pass for certain conditions (I also think cancellation would be premature and a waste of phenomenal potential). However, in the hope the Glee team will be brainstorming in a board room somewhere due to falling ratings and a season widely considered as inconsistent, here are some things they may want to think about:

1) Rethink Sue: Jane Lynch’s Sue Sylvester was a sharp-tongued highlight of the first season, with some of the best writing reserved for her hair-themed insults at Will Schuester and various ploys. We adore her at her most manipulative, but “destroying the glee club” is a motive that is no longer relevant nor believable. How about giving her a new foe to conquer, or using her quick wit on behalf of the glee club instead of against them?

2) Keep them as underdogs: Was I alone in being relieved to see our beloved misfits losing Nationals? The series is at its strongest when the characters are overcoming hardships, playing the underdogs and standing up to bullies. Sometimes making them suffer is the most rewarding strategy in the long run (after all, wasn’t the excellent Max Adler’s tortured closeted bully Dave Karofsky the best thing about season 2?).

3) Stop Will Schuester from being a total tool. And work on Lauren Zizes while you’re at it: Let’s face it: Will has become a redundant robot of a character. Aside from emphasising the week’s already hammered-home theme and going on questionable romantic forays, his dire sideplots have become a prime target for fastforwarding. Similarly, while I applaud a larger woman on TV who is empowered, too often Lauren veered into downright bitchy territory that made me root against her. Both need to be given their own substantial storylines that humanise them as opposed to transforming them into weepy and aggressive caricatures respectively.

4) Don’t indulge the ‘shippers’: Joss Whedon once said the secret to great television storytelling is to “give your audience what they need, not what they want”. Finnchel, though a popular pairing, is rapidly losing steam because it’s being overindulged. Take a note from the Kurt/Blaine pairing, where the relationship build-up and timing were perfect. Let’s hope a similar restrained path will be taken by Brittany/Santana and Sam/Mercedes.

5) Supporting characters > guest stars: Hands up – who was sick of Gwyneth Paltrow by her third episode outing? Easily my least favourite episodes were those subconsciously screaming “Look! Shiny famous guest star!” The development of woefully underused supporting characters with plenty of story to tell – Mercedes, Tina, Artie, Coach Beiste – has taken a huge blow as a result of the guest star circus. This time around, say no to the guest stars and yes to more screen time for supporting players.

6) Make the music show-stopping: My butt’s only going to go over to iTunes and hit download if you’re offering me something musically superb – think innovative mash-ups and song arrangements that make you listen to a stale song afresh. If you offer carbon copy covers, we might as well listen to the original. Also I’d love to see more creativity for their original songs beyond ‘marketable’ bubblegum pop and ‘heart-wrenching’ ballads.

What would you suggest Glee needs to fix? Tell us in the comments!

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