Glee have had a disappointing summer. Their concert 3D movie which was supposed to be brilliant flopped majorly at the box office despite being a sell-out. And at the Emmy's (oh look, bring it back) they won two awards for Best Guest Star Gwyneth Paltrow (yes, with Kristen Chenoweth, they chose Paltrow) and Best Casting. But that's all fine, you say, as long as they have fans, right? Wrong my little munchkins, due to the extremely unsatisfying second series which saw too many guest stars, far too many loose tangents and a highly anti climatic series finale. Glee has kind of fell of it's pedestal from the first series and just like the plucky loser in the show, is willing to climb its way back up.
I'm taking series three and it is hitting are screens tomorrow at new home Sky 1. Series three picks off at the new school year, just after the major loss of Nationals. It's senior year for some such as Kurt and Rachel and its time to start thinking about their big dreams. But New Directions come back with just as many fans as they left with and even less band members. Sam has moved away, Lauren doesn't want to hurt her reputation and Quinn has come back all punked up and burnt out with a new gang called "The Skanks." It seems that its up to Will Schuester to bring them back with The Purple Piano Project; every time a student sees one they have to start playing no matter where it is. Yet with Sue back on the Glee Clubs trailer with her new political campaign and the only audition was an assault on people with ears, a National win seems less and less likely.
The new series feels like its back to the old style Glee originally captured us with. It's seemingly more dark but full of humor at the same time. It has striped away the cheesy gun hoe cliches it filled itself with in the previous series and thrown in as much depression as they can. Whilst this shouldn't work, it does bring it back to the fact Glee is an adult comedy and in this series it works better than ever. The acting is top form this year too from the disillusioned Rachel and Kurt to the sly quips from Sylvester; it feels that ever cast member wants this season to hit off with a bang. And remember The Glee Project? The first of the final four appears as Lindsey (you know, the one you fully wanted to strangle throughout the show?) has her two episodes of fame as a competitive musical theatre student. And the music is great too because there isn't any damn popular music that these kids are singing these days. It's all musical theatre and classic songs that make the group sound more like an actual Glee Club than they have ever done.
Of course, it isn't without its fault and Glee has taken a nose dive in US ratings. Trying to pick itself up from the shambolic Series Two is hard without reminding us about how badly it all went. There's the repetitive Emma and Will storyline as too if and when he will get laid as well as Finn and Rachel trying to be the brand new power up, again. And lets not forget that they harp on about being losers and that no one likes Glee Club more than ever this time. Glee is strained and needs a big boost from this to come back fighting strong.
It seems Glee has lost its star and isn't the budding new thing on the scene anymore. But it is still fighting and although it has lost fans, it is gaining well acclaimed criticism. It's not perfection or brilliance but it is fun and enjoyable to say the least. Certainly it will give people what they come to expect from Glee and the show feels like it's digging up its roots again. If the season premiere is anything to go by, it's going to be a great series and hopefully will live up to the expectations it promised us in the first season.
4/5
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Glee: Series 3 starts in the UK tonight 9pm SKY 1
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