As season two limbers up for the 5-minute call, here are the best musical moments from S1...

Glee. It’s a series about music, so what better topic to write a top ten on than the usually (and inexplicably) well-polished musical numbers?

When the program first aired, the idea was that the performances would always fall within the context of a rehearsal, performance or totally within a character’s imagination, never straying into the realm of the typical musical, where people regularly break into elaborate choreography as a facet of the story’s fictional continuity where no one who isn’t part of the song bats an eye. For the most part, they kept to that notion, save episode eighteen’s “Rose’s Turn (Everything’s Comin' Up Kurt)” and a couple others warping the rules a bit. That being said, the show frequently breaks my suspension of disbelief and painfully bends its own internal regulations in service of a good number, as a few of the below will show.

Except for the last three, which ascend in preference, these come in no particular order...

Bohemian Rhapsody (1x22, 18:52)

Context: Vocal Adrenaline’s piece for the 2010 Regional competition.

Real or Imaginary: Totally real, apparently well rehearsed.

My Original Comments: “Vocal Adrenaline takes the stage to give a completely, surprisingly unabridged version “Bohemian Rhapsody.” This is intercut, both visually and aurally, with Quinn giving birth, surrounded by her mother, Mercedes and Puck. A song about a haunted man singing to his mother wherein he intimates he’d rather not have been born woven into a birth scene of an unwanted child works for me. Having Quinn wailing and hollering dialogue that mirrors the lyrics, followed by birth imagery in the choreography at the very moment the baby slips from Quinn’s (how to put this gently?) birth canal borders on inspired. The only thing stopping this sequence from being the best in the series is Jesse - I’m sorry, but he does not sing rock numbers that well; his voice is somewhat anemic when he tries to go for a throaty rock sound. He’s a competent singer, but some things are just not in his wheelhouse and Queen is certainly one of those things.”

Pros
- Dialogue in Quinn’s labor is juxtaposed against the lyrics.
- The choreography and performance are very proficient.
- Birth imagery in the choreography is intercut with Beth’s crowning.
- The opening positions of the performers directly reference the original music video.
- The guitarists all use coiled cords, ala Brian May.
- The stereo mix uses the hard pans of the original recording.
- They play the whole damn song, the only thing missing is the gong hit at the end, even though there’s a gong behind the drummer.

Cons
- Jesse’s voice is not suited to Queen.
- Particularly bad over-enunciation in the lip-synching.
- Jesse’s pretty obviously not playing that piano.

Express Yourself (1x15, 9:48)

Context: The girls of Nude Erections have been feeling put-upon by the guys and use this song to convey their dissatisfaction.

Real or Imaginary: Hard to say. It appears to be real, segueing from a class discussion of Madonna into Rachel calling the girls out of their seats to sing the song. Word of God says the number took a month to put together, but within the show it cuts from in-class to an on-stage, fully completed number, which makes no logical sense at all.

My Original Comments: “This number was pretty damn good, with the girls in color-coded corsetry inspired by the song’s music video. Rachel even cedes some of the lead to Quinn and Mercedes (for a line apiece) and all the girls appear to be having a lot of fun mimicking the video’s dance, crotch-grabbing included. Of course, because the plot requires it, none of the guys (except Kurt) are impressed. You’d think Mike and Matt, the club’s best male dancers, who seem to exist only for that purpose, would get a kick out of it, but no, the plot is strong with this one.”

Pros:
- It’s costumed, choreographed and coiffed rather well.
- Very thematically appropriate for the scene.

Cons:
- The performance aspect is awkwardly shoehorned in, no matter how good it is.
- It’s obvious who the professional dancers in the cast are.

My Life Would Suck Without You (1x13, 1:30)

Context: The first “We love you, Mr. Schue” song.

Real or Imagined: Definitely real, but (like 98% of the show’s performances) with no discernable prep time.

New Comments: Following their unanimous win at Sectionals, the club performs an up-beat number for Will in appreciation of what he’s done for them in the past few months. It features callbacks to choreography from throughout the first batch of episodes, including “Hair,” “Proud Mary,” “Say a Little Prayer,” “Single Ladies,” and “Last Name.” Intercut with the performance is Will tracking down Emma, who has just resigned due to the fiasco involving her almost-marriage to Ken. It would have been a satisfactory open end to the show had it not been picked up for another two-and-a-half seasons. As it stands, the remainder of the season would do its level best to undo the warm, fuzzy feelings generated by this ending.

Pros:
- Well edited, with the slo-mo and the intercutting.
- A good ending with a well chosen song.
- Warm, fuzzy feelings are always welcome.

Cons:
- Somewhat sloppy execution of the choreography, but I’ll let it slide since I believe it is supposed to look kind of slapdash.

Don’t Stop Believin' (1x01, 44:00)

Context: The club’s first real organized number.

Real or Imagined: Certainly real.

New Comments: Following a failed battle to exist, Nude Erections decides not to go under without having performed at least one song, even if their coach has decided to quit to become an accountant. Without Will’s help, the club (with the help of the school’s jazz ensemble) assembles a first (and possibly last) number. At first, I was under the impression they were ignoring most of the lyrics, concentrating solely on the surface idea of holding on to your dreams in the face of almost certain failure, and in a way, they are. However, one of the show’s major themes is loneliness and the importance of human connection, which is also the point of the song at its most basic level.

Mixed in with the performance are shots of Will’s emotional reaction (mirrored at the end of the season by Sue witnessing “To Sir, with Love”); Sue, Quinn and Santana glowering; and Puck’s measuring assessment...

Pros:
- The quality of the number and the involuntary reaction to it is what sold the show.
- The questionable subject matter of the text enhances my personal enjoyment since I love a good transparent subtext.
- Could have been the last number of the show, as well as the club’s.
- The editing cemented roles of heroes, antagonists and in-between.
- Choreography isn’t perfect - in some cases, especially early on, it’s better that way.
- The series’ calling card and thematic touchstone.

Cons:
- None that matter.

Somebody to Love (1x05, 0:14)

Context: The last song of the club’s first public performance.

Real or Imagined: Definitely real.

New Comments: When I sat down to watch the show, I was giving it until the end of the fifth episode to grab me. So here I was, at that point, ready to give it up as a waste of five hours since nothing had really hooked me, when out of nowhere, the perfect song materialized. They say a show’s first five or six episodes each need to restate the show’s central conflicts and themes; well, here’s that concept in spades. You know, I don’t think I would have kept watching if this exact song hadn’t come on. Serendipity or malevolent design?

Pros:
- One of my favorite songs.
- Shores up my personal belief the show is about deeply miserable people in search of connection.
- Sold me on the series.
- It actually has real choral parts, not just singing back-up in harmony.

Cons:
- Finn’s singing is just generally not that good; his voice lacks any sort of power or projection, especially against Rachel.

You Keep Me Hangin On (1x07, 30:02)

Context: Quinn yearns to be free of Sue’s control over her, but doesn’t want to give up what relative power being head Cheerio gives her over the student body.

Real or Imaginary: Mostly imaginary - she breaks into the song immediately after a conversation with Rachel and sings as though no one would notice; but the number ends with her telling the Cheerios to take a break, signifying that at least the parts out on the field were real.

New Comments: Some reviewers/recappers/whatevers bag on Dianna Agron’s voice, but I like it. Some were pissy she sang this song specifically, but I have to wonder when the last time they heard the original was, since she sounds more like Diana Ross than Jesse sounds like Freddie Mercury and nobody seems to bat an eye but me.

This number has more complex choreography than most, making use of the skill the professional dancers who comprise the Cheerios bring to the table. The best dancing is always done by groups other than Nude Erections and this is one of the best dance numbers of the show.

Pros:
- Excellent choreography and performance.
- Brittana singing in the background as “the other two” Supremes.
- Fetish fuel cheerleader uniforms and gendertwist football outfits.

Cons:
- None come to mind.

Jump (1x12, 23:27)

Context: The group performs in a commercial for Mattress Land, a local business.

Real or Imaginary: This one’s kinda difficult to rationalize. It’s clearly real since it has a direct effect on the plot later in the episode, but there’s no way around the absurdity that they came up with this more-or-less on the spot, which strains credibility more than a lot.

New Comments: Trampolines disguised as mattresses and a poppy Van Halen tune - a combination for fun if there ever was one. Jumps and flips and bounces abound as the kids put on their best show faces and even manage to work Artie in without his wheelchair.

Pros:
- Most “gleeful” of all the numbers.
- An actual choral number, not just a Rachel solo.
- Innovative concept - jumping on mattresses, doing a commercial - not just on a stage or in the chorus room.

Cons:
- Very unrealistic timetable breaks my suspension of disbelief.

Journey Medley (1x22, 11:38)

Context: Nude Erections’ competition piece for Regionals.

Real or Imaginary: Really real.

My Original Comments: “Marking the longest an episode has gone without a musical number of some sort, the group performs ‘Faithfully’ before launching into a rousing mash-up of ‘Any Way You Want It’ and ‘Touchin' Lovin' Squeezin'.’ I was afraid they’d skip it in the interest of avoiding redundancy, but they finish out with an up-tempo high-energy rendition of ‘Don’t Stop Believin',’ which, if the show had a theme song, this would be it. Sure, it’s actually about two burned-out blue-collar strangers meeting in a bar and ‘sharing the night’ (if you catch my meaning), but college hasn’t happened to these kids yet, so the surface meaning will have to suffice in order to stay thematically appropriate.”

Pros:
- Just before he enters the auditorium, Finn declares his love to Rachel, leading into “Faithfully,” a high-emotion ballad about eternal devotion - just the thing high school students in what they think is love would sing with utmost conviction to each other.
- The balcony audience was made up of fan club members, not paid extras. In the programs they all received, Brittany still had no last name.
- The beginning of “Don’t Stop” was a call back to first episode.

Cons:
- Puck and Santana got a couple solo lines, but the whole thing was still mostly Rachel/Finn.

Like A Virgin (1x15, 26:50)

Context: Rachel, Finn and Emma are all simultaneously contemplating losing their virginity.

Real or Imaginary: It’s all in your mind, baby. Just relax...

My Original Thoughts: “Now, the three-way (or six-way) moment of truth, set to ‘Like a Virgin’ - which of the couples will actually do the deed? It’s another great number, featuring Santana’s first appearance in a costume other than her uniform. I’m not sure if it beats Zidler and the Duke in Moulin Rouge, but it was damn good. But just when it looks like they’ll all get lucky, it turns out the number was entirely in Emma, Finn and Rachel’s heads. Only Finn went through with it, though he’s completely unaffected by the experience since he really doesn’t even like Santana as a person.”

Pros:
- Imaginary not just for one character, but three.
- Very character-driven.
- Emma and Santana sing, very rare occurrences.
- The sound was engineered very very well, sliding between three duets along with the video editing, sometimes in the middle of a line.

Cons:
- Free of any such infection.

The Safety Dance (1x19, 24:21)

Context: Artie’s daydream in the mall. Not only can he walk, but he can dance.

Real or Imaginary: 100% in his head.

My Original Comments: “‘The Safety Dance’ is one of the dumbest songs ever recorded, but its inclusion here is inspired. After Artie rises from his chair, he sparks off a medium scale flash mob in one of the open spaces in the mall. Joined by Tina, Brittany, Kurt, Mercedes, Mikeandmatt and about thirty extras, we see one of Kevin McHale’s hitherto unrevealed talents: the man can definitely dance. The sheer exuberance of the ridiculous song and the combined cinematographic style of an early Michael Jackson video and phone-camera footage make a (literally) fantastic sequence that elevates the episode as a whole and pays off the plot-ascension of Artie/Tina in spades. Of course, it’s just a sweet daydream.”

New Comments: Aside from the obvious sadness of this being not only Artie’s greatest dream, it will never happen - it can’t. It’s uncharacteristically incisive that one of his principal preoccupations would be flash mobs, given the “U Can’t Touch This” display from episode seventeen and the show’s relative disregard for continuity. Of particular interest to me, though, is the line, “The night is young and so am I.” He is young and he’ll never get to do many of the things billions of us take for granted. Many, many people prefer not to dance or flat-out hate to, but at least we get the choice.

Pros:
- Artie dances - and he’s really good.
- It figures that Artie would fantasize about doing a flash mob.
- All club members except the top tier and Santana appear.
- First time we see Brittany’s everyday clothes.

Cons:
- I know not of what you speak.

Glee returns to Fox tomorrow night for season 2.

Glee - The Complete First Season DVD review