What the Gleek?

You know how sometimes you ruin a good thing by over-anticipating it so much that there's no way it can possibly live up to your expectations?  Sorry Glee Season Three premiere.  Wah-waaaahh.

I love Glee!  Don't get me wrong.  I'm a total Gleek and posed for the above picture while awaiting last night's premiere.  I studiously rewatched the entire first and second seasons on DVD over the summer in preparation.  But, then last night happened.  I'm still a fan and happy it's back.  I just have a few complaints:

• Too much change too soon - I'm sure alot happened in Gleetown over summer vacation, but I feel like I've been thrown into a bottomless pit of new information and I'm still falling.  They tore apart the two most intriguing couplings of last season.  I was so excited to see how the Sam/Mercedes (Samedes?) thing played out.  Over.  Dunzo.  Dating-timid Mercedes is suddenly confident and womanly with her new football player boyfriend.  They never even explained the Sam/Mercedes relationship. They just dangled it in our faces in last season's end and then snatched it away!  And, Puck and Lauren Zises.  She just quits the gang?!  Is she even still on the show?  Waaahhh... Santana and Britney are Cheerios again.  (And, Santana's kicked out of Glee club.)  Blaine leaves the Warblers and joins New Directions.  Emma's suddenly waking up at Will's house. Quinn's now a "freak"/"burnout"/"misfit"/choose your own discriminatory label. Rachel's now nice. Finn... was Finn even on? I know I saw him somewhere. I don't think I saw Sam though. (I think Sam's off somewhere suction-cupped to the mouth of Emma Roberts.)  This is very reminiscent of when the Brady Bunch kids lampooned Sherwood Schwartz with all of their ridiculous ideas and demands as a bargaining strategy and ruined the show for good.  I can picture it now.  Mercedes: "I want a MAN or I don't go on.  And, not some itty bitty Beiber-headed boy... a real man!"  Kurt: "I want to hold hands with Blaine in the choir room. How come Blaine never gets to visit the choir room?"  Britney: "I really wanted to start wearing street clothes on the show, but those big hats you keep putting me in are hurting my brain.  Can I just go back to wearing the cheerleading skirt?"  (And, speaking of street clothes... What's with Blaine's?  I understand the look they're going for.  I just can't endorse it.)  It seems like everyone is getting their way, but the audience.  My head is spinning.  Somebody bring me the smelling salts.
• Too many new characters introductions for one night - I did not catch one name of theirs either.  Mercedes' boyfriend (was he one of the football players who was once throwing Slushees in her face?  I couldn't tell with their faces macked up against one another through the whole episode.)  The "Aspergers Girl", whom I'm very disappointed in the obviously uneducated view this character casted on the disorder.  The character would have actually worked and fit in with the show without the Asperger's label.  Is it too late to fix this?  Quinn's new friends.  Too many to keep track of, but I think there were three.  More on that in a minute.  And, what do her parents think of this new crowd she's hanging out with and her Ryan Seacrest tramp stamp?  No one seems to have parents anymore.  I guess there's not room in the budget for them with all of the NYADA mixees on the pay role now.
• The impending doom - They didn't waste two minutes before clarifying who was a senior and who was a junior.  This in an obviously attempt to cover up Ryan Murphy jabber jaws that have already revealed that the seniors will be graduating off of the show by next season.  Now we officially know who's on the chopping block.  (Bye bye "Other Asian".)
• Something was just... off - The production value seemed to take a dip this season.  Maybe they spent too much of the budget on all of these additional characters they're suffrocating us with.  The colors weren't as lively.  The lighting not as bright (Maybe they switched to energy efficient bulbs?)  The sets and wardrobes were kinda blah.  The writing seemed forced and the dialogue not as snappy.  Too many musical numbers being crammed together.  They seemed lazily choreographed and missing a bit of spark.  I did have a flu shot yesterday.  Maybe I need to rewatch it and decide again.  Maybe my vision was hazy.  Or maybe Ryan Murphy took the best of his crew onto his newer producing endeavors.

There was good though last night too.  I did  like:

• Quinn's new hair - I'm hoping this new clique of hers transitions into a Runaways type rock group. They have to keep the music in Quinn.   If not Runaways, at least can you give us a Josie and the Pussycats out of this?
• The first appearance by a Glee Project contestant - Yeah, it was just Lindsay.  (Check out my Glee Project post for my opinion on her.)  But, it was exciting nonetheless.  They created a believable role for her. (If you missed it, she was the girl singing and dancing in the red beret at the NYADA mixer.)  I'm a little bit crushed that her character didn't turn out to be the one I had dreamed up for her: the Disney freak.  Every glee club needs its Disney freak.  (Or, at least, every American Idol top twenty does.)  You know... the girl who only wants to sing "Part of your World", "Colors of the Wind" or any other Disney princess theme.  I could picture her in the choir room with a different colored silk ribbon in her hair every day.  Oh well.  I guess NYADA girl with the red beret will do.  I can't wait to see what they cook up for Alex, Samuel and Damian! (I actually thought one of the girl's in the Quinn's new "skank" posse was Alex in drag for a minute there.  Oops. My bad!)
• The blantant buildup for a Kurt and Rachel spinoff - Ryan's already alluded to it and I really can see it all now.  They'd be perfect for their own Making-it-in-New-York sitcom.  Like Extras, but on Broadway.
• Will and Emma - I always wanted them to end up together, no matter how much Terry, the first gym teacher, John Stamos and Gwyneth Paltrow got in the way.  But, I also feel robbed that we missed something.  They were back to being best of friends and then something happened over the summer which led to her waking up in is house every morning and them packing each other's lunch boxes.  Are they living together now?  Yes, it's been two whole seasons, but it still somehow feels like too much too soon. 
• That's all I can think of for now...

Well, I'm still excited to see where all of this goes.  And, I'm counting down the days until our other Glee Project finalists show up in the halls of McKinley High.  I just feel like I've been left out on alot of what happened over the summer. Let's just cross our fingers for a couple flashback episodes coming up to show us what we've missed!

(And, one last critique.  Would Sue Sylvester ever really wear a purple track suit?  I know... they were trying to match the purple piano theme.  But, Sue is opposed to the music program.  She's not going to play matchy-matchy with it!  Wherever it is that Ryan Murphy took his best writers, I have a feeling their costume designer followed right behind.  There.  I've said my peace.  Phew.)