TV: Glee - 3.02 I Am Unicorn (Review)

Episode: 3.01 "I Am Unicorn"
Network: Fox
Airdate: September 27, 2011
Writer: Ryan Murphy
Director: Brad Falchuk
Description: New Directions faces a shake up when Shelby Corcoran comes to McKinley High and Rachel has to deal with the return of her biological mother. Meanwhile, Kurt starts his run for class president with the special help of Brittany.

The ramifications from Will Schuester's (Matthew Morrison) decision to deny Sugar Motta a spot in the glee club last week show up immediately in this episode when Will runs into former Vocal Adrenaline glee coach Shelby Corcoran in the staff room and finds out that Sugar's rich father gave McKinley High a blank check to have a glee club that would take his daughter.

Sue Sylvester's (Jane Lynch) campaign against the arts finds a face in the scared and confused Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron). Unfortunately for Sue - but luckily for Quinn - her convincing Quinn to portray her sob story as the fallout from participating in the arts leads to frank conversations with Mr. Schuester and Shelby, who adopted Quinn's baby Beth at the end of season 1. Along with the visibly maturing Puck, Quinn seems to come around and makes an effort, but her words to Puck suggest she is pretending in an attempt to get her daughter back.

Mr. Schue has the glee club's less able dancers attend a "Booty Camp" to improve their dancing. Mike Chang helps teach the sessions with the likes of Kurt, Mercedes, Blaine attending but the focus is on Finn and his lack of dance moves.

Kurt Hummel gets some advice for his campaign from Brittany to embrace who he is and be a unicorn but his early disagreements with her ideas leads Brittany to decide to run for herself instead of helping Kurt run.

The school musical begins auditioning with Coach Beiste, guidance counselor Emma Pilsbury and glee club member Artie Abrams running it while Mr. Schue focuses on Nationals. Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) auditions for Maria and seems to be the early favorite but Kurt's audition for Tony did not seem to go over well and Blaine's (Darren Criss) audition for a lesser role wowed the judges enough for them to ask him to try for Tony.

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It was great to see Finn get some character development, at times it feels like he gets shafted to the side for other characters despite being the lead of New Directions. The conversation with Rachel in the auto shop was great to get both of their perspectives on the future and Rachel continuing to try to push Finn to fill out his potential. Then to see him persevere in the "Booty Camp" and adequately perform the steps was a nice top off for him in the episode.

Something that is going relatively under the radar is that despite being co-captain of the Cheerios and being kicked off of New Directions, Santana has been a lot less bitchy and insulting overall and more of a supportive friend to Brittany. It also looks like the beard relationship with Karofsky is over since he has been nonexistent this year.

And my favorite part of the school musical is that it gives some of my favorite GLEE characters screen time. I am talking about Coach Beiste, Emma and Blaine. Also if the casting goes the way the episode hints I will not be adverse to seeing some more Rachel/Blaine interaction after absolutely loving that episode last season where Rachel crushed on him.

While there were those that disliked GLEE season 2 for the move to more produced performances away from the character songs that were heavy in season 1, I enjoyed those times like the "Singing in the Rain" bit with Gwenyth Paltrow or the Britney Spears episode and I am hoping there will still be some of that this season and less of Kurt moving around on a metal scaffold.

I am worried about the direction Quinn's character is going, every season it has felt like there is a goodness to her that gets ignored for the more vindictive, selfish, catty version. In season 1 it was cheating on Finn and the baby fiasco with Terri. Season 2 was cheating on Sam and trying to keep Finn and Rachel apart. Now in season 3 it looks like she is going after Beth without any regard for what's best for her or the baby, something I refuse to believe Quinn is all about.

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Assuming Quinn is accepted back into New Directions, that leaves two spots open in the glee club that needs to be filled. Will Santana be far behind? And what of Sugar Motta? She seems to be a constant presence for someone not in the glee club, will she eventually find her way into that last spot? All yet to be answered questions and I expect Mercedes will be auditioning as well for Maria and how will Kurt and Blaine's relationship be affected by the musical? Plenty of fun left to be had this season without focusing on Quinn's less than positive motives.

TV: Glee - 3.01 The Purple Piano Project (Review)

Episode: 3.01 "The Purple Piano Project"
Network: Fox
Airdate: September 20, 2011
Writer: Brad Falchuk
Director: Eric Stoltz
Description: It's fall and that means back to school for the students and faculty at McKinley High. The New Directions clan returns after a devastating loss at Nationals, so Mr. Schuester assigns a project to get them back on track. Meanwhile, Sue Sylvester starts her congressional campaign.

For the premiere of season 3 of GLEE, change is the name of the game. The glee club is down three members: Trouty mouth Sam moved away, Lauren Zizes quit and broke up with Puck, and no one had heard from Quinn for months. Mercedes has a new boyfriend and Mr. Schuester (Matthew Morrison) is now living together with Emma. Then Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron) shows up at school with new hair (pink!), a nose ring, a new tattoo (of Ryan Seacrest), a new attitude and a new group of friends called The Skanks.

Yet with all this change, some things stay the same. Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) needed a hook for her struggling campaign and found it after destroying a purple piano and getting praise from a fellow teacher, the arts in schools must die! And just like that Sue vs Will round three begins.

Sue makes Becky and Santana co-captains of the Cheerios and starts to drive a wedge between Santana and the glee club that quickly becomes a chasm when Mr. Schue blames Santana for the purple piano bursting into flames thanks to the Cheerios and bans her from New Directions.

Kurt and Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) begin the journey to their Broadway dreams by going to a mixer for NYADA (New York Academy of Dramatic Arts) and get a shock to their system by the performances of the other attendees. After a good cry in the car, this leads them to look towards expanding their horizons, with Kurt deciding to run for school president and Rachel seeking to star in the next school musical.

And the drive for new members starts with Mr. Schue's idea of planting three purple pianos throughout the school and directing the glee club to burst into song when they come upon one of these pianos with the hopes that these performances would help attract the type of person that cannot help but sing.

Last season their attempts attracted the interest of Sam and Sunshine (who Rachel drove away by directing her to a crack house), but this year the New Directions was not as lucky only getting one audition by the girl that cannot sing a tune, Sugar Motta. However, the newly transfered Blaine Anderson (Darren Criss) joins by the end of the episode.

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The songs are still the highlights of GLEE and the episode makes good use of the entire school with New Directions performing "We Got the Beat" in the school cafeteria, Kurt and Rachel performing "Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead!" in the auditorium and Blaine's solo of "It's Not Unusual" in the courtyard. Throw in a mash-up of "Anything Goes" and "Anything You Can Do" at the NYADA mixer and a Rachel Berry-led "You Can't Stop the Beat" to cap off the episode and GLEE has itself a great musical start to the new season.

Coming off a slightly subdued finish for Sue in season 2 it is nice to see the show get her back to what makes her so deliciously entertaining - trying to take down Will Schuester.

I was also worried that taking Blaine away from Dalton Academy and the Warblers would mean a diminishing role in musical performances but to get a solo right out of the shoot in season 3 gives a good sign for the rest of the season.

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I do wonder if the new assertive Will Schuester that showed up in this episode will be sticking around because it just did not feel right, at times it was like he was yelling and ordering around the glee club in a way that was reminiscent of the advice Jessie St. James gave last season when New Directions was heading to Nationals.

And what of Quinn? Mr. Schue's hard stance on Santana should carry to Quinn if she tries to rejoin the club right? It was her cigarette that finally put the purple piano ablaze.

Either way, it is clear that GLEE is hitting the ground running with season 3 and with the high bar the first two seasons set, that can only mean viewers are in for many more memorable moments this season.

TV: Smallville Finale Weds Its Past and Future (Review)

SMALLVILLE
10.21 "FINALE"
Aired May 13, 2011 at 8PM on the CW Network

If there has been an underrated part of "Smallville" during its ten year run, for me it would have to be the actor voiceovers that lead into the previous episode recaps and into the actual episode. Hearing "Last time on Smallville" or "And now the season premiere of Smallville" has been taken for granted over the years.

And now with the final season it was only apropos for the season premiere recap - the first vo of the season - to be voiced by Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack) and for the last vo - the finale lead-in, "And now the series finale of Smallville" to be voiced by Clark Kent (Tom Welling) as they are the two longest starring characters of the show that have been the "Smallville" standbys since the pilot in 2001.

Through its lifespan on first the WB for its first five seasons and then the last five seasons on CW after the WB and UPN channels merged, the show has been plagued with having it's air day shifted every few seasons further down the week (Seasons 1&2 on Tuesdays, 3&4 on Wednesdays, 5-8 on Thursdays and 9&10 on Fridays) and less than satisfactory advertisement and promotions for the show from the network. And the ratings have declined over the years as a result, but in the midst of the mess stayed a loyal group of fans that soon grew to love the show, its characters and its actors to even a higher degree than the intellectual property it was adapted from and previous incarnations of the Superman legend that had come before.

And in a sign of respect to a show that has been the network's flagship show for the last half of the decade as the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and 7th Heaven shows ended, CW decided to present the series finale of "Smallville" as an epic two-hour television event on May 13th with a rerun following next week on Thursday, May 19. A perfect way to close the doors on the "Smallville" universe and its unforgettable television run.

Returns have been a big theme for "Smallville" during this final season and the finale kept it going, even behind the camera. Director Greg Beeman, who had directed the show's first four season finales, episode 100 and had returned to direct Season 9's finale, was welcomed back to direct the last hour of the finale.

Also back for the two-hour finale were several cast fan favorites, including Jonathan Kent (John Schneider) who has been a shining part of the final season with multiple appearances playing both the spirit of Clark's fallen father as well as the alternate universe version of Jonathan Kent. His presence in the finale went hand in hand with viewers needing to suspend their disbelief but it was well worth the entertainment value of seeing the Kent family reunited and Martha Kent (Annette O'Toole) and Jonathan sharing the screen for the first time since Season 5.

There was also the presence of Lionel Luthor (John Glover) who made his return during the final season and like Jonathan, had multiple appearances that really magnified how much the show had missed the character. Of course because the Lionel of the main "Smallville" universe had been killed by Lex in Season 7, this Lionel was from an alternate universe and as a result was a much darker take on the character. He was only a small part of the finale's second hour and will probably be more remembered this season for his return episode - Luthor - and the climax episode dealing with Lex's clone - Scion.

Because Jonathan Kent had made his first return to "Smallville" back in the Season 10 premiere and Lionel Luthor followed a few episodes later, the more anticipated return for the finale was that of the elusive Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) who had not been truly seen since the Season 7 finale, because Lex's brief injured appearance during Season 8 was played by another actor. To have the original Lex back brought the show full circle in that the series at its core had always been the story of Clark Kent and Lex Luthor and their intertwined destinies. That scene between Lex and Clark in the shattered ruins of the Luthor Mansion was full of the onscreen chemistry they had always had and it was like it was still three years ago and they had not been apart for three years.

The show promised surprises and the epilogue of the finale did indeed bring that when Jimmy Olsen (Aaron Ashmore) popped up beside Lois Lane (Erica Durance) being played by the same actor that played his older brother, who was widely considered by fans of the show as the "true" Jimmy Olsen that was unduly robbed of that honor. It was indeed a wow moment that was a welcome nod to the fans appreciation of the actor and his time on "Smallville".

Quick Hits:

• Talking about the finale you can't leave out Tess Mercer (Cassidy Freeman) who has had some incredibly powerful scenes during this final season as viewers learned of her true heritage as a Luthor. She did not escape her long rumored demise but she did unleash one more action scene when she broke free from her restraints and killed the alternate universe Lionel Luthor. And the onscreen chemistry with Lex was amazing despite the fact that the scene was their first and only together, and it left viewers wanting more between the half-siblings that cared for each other despite the inevitable toll the curse of the Luthor name had on them.
  
• Despite the lack of her father and sister at the wedding, Lois Lane looked the part of blushing bride beautifully and stole the hearts of men everywhere during the first hour of the finale. And then true to her character, in the second half she found her way onto Air Force One and forced the government officials to listen to her pleas and still get her scoop with the president. A fitting end for this Lois Lane's story to end.
  
• The biggest anomaly of "Smallville" when it came to fitting into the bigger picture of the Superman mythos was the original character, Chloe Sullivan, who was such a central and integral character of the show that the fan upswell supporting her grew as rumors of her possible demise came to light during the last few seasons. In the end though, the show gave the fans of the character and actress what they wanted, a future. She did not die and was shown with her son in the finale's epilogue telling the adventure-craving young boy the story of Superman.
  
• The odd man out for this finale would have to be Oliver Queen (Justin Hartley), who honestly seemed to have been only as a supporting/fill-in role for the show in the last two seasons after flirting with the idea of him being a corporate mogul and interacting alongside Tess as the good side's instigator during Season 8. The final season teased the idea of doing something interesting and different with Oliver after he was marked by Darkseid, but that plot was wrapped up quickly during the first hour and then the problem of the Bow of Orion being destroyed was pretty much an afterthought as Oliver was able to dispose of Darkseid's three servants with ridiculous ease that did not make much sense outside of there not being anymore time left in the finale for a longer fight between the side characters.
  
• In the end this story has always been about the journey of Clark Kent (Tom Welling), from charming farm boy to inspiring hero and "Smallville" did a fantastic job in staying true to that path. There were ups and downs along the way but the final season was very much the show's way of crossing the t's and dotting the i's that would get Clark to the ultimate goal that was the finale. The battle with Darkseid was anticlimactic given the limitations of a CW television show budget, but they made the best of it with having Clark finally achieve the ability of conscious flight and while most of Superman's presence in the finale was through CG, the last shot of the finale being Clark's transformation on the Daily Planet roof revealing the shield underneath his dress shirt was definitely the right choice to finish the series with such an iconic shot.

It has been an amazing ten years with "Smallville" a consistent companion on television but like all good things the end is a welcome sight before the original spirit of the show begins to disappear, like had been feared over the last few seasons. There will be a noticeable void felt especially by the geek audience when September comes around and no new "Smallville" episodes appear. This show surpassed everyone's expectations and in the end established itself as this generation's Superman story and is entitled to claim its own piece of the Superman mythos forever.


Goodbye, Smallville. Thank you for the memories.

This brings the end to Smallville week here on GeekPlate. If you missed it, there were four Top 10 lists posted on GeekPlate during this last week featuring Smallville's best episodes, best superpower moments, best Clark saves and best kisses. Hope you have enjoyed looking back at some of the show's memorable moments over its ten year run and that the finale lived up to your expectations.