Glee: The Complete Second Season – Blu-ray Review

The Series:

I know that I was not the only Gleek who was sad when Glee Season Three started; three new episodes were aired; and then reruns started up again. To keep my Glee momentum going, I decided to reminisce by popping my new copy of Glee Season Two on Blu-ray into my player.

The Season begins with Mr. Schuester (William Morrison) and the Glee Club kids back from their dismal showing at Sectionals. Wanting to secure a win at Sectionals this year, which would lead them to Nationals in New York City; the Glee Club sets off to find new recruits to join their motley crew.

A couple of notable changes this season are: Quinn (Dianna Agron) is now sans baby bump and is ready to regain her status as McKinley High’s queen bee and Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz) and Artie (Kevin McHale) are no longer as she has moved onto Mike Chang (Harry Shum Jr.) , the other Asian Glee kid and resident dancing machine. However, some things never change as Sue is still out to squash the Glee Club and the Glee Kids are still the butt of insults and recipients of Slushies to the face. The first episode helps set the stage for the rest of the season by introducing the viewers to two new characters: Sam (Chord Overstreet) – the “trouty” mouth, guitar player, with a haircut to rival Justin Bieber; and Sunshine Corazon (played by Filipina Pop Star and Actress Charice) – a pint sized foreign exchange student with a voice three times her size.

Like the previous season, Season Two is filled with various nods to pop culture icons like Britney Spears and The Rocky Horror Picture Show and covers classic and current hits such as “I Want to Hold Your Hand”, “P.Y.T (Pretty Young Thing), “Baby”, and “Born This Way”. In addition to the tunes, this season has an array of diverse issues the kids must deal with such as: religion, bullying, changing family dynamics, and death.

Season Two is also filled with a diverse group of guest starts ranging from; John Stamos playing, Carl the Dentist, Emma’s hot new boyfriend; Gwyneth Paltrow as, Holy Holliday, a free spirited substitute teacher that connects with the Glee kids and Mr. Schuester, and Carol Burnett, who plays Sue Sylvester’s Nazi Hunting mother.

While more serious and a tad less snarky than Season One; Season Two still has the infamous one-liners that Gleeks have all come to expect and love from the show. A few of my favorites are from Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) to Quinn, “I don’t want you anywhere near my squad! You’ll deafen them with the sound of your stretch marks rubbing together”; from Santana (Naya Rivera) during an exchange with McKinley High’s resident bully, “I have razor blades hidden in my hair. Tons. Just all up in there”; and from Kurt (Chris Colfer) about Sam, “He’s on team gay. No straight boy does his hair to look like Linda Evangelista circa 1983.”

Standout episodes this season for me are: Never Been Kissed, Original Song, Born This Way, and Funeral. All four of these episodes are chalked full of emotion, lessons, great songs, and humor.

While some critics have stated that Season Two focused too much on the music, I thought that the music added to the storylines by further explaining, deepening, and in some instances, lightening up the stories. Glee is a great show that deserves high praise, and props to Ian Brennan, Ryan Murphy, and Brad Falchuk for methodically creating a diverse cast of loveable characters that viewers can connect to each week.

So for all of you Gleeks, pick up Glee Season Two on DVD because I know Season One is lonely sitting on your shelf by itself and you will love reliving the songs, drama, and laughs once Season Three comes to end.

The Blu-ray:

The DVD’s audio came through loud and clear and the video looked fantastic. The vocals are crisp and clear and the video is superb as you are able to see every sparkling rhinestone and glitter speck used in each of the episodes. One item to note, the DVDs seemed slow to load, which I am still not sure if it was my Blu-ray player or the DVDs.

There are a host of Special Features on the DVD including: Stevie Nick Goes Glee; A Day in The Life of Brittany; The Making of the Rocky Horror Glee Show; Shooting Glee in New York City; Sue’s Quips; Santana Slams; Building Glee’s Auditorium with Cory Monteith; Exclusive Bonus Song – “Planet, Schmanet, Janet”; Getting Waxed with Jane Lynch; and The Wit of Brittany.

My personal favorites are:

·Glee Music Jukebox – This feature is on each disc. Basically, you choose what video you want to see from the menu. So if you loved “Get it Right” from the episode Original Song as much as I did; you no longer have to fast forward through the episode to hear Rachel Berry (Lea Michelle) belt it out. You also have the option select the shuffle feature and the disc will play all of the videos of different Glee songs.

·Guesting on Glee – If you want to get to know the guest stars from Season Two a little better, this feature has interviews with Katie Couric, Carol Burnett, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cheyenne Jackson, Charice, Kristin Chenoweth, John Stamos, and Jonathon Groff.

·Glee at Comic-Con 2010 – See some of the cast travel to San Diego to get up close and personal with the Gleek masses. For those of you that could not make it out to the “Con” or were like me and just did not have the patience to wait in line for hours and hours for the Glee panel; this special feature will show you what you missed, in a nutshell.

The Show Rating:

The Blu-ray Rating: