TV Review: GLEE – Season 3 – “Pot O’Gold”

By CARL CORTEZ / Contributing Editor

Posted: November 2nd, 2011 / 08:44 AM

Stars: Dianna Agron, Chris Colfer, Darren Criss, Jane Lynch, Jayma Mays, Kevin McHale, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Heather Morris, Matthew Morrison, Amber Riley, Naya Rivera, Mark Salling, Harry Shum Jr., Jenna Ushkowitz
Writer: Ali Adler
Director: Adam Shankman
Network: Fox, airs Tuesday nights
Original Telecast: November 1, 2011

Dear GLEE:

After two seasons and four episodes of watching you trash a perfectly interesting and fallible character like Quinn (played by Dianna Agron), I’ve now determined you hate her – you hate her bad. And now I hate her too. Really bad.

This season you started her off on the wrong foot by making her go all punk and skanky, now you’ve turned into the evil incarnate – trying to set-up the foster mother to her child Beth so she can call social services and get her baby back.

Yes, Quinn has always been a few shades crazy and yes, she certainly was a little wonky in Season 1, but now that Mr. Schuester’s (Matthew Morrison) crazy wife (Jesalyn Gilsig) is no longer on the show, you must feel the need to give Quinn all of those insanely irrational storylines that you had left over.

The problem is, the moment that Quinn endangered her baby by getting social services into the mix, she completely jumped the shark as a character. So when she’s suddenly hopping up and down, smiling and dancing to “Last Friday Night,” all you can think about is what a TERRIBLE person she is and how much you can’t wait to see her character leave at the end of this year.

Don’t get me wrong – I like Agron as an actress and she’s handled the terrible plot turns and poor writing her character has been given from Day 1 like a pro. But there’s no coming back with the character after last night. She’s been ruined by the writers. Write her off the show and quick, because there’s no hope for redemption here.

That said, Quinn’s dislikable character traits are a reminder of how under-written all the women characters are on the show. They’re either bitches, skanks, whores or ultra-ambitious. The only female character who isn’t wholly damaged and actually has some self-esteem is Coach Beiste (Dot Jones). You may argue Emma (Jayma Mays) is likable, and I won’t disagree, but she’s been tossed into the inconsistency blender too (and made to be hyper-neurotic). And Tina (Jenna Uskhowitz) is actually an okay character, but she’s become a background character on the show with little to do any more.

I’ve got an idea, why don’t you have the Rubber Man from AMERICAN HORROR STORY come over and brutally kill Quinn – make her this generation’s Laura Palmer on the show. Sacrifice her, so she can go out with some kind of dignity.

Yeah, I know – it will never happen, but you can dream.

That said, “Pot O’Gold” is another one of GLEE’s torturously inconsistent episodes. Not only does Quinn cross a line, Puck (Mark Salling) does too when he gets a little too close for comfort with Shelby (Idina Menzel) – the adoptive mother of his child with Quinn and a teacher at the school.

We’re also introduced to a new character Rory Flanagan (played by THE GLEE PROJECT co-winner Damian McGinty He’s a Irish exchange student and has convinced Brittany (Heather Morris) that he’s a Leprechaun.

Ugh.

McGinty is quite likable, though the overly-thick accent is hard to decipher most of the time. It’s a bit mistake. Yet, when he sings, he’s got something different that show needs. I can see him sticking around (or at least for the seven episodes he’s contracted for), but I bet his accent gets more homogenized as his arc progresses.

The best subplot involves Kurt’s dad (Mike O’Malley). He’s outraged by Sue’s (Jane Lynch) debasement of school arts and her wholly wrong political ambitions to run for Congress that he decides to run against.

Good for him.

There’s some more lesbian affection between Brittany and Santana (Naya Rivera) and the two of them decide to join spoiled brat Mercedes (Amber Riley) in Shelby’s competing show choir. They’re all looking for a chance to shine as solo artists, so what song do they sing – “Candyman” where they harmonize and trade off on vocals. Hardly solo action – sorry.

While “Last Friday Night” should have been a great crowd please sung by Darren Criss’s Blaine – it was a bust (I miss the Warblers backing him up), it’s Salling’s amazing acoustic rendition of the Foreigner hit “I’ve Been Waiting For A Girl Like You” that packs the biggest emotional punch.

So this is what GLEE has come to – a sadly inconsistent series that still doesn’t know what to do with its characters. I thought “Asian F” was a turning point in the right direction, but, I guess not. It’s more of the same, and sadly, more of the same is not going to help GLEE to secure an effortless Season 4.

AGREE? DISAGREE? LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD – COMMENT BELOW

Click on Link: TV Review: GLEE – Season 3 – “Asian F”

Click on Link: TV Review: GLEE – Season 3 – “I Am Unicorn”

Click on Link: 10 Songs (or Themes) We’d Like to See GLEE tackle in Season 3

Click on Link: TV Review: GLEE – Season 3 premiere – “The Purple Piano Project”

Click on Link: Exclusive Interview with GLEE and GLEE PROJECT executive producer Dante Di Loreto

Click on Link: Exclusive Interview with GLEE and GLEE PROJECT choreographer Zach Woodlee

Click on link: The Scoop on AMERICAN HORROR STORY