The season four premiere episode of “Glee” brought new characters, new songs and of course, new drama to fans.
Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) finds Cassandra July, her new dance instructor at the New York Academy of Theatrical Arts (NYATA), more than a bit brutal after receiving criticism about her dancing on the first day of class. At some point in the episode, Rachel is told that she “sucks.”
While some people think that this may have been a little bit much, it may have been just what Rachel needed.
Reality didn’t slap her in the face when she forgot the words to “Don’t Rain on My Parade” by Barbara Streisand at her NYATA audition, and she ended up getting another chance at it.
That taught her absolutely nothing, and while it’s understandable that “Glee” isn’t the most realistic television show on the air, it still can be irritating when Rachel gets everything she wants. Cassandra’s criticism may be just what Rachel needs to grow.
In this episode, the new Cheerios captain, Kitty (Becca Tobin), is introduced. She is snarky, pompous and possibly more antagonistic than Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron) at the series’ beginning.
Despite this, the glee club still hangs out with her and some of the football team to maintain their new popular status, which the club gained after winning national championships.
During the episode, Blaine Anderson (Darren Criss), Wade “Unique” Adams (Alex Newell), Tina Cohen-Change (Jenna Ushkoqitz) and Brittany Pierce (Heather Morris) perform “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepson in a “diva-off.”
The song was executed well despite each character trying to stand out above everybody else.
When the group is at lunch, a freshman introduces herself as Marley Rose (Melissa Benoist) and says that she’ll be auditioning for the glee club.
Later Marley hears Kitty, the football players and Artie, when pressured, making fun of one of the bigger lunch ladies who is revealed to be Marley’s mother.
Marley’s mom shows a desire for her daughter to be popular and doesn’t want Marley’s peers to know that she is the lunch lady’s daughter.
Marley seems to be a static character who won’t grow much, if at all throughout the series.
The same could have been said, though, for Rachel at the beginning of the series. Perhaps Marley will be the new Rachel.
Back in New York, Rachel meets Brody Weston (Dean Geyer), who may be a new potential love interest for her, despite her unhealthy obsession with ex-boyfriend Finn.
At her dance class the next day, Cassandra performs a mash-up of “Dance Again” by Jennifer Lopez and “Americano” by Lady Gaga to show Rachel her skill. Rachel confronts her about how mean she is, and then points out that Cassandra’s breath smells like alcohol.
The performance was surprisingly all right. It was the first time most people have ever heard Kate Hudson, the actress who plays Cassandra, sing.
It’s difficult to tell how much of the song was Auto-Tuned and how much was her real voice, but it still sounded good.
At auditions for the “New Directions,” a new character who only identifies himself as Jake performs a show-stopping rendition of “Never Say Never” by The Fray, but storms off when he is not allowed to finish.
The next decent audition is by Marley, who performs “New York State of Mind,” the same song Rachel sings when asked to perform in front of the class.
Marley’s rendition of the song was good, but matching it up with Rachel’s voice was not the best idea, as they didn’t match up vocally, and Rachel’s voice is also a lot stronger than Marley’s.
Blaine, seeing that boyfriend Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer) is ,miserable staying in Lima, Ohio convinces Kurt to go to New York City and sings “It’s Time” by Imagine Dragons. Kurt takes his advice and has his dad take him to the airport where they part for the first time.
Criss has often times shown what an excellent performer he can be, and this performance was no exception. It was nice to hear him sing something that has not reached the top 40 charts as well.
The show ends with Marley leading “Chasing Pavements” by Adele, with Jake looking in on them. It can be difficult to sing a song by Adele, put your own spin on in and sound good, but I think that the company did a wonderful job of it.
Overall, the season premiere was decent, considering some of the original cast members had to graduate. It’s difficult to say how much more Marley’s character can or will develop. It’s easy to see that at some point there will be a romantic connection between Rachel and Brody.
