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TV Review: GLEE - SEASON ONE - 'Ballad' - iFMagazine.com Send to a friend
© 2009 Fox Finn (Cory Monteith) and Quinn (Dianna Agron) share a moment in the choir room in the GLEE "Ballad"

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TV Review: GLEE - SEASON ONE - 'Ballad'

Pregnancy-gate begins to impact all of the kids in Glee Club as well as Finn-Quinn's parents

Grade: C
Stars: Matthew Morrison, Lea Michelle, Dianna Agron, Cory Monteith, Kevin McHale, Jane Lynch
Release Date: Nov. 18, 2009

By EMERSON PARKER, Contributing Writer
Published 11/19/2009



 

 
While GLEE this week did a pretty good job of furthering the pregnancy storyline of Finn (Cory Monteith) and Quinn (Dianna Agron), it failed at one thing. Making me laugh.
 
Which is a bad thing considering that’s what this momedy (musical-comedy) is mostly about. Making the viewers laugh and giving them some decent music along the way. “Ballad” was disappointing consider the episode prior to this one, “Wheels,” was so damn enjoyable and funny. This was just way to serious and not all what the show has been about up until this point.
 
I guess they had to move the storyline along at some point and Finn and Quinn had to tell their parents at some point given Quinn’s ever-growing baby bump. But the obligatory parents freak out and disown Quinn was way too stereotypical of drama or bad sitcom. Instead, why not have the parents be disappointed but do what most parents would do, love her and support her and work through what is a very bad situation for both Finn and Quiin (even if Finn isn’t really the father). The disowning of her is completely ridiculous considering how loving they were to her not just one scene before.

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Meanwhile, the other plotline dealt with Rachael (Lea Michelle) falling in insta-love with Mr. Schuester (Matthew Morrison) after he sings a ballad with her and she sees him as a cute, mature, older man. Damn the fact he’s married. Schuester immediately goes into panic mode because this has happened before to a girl that fell for him and when he confronted her about it, ate a spicy pepper that caused mouth damage.
 
While this was OK, it wasn’t very funny and it came out of left field considering the adversarial relationship the two have had during the entire first season. It just didn’t make a lot of sense. And alright, the bit with Will’s wife, Terri (Jessalyn Gilsig), having Rachel clean their apartment because she can at least get something out of Will’s latest stalker was pretty funny.
 
Beyond revealing the pregnancy to the parents, this episode didn’t really do a lot for the series or for the progression of any other storylines – such as the first competition at Sectionals. It was almost a stand-alone episode that could have been on any run-of-the-mill drama or sitcom dealing with teen pregnancy. Or an after-school special. At this point in the series, they know how to make it funny and musically entertaining at the same time, so when it doesn’t happen it leaves you (or at least me) disappointed.


Reader Comments

Jayme from sez....
I found Wheels considerably less funny and more plot developing than Ballads. Really strange.
11/19/2009 3:21:54 PM

Melanie from Arkansas sez....
First of all, it's not fair to expect every episode to be funny all the time. Did you ever consider that the more serious tendencies of this episode are why last week's ep was more light-hearted? Lots of shows do that to keep an even keel. Disowning Quinn is NOT ridiculous. No matter how loving they were the scene before, did you not listen to Quinn talk about how they never talk things out in that house? Sadly, it happens quite often. And I think it would've been taking the easy way out to have them willing to work things out. I wouldn't be surprised if, later, they come around. That happens in real life, too. But overall, I think they made the right decision with Quinn and her parents story-wise. As far as Rachel goes...she's a teenage girl. And I completely saw where she was coming from on her crush, no matter what the previous relationship was. It's not like they hated each other before this. That's why it's called a crush, or infatuation. It comes quickly and, usually, goes away just as fast. I recall with perfect clarity having dozens of crushes in high school. And the way 'Pepper' explained it to Rachel made an enormous amount of sense. The only disappointment I had in the episode was Kurt trying to 'turn' Finn gay. I thought it was kind of trite, really. Kurt deserved better.
11/19/2009 2:00:07 PM

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