The TV Chick

Glee is back! And I don’t mean that it’s simply back on TV, but I firmly believe that the show is back to what I fell in love with. “Asian F” has a fantastic Mike Chang storyline, a Mercedes story that was good (but I think she deserves consistency, more on that later), and some really fantastic musical numbers. Oh, and they cast West Side Story! But I won’t be spoiling that for everyone. Seriously though, even though I think I enjoyed “I Am Unicorn” slightly more than “Asian F” (I’m sorry, nothing can beat Idina Menzel and Lea Michele singing “Somewhere”), Glee very clearly wants to get back to basics and win the doubters back. For the record, I never lost faith in the show, but I am very glad it is showing signs of greatness this season.

But back to “Asian F.” If you all are wondering what “Asian F” means, it’s when an Asian gets an A-. Kind of hilarious, I know. Mike Chang gets one of these Asian F’s and his dad thinks he needs to quit dancing and Glee Club to focus on his grades. Of course those are the two things that make him happy so he goes through an internal struggle. He ends up trying out for the role of Riff in West Side Story and his audition piece “Cool” is pretty good. Harry Shum Jr. is a decent singer, so while it wasn’t my favorite number, it was definitely a fun one. Mercedes’ big storyline is about auditioning for Maria in West Side Story. Her new boyfriend encourages her to be the star she deserves to be. I really enjoyed her performance of “Spotlight” as well as her audition pieces. But I wish they had continued her storylines through season one and season two. Because Mercedes deserves to have consistency. We touched on her insecurities with some great Quinn and Mercedes moments and her diva-like attitude but then it was sort of dropped. So while I enjoyed Mercedes coming into her own a little bit, I hope that the writers stick with her storyline. And I wrote this much without even mentioning Brittany’s awesome music/dance number of Beyonce’s hit song “Run The World (Girls).” It was pretty fantastic.

Another part of the episode which I really enjoyed was meeting Emma’s parents, who are ridiculous. Schue and the rest of the Glee Club sing “Fix You” by Coldplay at the end and it is heartbreaking, touching and amazing at the same time. It’s Glee at its finest — not a ton of theatrics, but a lot of talent. I don’t want to spoil too much more, but if you are one of those who maybe stopped watching Glee or lost faith, give tonight’s episode a try. Or if you already love the show, you will definitely love “Asian F.” Great music, story and focus on some characters that aren’t usually in the spotlight. (See what I did there?)

Be sure to tune in tonight at 8 PM to FOX for an all new episode of Glee!