- Catch up on your Glee! You can read my “Music in Glee” mini review for episode 4 of season 3, “Pot O’ Gold” here.
Why is it always the Broadway-infused episodes of Glee that are simply the best? Everything about “The First Time” was as magical as Damian McGinty’s Rory the leprechaun in “Pot O’ Gold”. The episode was jam-packed with music and multiple character plots, and yet somehow escaped the common Glee tragedy of being rushed.
The episode’s biggest strength was choosing to weave snippets from the kids’ production of West Side Story throughout the scenes. It really worked well to showcase the musical and the separate sex plot lines with Finchel and Klaine. I just loved it. My particular favorite was “A Boy Like That” cut to Sebastian’s li’l chat with Blaine.
“America” was a definite standout performance too. I love big Glee numbers that feature a bunch of characters, so I really enjoyed watching Santana (Naya Rivera), Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz), Puck (Mark Salling), and Mike (Harry Shum, Jr.) team up for this one (accents!). Oh and Rory. Can’t forget Rory (Damian McGinty).
And of course, “One Hand One Heart”, the climactic moment for the episode (I didn’t intend this pun, I swear), really made all the difference in how the love scenes were portrayed. They were so tastefully done I don’t know if we can even call them love scenes, but the song plus the scenes captured Rachel and Finn’s, and Kurt and Blaine’s, first times to perfection. I can’t imagine any Gleeks being disappointed. I know I wasn’t.
What did you love most about the music? Think we should have seen more of West Side Story than we did? (And on a non-music-related note, what did you guys think of Grant Gustin’s new character, Sebastian?) I want to hear your thoughts in the comments!
Your ears itching to give these songs another listen? Head on over to Glee The Music to hear your favorites from episode 5 of season 3, “The First Time” again.
And a big thank-you to Wetpaint Entertainment for compiling all the performance videos in one place!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Great review, Tanya – the music in this episode was DEFINITELY fabulous. All the West Side Story songs were wonderful, especially “America”. And what did you think of “Uptown Girl”? I thought it was fun, although a bit unnecessary. Not that I totally minded though, ’cause I love the Warblers too much!
Thanks, Suzie! I was actually thinking about doing another post for “Uptown Girl” because I kind of
geekedGleeked out over it, ha – though I’m with you, was kind of random and unnecessary. I’m already a big fan of Sebastian, I hope we get to hear Grant Gustin’s voice more in the future.I did not like that character but i think he will help in the story’s going about Kurt and Blaine’s relationship. They will break up because of Seb. than the Krawsky will come back school, join the Glee club when Kurt is alone. So there will be an another love story. Maybe it can happen like that, I DONT WANT THIS
)