Glee: The Break Up Review

Our verdict on Glee's most heartbreaking outing yet..
As you may have noticed, I haven't been conducting regular reviews of the fourth season of Glee as I have done with its predecessors in previous years- instead, I'll be focusing on intermittently rating the big 'event' episodes of the latest series, as I think it'll be those verdicts which prove of the most interest to fans, and indeed perhaps persuade newcomers just to look the episodes up online and give their own thoughts. Here we are, then, at what is undoubtedly Glee's most emotional episode so far, The Break Up.

It's safe to say that when the show's dabbled with relationship commencement and conclusion in the past, the results have been mixed to say the least. In reality, often the writers of Glee have just failed to do justice to the big moment. Not this week, though- nope, this time around, the production team have done complete justice to the angst of teenage romance, dealing with long-distance college relationships, the strains of separation, adult loyalties and plenty of other meaningful issues. Listing them off to those of you who've yet to see the episode may sound odd in isolation, yet once you see the episode itself, you'll realise how perfectly iconic tracks such as Taylor Swift's Mine, Katy Perry's Teenage Dream and the incredible The Scientist (which is really worth a watch below) from Coldplay are integrated in what becomes a mature and deep narrative of growth and closure.

In many ways, it's surprising that the production team didn't use this as a mid-season finale, as fans returning to the show next week after The Break Up are only going to have had to wait seven days to discover what's next for the New Directions. Indeed, it's testament to the creative vision of the team that they managed to 'break up' Rachel and Finn, Kurt and Blaine, Santanna and Britanny and Will and Emma in the course of one instalment, while handling other semi-apocalyptic and role-finding journeys for Marley and Finn respectively. Perhaps it's a sign of the times for Glee, indicating that admist the jolly musical antics and competitions for the New Directions, the programme will now thankfully start dealing with bigger and more impactful social and philisophical issues too (don't worry, though, I don't see the question "Why are we here?" being something the writers try and fail miserably to deal with anytime soon!).

Overall, Glee: The Break Up is by far the best episode the show has ever produced, setting an incredibly high precedent for the rest of the fourth season- my only hope is that this time around, in contrast to where other seasons have peaked then tailed off miserably, this insane raise in quality can be maintained to a large extent in the eighteen weeks of musical goodness ahead!
5/5