Glee: Yes/No Review (5/5)

A brilliantly engaging and emotional start to what should be a brilliant return run for the musical drama!
Contrary to popular belief of its often rancid covers and stereotypical American school drama, I have always seen Glee's greatest strength as lieing with its emotional character arcs and the way in which real life situations can so quickly be shaped by the things we say and do. Yes/No, the new run's premiere, represents this oft heartwarming comedy reaching a brilliant height the likes of which the show has only aspired to in the past. The story followed Will's proposal to Emma, Finn deciding to enrol for the Armed Forces before discovering some dark secrets about his father and making an equally life-changing choice regarding his relationship with Rachel, and Artie's awkward new romance with Becky (her frame-of-mind brought to the forefront in a wonderful lispy voiceover by Dame Helen Mirren), three seemingly vital components in this season's arc that all came to absolute fruition over the course of the hour. What came as the biggest surprise was just how well the various songs- Summer Nights, Moves Like Jagger, Without You and We Found Love all fell under the radar this week- were integrated into the storyline of the episode, feeling a lot less out of place than recent endeavours and mishaps and thus adding a genuine sense of continuity and consistency to the entire piece. Better yet, the performances from Matthew Morrison (Will), Jamya Mays (Emma), Jane Lynch (Sue) and Dot-Marie Jones (Beiste) were completely spot on, and Lea Michele and Cory Moneith did superbly in their portrayals of Rachel and Finn as their characters' relationship hit an all new streak altogether. Part of the flexibility and occassional limits of Glee as a TV programme comes with its constant need to innovate and change in order to keep the audience's attention- however, I think with Yes/No the writers have finally found the perfect balance of laughs, shocks and musical renditions to make for as much of an accessible drama as the show is a comedy. Yep, Glee is back and here to stay, and based on this stunning opener, fans like myself won't want it any other way.