Glee was a television show that ran for six seasons from 2009-2015, and became a cultural phenomenon among young adults. "Gleeks" were out in full force to discuss how much they loved their show and each Glee Club member. The show was based in a world where a high school Glee Club was full of intensely talented students all working towards the goal of winning a National Championship. The group would experience many highs and lows as a team, but always grew closer as a Glee Club.
The show itself was created by successful showrunner Ryan Murphy, whose vision was to create a series that focused on equality and love. Undoubtedly, Glee left its mark on television, and was a true bright spot while being broadcast. The cast may have experienced some dark times behind the scenes, but they always came out happier and stronger on the other side. Glee was about finding happiness in being yourself, and was all about promoting positivity.
While there are so many bright spots about the show that can be discussed, there are also just as many things that cannot be ignored. For all its positives, there are some things on Glee that have never made any sense at all. Sometimes the show ignores all logic and reason for the sake of performances, but that is just not acceptable.
For a show to be taken seriously by everyone, it needs to be grounded in reality. Unfortunately, sometimes Glee forgot all about reality.
Here are 20 Things That Make No Sense About Glee.
Quinn Was Missing From Finn's Tribute Episode
Despite being each other's "first loves" in high-school, it seems that Quinn Fabray couldn't find time for an important date.
When the dedicated Finn Hudson memorial episode aired in October 2013, it was a heart-breaking time for Glee fans. Not only were they mourning the character's end, but also the real-life passing of actor Cory Monteith. The episode was filled with beautiful performances and memories of the fallen hero, but one thing continuously took the audience out of fully enjoying the tribute.
Quinn Fabray was not present at all in the episode, and no explanation was provided for her absence.
Fans of the show know the history between these two, so it made very little sense as to why she was not involved. Unfortunately, it's been several years and there is still no definitive explanation for her absence.
Finn Becomes Friends with Puck Again
Some actions are so against the "bro-code" that it would be possible to repair a relationship if some of the biggest rules were broken. Apparently, the Glee universe does not abide by these rules.
The main storyline of the first season circled around the love triangle between Finn, Quinn, and Puck. While Finn and Quinn seemed like a great couple at first, it was eventually revealed that Quinn had cheated on him with Puck and was pregnant with Puck's baby. When Finn realized this, he was understandably furious with them, and vowed that he was "done with" them.
So why did he eventually make up with both of them, and even considered Puck his best friend only a year later? It is hard to believe that Finn would forgive him so quickly, especially considering his transgression.
No One Complains About Sue
Sue Sylvester has done some very irresponsible things to her students. From outright bullying them to even physically assaulting them during her "outbursts," she is possibly one of the worst people to have working inside of a high school.
How did she remain employed for so long?
If a member of the school staff was well-known for assaulting students, it is very doubtful that she would still have a job. However, Sue remains employed at McKinley High School for much longer than she should. It is very unlikely that a parent would not complain about Sue's antics, yet viewers never see her get spoken to about her actions.
Perhaps her Cheerios credentials provide her immunity? Either way, it does not make sense for her to not have received any disciplinary action.
New Directions Get No Respect
Some of the performances that The New Directions have performed over the years are possibly some of the best show choir productions in history. If that is the case, then why are they not world famous in the Glee universe?
In a world where social media has the power to make wonderful performances go viral, The New Directions are still classified as unknown talent in Lima, Ohio. With incredible performances at their Sectional, Regional, and National competitions, it makes sense that someone would be recording it on their phone to post on YouTube. Yet, the students still struggle to find any performance work once they leave high school.
If anyone had thought to record and post at least one of their Journey performances, they would have received much more respect. Brittany does not even get recognized for "Fondue for Two"!
The School's Budget Cuts Don't Exist
When push comes to shove, school boards are forced to cut non-essential spending from a school's budget. Unfortunately, this usually impacts arts and extra-curricular activities first. This means that when it comes time to cut costs, The Glee Club would be one of the first on the list.
Will gets threatened that budget cuts will hurt his Glee Club throughout the series, yet there never seems to be a reduction in production value for any New Directions performances.
Costumes, lighting, and other various production items are always extravagant, especially in the later seasons of the show.
Running a Glee Club is not cheap, especially when they have tendency to do expensive performances, but their costs are never cut down.
Students Disappear All The Time
Later seasons of Glee saw multiple new students arrive as part of the group due to original cast members "graduating" from McKinley. Some of these new faces were very popular with fans, while others were not able to catch on. Regardless of their popularity, they each have one thing in common - they wound up disappearing from the show.
Students like Matt Rutherford, Rory Flanagan, Jake Puckerman, and Marley Rose end up disappearing from the show with little explanation. While it is plausible that students move away or relocate to a different school, it would make more sense if the show provided more of an explanation.
Unless their name was Blaine Anderson, new characters were less likely to stick around for too long.
Marley Stopped Being Poor
Speaking of new characters, season four introduced us to Marley Rose. Marley was positioned as a possible "new Rachel" for the club. Unfortunately, the show stopped making her a focal point towards the end of her run, which caused some confusion with her character.
Marley was introduced as coming from a low-income family, which caused her to be bullied frequently. This situation had previously been explored with Sam Evans, but Marley provided a different take on coming from a poor family. While this would have been very interesting to continue with, this part of Marley's life was forgotten about.
She wound up dressing and acting like all the other members of the group.
While it would be great if her family came upon money, it is more likely that the writers just forgot about this aspect.
No Wheelchair Accessibility
Most municipal legislations dictate that if a person requires any accommodations due to physical disabilities, those must be put into place. It seems that the Lima, Ohio school district missed this memo.
In the episode "Wheels", Artie struggles to get around the school due to the last of wheelchair accessibility. He is also unable to join his teammates on the bus to their competition because the school cannot afford a handicap-accessible bus for him. The question is, what kind of school would not make these commitments for their students?
It's very likely that McKinley would be under fire from human rights groups if they were not up to code with their accessibility standards.
Sugar Could Magically Sing Better
When Sugar Motta was introduced during season three of Glee, there were not many people pleased with the addition. The Huffington Post even named her as one of the worst new characters on television that year. Sugar's mean personality combined with her inability to carry a tune made her very unenjoyable to watch.
However, during her later episodes with the group, her more annoying qualities disappeared. Most evident was that Sugar could magically sing with the rest of the club without any issue. It was a miracle!
While she was spending time with some of the best singers in Ohio, it is unlikely that her poor singing voice would improve.
Perhaps if the storyline was presented that her rich father had paid for vocal surgery, fans would have accepted her more.
Random Back-Up Dancers
The main group of performers for The New Directions are the ones that are featured in the episodes each week. These are the performers that fans know by name and can easily spot during any performance. However, despite episodes only showcasing ten Glee Club members at a time, the group's performances often feature upwards of twenty people on stage during some numbers.
Who are these random people? Why have fans not been introduced to them? Why are they not at rehearsals? There are a lot of questions surrounding these unnamed performers, but the show never addressed them.
These phantom dancers are most evident during The Troubletones' performances. With that group only consisting of Mercedes, Santana, Brittany and Sugar, no one knows who all the other people in the background are!
No Practicing Competition Songs
Season one of Glee saw the team preparing for their first Regional competition. Included in their initial set list were the songs "And I'm Telling You", "Proud Mary", and "Don't Stop Believing". What do each of these songs have in common? The New Directions had previously performed them on prior episodes.
Following their first Regional competition, The Club never practices a song they perform at a competition again.
If a show-choir is competing with a song, doesn't it make sense that they would be rehearse it as a group beforehand? It does not appear that they do, as the planning and rehearsal process is never shown during any episode.
Given the fact that it took them three years to win a Nationals competition, perhaps they should have rehearsed their set list more often.
Mr. Schue's Teaching Abilities
Fans know Will Schuester as the man who winds up looking after the Glee Club in order restore it to its former glory. When he is not in the choir room, his day job is the Spanish teacher at McKinley High School. While Will clearly excels as a singer and dancer, the jury is still out on his teaching abilities.
On one hand, Will is seen as a very capable teacher who won the "Teacher of the Year" award during his previous years at McKinley. If he was not a good teacher, he would be working at the school. However, it is also shown in "The Spanish Teacher" in season three that students have complained about his teaching methods in the past.
Which is it? Is Mr. Schue a good teacher or not?
Wheelchair Football Players
Glee's messages about equality for everyone no matter their race, creed, or orientation changed the face of television forever. The positivity that Glee was trying to spread is nothing short of amazing. Ryan Murphy and his team should be very proud of themselves. However, there is one instance where their message of equality made no sense.
Artie Abrams is wheelchair-bound due to a childhood car accident. Thankfully, Artie has not let his disability stop him from living life to its fullest. However, that does not mean that any football program in the country would accept him onto their team.
The thought of a school board allowing a student in a wheelchair to join a contact sport is undeniably nonsensical.
The liability that the school would take on would be far too much, so it would never be considered.
Unpopular, Yet Attractive And Talented
The Glee cast is full of some of the most attractive and talented young talent currently out there. In the real world, some of them are considered heartthrobs and teen idols.
Television shows which show high schools have never been entirely realistic. Young adult shows have always featured very attractive people, as that is the nature of the business. However, it does seem odd that these attractive and very talented performers are so unpopular in their hometown.
Wouldn't the students who show promise of superstardom become some of the popular people in their school? Instead, we see these attractive people get bullied all throughout high school.
They Never Go To Class
Glee Club seems to be a very demanding extra-curricular activity. Between rehearsal, costume fittings, and booty camp, there is a lot to commit to.
Performing at a high level in front of large audiences with championships on the line is not an easy task. It requires dedication and commitment from each of the members of the team. This would normally be very difficult for students to do while balancing their school duties, it does not seem to bother any member of The New Directions.
While most high school students are most concerned about their grades, college applications and SATs, none of these concepts are widely discussed on Glee.
If the show was taking place in the real world, at least one of the students would have spent less time performing to focus on their grades.
Artie's Mechanical Legs
Speaking of Artie's disability, fans know that the actor Kevin McHale is actually an accomplished dancer. As seen during his rendition of "The Safety Dance", the actor has some moves!
However, due to being bound to a wheelchair in character, fans do not get to see this very often. Unless there was some magical solution to help him walk again?
During the episode "Extraordinary Merry Christmas", Artie is given a ReWalk, a device used for rehabilitation in hospitals. Artie is seen using this briefly at the end of the episode, and is very thankful for the $100,000 gift.
It is revealed in the next episode that the legs broke following his first use and they're never spoken of again.
Apparently miracles do not exist in the Glee world!
Rachel gets her own show way too quickly
One of the main story arcs on Glee is Rachel Berry's pursuit of stardom. Fans watch Rachel as she performs in high school all the way to her receiving a network television show titled That's So Rachel.
While fans have always wished Rachel nothing but the best, this all seemed a little unrealistic (even for Glee).
Considering that Rachel's acting resume only includes one show on Broadway, she would not have received a show named after her. Generally only established stars get shows named after themselves. For a network to take a chance on a completely unknown actress in this way is a poor business decision.
Ultimately, Rachel's pilot bombs and she leaves Los Angeles - perhaps the studio should have seen this coming!
Quinn is Magically Healed
One of Glee's jobs as a television show is to give hope to its fans. As the show progressed, fans were able to see their favorite character triumph in the face of adversity. Whether it was The Club finally winning at Nationals, or seeing Rachel receive her Tony award, it gave fans hope. While this is great for most instances, Ryan Murphy does need to stay grounded in the real world.
Season three of the show saw Quinn Fabray have a car accident which resulted her needing a wheelchair. Quinn's injury included a severely compressed spine, which took away her leg function. Spinal cord injuries do not miraculously heal over night, and are a very long process. Unless you are Quinn Fabray, of course.
Quinn's injury was fully healed enough for her to dance to perfection during the upcoming Nationals competition, which was only weeks removed from her injury. Lima, Ohio must have some incredible physical therapy programs!
Don't Other Students Get Annoyed?
As mentioned previously, Glee spends most of its time dedicated to the members while they are in the choir room, and very little time inside the classroom. Despite this, the fact remains that class is still in session for all the other students.
This does not seem to stop the New Directions members from treating McKinley like it is their own personal stage. The Glee Club members are not shy about performing around the halls, cafeteria or in classrooms.
On more than one occasion, a class has been interrupted for a performance of a Glee Club member.
The real question is - don't the other students get annoyed at this? Presumably they are trying to learn while in school, and they keep getting interrupted by everyone's singing. Imagine if this happened during the SATs!
Teachers Get Too Close To Students
The relationships between the students and staff at McKinley High School is one of the bright spots of the show. The father-son dynamic between Finn and Mr. Schue was incredibly genuine, and made for great television. While on the surface these relationships pleased the fans, it stands to reason that not every character would have been pleased about them.
Why did Mr. Schue sing "Blurred Lines" with his students?
Given some of the context where the students and staff were together - such as when Mr. Schue wandered into Finn's shower to hear him sing - if any parents were to hear about it, they would have been upset.
Not everyone is entirely comfortable with teachers and students being very close. However, this is never addressed on the show, and fans are left to believe that everything is fine.
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What else doesn't make sense about Glee? Let us know in the comments!
