'GLEE' 2.15 - "Sexy"

After almost two years, my regular reviews of Glee hereby come to an end. The show isn't the guilty pleasure it once was, and it's becoming a struggle trying to find different things to say about it every week. If anything interesting happens to the characters, or the plot takes an unexpected turn, everything's usually reversed or forgotten about within weeks. And that push-and-pull prevents me from caring about what happens to the glee club of McKinley High.

And in the case of this week's episode, "Sexy", even the return of guest-star Gwyneth Paltrow (who was fantastic in "The Substitute") couldn't enliven things. Her character Holly Holliday was written more like a human being this time (which was good), but Holly consequently lacked the livewire energy that characterized her last time. And none of Paltrow's songs could top the wonderful "Forget You" -- although I appreciated the reprise of her "hit it!" catchphrase, and a passionate tango set to Prince's "Kiss" with Mr Schue (Matthew Morrison) wasn't too bad. Naya Rivera was also great in a scene where her character Santana admitted her deep feelings for Brittany (Heather Morris), who likewise managed to find chinks of realism to an intentionally cartoonish character.

But beyond those highlights, this "safe-sex special" was just a less successful retread of episode 14's "alcohol special." I just spent my time wondering why Emma (Jayma Mays) always disappears for weeks on end, and why I keep forgetting she's married to John Stamos's dentist. Maybe because it's a stupid development that wasn't plausible or earned?

I'll still watch Glee every week (mainly for the funny one-liners, hit-and-miss music, and Jane Lynch's scene-stealing), maybe even reviewing a particularly good or bad episode that's worth highlighting, but it's not worth setting aside my time to review every single week now. And that's cool. It gives me more time to blog about something different, and I can focus on TV shows I have more to say about.

Sorry if this annoys anyone who's been following my Glee reviews from the start. I may have soldiered on if feedback had remained strong here, but the Glee appears to have lost its popularity in terms of comments. Maybe the Gleeks who flocked here last season don't appreciate my reviews turning less positive, now the novelty of its "musical-dramedy" format has worn off? But hey, if Glee decides to follow the Skins example and recast the entire show (as it's rumoured to), maybe there'll be enough freshness to resurrect weekly appraisals in season 3 or 4.

written by Brad Falchuk / directed by Ryan Murphy / 8 March 2011 / Fox