Gleek Forever
Sometimes I think about how Sue Sylvester spent seven seasons bullying literal children and we all just let it happen because she was funny. Other times I think about how the New Directions could not afford a bus to regionals, yet they could afford an entire wardrobe of Lady Gaga costumes the following week. And once in a while, I even catch myself wondering if I should throw a slushie in someone's face to solve a problem.
And that's okay.
Glee changed my life. I still find pieces of it engraved in my everyday humor. Sometimes I catch myself saying something so unhinged that I think to myself, “You sound just like Rachel.”
This show shaped so many things about me – not just my humor but also my view on the world. I often find myself comparing my life to Glee episodes or plotlines. Growing up, it always reminded me that life, for better or worse, is complicated, but that there is always a light (even when you may not be able to see it). It taught me that I am complicated, and there is nothing wrong with that. Now that I’m older, I see so much of myself in Rachel… her ambition, delusion, and being too much in the best and worst way. I get her.
The characters were so unhinged, but it was so familiar. They were dramatic, messy, sometimes too honest, sometimes not honest enough, insecure, talented, annoying, lovable – basically, everything we all were in high school. Rachel was delusional, but so am I. Don’t we all like to believe we are destined for something huge? Santana taught me what confidence looks like and proved that sarcasm and vulnerability can coexist. I still quote Brittany to this day, and Quinn was girlhood in a character. She was the first character I saw on a teen show who admitted that trying to be perfect is exhausting. Even the side characters had more personality than most shows give their leads. Glee made everyone matter. Even if they were only on screen for twenty seconds, they got a storyline, a joke, a song, something that made them feel real.
I also do not think we talk about the guest stars enough. I mean, what were these objectively ridiculous levels of talent doing dropping by a high school choir room in Ohio? Gwyneth Paltrow showed up as the iconic Holly Holiday. Britney Spears literally appeared as herself. Kristin Chenoweth steamrolled through multiple seasons as so many different things; an alcoholic, a 5th year high school student, and a broadway star, to name a few. And of course, Idina Menzel as Rachel’s mom was probably the best casting choice in television history. They do not make shows like this anymore.
Mercedes deserves her own chapter in my Glee deep dive. She was one of the only characters who felt grounded even when the episode was losing the plot. Her friendship with Kurt was one of the few things on Glee that was always stable and consistent. They weren’t competing or jealous. They were just two young people trying to figure out who they were. It was messy and supportive and honest, the kind of friendship we all deserve. And her relationship with Sam was criminally underrated. The show never fully gave that storyline the attention it deserved and I will die on that hill.
Talking about Glee without mentioning Finn feels impossible. Finn’s character was the glue of the show; the “regular guy” who was always trying to be on the right side of things. He was flawed in many ways, but he had so much heart and that truly counted for so much. When Cory Monteith died, it shifted the show forever. Even watching it now, it’s clear the moment the tone changes. “The Quarterback” episode literally broke my heart. I still cry whenever I rewatch it. It was the cast actually mourning their friend, and us as the audience doing the same, although we never truly knew him the way that they did, even if sometimes it felt that way.
And maybe that’s another reason Glee left such a mark on me. It showed grief the way it actually feels– confusing, unfair, and not wrapped in a clean message. Finn’s absence became part of the show’s DNA, and even though it kept going, it never felt quite the same after.
When I think about why Glee mattered so much to me, I always come back to how unapologetically loud it was. Loud emotions, loud characters, loud risks, loud failures, and loud wins. They loved each other so loudly. It wasn’t subtle, and maybe that’s exactly why it clicked for me. It showed every version of being a teenager – the confidence, the insecurity, the dreams that felt too dramatic or awkward to say out loud, the friendships that felt like lifelines, the ones that didn’t, and the grief that made everyone grow up too fast.
It was messy, chaotic, beautiful, sometimes questionable, but mostly it was real. It was never boring. And maybe that’s why I’m still thinking about it. Maybe that’s why rewatching it feels like opening an old journal; so insanely cringe, chaotic, emotional, dramatic, and overwhelming, but somehow comforting. Glee didn’t just entertain me. It gave me space to be earnest, and weird, and hopeful, even if I didn’t realize it at the time.
Maybe we didn’t move on from it too quickly. Maybe we just didn’t realize how much of it we carried with us.