South 12th’s complete guide to the Fox television program “Glee.”
Glee is an American television program that takes place at Walter Reuther High School in Detroit, Michigan. Each episode follows the travails of a group of high school students involved in the school’s glee program. The glee program performs at football games, community events, school functions, and other activities (for example, in season 2, they perform for a group of visiting Czech dignitaries led by Vaclav Havel [Michael Fassbender]).
Much of the glee program’s repertoire consists covers of well-known rock, pop and rap songs (for which the show has become famous, a fact which everyone knows, even people that have never seen the show). In season 3, a radical group of members of the glee program began experimenting with original compositions, much to the consternation of the traditionalist members within the program. This rift is the key plot development in season 3.
SEASON 1
Much of the first season was devoted to establishing the personalities of some of the students of Reuther High. The Student Commissioner of the glee program is Cascade Haddox (Lindeen Rasmusseun). Her chilly perfectionism is off-set only by her sheer talent as a vocalist. She is a senior, and hopes to be accepted into the Berklee School of Music upon graduating.
There are also nineteen other primary members of the glee program, named:
- Kayla
- Madison
- Brianna
- Conor
- Devin
- Vanessa
- Shannon
- Jenna
- Blake
- Garrett
- Hayley
- Kaitlin
- Bryce
- Wyatt
- Kendra
- Mikhaela
- Clayton
- Zoe
- Brandy
Jane Lynch also appears as “Coach,” a mysterious authority figure whose shadowy past is revealed over the course of the three seasons. The high school principal, Dr. Andrea Holliweather, is played by Gwyneth Paltrow.
Aside from these facts, very little of the specific plot points of Season 1 are remembered.
SEASON 2
Much of the plotlines from this season revolve around the visit of Czech dignitaries, led by playwright and former president Vaclav Havel (Michael Fassbender). Havel brings a treasured C-90 mixtape with him of anthems of the Czech underground, which is lost in a riot following a football game with crosstown rivals Lewis Cass High. The search for the mixtape occurs over several episodes. It is not recovered, but the glee program bands together to re-record vocal arrangements of each song on the mixtape, beginning with “Slum Goddess” by the Fugs, and concluding with a magnificent version of Lou Reed’s “Street Hassle” (accompanied by the Detroit Philharmonic). Havel is moved to tears, and invites the glee program to perform at International Students’ Day festivities in Prague.
Petty jealousies in the program, particularly among Bryce, Hayley, Garrett, Blake and Kendra, threaten to pull it apart. Kaitlin questions her sexuality, and Devin repeats 11th grade. Garrett and Brandy get together, and break up. Brandy undermines Wyatt. Wyatt is caught in a wormhole and is drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. Kendra butts heads with Cascade, and then has a baby. Cascade meets Lydia Lunch at an art opening.
This is also the season featuring the famous “Madonna episode,” featuring arrangements of over two dozen Madonna songs. Madonna returns to Detroit to christen the Madonna Museum and Performing Arts Center, only to run afoul of conservative Republican state senator Allen Broxbane (Bill Paxton). Vaclav Havel teaches the glee program basic passive resistance techniques, and the season ends with the glee program locking arms at the Michigan legislature to stop a Broxbane-sponsored bill to outlaw dance music, performing a mash-up of “Vogue” and the Plastic People of the Universe’s “100 bodù.” The episode ends when Senator Broxbane is shot by Wyatt with a potato gun. Madonna is elected to replace him, a position that she resigns immediately so that the Governor can appoint Cascade Haddox, who has just turned 18 and is eligible for election to the Michigan legislature, to the position.
SEASON 3
Much of the plot for this season involves Senator Haddox’s fight for a housing bill, and her continued involvement in the glee program. As the senior class graduates, fifteen new characters are introduced, including:
- Riley
- Raven
- Alexas
- Bailey
- Landon
- Skylar
- Crystal
- Morgyn
- Brenna
- Jordyn
- Avery
- Kylie
- Sophie
- Kali
- Colten
Alexas, Avery, Forrest and Colten decide to create original vocal compositions influenced by Gyorgy Ligeti and using Moog synthesizers, much to the consternation of the glee program’s leadership, who threaten the four with expulsion. A last-minute injunction prevents the leadership from following through, leading to a lengthy court battle that spans most of the season. Funding is threatened.
This is also the season of the famous “Britney Spears episode.” Spears’ songs were used throughout the episode, including “E-Mail My Heart.” There is also a “Rocky Horror Picture Show”-themed episode, selected from a pool for four other possible “rock operas” by viewers at home voting via text messages.
Some of the action shifts to New York, where the glee program is invited to perform off-Broadway in a dramatization of the events of the show’s second season. Jenna becomes involved with the arrogant actor playing Vaclav Havel (Jason Patric).
Coach disappears over the south Pacific, only to reemerge in spectral form. While in New York, Mikhaela is invited to join the New Pornographers. Senator Broxbane’s eldest son vows revenge on Wyatt. Skylar and Bryce do a duet of “The Flesh Failures (Let the Sun Shine In)” for Senator Haddox’s subcommittee.
The season ends with a performance of the full cast performing “Don’t Stop Believin’,” set to a montage of Detroit’s urban decay.
