GLEE: Our Thoughts on "Hell-O"

Some of us at the office were a little disappointed with the April premiere of Glee last night. Though we love the show, there was too much going on in the episode and much of it didn’t feel very plausible. Finn goes from feeling completely freaked out about Rachel (not without reason – those cat ‘date calendars’ were a little creepy) to dead set on getting her back. Meanwhile, Rachel has been smitten with Finn from the very first episode of the series and has endured far worse brush-offs than the one he gave her, so her rebound with Jesse St. James, the leader of Vocal Adrenaline, felt much too sudden. The two had a lovely duet to Lionel Ritchie’s “Hello,” but we can’t buy Rachel declaring her love for someone else so soon – especially if it means risking her glee club membership.

It was also hard to buy Will’s spontaneous make-out session with Shelby Corcoran, the director of Vocal Adrenaline, played by Jewish stage actress Idina Menzel. The desire to test himself after the combustion of his marriage makes sense, but the two just didn’t have enough chemistry to justify their encounter. His moments with Emma, in contrast, were some of the sweetest of the episode and we’re looking forward to seeing how their relationship plays out.

One more relationship that didn’t get enough screen time was Quinn and Puck’s, who seem like they’re together (even though where Glee left off in December, Quinn was determined to go it alone) despite Puck having eyes for every other girl in the school. (It’s also been reported that Rachel and Puck – who dated for one episode because both were Jewish – will have another dalliance later this season, after fans responded so positively to the first one.)

There were some energetic song-and-dance numbers, especially Lea Michele as Rachel's sassy version of “Give You Hell” (“I’m sorry, I was just focusing on the first syllable,” she responds witheringly when Will reminds them that they’re supposed to be focusing on songs that say “Hello”) but overall, the episode felt a little flat. Even Sue’s zingers are nowhere near as funny as they used to be.

Finally, we were confused by this exchange between Brittany and Santana in the restaurant, as they tried to lure Finn’s attention away from Rachel.

Brittany: Did you see what Rachel was wearing today?

Santana: I know. She looked like Pippi Longstocking but, like, Israeli.

What does that even mean?