“Glee’s” Not So Great “Goodbye”


Editor
05/23/12 01:58am
7 Comments

It may have been that they were saving it all for the final moments of the episode because it’s finally time for Rachel’s arc and to find out if her, Finn, and Kurt got into college. In a mildly surprising twist, Rachel is the only one of the trio that’s going to make it to New York after all.

Now, I can understand why Finn was rejected from Pace after having decided to be an actor five minutes ago. I would even be able to understand Rachel getting accepted into NYADA over Kurt if he hadn’t nailed his audition. No matter how great Rachel was at Nationals, she choked when it counted but still got in. After his audition, the show made it look like Kurt was a shoo-in. He certainly didn’t seem to be worried as he was already packing up his room in Ohio. Now we have no idea what he’s even going to do next year (although my guess is go to New York anyway). It’s preposterous that he would be rejected with no explanation and no reaction from him or Burt.

Rachel decides to defer her acceptance and stay in Lima to help Kurt and Finn put their college plans back on track. Finn, however, has other ideas. Instead of driving them to their wedding (was that supposed to happen in this episode?) he takes Rachel to the train station, breaks up with her, tells her he’s joined the Army, and gets her to go to New York. The break-up has been hinted at for a few episodes and Lea Michele is amazing in this scene. It’s also the right thing to do and the whole club is there to say goodbye, including Blaine in an adorable lobster print sweater.

In the episodes final moments, Rachel gets off the train at Grand Central Station, having made it to New York City. This should have been a satisfying ending. Rachel Berry has been fighting her way to New York since the pilot and I truly believe she deserves to be there, but after everything else that’s happened in “Goodbye” it doesn’t feel like an accomplishment.

Oh, and Mike is going to Chicago and Mercedes to Los Angeles. It’s mentioned in passing because apparently neither of them are important enough to warrant their own story. It’s too bad last week couldn’t have been the actual finale.

What did you think? Did the episode make you feel emotional? Was your favorite character given the send-off you’d hoped for? What are you most excited about for season four?

You Might Also Like:

  • http://about.me/dshana Shana Debusschere

    I liked the episode. The songs were rather boring, and Glee had it’s typical off moments, but the last ten minutes were the most heartbreaking scenes on Glee ever. It sure wasn’t predictable. Looking forward to see all of this unravel in Season 4..

  • Jaimee

    I found it really weird that we don’t know what Kurt is doing! I can’t believe he didn’t get in. I guess the writers thought it would be a good twist but I think it would’ve been better if he’d gotten in cos then Rachel and him could have storylines together next year.. I agree that Lea’s acting when Finn broke up with her was superb, only bit of the episode that really impressed me.

  • http://www.savagevenus.net/ Flitzy

    I loved it so much – the final moments during the train season were heart-wrenching, I wanted Finn to get back on the train and stop it.

    And, you have to remember – it’s not a series finale, so they didn’t have to wrap up all the loose ends. Cliffhangers are what get you to tune in to the next season – hopefully with Kurt staying behind, it means we’ll get more Kurt and Blaine, too. :)

  • Carbon658

    Yes, Lea Michele really impressed me with the breakup scene. She’s always been good (annoying sometimes, yes, but that’s the character, not her), but that was some of the best acting this show has seen.

  • http://twitter.com/19yearslater Sarah Moe

    I agree with most of this. I thought last week’s fab double feature was the finale, and it should have been. The real finale I was like- oh, cute. what? NO NO NO. And many expletives were shouted. The Rachel over Kurt thing makes NO sense, given the high praise he received for his wonderful audition and the fact that Rachel blew hers and then went to bother bother Whoopi puppet Ron and Harry style. I hate that it’s about Rachel so much. Most of the other plot lines were weak as well. Burt and Kurt were cute, but Mercedes, Santana, Finn, Puck, even Brittany were rather jumbled and hasty. Basically I hated the finale. A lot. I’ll still watch next season though and hope it’s about the Blaine/Artie/Tina/Sam/Bob?Rob?/Rory?/Sugar? New Directions more than frickin’ Rachel. Oh, and I think Kurt will stay in Lima to be close to Blaine. It’s the only explanation I can see for the freakazoid turnaround of his plot.

  • Liam

    Last week’s would have been a great ending. The whole episode was closure. This episode was just blah. I say we forget this episode exists, except for the part when Finchel breaks up.

  • PopPop

    I think it makes sense for Kurt not to be chosen for NYADA. They’re very selective for a reason. I mean, they would pick people for their school who they can train and then market for Broadway. And while I love Kurt and think he’s very talented, Rachel is the more marketable of the two. She will get the roles, Kurt? It’s not as certain. If they’re that exclusive (wasn’t it something like 20 students all up?), I feel they would go with the student who they feel will get the jobs after graduation so they can keep their credit. I also feel that it made sense for the characters, Kurt has other things going for him whereas Rachel has one final goal. Maybe he can study more than just theatre now? Fashion? Who knows but i’m excited to find out. I also enjoyed the graduation scene. I don’t think it needed to be more emotional. I mean, when I graduated I didn’t cry, I celebrated. And there were tears amongst the joy. It felt very true to my own graduation ceremony. I agree that the break-up scene between Rachel and Finn was heartbreaking. Lea and Cory did such a fantastic job.

    I think that this episode may have disappointed some people because they were looking for closure which glee didn’t give us because they’re trying to hook us in for next season. I almost feel as if ‘nationals’ was the last episode of the season, and ‘goodbye’ was a prequel for season 4. Setting up where some of the characters are going and leaving others completely unknown or very ambiguous. Either way I enjoyed the episode and am excited for season 4!