Glee, Actually

Tonight's installment of Glee, with its mini-story structure and wall-to-wall Christmas music, is likely to polarize the show's fan base. (Much like this season itself.) But in my view, this was not just the Christmas themed episode Glee has ever done, but was probably the best episode yet of this much-improved season.

My only real criticism of the hour would be that I think the stories weren't told in the right order. I think it's too fashionable to adopt a chronologically jumbled narrative these days. Granted, it didn't really matter which order you took each of the parts in here. But I think they burned up the most emotionally potent stories early in the episode.

Sure, the Puckerman brothers' L.A. excursion culminated in a more tender family reunion at Breadstix, but it was generally a lightweight affair. The Brittany and Sam storyline would be too dopey to enjoy, if Glee hadn't already paved a clear "just go with it" trail when it comes to the intelligence of those characters.

But I think I would have preferred those two stories as a warm-up to the more profound material. Sue's "Christmas miracle" for Marley and her mother, though reliant on the ever-fluctuating sentiments of Sue, still managed to be sweet. Artie's "It's a Wonderful Life" segment was great on several fronts: it served up several funny jokes with the characters, gave a reason to bring back some old Glee stars for nice cameos, and had moments that effectively tugged at the heartstrings.

But most powerful of all was the Kurt segment. The awkwardness of the reunion with Blaine was interesting, but the best material was in the latest appearance by The Best Father on Television, Burt Hummel. After a few wonderful scenes that reminded us why Burt holds that title, he then dropped the bombshell of his cancer diagnosis. And despite his optimism, any long time fan of Glee had to feel their heart sink. It was a perfectly executed vignette that played on the one character relationship on the show that's been consistent from day one.

I suppose I could also quibble a bit about the song choices. Christmas songs can be a bit cloying to start with, and Glee has already used up many of the best ones. Several of the second string choices tonight had particularly repetitive lyrics. (Oh, from the bottom of your heart? Well, thank you then!) Still, the performances themselves were all pretty great.

I'd give the episode an A-. It was a nice note to break on for a few weeks.