Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 09/13/2011 Run time: 1001 minutes Rating: Nr

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1235 in DVD
• Brand: Twentieth Century Fox
• Released on: 2011-09-13
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Formats: AC-3, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Dimensions: .0 pounds
• Running time: 1001 minutes

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With music that's arguably even better, Glee also takes a dramatic turn in its second season, mixing some tough issues into its combination of musical performance and offbeat comedy. Most prominent is the topic of gay bullying, as Kurt (Chris Colfer) becomes the target of a macho football player. Around the same time, Kurt's trip to scout a rival group from nearby Dalton Academy leads to the season's most electric moment, a rendition of Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" by a men's group called the Warblers, which became the show's bestselling single ever, and the relationship between Kurt and the Warblers' lead singer, Blaine (Darren Criss), becomes the season's heart. Other relationships develop and become complicated, involving Rachel (Lea Michele), Finn (Cory Monteith), Quinn (Dianna Agron), Artie (Kevin McHale), Brittany (Heather Morris), Santana (Naya Rivera), Puck (Mark Salling), Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz), and Mike (Harry Shum Jr.) as well as new additions Sam (Chord Overstreet) and Lauren (Ashley Fink). And the relationship between Will (Matthew Morrison) and Emma (Jayma Mays) runs into a roadblock in the person of a handsome dentist (John Stamos).

The season is an uneven one, losing steam with the Britney Spears tribute episode and some excruciating plot lines, then having slightly more success with themed episodes (The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Christmas, and the cleverly handled episode involving Justin Bieber, of all people). Fresh energy came from the new students, guest star Gwyneth Paltrow as substitute teacher Holly Holliday, and new football coach Beiste (Dot-Marie Jones), who even inspires a temporary alliance between Will and Sue (Jane Lynch). The show relied less on Broadway tunes and more on classic rock and contemporary pop (Lady Antebellum, Queen, Fleetwood Mac, Lady Gaga) and even introduced its own original songs, the best of which ("Get It Right," "Loser Like Me") are unveiled in the regionals. Morrison and Michele aren't featured nearly as prominently as they were in the first season, but Michele still crushes her big numbers like "Get It Right" and Katy Perry's "Firework," and she participates in dazzling duets with Amber Riley ("Take Me for What I Am") and Agron ("Unpretty/I Feel Pretty"). Other showstopping moments from the season include Rivera's "Valerie," Rivera and Riley's "River Deep, Mountain High," Overstreet and Agron's "Lucky," Paltrow's "Forget You" and "Landslide," the group rendition of My Chemical Romance's "Sing," and almost anything by the Warblers (voiced by Tufts University's Beelzebubs), especially Pink's "Raise Your Glass" and Neon Trees' "Animal." (Parental discretion advised due to mature themes) --David Horiuchi

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145 of 172 people found the following review helpful.
Like "A Midsummer Night's Dream"...For Better or Worse.
By Phoenix Child
There's been quite a bit of truly justified criticism of "Glee"'s second season. I myself had to force myself to wait a few weeks after the airing of the "New York" finale to actually try to write a coherent review on this sophomore season. Bearing that in mind, let's take the route of this season's first episode and recap what was the first season of "Glee":

"Glee" tells the story of a tiny, bullied glee club (a show choir where the participants sing and dance to either pop or showtunes or both without actually performing a musical) and how both the power of music and a kind mentor who believes in them helps twelve misfits forge a family and strive to share how special they are with the world, no matter how much is stacked against them. Although it sounds like a strangely cheesy premise and an unlikely TV show, "Glee"'s madcap formula, amazing music performances, terrific acting, intriguing characters, and potently quotable one-line zingers launched it into the stratosphere and it quickly became an international sensation and success. Within these plot lines, "Glee" tackled the sensitive issue of teen pregnancy (and how religion can impact that issue) wonderfully, along with showcasing the struggles of teenagers with body issues, the confusing adolescent world of sexuality, popularity, friendship, family, loyalty, bullying and peer pressure. Although there were a few misses in the first season, overall the season itself was one of the brightest and freshest new shows around, and it won several awards for it as well.

There's the rub, however: "Glee" is handled by three showrunners (Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan), all of whom apparently decided that they could do no wrong. They flatly refused to bring in other writers or directors for season two, and since they were still selling massive amounts of music from the show and getting millions of views from their devoted audience of "gleeks", every single thing that was wrong about season one got blown out of proportion in season two, while everything that was right fairly faded to the background. The result? Season two of "Glee" started off strongly but by the second half meandered into sloppily handled plotlines that were often began and concluded in the space of one episode, characters acting severely out of character just for the sake of an episode's "theme", "theme of the week" episodes that were no longer touching or interesting but instead cheesy PSA-type episodes, bloated importance of guest stars, and a season finale that failed in every way that season one's finale succeeded.

Where on earth did "Glee" go so wrong? Season two's worst mistake was the characters acting out of character as "Glee" committed the worst mistake that any sophomore effort of a creative work, be it a film, television show or novel, can make: it completely erased any and all character development from the first season and started the characters off fresh. Rachel Berry, the club's star, who learnt the mistakes of her selfishness and made friends and learned how to lead a team in season one? Back to being a self-centered and often downright mean diva who stepped on each of her teammates to get what she wanted. Finn Hudson, the loveable popular dummy with a heart of gold who learned how to be a star and effectively lead the glee club and also learned that popularity was meaningless because he liked the glee club losers better than the popular football jerks? Right back to being a selfish, obsessed-with-being popular jerk to all of his friends.

However, the two characters this affected the worst? Firstly, Mr. Schuester. Mr. Schue was once the teacher everyone wished they could have: he put his students above everything, he pushed them, he motivated them, he guided them to being the best that they could be. Season two saw our once-beloved Schue essentially hitting a midlife crisis, using his glee club as an excuse to try to get closer to his now-unavailable crush Emma Pillsbury the guidance counselor, acting like a spoiled brat, and continually believing himself better than what he was. The second character was, of course, Quinn Fabray. Quinn began as the pretty and mean popular girl who became pregnant and became part of the heart of season one as she made true friends amongst the glee club, learned the value of family, and overcame her own meanness when the club rallied around her during the pregnancy issue. Season two saw absolutely no mention of her being pregnant anywhere ever. She inexplicably broke up with Puck (no explanation was ever given) and rejoined the Cheerios because she suddenly (like Finn) needed to be popular again. Although some of this damage was repaired by her new boyfriend Sam (newcomer Chord Overstreet), that repair was itself destroyed even worse later on. I won't even mention the destruction of Sue Sylvester, who transformed into a meaningless, cartoonish villain who was rarely even funny by the end and required a brutal character death just to reign her back in.

Despite all of this, however, season two began on a strong note (with the exception of the hot mess that was the "Britney/Brittany" Britney Spears tribute episode; despite some truly hilarious one-liners courtesy of Brittany (Heather Morris), this was likely one of the worst episodes of "Glee" to ever air) as it took a central theme: bullying and its impacts. Openly gay Kurt (masterfully played by Chris Colfer) took center stage as the school's relentlessly homophobic popular crowd was highlighted, leading to the explosive "Never Been Kissed" episode. Rachel's newfound (or oldfound, as the case may be) selfishness led to other glee club members to fight for their chance to shine and wounded the glee club badly when her bullying led to new student Sunshine Corozon (a criminally underused Charice) defecting to New Directions' mortal enemies Vocal Adrenaline, and Schuester's selfish and out of character behavior led to his kids whole-heartedly choosing hilarious new substitute Holly Holiday (wonderfully played by Gwenyth Paltrow) over him, and Santana's mean insistence on hiding from her feelings by attacking other people blew up spectacularly in her face.

In fact, despite two truly terrible episodes ("Britney/Brittany" and the wretchedly badly done "Rocky Horror Glee Show"), season two was off to a wonderful note, until the hiatus. When "Glee" returned after its touching Christmas episode, however, to the spectacularly overwrought Superbowl episode, things began going downhill fast, and they stayed that way for the rest of the season with a few notable exceptions. The biggest mistakes?

1) Rachel and Finn's Story: While I myself am not a "Finnchel" shipper (in "Glee", the portmanteaus of the couples are so important an episode was named after one), what was done to their relationship was criminally bad writing. Rachel wanted revenge on Finn for something he had done and so kissed his friend Puck. Finn broke up with Rachel and refused to forgive her for cheating on him...while he convinced Quinn to cheat on her boyfriend with him. Finn then went on to string both Rachel and Quinn along by emotionally cheating on Quinn with Rachel, then dumping Quinn out of the blue to return to Rachel. None of it made sense.

2) Quinn's further character murder. See above.

3) Kurt's storyline. What began as a heartwrenching display of how bullying gone too far can have devastating consequences quickly turned mind-numbing. While not to give away too many spoilers, Kurt was physically, emotionally, and verbally abused, which escalated into something like sexual assault and physical intimidation, before his life was threatened, causing him to leave the school for a different school with a no-bullying policy. Despite the wonderful plotline of Blaine Anderson (newcomer Darren Criss), Kurt rapidly reverts back to his selfish season one "bitch" persona from the first few episodes, then under one flimsy excuse switches right back to McKinley and goes back to being bullied, essentially rendering his entire plotline meaningless, and then goes on to remark "It's been a good year for Kurt Hummel" at the end of the season. Did I mention his father randomly had a heart attack and almost died in one of the season's better episodes? Really, writers?

4) The finale. The finale (it bears repeating). As I've said, season one's finale was wonderful. Season two's finale was essentially one giant episode centered around Finn and Rachel -- which in itself wouldn't have been so bad, except for it was wrapped up very badly -- while giving us some bad music, a wasted appearance by Jonathan Groff as Jesse St. James, and absolutely no resolution for any of the characters, particularly Kurt or his chief tormentor Karofsky. The ending was predictable and somewhat dim, and was generally an uneven end to an uneven season.

5) The self-contained episodes: NO MORE PSA episodes, please. Deal with an issue for teenagers over a two-episode arc where the lesson is meaningful, like season one did. Also, the plotlines such as Blaine's sort-of-maybe bisexuality that were introduced in one episode and wrapped up a half an hour later were just sloppy and useless.

But what did season two do right?

1) When it was handled well, season two's episodes were wonderful. From the good parts of Kurt's storyline to the heartwrenching religion episode centered around Burt Hummel's heart attack, to a surprisingly impactful episode centered around sexuality, season two's good moments shone like diamonds.

2) New characters. The initial cast of "Glee" will graduate by the end of next season (or some of them at least). Rather than do something terrible like getting rid of all the old cast members and introducing new ones in one fell swoop, the integration of Sam and Lauren into the existing was well done. The introduction of Kurt's new boyfriend(!) Blaine was wonderfully well-handled and the a capella Warbler's group was a fresh voice to the music; in fact, Kurt and Blaine's relationship was the only one really handled well this season.

3) Original songs! "Glee" took a chance and came up with original songs, ranging from the silly ("Trouty Mouth", "My Cup") to the downright good and fun ("Hell to the No", "Loser Like Me", and the epic "Light Up the World"), to the emotional power ballads ("Get It Right"), to the very bad attempts at emotional power ballads ("Pretending").

4) Character journeys. While I have been disgruntled at some character developments, Santana and Brittany were heartbreaking to watch; when left alone from Finn Rachel became a truly sympathetic character; Sam and Blaine and Lauren were all wonderfully well-done; and despite its flaws the episode "Born This Way" dealt masterfully with the characters confronting their flaws and fears.

In the end, what can be said of season two? It failed to live up to season one, that much is obvious. But the writers are actually hiring a new team of staff writers, so clearly they are learning something. Ultimately, it was still an enjoyable season despite its flaws. If anything, season two was a lesson in itself -- no one and nothing is perfect. "Glee" has succeeded despite this to show that in its imperfections some of the characters became even more interesting. What's in store for season three? None of us are demanding a perfect show. But if some of the problems of this season can be learned from and the first season can be used as an example, we might get something truly remarkable.

One thing is certain: "Glee" certainly isn't going anywhere anytime soon, and despite all of its flaws we just can't stop believin'.

31 of 41 people found the following review helpful.
Ups and (mostly) Downs of Season 2 (Spoilers)
By Dom
Season One of Glee was amazing. It had humor, it had great songs, and the characters were one of a kind. I assumed that Glee would be able to continue it into Season Two, and in some ways it did. But for the most part, season two was a huge let down compared to the first.

Let's start off with the good things first.

-Naya Rivera's Santana Lopez. This was one of the best things of the season. Though she is in season one, she isn't really developed as she is in season 2. Rivera is phenomenal and delivers an Emmmy performance as the bitchy and misunderstood cheerleader who hates all her fellow Glee Club members, but has a soft spot for them at the same time. She kicks it into high gear especially in the second half of the season where the character struggles with her sexuality. Her performance in some ways rivals Jane Lynch's Sue Sylvester. She is truly awesome at it, and is this years MVP of the cast. If there is anything worth watching this season, it is her character.

-Jane Lynch. Nuff' said.

-New Characters. Glee brings in a bunch of new characters to mix things up. This includes Sam (Chord Overstreet), the new Glee Club member. He is funny, and is fresh air. There is also fan favorite Blaine (Darren Criss). A gay character brought in to connect with Kurt. There is also Dr. Carl, played by John Stamos brought into the Will and Emma conflict. Also including new football Coach Bieste (Dot Marie Jones), new Vocal Adrenaline memeber Sunshine (Charice), her coach Dustin Goosbly (Cheyenne Jackson) and substitute Holly Holiday, played by Gwyneth Paltrow.

-The singing and numbers have gotten bigger. Glee's second season features a wider selection of songs that for the most part are great. The cast has also gotten better especially Monteith. More solo's are spread out, so it is guaranteed no matter who your favorite character is, you will hear them sing. Songs from Michael Jackson, Amy Winehouse, Florence and The Machine, Jay-Z, Jason Mraz, Adele, TLC, The Zutons, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, and many more are featured. Including episode tributes to Fleetwood Mac, Britney Spears, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Original Songs written by the show's writers in two episodes. The music this season will not disappoint.

-The Return of old characters. Characters from season 1 come back for season 2, including April Rhodes, (Kristen Chenowith), Jesse St. James (Jonathon Groff) Sandy Ryerson (Stephen Tobolowski), Burt Hummel (Mike O' Malley) Carol Hudson (Romy Rosmount). As for their classmates, there is Dave Karofsky, Lauren Zizes, Becky, Azimio, and Jewish nerd Jacob.

While those are some great things of the season, there are more bad things unfortunately.

- The Warblers. During the season, the character of Kurt transfers to Dalton Academy, an all boys school who compete against New Directions in Sectionals and Regionals. While at first this seems like a good idea, as it moves the show in a new direction, it eventually takes a turn for the worse. The show starts to feature the Warblers heavily and spends a huge amount of time on this choir, despite the show being about New Directions. Some people like the Warblers, but I put it in the bad column because it stole time from other characters, for Kurt who ends up transferring back to McKinley for just in time for Nationals.

-The Neglect of other Characters. Storylines for characters are certainly wasted this season. The roles of Mercades, (Amber Riley) Puck (Mark Saling), and Artie (Kevin McHale) are reduced this season compared to last. Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz), Mike (Harry Shum Jr.)only storyline is them being a couple and is only showcased in Audition, and Duets. Ushkowitz does perform some great solos, but is wasted. Even the adults have taken back seat. Terri (Jessalyn Gilsig) is drastically reduced to a mere 6 episodes of a 22 episode season and leaves the show as a series regular in episode 21. Will hardly has any storylines other than a romance with Holly.

-The Rachel/Finn/Quinn love traingle. The storyline takes up most of the second half of the season. To make it short, it is repetitive and the characters become way out of sync. It seems they learned nothing from last season's baby drama, and the audience suffers for it.

-Dropped and rushed storylines. This season, lots of storylines are formed but dropped an episode later. This makes the show inconsistent and frustrating. Some of the dropped storylines include Terri making Will jealous, Santana and Quinn's quest to become the Queen Bee, Santana pining over Finn, the Artie/Tina/Mike love triangle, Quinn getting her revenge for Finn's betrayal, Mercades getting a boyfriend, no aftermath of Quinn and Puck's baby, and many more.

-The show also became sort of an "After School Special" kind of show. The show tackles religion, sexuality, death, homelessness, and the season long bullying arc for the character Kurt. While it was ok at first, the show dealt with it more with emotion, rather than comdey, as it is a comedy show. Too much of a PSA announcement for my tastes.

-Lackluster Finale. The finale for Nationals is not that great as I expected, even though it is in New York. Everything was rushed, and the Original songs performed sound just like the ones from Regionals. The Fall finale "Special Education" is more of a season finale for the show than the actual season finale. It is one of those things you have to see for yourself.


Despite a leap in ratings and the show producing way more money, the heart of the show is just not there anymore, which we all know was during the original 13 episodes. If your a big fan of Glee like I am, I'm sure you will see more of the positives and hope season 3 will be much better, as it is the last season with the first generation's cast. But I'm still not sure. I'll give the season 3 stars, nothing more, nothing less.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
Its great but it could have been betrer...
By Ash Knight
The Second season was good but it could have been better. Ryam Murphy is losing his touch and sadly some charecters stood on the way side while others constantly took over the screen. Im sick of seeing Rachel Berry be the main focus. how about Mercedes or Tina, or Artie? Butt all in all it was still good.