On hearing the news that Mr. Shue (Matthew Morrison) plans on leaving the Glee Club until after Sectionals once the musical is complete the club panics and Sue (Jane Lynch) goes bananas when Schuester announces Finn (Cory Monteith) will be leading the club in his absence. Declaring war once again on the arts, Sue begins to undermine both the Glee Club and the musical beginning with convincing Wade’s parents (Mark Christopher Lawrence, Davenia McFadden) that it may not be safe for their son to play the role of Rizzo in Grease.
“So we cast a brunette as Sandy and a guy as Rizzo. Who’s directing this, Julie Taymor?”
Glee returns from hiatus with the students at McKinley High, including a few return graduates, preparing for the school’s production of Grease. To help get Finn (Cory Monteith) out of his current funk stuck working in Burt’s (Mike O’Malley) tire shop Artie (Kevin McHale) invites his friend to co-direct the musical with him. Artie also enlists the help of McKinley alums Mike Chang (Harry Shum Jr.) and Mercedes (Amber Riley) to help with the musical by offering their services as choreographer and vocal coach for the play.
Finn’s (Cory Monteith) unexpected arrival in New York throws Rachel’s (Lea Michele) world upside down especially when he breaks the news that he was “semi-honorably discharged” from the Army after only 16 days in Boot Camp and has spent the last few months backpacking through Georgia. Rachel tries to help drag Finn out of his funk by helping him find a new dream in New York, but shadowing his former fiance around her glamorous new life only convinces Finn there is no place for him in it. Kurt (Chris Colfer) struggles balancing his new job at Vogue and trying to keep up his relationship with Blaine (Darren Criss) who shows up in New York for a quick visit two weeks early.
While Brittany (Heather Morris) struggles from being removed from the Cheerios and reliving her senior year without Santana (Naya Rivera), Rachel (Lea Michele) struggles to make strides in New York, which means it’s time for Glee to turn to the music of Britney Spears for the second time in the show’s four seasons. As Brittany spirals further out of control the New Directions attempt to perform and intervention that only leads to an unfortunate performance of “Gimme More“ at McKinley’s first pep rally of the new school year.
Season Four (wow, has Glee really been on the air this long?) begins with Rachel (Lea Michele) having trouble with harsh dance teacher Cassandra July (Kate Hudson) at NYADA. Meanwhile, back in Lima, Kurt (Chris Colfer) tries to find a new role while the remaining members of New Directions compete to find their new leader and hold open auditions for new recruits for the glee club. With the focus of the show split in so many directions the season premiere feels a little schizophrenic as it tries to balance the lives of McKinley High School’s current and former students.
Glee has released a trailer and poster for the show’s return on September 13th. Both feature Kate Hudson who will be joining the cast for a multiple episode arc as one of Rachel Berry’s (Lea Michele) instructors and NYADA. The trailer also gives us the first look at Sue’s (Jane Lynch) baby and teases the return of Unique (Alex Newell). Despite concern from fans that none of the promotional materials include Dianna Agron‘s Quinn Fabray, show creator Ryan Murphy has stated Agron will return in a limited role along with other recently graduated seniors Mercedes (Amber Riley), Mike Chang (Harry Shum Jr.), and Puck (Mark Salling) whose younger brother Jake (Jacob Artist) will be joining the cast.
In the series third season finale the graduating members of the New Directions say goodbye to the Glee Club and prepare to for their lives after graduation. Although the show undercut the finality of each moment by announcing almost all the characters will be returning in some role next season, it’s still nice to see each get their own final story and a chance to say farewell.
New Directions makes it to Chicago for nationals but immediately faces trouble when Mercedes (Amber Riley) goes down with a 24-hour bug. While Sue (Jane Lynch) tries everything to speed her recovery she also drafts Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz) and Quinn (Dianna Agron) into the Troubletones’ number in case her diva isn’t able to perform. Will (Cory Monteith) starts to fear that destiny might be against them again and maybe he hasn’t done enough to prepare the team to win, but is touched to learn the team wants to dedicate their win to him.
With graduation and nationals quickly approaching for the New Directions, Sue (Jane Lynch) develops an obsession with props and arranges a complicated dance number while trying to convince Kurt (Chris Colfer) to perform in drag at nationals to combat Vocal Adrenaline’s new star (Alex Newell).
Under presssure from Principal Figgins (Iqbal Theba) to make something of her senior class presidency Brittany (Heather Morris) starts planning a dinosaur-themed prom (where all hair gel is banned), sending prom king and queen hopefuls Brittany, Santana (Naya Rivera), Quinn (Dianna Agron) and Finn (Cory Monteith) into campaign mode, feeling less than thrilled at the prospect of attending the prom Rachel (Lea Michele), Kurt (Chris Colfer), and Blaine (Darren Criss) begin planning an alternative celebration.
