‘Glee’ season 6, episode 2 review: ‘Homecoming’ brings back Brittany, Santana, and a once-great show

Remember when “Glee” was the show that everyone wanted to watch? That was a long time ago, but during the second part of tonight’s two-hour premiere entitled “Homecoming,” we were largely reminded of just what this show once was: A satire of high school, arts education, and also a serious take on what this sort of family environment these kids found in the glee club.

Let’s start here with the negatives: There are obviously a few parts of the story that are very cheesy and make sense. Having Quinn, Santana, and Brittany find new cheerleading uniforms is one example of that. With that being said, there were other parts of the story that felt almost like watching the show for the first time, such as the way that Rachel searched around the campus trying to find a guy with a brilliant voice to join her brand-new club. The problem with Marley, Jake, and the other newbies is that for the most part, the show tried to force you to accept them. This time around, it was a little more casual, and the characters were for the most part far and away better. Roderick and his headphones is the new underdog, and there’s something about the creepy twins Mason and Madison that was somewhat fun to watch.

Also, kudos to the show for not trying to do too much, such as giving you backstory on every single returning character to the show. Having things be slow and steady ended up working so much better. We even enjoyed the jokes about bits the show has done in the past, from Quinn (pictured with Puck) and Santana hooking up to Sue Sylvester’s past romance with Michael Bolton.

The big things that you should know from watching this story-wise is that Rachel and Kurt have found some new recruits with the help of their old friends, but with one of them in Jane (a woman who was turned down by the Warblers) joining the group, they have a war with Blaine.

We do still hate the Blaine / Karofsky pairing, but at least that wasn’t a part of the second hour like it was the first.

Overall, this is much more of the old “Glee” that we remember and love. If the show keeps going in this direction, we’re going to be thrilled with the final season. Grade: B+.

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