Aired: 5/19/2009
Will Schuester, an optimistic high school teacher, tries to reinvent the McKinley High School's glee club, while reinventing himself. He challenges a group of outcasts to realize their true star potential, while facing harsh criticism from everyone in the school.
What Happend In This Episode:
- In the first episode of Glee we are introduced to each of the characters, and are given a breakdown of the McKinley High social standings. As explained by Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) coach of Mckinley’s cheerleading squad The Cheerios, High School is a caste system where the athletes, cheerleaders and popular kids are in the penthouse, and members of the Glee Club are in the sub-basement.
- Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison), a former member of the glee club back in it’s glory days decides to take over the glee club, and is surprised to see that the club is made up of such an eclectic group. You have Rachel (Lea Michele) the self proclaimed super-star, Mercedes (Amber Riley), the resident diva, Kurt (Chris Colfer), the fashion forward male soprano, Arty (Kevin McHale), the in a wheelchair guitar player, Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz) the punk rocker. Even though Will recognizes their talent, he knows that for the club to survive he needs to find out a way to get more members – especially a strong male lead.
- After realizing that the clubs survival depends on getting more talent, Will sets out to recruit some members for the glee club and starts out with the football team. However, since being a member of the glee club would be social suicide none of the football players are interested in joining. Will is forced to resort to using blackmail, and convinces the football team’s star quarterback Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith) that he has found a bag of his marijuana, and unless he agrees to join the glee club, Schuester will have no choice but to turn him in which would end his football career.
- Finn agrees to join the glee club – which Will has renamed New Directions, and takes his place as the clubs male lead. Rachel and Finn have immediate chemistry, however, the glee club as a whole needs to figure out how to put it all together.
- Complicating things is the news that Mr Scheuster is leaving the school and the glee club to take a higher paying job after hearing of the upcoming arrivial of his first child. Shocked by the news, the members of New Directions get to work and by the end of the episode we see the club come together and do a fantastic rendition of the Journey Song Don’t Stop Believing. Will catches this performance and realizes that he cant quit something he loves and decides to stay on as director of the glee club. After the song ends Will states that it’s a 9 and they’ll need a 10 to win nationals, and the group gets back to work.
And that's what happened on Glee.
