If ever there was a show that was defined by ups and downs, it is Fox’s Glee. The show had a great start; its first thirteen episodes in particular set the show up as a quirky dark comedy that wasn’t like your average high school drama. Since then — and there are differences of opinion on when — the show has seen a critical downturn. Uneven characterizations and story telling have been the watchwords. While the fourth season has seen a bit of a turnaround, tonight’s episode, “Shooting Star,” proves that Glee will forever be a rollercoaster ride of quality.

The premise — experiencing a school shooting from the perspective of those on the inside — is sure to be controversial. While we’ve lived in a post-Columbine, post-Virginia Tech world for several years now, the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School means that telling a story like this is sure to touch a very sensitive nerve. Still, I applaud Glee’s producers for wanting to take this story on. Politics aside — where they will definitely stay in any post I write at CliqueClack — I believe that good fiction should make us think and feel, and telling a story like this should accomplish both. Sadly, the decision to do the story was one of the few things Glee got right.

The shooting comes out of nowhere — which I guess is truer to reality, but doesn’t work particularly well narratively. Sure, the theme of “Last Chances” was introduced early in the episode, but what happened early didn’t really jive with the story once the gunshots rang out. The moments of terror, the sense of fear and dread that played out in the choir room were some of the few true parts of the episode. In particular, Sam’s desire to leave the room to find Brittany felt totally in character. I also really appreciated some of the smaller moments, things like Kitty’s confession to Marley and Artie’s attempts to film messages for everyone.

But once safety had been restored, what little sense the episode had been making stopped. The story of a school shooting — as innocent as this particular event may have been — is big and emotional. Very little that happened in the episode’s final act rang through with the sense of heft that it should have.

One of the few things I did like — at least in the abstract — was Sue Sylvester taking the blame for Becky’s gun. Sue’s relationship with Becky has been a joy to watch. The sacrifice she was willing to make on her student’s behalf was big; Sue was walking away from her entire career. Unfortunately it’s just another peak in the rollercoaster that has been her character arc. When Glee needs Sue to be a villain, she is someone that you could never imagine capable of the selflessness she exhibited tonight. But as soon as we think Sue is beginning to truly change, she’s soon back to her old antics.

“Shooting Star” tries to follow in a legacy of truly good Glee episodes dealing with amazingly mature issues that high school students deal with. Whereas Karofsky’s suicide or Kurt and Santana’s troubles with acceptance delivered powerful episodes, tonight’s installment fell short. Considering the material, and the emotions the story was trying to convey, I think we deserved better.

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