I haven’t watched Glee long, but I’ve watched Glee hard — I’ve seen almost every episode two or three times.  It’s an incredible idea for a TV show.  The songs become obsessions and before I know it I find myself listening to the Glee version of songs rather than the originals.  Sad, but true.  Now let’s get into the show.

Let’s start with how the first season ended.  New Directions didn’t place at Regionals, so the Glee club was supposed to be cut.  Yet Sue’s soft side prevailed, allowing the Glee club one more year.  Immediately after their performance at Regionals, Quinn went into labor and had her baby, Beth.  Rachel’s biological mother and Vocal Adrenaline Coach, Ms. Corkin, adopted her.  And even after everything they’ve been through, on-and-off couple Rachel and Finn finally took the plunge into a relationship.

The second season is jam packed with new couples, new talents and new rivals.

Starting with couples: Tina and Mike Cheng.  I don’t know about you, but Tina and Artie were one of my favorites.  I don’t like this new match-up. Then there’s Rachel and Finn—will it last?  I’m not so sure, I get the feeling the writers may not give up the Rachel-Finn-Quinn triangle so easily.

New talents: New Directions should just scope out their members instead of holding auditions; that’s where they find their best talent.  The new kid, Sam, is just as good as Finn, if not better.  I liked Sam at the beginning of the episode when he was first introduced—but after he backed out of auditioning for Glee club, I didn’t like him as much.  After Finn got kicked off the football team, Sam wouldn’t join Glee in fear of the same happening to him.  The next talent is a young Philippino girl named Sunshine, who upstages Rachel.  Rachel, of course, lives in mortal fear of losing solos, so she sends her to a crack house for “auditions.”  I’ve never liked Rachel anyway.  Rachel then attempts to make nice by re-inviting her to actual audtions, but too late, she transferred to Vocal Adrenaline.

New rivals: A new female football coach replaces Ken, Coach Bieste (pronounced “beast”; it’s French). After Glee and Cheerios both receive a 10 percent budget cut, Sue and Will’s form a friendship to team up against Bieste.  But it’s unfortunately short-lived, as Sue goes too far for Will’s liking.  I didn’t think it was possible, but Sue actually got meaner, and Will can’t take it.  Will ends up befriending the Bieste.

Then there’s Santana and Quinn.  Now that Quinn is in shape and back on top of the pyramid, Santana’s bumped from head cheerleader, which results in a cat-fight.

Overall, the episode had a lot of new information, but set a pretty good tone for the rest of the season.  There’s a lot that can be done with what has happened so far.