Don't Stop Believing In Glee

OK, so, "Bohemian Rapsody" was so much better than "Don't Stop Believing"..... as a matter of fact, it might have been the best thing I have seen all season...I said might.

But let's not forget the Journey we took to get here. We never stopped believing in Glee. They sung their way into our hearts and left their mark on us and we believed. They took on Madonna and Gaga and still we believed. We watched Sue Sylvester scheme and blackmail to ruin the Glee club and we watched this group of misfits become popular. If only for a moment.

The kids knew they were doomed when Sue Sylvester was named as one of the judges of the Regional competition, so Shue went to Emma for some "guidance". She inspired him, but not before crushing him with the news of her "seeing someone" She informed Shue that she has been dating her dentist. Shue went back to basics and started with the club where they began, along the Journey. Inspired by their breakout hit, the New Directions took the Regionals by storm with their compilation of Journey hits. In a touching moment, just before they take the Regional stage, Finn tells Rachel he loves her. They belt out "Faithfully" for the crowd, and the goose bumps down my spine are only calmed by the mash up of, "Any Way You Want It" and "Lovin, Touchin, Squeezin." We then get what I know I have been waiting for all season, a new version of "Don't Stop Believing".

But I knew they weren't going to win. It was too early in the show for the New Directions to show all their cards. Lucky for us, this episode was not about winning. It was all about the Journey and they spun it beautifully. Quinn's mom shows up after 9 months of being MIA, and Quinn's water breaks. The entire Glee club rushes her to the hospital and Quinn takes Mercedes, Puck and her mother into the delivery room. We then are witness to a mash up of the delivery of Quinn's baby alongside the rhapsody of Vocal Adrenaline's, "Bohemian Rhapsody".

Rachel, who did not got to the hospital, decides that she needs more rejection from her birth mother, Shelby, so she goes to her and asks her to come teach at McKinley. What she is really asking is for her to come and teach her. Shelby tells her that she wants more and that she missed out on a life with Rachel, so she needs to find one for herself. Shelby is blind if she can't see how she is missing out on a life with this Rachel, in the here and now, but she somehow ends up turning the information Rachel gives her about the birth of Quinn's baby into her adoption of Beth. When Shelby showed up at the hospital and talked to Quinn and Puck, I thought she was going to talk them into keeping her, and about her own experience of how she missed out most of Rachel's life. But she didn't. Shelby is then seen adopting baby Beth.

The judges for the competition were celebrity Judges, Olivia Newton-John, Josh Groban, and that Rod-news-anchor-guy that broke Sue's heart in the beginning of the season. O-New-Jo, takes a turn as a meanie, and sorry, but it just didn't fit. She rips up New Directions and dubs them un-inspiring and poor, and then compares them to Sue. The group then discussed the fact that Sue is just a poor man's celebrity, she's nothing but a cheer leading coach from Ohio. But every once in a while,(and we have seen this before this season) Sue Sylvester, the Educator rears her head, and Sue defends the Glee Club kids and you know that underneath the track suit, there is a heart. You also know that she is going to vote for the New Directions to win.

And unpredictably, they don't win. Vocal Adrenaline wins, and New Directions don't even place. Dejected and sad, knowing their season is over, they return home without a future. Emma and Figgins have a shouting match and Shue curiously goes over to find out what all the fuss is about. Emma is livid that the Glee club is history and she tells Shue that he must fight for the kids. Shue asks her if this is just about the kids, and them he tells her he loves her and that they are not done, and he seals it with a kiss. Rachel then interrupts and asks Shue to come to the auditorium where Shue is serenaded by the kids with "To Sir with Love". Tears are shed by all. The kids tell him they really won, because they were part of something special.

And who was in the back of the auditorium with a tear streaming down her cheek? You guessed it, Sue-the Tin Man-Sylvester, fresh from her visit with the Wizard of McKinnley. She tells Shue life would be boring if she couldn't raz Shue about his hair and scheme ways to better the Glee club every day. She had blackmailed Figgy into one more year for Glee club and when Shue tells the kids, they are estatic. Then Shue and Puck sing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" the Israel Kamakawiwo'ole version complete with the ukulele.

I clapped.

Because even though the finale was not perfect, and they story lines weren't all tied up in a neat bow, I believe in the Journey.

I read all the reviews and comments about how Glee didn't really capture the glory of the first season. I still believed.

I know that there are those who think that even though, technically, this was still the first season, Glee has already lost it's lustre. I won't stop believing.

And I'll be back here in September ready for the next phase of this show I have come to love.

Because if this show has taught us anything it's that a true Gleek Never Stops Believing.