SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!

On Sept. 21, the second season of the hit Fox series, “Glee,” premiered after much anticipation. Over 12 million Americans watched the premiere, and the show’s title even became a trending topic on Twitter.

The Performances, Oh, How I’ve Missed Them
No episode of “Glee” is complete without its stellar performances. I thought the songs they sang were much better than usual. My favorite number was Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ “Empire State of Mind” in the courtyard. It was pure, unadulterated fun with a song that everyone knows the lyrics to.

I also loved Sunshine’s “Listen,” from Dreamgirls.

I thought her voice was totally killer, even though her excessively twitchy hand motions during the performance bothered me. A lot.

Rachel’s rendition of A Chorus Line’s “What I Did for Love” was beautiful. Lea Michele is pretty much one of the biggest stars in the world now, and, c’mon, you honestly cannot say her voice isn’t amazing.

I was so excited to learn the afternoon before the premiere that the cast would be singing Lady Gaga and Beyoncé’s “Telephone.” It’s one of my favorite songs, but when they sang it, I was extremely let down.

First of all, it was a ridiculously awkward scenario. Rachel and Sunshine were in the bathroom singing the song. More like yelling, actually, because for some reason, Rachel appeared angry at Sunshine. I know she developed a hatred for her later in the episode, but it didn’t really seem like she had grounds to be angry at that moment.

The best part of the song was, honestly, when Sue Sylvester entered and thunderously bellowed “SHUT UP” to them mid-song. It was hilarious and very much needed.

Constant Hilarity
This episode was probably one of the funniest episodes I’ve seen. I laughed so hard during the opening sequence, showing Jacob ben Israel blogging about the Glee club. When he asked Will if he knew about a forum on his blog begging him to stop rapping, I got tears from laughing so hard.

And Sue was even more mischievous than usual. I did feel bad for Coach Beiste, even though she did kind of have it coming, but Sue really let her have it. My favorite line from Sue? “The two of you are making a very serious mistake, the likes of which haven’t been seen since the Mexican Indians sold Manhattan to George Washington for an upskirt photo of Betsy Ross.” She’s hysterical. I suffered terribly from Sue withdrawal for four months.

I also love the whole Tina and Mike Chang relationship. I feel bad for Artie, but I don’t think Artie and Tina are right for each other. Can we see some more clips of Tina and Mike at camp?

But the funniest part of the episode was when Quinn and Santana started fighting in the hallway. Brittany, who’s standing about ten feet away, says, extremely quietly, “stop the violence.” I love, love, love Brittany. If Brittany and Sue want to hang out with me sometime soon, I wouldn’t object.

Gleemembers: Out with the Old, In with the New
One of the viewers’ biggest anticipations was the introduction of Sunshine Corazon, played by Charice Pempengco, an 18-year-old Filipina singer and actress who recently became popular through her YouTube videos. Like I said before, her voice is amazing, Rachel really has someone to watch out for.

But every time she acted, she really ticked me off. She repeatedly overacted or just, well, acted wrong. When she and Rachel sang “Telephone” in the bathroom, Rachel was looking angry with her (which I still don’t get), but her emotions kept ranging from giggly to perplexed. I was really confused.

And I know I’m not the only one who got annoyed by her hand motions during “Listen.” It’s a beautiful, heartfelt, emotional song that didn’t need those excessive jazz hand routines.

Chord Overstreet also joined the cast as Sam Evans. He started out as Finn’s apprentice on the football team, but when Beiste kicked Finn off the team, Sam became quarterback. Although kind of predictable, I did enjoy his performance of “Billionaire”.

I would also like to see more between Puck and Quinn. He showed interesting character development during Jacob ben Israel’s blog montage, shoving the camera away when a question about Quinn arose.

Also, can we give a kind welcome to the cast to Rachel’s new bangs? I mean, really. They’re like an entirely new character. Lose ‘em, please.

And through a really brief muttering by Will, we learned that Matt transferred to a different school. Sorry to be so blatant, but can I get an Amen? Am I the only one that thought he got way too into the songs last season? He annoyed me every time he was on camera, and to be honest, I’m glad he’s gone.

WHERE WAS EMMA?!
When I spoke about the show to my friends the day after it premiered, no one seemed to notice that Emma Pillsbury never even made an entrance!

I realized halfway through that I hadn’t seen those huge, adorable Cabbage Patch eyes on the screen yet. When it ended, I was so let down. I thought that was one of the biggest cliffhangers the season one finale left—how is Emma feeling about Will? I’m waiting for her return.

Student Thoughts
The show received generally positive reviews from Staples students.

“I am happy the show is back with its usual catchy songs and hilarious plots,” said Sam Small ‘11. “I enjoyed the new characters, and it seems to me that this coming season is going to be the same style as last season, which is a good thing.”

“I thought that Sue and Will teaming up was hilarious,” said Kim Adler ‘13. “I’m especially excited for the rest of the season because there is a lot of new talent on the show.”

Dina Silberman ‘13 chimes in with both Small and Adler. “The season premiere was awesome. I love the new components they added in, like the new students and Rachel’s obsession with beating Sunshine out of the club. I think this season will be even better than the first,” said Silberman.