LittleBigPicture: Songs of praise

Timelines
Glee doesn’t even try to stick to an acceptable timeframe, despite having two pregnancies (one real, one fabulously fake) and a school semester.
The all-important Regionals, the preliminary competition to qualify for the holy grail that is The Nationals, seemed to be "in a few weeks" for around 4 months; songs would begin in the music room then end, fully choreographed, in an auditorium and yet later it’s still the same day. They learned the whole thing and costumed it in two hours? Pshaw!

Also, how long is a school day in the US? 16 hours? Do they ever actually go to classes?

Glee also has a self-expiry date; once they win Nationals, surely that’s it? Of course, they might not win, which would segue nicely into a second series, but would go against the general feelgood nature of Glee, which they already did with The Divorce.

The divorce, between Shue and his shrill harpy of a wife Terri, has been left in the show’s dust. It’s done, big deal, nothing to see here, move on. They’d been together since they were 16 and in only two weeks of singledom he’s hitting on women and moving his new girl into his family home. What a giant asshole.

So, if they were to win the Rose Bowl of singing would there be anything else to watch Glee for? One word, one answer: Yes. There's one thing that I could watch on a 24/7 cable channel…

Cheerleaders and their Dark Overlady
The Cheerios and Sue Sylvester. Were there ever such a seductively insidious group of women? Pure jealousy of course; I’d give an organ to be Santana Lopez, one of the self-proclaimed slutty, part-time lesbian cheerleaders who have been implanted into New Directions by coach and perennial track-suit wearer, Sue Sylvester.

Sue despises glee club and Will Schuester for no real reason other than it takes some attention and fripperies away from her championship winning cheerleading squad. She had hoped that, by having men on the inside, they could bring the freaks and geeks down.

Because singing brings people together, the club bonded despite their crippling differences and Sue failed in her first attempt to crush them. She's now blackmailing the school principal to get her own way, and still insulting everyone at every opportunity, especially Will with blinding zingers the likes of which a normal person doesn't come up with till they're already in the car and halfway to the shops:

Sue Sylvester could have easily been a one-note, over the top villainess but Jane Lynch makes her the backbone of this show. Her insults never get old, and there has to be a drinking game to be derived from the tracksuits colours. Or maybe there’s a secret code, like the Lost Numbers.

From the earnest one-on-ones in her journal (of Doom), to the threats whispered in Will’s ear ("I will go to the animal shelter and get you a kitty cat. I will let you fall in love with that kitty cat; and then on some dark cold night, I will steal away into your home, and punch you in the face"), Lynch is spot on, spitting venom and clearly harbouring severe mental traumas. She’s made primarily of adamantium, but there is a tiny heart beating in there, which we see when we meet her sister, and listen in on her one-on-ones with The Journal. It would be less than half a show without her.

Oh I’m getting the 'wind-up' signal… but there’s so much more to say… the fake-out pregnancy! The ‘70s Porn Star Jesse St James tribute, oh crap- the singing! The singing’s really goo- (*pulled off stage by cane*)