Having just finished watching Disc 7 of Season 1 earlier, I watched the final two episodes of Season 1 which were "Funk" and "Journey to Regionals". Before I give my overall thoughts on the season, I just want to do my quick review on these last two episodes.

S1E21 "Funk": A good episode but the weakest (by comparison, it's not a bad episode) of the back nine for me, since it didn't hit as hard as the other eight because of some negatives which I'll go through first. To Jesse St. James who decided to transfer back to Carmel High and betray the understandably pissed off ND kids (who all, except Rachel who just looked more heartbroken, looked like they all wanted to kick the crap out of him), I would like to say to Mr. St. James: go Puck yourself (I like using "Puck" as a substitute for another four-lettered word starting with F), you monster! Now I like Jonathan Groff, who is an absolute global treasure and a very talented man, I have to clarify for actor-character separation, but I do dislike the character he portrays: Jesse St. James. God, I always knew Jesse was a smug idiot. Just look at how he and his Vocal Adrenaline cronies egg Rachel in the school carpark. But Groff plays him so well though, that's my point. It's one of those situations where the actor does such a good and charming job at playing an absolute jerk but I detest the character they play: I feel the same about Josh Sussman as JBI and Jessalyn Gilsig as Terri; Sussman and Gilsig do undeniably great jobs at playing prickish characters that I despise. That being said, Jesse singing "Another One Bites the Dust" is a highlight for me because Groff has such a heavenly voice. Also, Finn and Puck were right to retaliate against Jesse and the rest of VA. I did also dislike Will's creepy behaviour towards Sue in this episode, like, get your freak-what the heck?! As for Will's performance of "Tell Me Something Good" to Sue, look, Matty Morrison is a good singer and all but... what the hell is even that?! It makes his "Thong Song" performance to Emma seem tame by comparison. And that's saying a lot. Also, the verse they gave Finn in "Good Vibrations" made me feel awkward considering how Cory died. But there were enough positive moments to still make this episode a good one for me, like Sue telling Will that his "breath stinks of mediocrity" (which was more hilarious then it needed to be), Finn and Puck's aforementioned retaliation against Vocal Adrenaline by cutting the tires to the members' cars, the aforementioned performance of Jesse singing "Another One Bites The Dust", and especially Quinn singing "It's A Man's Man's Man's World" (never would I ever have thought Dianna Agron would successfully nail a James Brown song with such precision, plus it's Dianna's facial expressions in the scene that sell it for me; she makes it look as if Quinn's so done with how she's been treated) and the New Directions getting absolutely cathartic revenge on Vocal Adrenaline by singing "Give Up the Funk". I would have just given the episode a decent 7/10 score if it wasn't for those last two highlights, which bumped it up to a 7.5/10 for me. Still a good episode, but not as heavy hitting as the remaining eight episodes from the back nine IMO.

S1E22 "Journey to Regionals": A perfect finale to the first season of Glee IMO. It had all that Glee heart that hits you right in the feels. I liked the sweet little Journey medley at Regionals that starts off with Finchel singing "Faithfully" together, which then leads into the New Directions singing a mashup of "Any Way You Want It" and "Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'", and finally, the NDs singing Journey's most famous song that is just as much is associated with this TV show as much as it is with the series finale of The Sopranos: "🎵 DON'T STOP... BELIEVIN'! 🎵" I also liked the iconic and epic yet funny scene with Jesse St. James and the rest of Vocal Adrenaline's performance of "Bohemian Rhapsody" (again, like I said in my "Funk" review, Groff has a heavenly voice) that often cuts away to Quinn giving birth to baby Beth, also the "Bismillah, let me go!" parts were perfectly timed as well, when it cut away to Quinn screaming "LET ME GO!" Now I get why many of you Gleeks like that scene in particular, and now I know why the New Directions (sadly) lost to Vocal Adrenaline. I also liked the bit where Quinn has that exchange with her mother which was such a heartwarming moment as well as when Sue decided to give the glee club another year which was quite generous of her (and also shows she does care for both Will and the New Directions deep down). Speaking of Sue, her confrontation with Figgins was hilarious as was her comment about not wanting to catch the "poor" disease from Will. Look, honestly, there are so many great things to say about this season finale that it earns a 10/10 "Absolute Favourite" score IMO, which makes me think about how the other five season finales of the show - "New York", "Goodbye", "All or Nothing", "The Untitled Rachel Berry Project" and "Dreams Come True" (the series finale) - will try and hold up when I continue watching the five remaining seasons.

Okay, now it's time to give my quick thoughts on Season 1 overall. I am going to give it a 7.5/10; it is quite a good opening season for this iconic musical dramedy, and introduces the many characters we'll expect to see (mostly) in the remaining five seasons quite well, but it did have its shortcomings in that the first thirteen episodes (for the most part, at least) had too much a slower pace that makes the show feel less engaging TBH, however the last nine episodes had the more theatrical and energetic feel that felt more engaging to me, which compensated enough for where the front thirteen of S1 fell short for me. I've heard many fans say that they prefer the front thirteen to the back nine in Season 1, but I will respectfully disagree and say the opposite: I prefer the back nine to the front thirteen, but only because I find that portion of S1 more fun and engaging to watch.

Anyways, I have some favourite episodes from this season: "Wheels", "Mattress", "Sectionals", "The Power of Madonna", "Bad Reputation", "Dream On", and "Journey to Regionals", which are my personal top seven. However, my second favourite episodes are "Preggers", "Vitamin D", "Hell-O", "Home", "Laryngitis", and "Theatricality".

I'd like to hear your personal thoughts and opinions on those two episodes (it's okay if you disagree) and this season overall. For me personally? It is now time to watch...

I hear from many of you Gleeks out there that Season 2 is where Glee gets REALLY good, like absolute peak TV good. Plus, I cannot wait to be introduced to characters like Coach Beiste, Sam and Blaine!

Mine are Somewhere only we know and Bills, bills, bills

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I was looking through some photos of Cory, and I still can’t believe how much time has passed since he left this world. He was truly such an amazing actor and brought such an unforgettable character to Glee as Finn Hudson.

I remember being 15 years old when I found out that he was gone. It’s hard to believe it’s been so many years already. He was truly a remarkable actor and will always be remembered. 💔

Welcome to Season 3! I hope you like 2-parters 'cause we got 4 of them within an 8-episode span (y a y 🫠)
We also have 5 Extras for the post-finale poll because Reddit doesn't like the number 7.
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R.I.P. Dalton-era Blaine. You are missed.
very, *v e r y* missed. Like painstakingly missed. Dalton-era Blaine Simp tbh

R.I.P. Kurtcedes, you made it through a whole 2 seasons and that's more than a lot of relationships on this show so- respect, I guess (no Respect-pun intended)

Also R.I.P. to every piano that was brutally murdered in this episode. I think there was 2?
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If Sugar gets literally any votes you're either trolling, a musical masochist, or Brittany. But she does sing enough of it to count as a performance.

Just realized this episode starts with We Got The Beat and ends with You Can't Stop The Beat, I don't know if that was intentional but it's fitting regardless.

We Got The Beat is my favorite here.
I like Blaine's It's Not Unusual *more* than the original, but I still can't really say I actually *like* it, I like 2 songs by Tom Jones, and that song is not one of them.

The best number to date at that point in season 1 by far. The drop in the transition to Confessions and Artie laying the absolute Smackdown.

And one of Finn's better showing of the entire series, short of Just The Way You Are and Don't Dream It's Over. And You Get What You Give. And Barely Breathing. And Losing My Religion. Lol.

Honestly, I’ve been pretty curious about all of the characters lives. I know there’s been flashbacks and conversations about their childhood throughout the show, but I feel like that wasn’t really enough.

So I’m curious, what kind of backstory headcanons all of you might have for your favorite characters on Glee?