McKinley High: Where Nobody Ever Learns a Thing

I have often argued about the merits of Glee with friends of mine. Usually I am arguing that the show doesn't have any, and my friends are usually saying something like "but it's GLEEE!!!!" You'll understand why I got frustrated quickly. I'll never understand why I kept talking to these people about Glee.

Anyway, occasionally one of my friends would make an intelligent argument and we'd actually get a discussion going. One particular discussion from way back in early season one comes to mind particularly clearly. My friend and I were talking about the characters and their developmental arcs and whether or not they helped the show or held it back. It was my opinion that the characters were incredibly simplistic and it bothered me how rigidly they stuck to their single-minded principles. My friend disagreed, saying it was true of the high school mindset to be locked onto one goal above the pursuit of all others. In time we compromised our opinions. I admitted that the single track mind was true to high school life, and he conceded that the Glee writing staff probably wasn't thinking that deeply about it when they wrote their characters.

Well as I've watched recent episodes this season, I've remembered this discussion on several occasions as I wonder and marvel at how little the characters have changed since early season 1. Sure, Glee tries to hoodwink us by showing how the cheerleaders have turned against Sue Sylvester, and how Kurt has managed to escape his oppression, but have any of the characters actually grown at all? I would argue they haven't.

Sweeping general statements are one thing, how about some examples?

Rachel
Season 1 - Appoints herself unofficial group leader to steer the group towards what is best for her solo career
Season 2 - Decides she doesn't need men so she can focus on her solo career

Finn
Season 1 - Struggles with the issues of being a father/brother/quarterback and being cheated on by Quinn
Season 2 - Struggles with the issues of being a friend/leader/quarterback/ and making a cheater of Quinn

Quinn
Season 1 - Cheats on Finn with Puck, lies to Finn about her pregnancy with some ridiculous story about a hot tub
Season 2 - Cheats on Sam with Finn, lies to Sam about her mono with some ridiculous story about a gumball

Santana
Season 1 - Tells Finn Quinn is cheating to break them up so she can hook up with him
Season 2 - Tells Sam Quinn is cheating to break them up so she can hook up with him

Mr. Shu
Season 1 - Is an inept teacher who causes more problems than he fixes because of his limited point of view
Season 2 - Is an inept teacher who causes more problems than he fixes because of his limited point of view

I suppose that you could argue that the complete lack of character development is still true to high school though. After all, I've never known a teenager who hasn't repeated a few of their past mistakes.

But it's funny to hear people try to tell me that the Glee characters are "interesting to watch." I'll grant you that some of them have good voices. I'll grant you that most of them are incredibly attractive 20 something year olds. I'll even grant you that a couple of them can act. I probably will never grant you that they are interesting to watch.