This Gleek Will Always Be a Daydream Believer

I am a Gleek and  I am not ashamed to admit it.  I totally get sucked into the lives of those glee club members and their fearless leader, Mr. Shu.  It is always the talk of the breakroom with all of my younger coworkers the next day (or there are shouts of, ‘No spoilers!  I haven’t seen it yet!”)  I even watched The Glee Project, Season 2 and cheered when my favorite contestant, Blake Jenner, won (he won the role of Ryder Lynn, for those of you who are wondering.)

The rich tapestry of songs during the six seasons of the show is like no other list of music anywhere, from classic rock to Broadway to rap to soul.   With all those covers and mashups to choose from, I would not have been able to choose which one was my favorite.  That is, until tonight.  Without any reservation, Kurt and Blaine’s duet Daydream Believer will always be the Glee anthem for me.

I was one of those tweens that sat in front of the television in the 60’s watching The Monkees every week.  I had no idea who The Beatles were when I was young, The Monkees were everything cool to me (except for maybe Bobby Sherman).  Their antics were crazy and the musical productions were over the top but they were all so cute and dorky that I just had to love them.

Fast forward over 40 years to the Glee finale.  The show catapulted to 5 years in the future to give us a glimpse into where all the glee club kids had landed.  I will tell you that I was never really sure during the run of the show how I felt about Blaine and his buttoned down fashion sense and his gelled up hair.  When I saw the outfit and haircut on 2020 Blaine, I had never been crushing harder on Darren Criss,  Then the music began. Kurt and Blaine’s musical performance was spot on, both voices strong and sure and even, just the way a duet should be.   The kids were enthusiastic and super adorable. It was a nice throwback that this was a song featured in an episode in Season 1 in a Will Schuester high school flashback.

I sang along with every verse and was a little sad when it finally came to an end, both the song and the series.  Although some detractors may say that Season 6 was a little preachy and unbelievable, I say that the last episode was a fitting tribute to the series that helped kids to see that maybe they can be themselves and find a voice, if they take a risk.