Review: "Glee" Season 4 Very Glee Top 10.

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What's up Honest Gleeks, it is time for yet another review of Glee.


Wait, Glee is over for the season.

WHAT IS ANOTHER REVIEW DOING HERE!?

Because it is time to review the top ten songs from season four.
I hope everyone out there in the honest community is ready, because it is time for a countdown.


Number 10. Teenage Dream (Acoustic) by Katy Perry sung by Blaine from episode 4 The Break Up

Blaine (Darren Criss) visit Rachael (Lea Michelle) and Kurt (Chris Colfer) in New York. At a karaoke bar he sings a saddened version of the song that leads to a walk in the park where Blaine admits to cheating on Kurt ending the match made in obvious heaven between the gay couple.
A blessing because it adds conflict to a couple that is far too obvious. The only two homosexual main characters being together and so utterly, hopelessly in love was too easy for the writers to do. The only thing to do was create a season long plot of Blaine trying to get back together with Kurt including them hooking up several times and ending with the cliffhanger of Blaine holding an engagement ring behind him as the team wins at regionals.


Number 9. Heroes by Davie Bowie sung by Blaine and Sam from episode 7 Dynamic Duos

This song earns brownie points with me for being a surprisingly awesome song sung during a rather pointless episode with no reason behind it at all other than to have a superhero themed episode because superheroes are everywhere. This is one of the songs that made plot wise sense for Sam (Chord Overstreet) and Blaine to become best friends. Mostly because they sing awesome together. Oh yeah, Blaine had developed a crush on Sam.


Number 8. Locked out of Heaven by Bruno Mars sung by Marley, Unique, Tina, Sugar, and Brittany from episode 11 Sadie-Hawkins

I love gender bender covers and I love this song. One of my favorite songs sung by Marley (Melissa Benoist) that really shows this new girl can sing. Very little plot relevance to this song other than it is awesome. I do kind of wish they would of turned this into a more meaningful romance moment song but what can you do, this was just good music to me.


Number 7. Never Say Never by The Fray sung by Jake from episode 1 The New Rachael

Holy hot stuff. Wait hold on that is not my line. We meet Puck's little brother Jake (Jacob Artist). This guy can sing. But this guy is not the new Puck. He is much closer to the new Finn rather than Jake. He is really good at singing, especially at singing my favorite Fray song. It is really too bad they did not let him finish. Although, if they did I suppose we would not have seen Jake has some anger issues to work out. Which he does in like three episodes. But regardless it makes the cut despite being cut off.


Number 6. Hall of Fame by the Script (Feat. Will I. Am) sung by Jake, Ryder, Sam, Joe, and Artie from episode 22 All or Nothing

Spoiler warning. New Directions kick ass. The team opens with Hall of Fame almost as a way to rub it in everyone's face that as long as Marley didn't pass out again that The New Directions would win at regionals. I still wish they would of lost but we can't always get what we want. The new cast combining with the old cast may just win at nationals come season five. Let's hope they make it to the Hall of Fame again.


Number 5. Bye Bye Bye/I Want it that Way by N'Sync/The Backstreet Boys sung by Finn and Will sung episode 16 Feud.

Why didn't they do this in the 90's? Will (Matthew Morrison) totally wins this battle but it still blew me away. As a shameless fan of both bands I am glad they did what I was thinking. The choreography was spot on using the strings everyone thinks about when Bye Bye Bye comes on. This whole scene was made possible by Finn (Cory Monteith) having a lapse in judgment several episodes ago kissing Emma and possibly ruining Will's wedding. It is a little surprising that the two ever make up at all. Oh they haven't really yet because Finn's actor went into rehab toward directing the last episodes. Maybe next season!


Number 4. The Longest Time by Billy Joel sung by Artie, Kitty, Sam, Marley, Ryder, and Jake from episode 20 Lights Out.

I waited the longest time for Glee to cover The Longest Time. Man I sure do love bad puns. A fun episode, Lights out was all about acoustic performances. The cast sings with minimal assistance singing Billy Joel's song. This is another song that shows the newcomers of The New Directions know what they are doing. A lot of shows try to replace the old characters with similar ones as the cast grows up and parts, but Glee subtly did it. Some characters are quite obvious about who they are replacing but they obviously make it so that the characters are really their own beings.
Phew. Almost done. Number 3. Creep by Radiohead sung by Rachael and Brody from episode 17 Guilty Pleasures.

Rachael and Brody's goodbye song. Rachael's boyfriend for the season Brody (Dean Geyer) has had a secret this whole season. He is a jiggalo in order to pay for his college tuition at NYADA. He has been hiding it from everyone, sleeping with old rich women for cash. Probably not a bad job except for all the STDs and wrinkles and the fact that he is cheating on Lea Michelle. Dude is tripping stupid. Ignoring all that, this song has the two sing a duet about how their relationship ended terribly, but if they both put more into it something truly special could have come out of it.


Number 2. Your Song by Elton John sung by Ryder from episode 18 Shooting Star.

This whole scene is adorable. It is really too bad it ended so badly. Ryder (Blake Jenner) sings this song to confess his love to the girl he thinks is the girl he has been talking to online. Totally embarrassing when he finds out is is not her. It drags on a half season long plot (at least it felt that way to me) about us finding out who is Ryder's secret admirer. We find out several episodes later that it is Wade AKA Unique (Alex Newell) the boy who wants to be a girl singer of The New Directions is the one who has had feelings from Ryder the whole time. Despite it being the only obvious choice I really wish they did not go this route with it. I think they damaged up having Ryder get with someone who fits his character more like Kitty or Marley for example trying to create this plotline.
The last one. And it is a good one. Although probably obvious.


Number 1. Don't Stop Believing by Journey sung by Rachael from episode 19 Sweet Dreams.

Holy gleek nostalgia Batman. Rachael sings Don't Stop Believing for the third time in Glee's incarnation for her first audition on broadway. It motivates her to continue on. I love how they use similar scenes to the first episode when they first did the song, with the original members singing behind her. Finn had one last awesome scene before his actor went into rehab. Telling Rachael to do this song.


My top ten songs for Glee season 4. Hope you enjoy out there Honest readers. I sure did. Until season 5, remember to be yourself and blast loud music.

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Review: "Glee; All Or Nothing" (S. 4/ Ep. 22 2013) " Was This Episode All Or Nothing?"

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By: Jeff Lake

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It is an unfortunate time to be a Gleek. Mainly because the season is over and we were left on multiple cliffhangers of sorts. The season finale, titled All or Nothing was not exactly, all or nothing.


Will (Matthew Morrison) announces that regionals will be held in McKinley's auditorium this time around. Meanwhile, Brittney (Heather Morris) meets with professors at MIT about her odd ability to see patterns and numbers beyond what the normal mind can do, giving her the offer to become a MIT student as part of early enrollment.

This in turn goes to her head. She demands getting all the solos at regionals or she does not perform at all.


She only gets worst from here. Brittney does several vastly out of character things including breaking up with Sam (Chord Overstreet) via text in front of his face (exactly how that sounds).


The only Rachael scene of the episode. She has her final call back for Funny Girl, singing Celine Dion's To Love You More in order to try to earn her spot as the lead.

(Rachael has her final call back for Funny Girl, attempting to win them over with her rendition of To Love You More by Celine Dion.)


Blaine (Darren Criss) asks for Sam's advice about going about asking Kurt (Chris Colfer) to marry him, despite Blaine and Kurt not being a couple since Blaine cheating on Kurt way back in the beginning of the season, even though they hooked up at Will and Emma's (Jayma Mays) failed wedding. Glee can really be confusing when you miss a few moments. I was confused just trying to explain that.

Sue (Jane Lynch) returns for a couple of scenes this episode, teaming up with Will to try to bring Brittney back down to reality. This ultimately, fails. Sam calls Brittney's ex-girlfriend Santana (Naya Rivera) to come to New York to try and talk Brittney down as well. These two scenes were painful mostly because of these attempts at serious moments being surrounded by Brittney's webcam show Fondue for Two that has made me cringe every single time it comes up beyond the first time. I hope it does not come back next season.


Blaine meets a lesbian jeweler while picking out rings. Blaine, Kurt, the jeweler, and her life partney all go to Breadsticks in order to have dinner, and so that Blaine can see how a homosexual couple in love is when marriage is involved. Kurt drops the fact that Blaine and himself are not together, but Blaine is persistent in his love during the episode.


The moment I have been waiting at least many episodes for. Ryder's (Blake Jenner) love life and secret admirer problem. He pulls a Brittney, saying he will not perform at regionals unless Katie reveals herself. After angrily kicking several things, Marley (Melissa Benoist) confesses to be Katie, while Jake (Jacob Artist) gets in between the two.

Marley describes it as a joke gone way too far and Ryder storms out of the room. Later Ryder and Marley are walking down the hall, Marley is trying to explain the situation, however Wade (Alex Newell) confesses to be the “real” Katie. Ryder says that the two never had anything, and that he will never talk to Wade again.


At regionals Ryder tells Will he will perform tonight at regionals because it would be unfair to punish the whole club for one person's actions.

(Not a performance, but the emotion filled finale to one of the most annoying Glee plots ever, condensed into one youtube video)


And it is time for the performances!
The minor and could not care less about show choir group perform, followed by the actual threat to The New Directions, The Hoosierdaddies. They unleash their secret weapon that Will scouted out, a sophomore girl named Frida (Jessica Sanchez). The group performs the songs Clarity by Zedd and Wings by Little Mix.

(Clarity and Wings performed by the Hoosierdaddies.)
For a brief moment I thought they were an actual threat to The New Directions. But then Brittney rejoined the club after a heartfelt moment explaining how The New Directions are a dysfunctional family. She apologizes for her outburst and gets back together with Sam.


Now it is time for our heroes to kick some butt. Musically of course. Starting off with Hall of Fame by The Script, following that with I Love It by Icona Pop, before finishing their performance with an original song created by Marley, titled hopefully you guessed it: All or Nothing, bringing some of the older cast to tears. A short transition later and The New Directions have won this year's regionals.

(In order of performance, Hall of Fame, I Love It, and All or Nothing, The New Directions stand surprisingly tall at regionals)


The episode closes with Emma and Will having a quick and small marriage ceremony in the choir room, so that Emma won't freak out like last time. The two exchange vows, referencing an early episode of Glee when Will cleaned off gum from her shoe with a credit card.

The credits roll on the scene, just after we see Blaine holding a ring box behind him as he stands next to Kurt.


Our Honest View gives Glee; All Or Nothing S. 4/ Ep. 22 a 8.5/10.  It was a little all over the place/ A few plot points were left unsolved like the results of Rachael's audition. Also I am surprised and actually a little disappointed that The New Directions won. But Ryan Murphy and his writing crew know what they are doing (they are bringing in the big bucks after all). I am thinking that the next season will pick up right where they left off this season, as the cast heads towards nationals. All I know is that I cannot wait to see what happens when season five hits.

Something New. Review: Magic The Gathering: Dragon's Maze

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By: Jeff Lake

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Our Honest Gamers, it is time to bust open some packs, it is time to review the final set of the Return to Ravnica block: Dragon's Maze.

After playing in three pre-releases, I have had a chance to play with some of the cards. Prior to the pre-releases I was anxiously observing the spoiler list until the set came out like any good magic player. I tried to figure out what cards are out of this world awesome and powerful as well as which cards were complete let downs.  Now the time has arrived. Grab your guild champions, it is time to enter the Dragon's Maze (You cannot pick Varolz, I am going through the maze with him) as I will share with you some my discoveries and observations.

The Best:

1. Voice of Resurgence
 
Voice of Resurgence is hands down the best card in the set. It is a cheap creature in the long line of “hate bears” that punish your opponent's play style. It is good against both creature decks because it is at least two bodies in one, as well as being good against control decks for being two bodies in one plus punishing your opponent for casting spells on your turn. 

This card will also cause people in standard to try and fit Pillar of Flame to help cancel out some of the card advantage this card can create. Pick up this card if you can, as of writing it is pushing a $40.00 price tag, and I can foresee it staying up that high. This card will see play across all the popular constructed formats and casual players will want it because it can create an army of tokens.


    •    2. Varolz, the Scar-Striped.
 
It is Blanka! Most people when I told them about this card did not know what I was talking about unless I called it Blanka. Varolz, the Scar-Striped is the only guild champion to make the awesome list. It is my favorite card in the set because it has so much potential combined with all the things needed to make a cheap legendary playable. Sacrificing creatures is quickly being learned by all players to be a powerful outlet to creating card advantage. His ability to give all your fallen creatures scavenge can turn anything in play from a measly mana dork to the classic Ornithoper combat potential.

I have already built a commander deck around him and he has become one of my favorite decks to play. Varolz has lots of legacy potential as well, and I can see him becoming playable as a one-of in aggressive decks that share his color combination.


3. Far//Away

Far//Away is so far away from being bad. An instant speed unsummon attached to an instant speed edict. This card is everything a control player wants. A cheap way to get rid of creatures that only improves as the game continues. The best part is when you fuse Far//Away you play them in order, so you can bounce a creature you may be able to deal with later and make it so they will be more likely to sacrifice a creature you want gone. 

A little bit of a fun fact. Both halfs of this card can help deal with a Blightsteel Colossus, one of the many go to threats in vintage. It can bounce it into their hand, where most likely it will never see play again. Or it can be sacrificed and shuffled back into the deck. This card when fused can also deal with two which I can imagine never comes up in vintage, but it is possible! Blightsteel is usually a vintage threat, but I have seen it at my casual player and there are never enough answers to indestructible creatures that can kill you in one shot. Now this card is two more.

4. Turn//Burn

Split cards are generally better when they are instants. Like Far//Away, Turn//Burn has the ability to deal with two creatures in one, but it also gives a color combination flat out creature removal when fused and both halves target the same creature. At worst this card is a two mana shock, but at best this card is a complete blow out. Unless you're opponent is actively playing around this card, it will turn them by surprise. 
 

 

 


6. Sire of Insanity
 
Sire of Insanity is completely insane. Resolving the insane sire against an unprepared opponent will leave them defenseless to an assault. A Craw Wurm sized body attached to an ability that triggers at the end of every turn, this card will be clogging up multiplayer games. I play mostly multiplayer and I can't wait to not only cast this card, but scream at how stupid the card is for leaving my plans of game conquering in the graveyard.                          
     
7. Ral Zarek
 
Dragon's Maze's residential planeswalker. At worst he is a fog and a lightning bolt. Slightly better he will double lightning bolt. Oh right he can tap down blockers and ramp you up mana. And when crazy things happen you might take five extra turns. Ral Zarek is powerful, but in this his ultimate is not the most powerful effect on the card. It could completely backfire causing you to be down a planeswalker in addition to not taking any extra turns. But he has the ability to protect himself with his lightning bolt only costing two loyalty counters while Ral comes into play with four so if he is not dealt with it is possible he will do it twice. Like all planeswalkers he has the potential to fog some of the damage going at its owner's head. Definitely a goodie and a good card to pick up. Just not sure where his true home will be.


 
8. Deputy of Acquittals
 
I have a love for flash rescue creatures. Whitemane Lion has been replaced by this guy by being two more relevant creature types and not needing another creature to return to have him stick around. I am brewing up several different decks including this card. Come standard rotation I can see this card doing a little of the work Restoration Angel has done for the last two years (granted Restoration Angel made a lot of things sillier than they needed to be. Thragtusk I am looking at you). An easy card to get a playset of it is a common after all and not everyone will be hunting this guy down.      
                                    
9. Advent of the Wurm
Speaking of flash, get a hold of this giant, ninja, trampling, wurm of death. This is a card everyone intending to play standard for the next year and a half should pick up. It is an instant speed 5/5 that is easily useable using the likes of Snapcaster Mage and all the populate cards. An interesting little tid bit: it is only the second card to creature 5/5 trampling wurms. The first one being Armada Wurm, which totally fits into the same deck as this card. If you want to think inside the maze a little, Advent of the Wurm will trigger all the creatures with evolve in the set making your army better. Just something to think about.




 
10. Dark Confidant this card is not. Is this card still good? Of course it is. It is a cheap creature that will draw the aggro decks into more gas. It is also an extremely relevant creature type, giving zombie decks a real two drop to fill their curve. I can see Gravecrawler, into Blood Scrivener, into Geralf's Messenger plus other stuff just completely overwhelming any opponent. That is a lot of potential card advantage.

Now there is one card that did not make my list of ten awesome cards to pick up from Dragon's Maze. Put away your phobias because this one is a spider. I introduce to you Skylasher.

Skylasher has so many abilities and is not painful on the manabase that I have a hard time believing this card won't do...something. It is not powerful, but again has a lot of abilities. And any creature that punishes dedicated blue mages I can usually get behind. But wait, Voice of Resurgence already does that and does that better.

Pick up Skylasher too while you're off picking up the rest of the good cards in the set. It probably won't be too bad of an idea.

The set's biggest let down goes to Tajic, Blade of the Legion.


Tajic is the guild champion of the Boros Legion. But he just seems like such a let down. Other than his awesome sword he has very few redeeming qualities. I much rather be on the defensive with this card than ever try to invoke his battalion trigger to deal 7. I do like how with three hits with a battalion triggered Tajic will cause a player to lose a game of commander, but I doubt it will happen very often.

And lastly, I leave you all with my favorite artwork in the set: Nivix Cyclops.

A steam punk cyclops that is totally waiting to smash your face in. What more could you ask for?

Our Honest view gives Dragon's Maze a 6.5/10. Dragon's Maze has plenty of other goodies lying in wait, including eight more legendary creatures I did not mention for all you commander players out there. Any tools to promote the format I encourage, even if few of them feel legendary. Dragon's Maze also gave us a plethora of new removal spells that I feel like standard has been lacking in quality. Now we may not have quality but at least we have quantity to choose from. And the rest of the split cards. Split cards are just awesome and usually cleverly named. Pick up the good cards, forget about all the terrible ones.

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Review: "Glee; Lights Out" (S. 4/ Ep. 20 2013) "Who Forgot To Pay The Electric Bill?"

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By: Jeff Lake

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Good day Honest Gleeks! It is time to turn up the power as the power went out on this episode of Glee, titled accurately Lights Out.



The episode begins with Will (Matthew Morrison) explaining that one of the rival schools' have been hiding a secret weapon and that McKinley's Glee club will have to bigger than their secret weapon to be able to beat them. About to begin a theme of epic songs, the power shuts down changing the theme and lesson of the week to unplugged. I love acoustic, unplugged, and raw emotion performances so this episode gave me high hopes at the beginning without disappointing.


To help with the power outage everyone in the school is given out flashlights so that classes are not canceled. Ryder's (Blake Jenner) crush plot continues through the darkened halls. Jake (Jacob Artist) questions why Ryder is still pursuing this girl after she has lied and stood him up several times now. Ryder hints to Jake that he told her something that he has not told anyone, something deeper than Ryder's dyslexia. Jake leaves Ryder to think after telling him he should consider opening up to the people who actually exist in his life.

The first performance of this song filled episode of Glee. Sam (Chord Overstreet) opens up a little explaining why he chose the song while sticking to his silly roots, but in summary: Sam kills this song. Ryder plays back up vocals to the song as the two cover You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling, while Artie texts constantly to Sam's eventual dismay. Artie (Kevin McHale) takes his turn up to the stage but cannot bring himself to perform without the power or instruments behind him, slamming his head on the piano. Sam explodes on Artie and the rest of the club as how Sam's family being poor has always had to find ways to entertain his siblings and himself without power.

(You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling, by The Righteous Brothers covered by Sam and Ryder)


Ryder covers Everybody Hurts by REM in honor of all the pain everyone has felt. This song was not done acoustically, but as the concept to unplug his feelings. Not sure if this was done intentionally but Ryder was apart of a performance of this song on the last season of The Glee Project. After dumping his feelings out in the song he tells his classmates what happened to him. He was molested by his female babysitter when he was younger, as some of the guys in the class think he was extremely lucky, the girls and Mr. Shuester stand by his distress.

(Everybody Hurts by REM covered by Ryder.)


I love when older characters get some character development. Artie has a brain blast as he finds a way to apologize to Sam. If they did a performance without instruments, but with buckets, trash, bottles, anything that is not an actual instrument. This is followed by the cast covering Queen's We Will Rock You which I found to be done amazingly.

 I know I am one of the rare few to find Glee's covers of Queen songs to be a nice change to the songs that are still overplayed on the radio. You can't top Queen but Glee covers do change up the song in a good way.

(The entire club covers We Will Rock You by Queen without any actual instruments.


Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) is back!

Kind of.

 She is now a personal trainer at 23 Hour Fitness where she intends on making housewives cry. Blaine (Darren Criss) admits to her that he only rejoined the Cheerios to destroy her, yet he does have something else to tell her. The Cheerios really need her, they are falling apart without her. Sue watches the Cheerios practice from afar while her and Becky have a talk about how horrible the new coach is to her. Sue tries to play it off strongly, but it is obvious she is going to cave and try to come back to coaching.

 Sue sings a cover of Little Girls from Annie which Jane Lynch will be starring in this summer on Broadway. A nice little cross advertising done by Glee which I thought was really cool.

(Jane Lynch has a rare moment to sing on Glee as she covers Little Girls from Annie.)


More old character development. In New York Santana (Naya Rivera), Kurt (Chris Colfer), and Rachael (Lea Michelle) work on a huge ballet performance with guest star Sarah Jessica Parker (seriously, I cannot see her as her character at all. I just see Sarah Jessica Parker. Not a good thing by the way). Santana admits to having wanted to be a ballerina, like all little girls (and Kurt) did when they were younger, softening her tough lesbian girl demeanor. The four of them cover At the Ballet from the musical The Chorus Line.

(The four sing At the Ballet)


The power returns to the halls. The kids all cheer. Becky is brought to the principal's office after getting in trouble with the new coach. She tells him that she had to get in trouble because she needed to talk to him about something. The scene ends here without us finding out what actually happened. Hopefully Sue will really be back.


Kitty opens up to Ryder after asking him out to dinner. She admits to him that she was also molested and that she understands what he went through. The bitch aura around Kitty is dropped completely from her which I thought was awesome. Kitty was too much like Quinn before her and I am glad to see differences between them now. After this scene Ryder is shown at the computer again talking to the unknown Katie. The two of them agree that this weird relationship they have works for them. After Katie goes offline for a few moments, Kitty shows up asking Ryder out again to which he declines. Ryder tells her that maybe after the Katie thing is figured out that Kitty and him can go out. To which she declines. The bitch aura goes back up due to Ryder's way of going about this. Perhaps I spoke too soon about Kitty's personality change.


With the power back on, the episode ends with one last song. Will tells them to sing one last song completely A cappella. The club sings a song I have been dying to hear them cover, The Longest Time originally sung by Billy Joel ending the episode.

(The Longest Time by Billy Joel closes the episode.)


Our Honest View gives, Glee; Lights Out S. 4/Ep. 20 a 8.0 out of 10.Plot and character development galore followed by tons of good music. The season is almost over, unfortunately hinting at how the season finale is going to go, but hopefully this journey will be worth the obvious ending that is coming. Hopefully the few hanging plot points like Ryder's crush will be revealed before the season is over. Until next week Gleeks, stay Wonder-ful.


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