After over 700 musical performances, the musical phenomenal Glee is entering into its last two episodes this Friday and the final bow.
Inevitably, this Gleek is feeling nostalgic and as impossible as it seems has chosen her favorite 25 Glee performances. (Disclaimer: This is by no means an exhaustive or objective list, just an opportunity to look back on some of the best moments of Glee.)
25) “Empire State of Mind”
Probably the height of Glee’s popularity, and everything that we love about this show. Who doesn’t love a good recruitment number?
24) “Homeward Bound/ Home”
Our first real look at reunion magic after the majority of the regulars graduated from McKinley the season before.
23) “You Can’t Stop the Beat”
This performance is Glee to me. Joy.
22) “Valerie”
Naya Rivera became a power-house for this show and this performance also became a platform to exhibit the insane dance skills of Heather Morris and Harry Shum Jr.
21) “We Are Young”
Classic Glee. An example how they could successfully use popular music to incorporate into a relevant storyline.
20) “Time Warp”
The perfect summation of the dominant ideology of Glee – we will be ourselves no matter what others think.
19) “Jump”
The New Directions first performance without the guidance of Will Schuester and the perfect combination of fun and ridiculous that ended up defining the early run of the show.
18) “Safety Dance”
One of the ironic disappointments of the casting of Glee was that they originally cast their best dancer as a character in a wheelchair. Kevin McHale’s skills are completely on display in this dream sequence, and achieve the perfect sense of ‘what-if’ for Artie.
17) “Rose’s Turn”
In my opinion, the episode Laryngitis was the making of the Kurt Hummel that we all know and love. Chris Colfer at his best.
16) “The Scientist”
As questionable and heartbreaking as “The Break-Up” storyline was, it was all almost worth it to hear the Glee Cast’s version of this Coldplay song, and the flash-backs to each couple meeting for the first time is the desired punch in the gut.
15) “Raise Your Glass”
It seems like Warbler blasphemy to not put the game-changing “Teenage Dream” in the Dalton Academy spot, and while “Raise Your Glass” wasn’t as enormous, it certainly cemented the Warblers’ place in our hearts.
14) “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going”
This list would not be complete without an Amber Riley solo — each of the options just as amazing as the next. However, this performance to me embodies the character of Mercedes Jones and was indecently Amber Riley’s audition song.
13) “True Colors”
The almost criminally underused Jenna Ushkowitz’s moment to shine and a song that perfectly conveys the message, and hopefully the legacy, of the show.
12) “Jessie’s Girl”
Cory was a gift to this show, an enormous part of its success and he never sounded better. (I always wondered if they named Jonathan Groff’s character Jesse, just so that Cory could sing this song.)
11) “Proud Mary”
Back when the ‘after-school special’ wasn’t a regular occurrence, the all-wheel chair number proved to be group-bonding Mr. Schuester wanted it to be. While an understandably logistical nightmare to shoot, it was an early ‘uniting’ number that eventually became the norm in the New Directions.
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