Glee: The once-popular 2010’s show regaining popularity as it crushes Netflix ratings. Starring many performers straight off of Broadway, this show consists of enough musical numbers and dramatic scenes to last a lifetime. It includes many catchy covers of popular songs from various time periods and bold characters.

This show incorporates inclusive storylines that touch on almost every issue a teenager could ever face throughout their high school years. By doing this, it brings awareness to important issues such as eating disorders, ocd, homophobia, transphobia. Highlighting these issues made Glee more relatable for watchers. The main message of the show is to embrace uniqueness. Throughout the show, I saw many story lines play out that were similar to things I have seen in my own high school. It was interesting to see how realistic the show got, considering most shows for teenagers gloss over the real parts of growing up and all run along the same storyline. Not to mention, it has top-notch performances and countless surprising cameos. Celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Idina Menzel, and Kristin Chenoweth made special appearances throughout the series.

While the show is enjoyable in some aspects, at times it can be quite cringey. There are definitely moments where I get second-hand embarrassment from certain scenes. The majority of those scenes include the glee club teacher who is creepily attached to these high schoolers, Mr. Schuester. He even chose one of the glee club students to be the best man at his wedding. Almost every other episode he makes me uncomfortable by attempting to rap and dance like a teenager when he’s really 35 years old and going through a midlife crisis. He is not the only cringey character, he just happens to be the most out of place on this show centered mainly around high school students.

As a show, Glee certainly has its ups and downs. Sometimes I can’t refrain from clicking the next episode button, while other times I can’t bear the second-hand embarrassment and have no choice but to exit out of Netflix all together. Would I recommend it? Only if you can handle spontaneous breaking out into song.