To the glee club members who have spent their entire lives in a tiny town in Ohio, New York is an entirely different place with bigger everything. It's definitely a spectacle for them which they should indulge in. But that doesn't mean the viewers have to watch them sing and dance about New York for half an episode without any plot or character developments.
"New York" has a lot of the problems with Glee, namely the decision by writers to substitute storytelling with straight song and dance. The songs are somewhat related to what's going on, but nothing really comes of it. And what's worse is that the original songs all sounded generic, so even the songs weren't that good.
Like most episodes, "New York" also has too much going on in terms of plot. Quinn gets a piece of the episode, Will gets a piece around the same size, Brittany gets one at the end, but there is not enough to be meaningful on an individual level. I guess one could say that the stories all relate to the idea that there are bigger things out there but that some people may stay trapped forever.
It is Rachel and Finn, something that's been overdone at this point, who take the episode and it's not all bad. The date, the kiss, the talks all constitute huge portions of the episode and don't introduce anything groundbreaking. But Rachel and Kurt do have the one excellent scene on the Wicked stage in which Rachel realizes this is where she is destined to be. Kurt and Rachel have much more in common than Rachel and Finn, and that's one of the big problems. When Kurt suggests that Finn could come to New York, Rachel knows that's not happening: Finn belongs in Ohio, away from the grandeur of New York.
New Directions places 12th at Nationals, and the club is bummed out. Still, the final scene puts a bow on top. There is still one more year to achieve hopes are dreams. For Rachel that also means one final year to be with Finn. For Brittany it means another year to be with the people she loves.
Score: 8.5/10
