Darren Criss might just save Glee for me

by Katie Schenkel

After the creepy Britney Spears and the terrible religious episodes, I had more-or-less thrown in the towel on Fox's Tuesday hit. But thanks to them casting an actor I'm already a fan of, Glee might have pulled me back.

I’ve been a fan of Darren Criss for a while now. He’s probably best known for the YouTube hit A Very Potter Musical, a full-length, student produced play based on the books of J.K. Rowling. It’s part parody, part homage and all musical. Criss plays Harry, but also co-wrote the songs, which are infectious in the best possible way. While most of his performance as the Boy who Lived is hilarious, there is also a quiet, serious moment right out of the books that he just nailed. If you can’t tell, I would highly suggest watching it.

So, when I heard a while ago that Criss was going to join Glee, I was thrilled … until I saw the last few episodes. Really, the whole season so far has been mediocre, but it has gotten worse from the religious episode on. I was content with skipping the Halloween episode and wasn’t planning on keeping the show on my “must see every week” list. Then I caught this week’s episode for Criss’ debut as prep student Blaine and while the episode had some issues, I’m getting sucked back in.

Above everything else, I’m happy to see a three dimensional character on the show. From the very beginning, Glee has been comprised of stereotypes: the black girl is the sassiest girl alive, the cheerleaders are Stalin levels of sadistic and until now, the only gay person was the pure definition of flamboyant. And here’s Blaine, who is gay teenager, but also a teenager who happens to be gay. Glee has been bad about taking serious issues and missing the point, but Blaine’s talk with Kurt about having the courage to stand up hit just the right notes.

While I think we’re all sick and tired of Katy Perry, I actually did like Criss’ version of “Teenage Dream,” but that’s more his great voice than the song itself. I really can’t wait to hear the next song he performs on the show.

Which brings me to the real question: how much are we going to see of Blaine? I mean, Charise was cast as Sunshine, but how much have we seen of her?