It’s a rare TV beast that can keep serving up gripping plotlines, poignant moments and characters you actually care about year after year, but hit US musical show Glee has managed that throughout all five of its series.
Now, to celebrate the release of Glee Season 5 of DVD, heat’s taking a look back through the best performances of the whole series.
Take a look through the video clips below for our best bits – and don’t forget to order your Glee Season 5 DVD today!
A lush jungle background set (OK, a load of fake vines strung across their stage) and a whole lotta cupcake bras helped kick this rendition of Katy Perry’s huge hit Roar into popstar perfection. Sung by Tina, Wade, Kitty, Sam, Rachel, Elliott, Dani and Santana, along with the New Directions and Kurt, it was reminiscent of the big, bold performances of earlier Glee seasons.
4. Defying Gravity – Episode 12, 100
Watching Rachel’s transformation from a shy girl with a dream at the start of Season 1 to a fully fledged graduate ready to realise her Broadway ambitions has been Glee’s backbone, and this song – also sung by Mercedes and Kurt – sums up her journey and the next steps into her future.
3. Don’t Stop Believin’ – Episode 13, New Directions
This iconic song was one of the first to propel Glee to worldwide success in its first series, so it was fitting that it was revisited in the fifth. Sung by the Original New Directions and their mentor, Will Schuester (played by Matthew Morrison), it was lent a whole new poignancy by the loss of Finn (Cory Monteith) in this episode.
One of the saddest moments in the entire season was when old favourites Mercedes Jones, Santana Lopez, Kurt Hummel, Noah Puckerman and Tina Cohen-Chang joined forces with the New Directions to pay tribute to Finn Hudson in the special episode The Quarterback, which was dedicated to Glee star Cory Monteith after he died last June. This simple song, from the musical Rent, was the perfect start to the episode – and viewers found out later that Cory had originally helped record it for the graduation episode in Season 3. Sob.
If there’s one complaint we could throw at Glee, it’s that there’s not enough Lauryn Hill in there. Thankfully, they completely redeemed themselves with this episode in which Mercedes and Santana team up to score a recording deal with Doo Wop (That Thing). IT’S SO GOOD.