What’s Worth Watching: Glee’s Swan Song

Glee, “2009/Dreams Come True” (Friday, March 20, 8/7c, Fox)

It’s been a long, strange trip for Glee. The Fox musical comedy about a struggling Ohio glee club exploded into pop culture in 2009 with huge ratings, hit songs, record deals, and even a mall tour. Over the past six years, that original spark has faded, but it’s still important to recognize the enormous contribution the show gave to television at the time. The first half of tonight’s two-hour finale travels back in time to those glory days and explores, through a series of flashbacks, how different members of the original glee club first met each other. It’s touching and poignant, especially when the kids reflect on Finn, the crooner and football player portrayed by the late Cory Monteith. There will be tears, there will be laughs, and there will be moments when you remember how powerful the show used to be and why that magic is still worth celebrating.