Glee: The New Rachel

Season Four has finally arrived! The premiere was interesting, to say the least. I haven't decided if it's interesting in a good or bad way yet.
The show begins with showing Rachel in New York. She is attending her dance class, whose teacher is crazy and played by Kate Hudson, no less, turning in a great performance. Cassandra July (Hudson) is the teacher, who can still bust some serious moves and does want the best for her students, but she puts Rachel in her place. Rachel (the always great, though often annoying Lea Michele) probably shouldn't have mentioned that she smelled alcohol on July's breath, but she did anyway. Needless to say, this did not win her any necessary points with July. However, things are looking up for her. In class with Whoopi Goldberg, Rachel performed brilliantly, winning her professor's approval. At least one class is going well. On the roommate front, things aren't looking so good as her roommate (unseen) thinks it is perfectly acceptable to have sex while Rachel is still in the room. Then she meets the sexy Brody (Dean Geyer). He is very nice and knows the school well. For now, he is only Rachel's friend, seemingly the only she has in New York, but he does want more, but knows that she is off limits for now. (Who knows what is going on with Finn, though Rachel did mention that she hadn't heard from him in several weeks.)
Back in Ohio, the popularity of winning nationals has gone to the heads of New Directions. Sue has had her baby, a beautiful little girl named Robin, whose father is still unknown. Yet, Sue surrenders most of the care to her new head cheerleader, Kitty (Becca Tobin), a nasty unpregnant Quinn. There is also Unique (Alex Newell) to joins the fight along with Blaine, Tina and Brittany (who flunked her senior year and is back again, which I'm not too happy about) to become the new Rachel. Artie judges them, and decides, with the help of an online pole that Blaine has won, leaving the other three quite upset. Other new members include Marley Rose (Melissa Benoist), my new favorite character as the new girl with a powerhouse voice, but the overweight lunch lady as her mother who makes countless sacrifices so her daughter can have a normal life. She makes it into the New Directions only to become upset when they make fun of her mother. Luckily, they come around, admitting that they let the popularity go to their heads. In the end, Glee is once again at the bottom of the food chain. The other new member, Jake, is Puck's half-brother, with attitude to spare. He starts off great, and then, already knowing his decision, Mr. Schu cuts him off. Jake (Jacob Artist, an appropriate last name) throws a fit, thus ruining his chances at joining the club.Still, he may come around, as the preview hinted at a possible romance between Jake and Marley, which I am all for.
In other news, Kurt was still in Lima at the beginning of the episode, struggling along. Luckily, Blaine encouraged him to go to New York and his father supported him in this decision. Thus, Kurt is now in New York, hugging Rachel at the end of the episode.
On the song end of the spectrum, they were mostly good, though Blaine's good-bye song to Kurt was distracting with all the cups used as props, but Marley's amazing voice saved the episode. "Call Me Maybe" was an alright performance, but "Chasing Pavements" made the episode worth it. I do look forward to seeing the rest of the season, though, for me, something is missing, but I don't know what. Grade: B+