I used to watch Glee a lot, but I haven't been keeping up with the show recently because it's pretty terrible. I did see the episode "Shooting Star", which garnered a lot of criticism.
In the episode, during glee rehearsal, two shots are fired outside of the room and the entire school goes into code red. Next is shown 10 minutes of scared silence broken by whispers and tears. The glee club members hug one another, confess secrets, and fear for the lives of those in the hallways. Heather Morris, who plays the character Brittany, hovers above a toilet in the bathroom crying (some of her acting work). Marley's mother in the cafeteria cries as she can't reach her phone. Tina cries outside the school as she can't reach her fellow glee clubbers.
It turns out that the school was safely evacuated, and Teacher Sue Sylvester takes the blame for the accidental shots done by a down-syndrome cheerleader named Becky.
Critics argued that it was far too soon to have a school shooting, and this has caused a lot of controversy. Although I thought that there was superb acting in the episode, it lacked an ultimate meaning. It built up a suspenseful, horrifying nightmare, but didn't deliver. The presence of a gun isn't the same as a mass shooting. Glee could have reflected the fact the true horror comes from humanity committing acts out of passion by making the shooter be full of rage instead as a framed, foolish mistake.
Glee did give us another look at the fear present in society. It also did make me think again about what my choices would be and what I would say if I had to say goodbye. That is why I think that this episode was valuable and worth a watch (providing you skip the first 10 minutes of regular glee ridiculousness).
