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[Fortun Bawa]

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It all started one night several months ago while I was searching for something good to watch on Netflix. Glee, the TV show on Fox about a high school glee club stood out to me, partially because I had watched a little bit before, but more so because the show concept was interesting. I started watching -- and I'm still going. Throughout my experience watching, which started as a silly TV show and a guilty pleasure has actually become more: it's a story about the modern career and the millennial identity.

For those who have never watched, Glee is a television show about a feel-good singing club from the fictional McKinley High School in rust belt town Lima, Ohio, and follows their ascent from anonymity to national darlings through their soundly choreographed dance moves to well-covered Top 40 songs. It's everything from a reminder of what high school was to what it could have been.

But beyond the deprecation of high school culture, drama, and stereotypes that come with the high school experience -- all laid out in the show's many episodes, Glee reveals more than meets the eye. For me, an American born Asian to Chinese immigrants, it's the story of identity that is all-too-familiar and a constant journey of discovery, awakening, and self. From the perspective of a Millennial, Glee is a television show about finding meaning in work. As a generation up obsessed with doing not only work that helps us pay the bills but also makes the world a better place, the narrative within Glee presents a story that mirrors the current struggle of Millennials. Stories like the conflict of Mike Chang and his desire to go to dance school while going against the wishes of his parents, to Santana Lopez's reflection on college and cheerleading hit the contemporary nail on the head, and these stories are our own, and are what makes the show so addicting (to me, anyway).

So what are the lessons of Glee?

1. Identity is fluid
As careers become a more fluid concept, so does identity. No longer are we locked into one singular job for an extended period of time, but rather forced into a constant period of reflection on who we are, what our strengths are, and what makes us passionate. As the cast of Glee constantly shows us, they too must be fluid in understanding where they are at any given time. Out here in the real world, we must awaken to what matters not on a yearly cycle but on a daily basis.

2. Meaning is found everywhere
Glee coach Will Schuester seems to have an uncanny ability in seeking and deriving meaning from just about any situation, from Quinn Fabray's pregnancy (season 1) to Noah Puckerman's graduation (season 3). As the narrative of careers changes time overtime, it's important for us to also seek meeting in every situation we find ourselves into. The lucky few in the future will be able to have a long-term career with promotions, their dream job, and upward lateral movement, but for the most of us it will come down to projects, different companies, and a constant adjustment to new situations. Therefore, it is important for us to find meaning in anything and everything we do and be deliberate in our actions (and people we spend time around). Our generation might call it chaos, but our parents had a very poignant word for it: Opportunity.

3. Nothing is Forever
As the 2008 recession taught us, institutions that we've come to rely on and become comfortable with can change overnight. Much like the world, Glee changes every couple of seasons with new cast members, adjustments needing to be made, and last second changes before the big competition. In today's fluid economy where contracts dominate the workforce, it's important to remember that all things do have an end. It's important to make the best of things, work hard, and continue moving forward.

4. To Awaken is to Really Live
Perhaps it's the fact that music has the way to drastically change our mood, but there is something awakening about a musical number. One of my side projects as a result of watching Glee is now a screenplay, for example. Glee shows this very well in Season 5 upon the learning of Finn Hudson's death, where various members of the club are stricken with grief and wondering what to do with their lives -- Noah with the future of his life post-pool cleaning, Rachel with her journey post-Broadway, and more. In this instance, Glee not only urges us to mourn for Cory Monteith (who played Finn and died prior to Season 5) but also asks us to awaken to what really matters. How much more Millennial does it get than that?

The Takeaway
At the end of the day, the takeaway is that the economy is changing and maybe not for the ways that we were all used to. Millennials are growing up in a drastically changing economy, challenged by automation, a sagging labor market, and few entry level jobs, all while moving home to take jobs at coffee shops. Unlike the world in Glee, the plot lines in this world are real, and they aren't changing soon. And while Glee will gracefully bow out this coming Fall for its final sixth season, one thing will not: our careers and how we approach its evolution.

The initial twelve-member main cast included Matthew Morrison as teacher Will Schuester, Jane Lynch as scheming cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester, Jayma Mays as guidance counselor Emma Pillsbury, Jessalyn Gilsig as Will's wife, Terri Schuester. Other main cast members played students, with Dianna Agron as Quinn Fabray, a popular cheerleader who experiences a teenage pregnancy; Chris Colfer as Kurt Hummel, an effeminate, openly gay boy; Kevin McHale as Artie Abrams, a boy with a physical disability; Lea Michele as Rachel Berry, an ambitious performer driven by her dreams of becoming a Broadway theatre star; Cory Monteith as Finn Hudson, the school's sometimes-slow-witted star quarterback; Amber Riley as Mercedes Jones, an aspiring vocal diva who endeavors to be recognized for her talents; Mark Salling as Noah Puckerman, a teenage delinquent in need of direction; and Jenna Ushkowitz as Tina Cohen-Chang, a shy goth who longs to be popular. The main cast was altered throughout the series, including the addition of Naya Rivera as Santana Lopez, a sardonic and cynical cheerleader struggling with her sexuality, Harry Shum Jr. as Mike Chang, a soft-spoken dancer whose parents do not support his dreams, and Heather Morris as Brittany Pierce, a ditzy cheerleader who is secretly a math prodigy.

The series was created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan, the latter of whom first conceived of Glee as a film. The three wrote all of the show's episodes for the first two seasons, and Murphy and Falchuk initially served as the show's main directors. The pilot episode was broadcast on May 19, 2009, and the first season aired from September 9, 2009, to June 8, 2010. Subsequent seasons aired from September through May. The sixth and final season aired from January to March 2015.[1] Glee features on-screen performance-based musical numbers that were selected by Murphy, who aimed to maintain a balance between show tunes and chart hits, and produced by Adam Anders and Peer strm. Songs covered in the show were released through the iTunes Store during the week of broadcast, and a series of Glee albums have been released by Columbia Records. The music of Glee has been a commercial success, with over 36 million digital single sales and eleven million album sales worldwide through October 2011. The series' merchandise also includes DVD and Blu-ray releases, an iPad application, and karaoke games for the Wii home videogame console. There were live concert tours by the show's cast after the first and second seasons completed shooting; a concert film based on the 2011 tour, Glee: The 3D Concert Movie, was produced by Murphy and Fox and directed by Kevin Tancharoen.

In 2013, in the wake of Cory Monteith's death and after his tribute episode "The Quarterback" aired, Murphy announced that the sixth season would be the series' last.[2] After 121 episodes and over 729 music performances, Glee concluded on March 20, 2015.[3]

The series centers on a high school show choir, also known as a glee club, in the fictional William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio.[10] Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) takes over the glee club after the former teacher Sandy Ryerson (Stephen Tobolowsky) is fired for inappropriate contact with a student. With a rag-tag group of misfit teenagers, Will attempts to restore the glee club to its former glory while tending to his developing feelings for his co-worker, guidance counselor Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays), as well as defending the glee club's existence from the conniving cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch). A major focus of the series is the students in the glee club: their relationships as couples, their love of singing and desire for popularity coming into conflict due to their membership in the low-status club, and the many vicissitudes of life in high school and as a teenager.

The second season follows the club through wins at the Sectionals (episode 9) and Regionals (episode 16) competitions before losing at the Nationals competition in New York City (season finale/episode 22), while its members and faculty deal with relationships, religion, homophobia, bullying, rumors, teenage drinking, death and other social issues. The season's stories revolve around the same Glee club members as first season, with Santana Lopez (Naya Rivera) and Brittany S. Pierce (Heather Morris) added to the main cast, along with Kurt's father Burt (Mike O'Malley).

The third season follows the club through wins at Sectionals (episode 8) and Regionals competitions (episode 14), before they win the Nationals competition (episode 21) in Chicago. The characters deal with gender identity, adoption, domestic abuse, teenage suicide, bullying, disabilities, texting while driving, college and other social issues. Glee club members added to the main cast were Mike Chang (Harry Shum Jr.) and transfer student Blaine Anderson (Darren Criss), while Jessalyn Gilsig as Terri Schuester was written out of the series and Mike O'Malley as Burt returned to recurring status. The McKinley High class of 2012 graduates at the end of the season.

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