There are many ways a show can unfold during its time on air. Although many don’t go down the musical episode path, some shows do. A musical episode is an episode of a show—a show which typically doesn’t have performative singing in it—where there are multiple songs, usually sung by the lead cast members. Musical episodes have been a source of controversy, with some fans loving them, and others hating them. In this article, we will explore both sides with opinions from someone who likes musical episodes and someone who hates them.

Tiana

 Loves musical episodes

I love musical episodes because they are a way of showcasing the musical talents of the cast. I also think it’s a fun way to tell the story of an episode in a different way. I do like it more when the show writes their own songs for an episode, because sometimes the songs a show picks to use in the episode can affect how good the episode is. Some of my favorite musical episodes are from Once Upon A Time, Grey’s Anatomy, and Supernatural. These stick out to me because the cast sounds really good and the storylines for these episodes are also really good. I like musical episodes because they are fun and very entertaining.

 Ashtyn

Actively despises musical episodes

I don’t know what it is, but when I hear singing, I immediately turn off the T.V. When watching a show, I like to enjoy the dialogue—not the singing. In my opinion, musical episodes have singing at the wrong time and their songs are poorly chosen. The Grey’s Anatomy‘s musical episode is a great example. They had songs that weren’t in the correct octave for the actor/actress. It felt like they just rushed the whole episode and it didn’t feel sincere. Another thing I don’t like about musical episodes is that the actors/actresses do not lip sync correctly. They don’t make it look like they are actually singing because they are off beat or they singing the completely wrong words. Though there are series that follow the musical episode guideline, I still don’t like them. They feel weird when placed into a show where the rest of the episodes are filled with dialogue.

Overall when it comes to musical episodes, you either like them or you don’t. Whether you love them for their performance value and catchy tunes, or whether you despise them for misplaced songs and bad lip syncing, musical episodes are truly a mystery.  As to why they have become a thing, and why they’re such a debate among fans of a series, we may never know. Go ahead and watch some musical episodes yourself and pick a side to the debate.