SPOILERS – ‘Glee’ Season Opener.

Don’t read if you want surprises for the season starter, which airs September 21st.

The episode opens with McKinley High blogger Jacob Ben Israel (Josh Sussman) interviewing the members of Directions. Ben Israel’s questions were all meta-references to some of the criticism the show has faced from the press during its run so far.

For example, Ben Israel asks New Directions’ hyper-competitive overachiever Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) if she is “difficult to work with,” paralleling rumors of Michele’s own diva behavior on set. Ben Israel also tells glee club adviser Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) that his readers are “begging you to stop rapping” and that New Directions’ song selections sound like they came from a “drag queen’s iPod.”

Schuester responds to the criticism by calling a club meeting where he unveils a new strategy to help recruit new members — hip-hop. Shu gets the kids to do a rousing version of Jay-Z’s ‘New York’.

New Directions’ rap routine manages to get the attention of two new McKinley students — football player Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet, at right), who will be a love interest this season for Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer), and foreign exchange student Sunshine Corazon (YouTube sensation Charice Pempengco).
Here is Chord, he is very pretty.

Corazon is a talented singer who emerges as a potential rival for Rachel. To maintain her position as New Directions’ top dog, Rachel tricks Corazon into going to a crackhouse where she believes glee club auditions are taking place. The experience leads Corazon to leave McKinley and join New Directions’ arch rival — Vocal Adrenaline.

At the premiere, Pempengco said she wasn’t sure whether her character will rejoin New Directions. “That I don’t know, let’s see what’s going to happen,” Pempengco said.

Rachel isn’t the only “Glee” character who gets a new nemesis this season. Dot Jones delivers a hilarious, standout performance as McKinley’s new football coach, Shannon Beiste (pronounced like “beast”).

Beiste convinces Principal Figgins (Iqbal Theba) to slash the budgets for both the glee club and the cheerleading squad. Her budget maneuvering leads onetime rivals Schuester and cheer coach Sue Sylvester (Emmy winner Jane Lynch) to band together. The dispute leads Beiste to cut New Directions’ Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith) from the football team.