Glee Season 3 Begins

I just finished watching the premiere of season 3 of Glee. Maybe I wasn't in the best frame of mind or maybe my expectations were too high. All I can say is that it was okay.
I chuckled in a few places. I liked the closing number of You Can't Stop the Beat from Hairspray. The cover of the Go Go's We Got the Beat could have been fun but the song and the resulting food fight just seemed stupid and out of sync somehow. I thought by far the best performances were Darren Criss' rendition of It's Not Unusual and Lindsay Pearce from The Glee Project singing a mash up of Anything Goes/Anything You Can Do. In fact, I think Lindsay stole the show. She is truly a gifted entertainer and they definitely allowed her to shine. I was not a fan of Lindsay when she was on The Glee Project, but she may have caused me to have a change of heart after tonight's performance.
I'm sad that Sam is gone. While the concept of Sue running for a Congress is interesting, but I think the writing for her was really off. I also wonder if they might not reveal that she is bi-polar. Just last season the New Directions planned and led a wonderful funeral for Sue's sister. Now she wants to destroy the arts programs in all schools. What's up with that? Also, I don't think I get Sugar at all. Maybe there is more to learn about her. Who knows?
I realize that these are my first thoughts and impressions. I may need to watch the episode again online to see if I feel differently. I just wanted it to be better than it was. For me, it fell flat in a lot of ways. In my humble opinion, not that Ryan Murphy cares or needs my opinion, I really wanted this season premiere to shine more than it did. The writing seemed choppy and a bit disconnected from what these characters have already been through. Oh well, it's only the first episode.
Thanks for reading the ramblings of a media critic wanna be. Thank you also for being a part of my journey!