Glee Season Premiere: Five Things That'll Make You Gleek Out—Plus an Exclusive Clip!

Updates on the Glee couples, plus a sneak peek at Quinn's big entrance

Glee fans, we were honored enough to screen the season-three premiere last night with creator Ryan Murphy. And believe us when we tell you that we had one thought after the last song ended:

Welcome back, Glee.

The episode, titled "The Purple Piano Project," had everything we loved about Glee, and rarely anything reminiscent of season two. It was funny, well-paced, had amazing performances and nicely set up storylines that we are totally on board with. But we're not just saying all this to pump you guys full of jealousy Jell-O. Obviously we're going to share all the good stuff with you! Like an exclusive clip from the premiere episode feature Quinn's big entrance.

There are major spoilers ahead, so don't read on if you want to be surprised come Sept. 20. For the rest of you, we present the five things that make us Gleek out the most in the season-three premiere…

Roll Call: Who's a senior? Who's a junior? Those questions were answered in the first two minutes, as Murphy & Co. promised. Jacob Ben Israel (Josh Sussman), armed with his camera crew, grilled the glee club members on their status. And guess what? Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz) is not the only junior in New Directions. We also meet Mercedes' (Amber Riley) boyfriend (LaMarcus Tinker) right away, and we get a one-line explanation for Sam's (Chord Overstreet) exit. But it looks like all the couples are in tip-top shape and love is truly in the air. Speaking of…

Klaine Is Adorable City, and We Want to Be the Mayor: Blaine (Darren Criss) and Kurt (Chris Colfer) are in full couple mode, and in the beginning of the episode they have a bummer convo about being at separate schools. Yes, Blaine stars out the episode still in his Warblers uniform. And later he busts out a Tom Jones hit wearing a tight (praise Jebus) black shirt and red pants. And that's all we're going to say about that. Speculate.

Wemma Fans, Commence Your Happy Dance: Yes, Will (Matthew Morrison) and Emma (Jayma Mays) are a full-blown couple. Living together, packing each other's lunches and being so cute we could just squeeze the stuffing out of them. We don't find out how the relationship came to this point in the episode, but maybe we will in the next couple weeks? Of course, as happy as they seem (and they do), we find out from Will that there is one thing missing. And according to his plans for himself and Emma, it's a big problem.

Best Couple Ever: Not Finchel: Before everyone threatens to set us on fire for saying that, we just mean that Kurt and Rachel (Lea Michele) are phenomenal together in this episode. Most of the focus is on their dream to go to New York, and while Finn and Rachel are clearly together, we get more Kurt-Rachel stuff, and we loved every second of it. After seeing another group of performers (starring a certain Glee Project contestant) kill a musical number, Kurt and Rachel retire to her car to cry about their dashed dreams. That scene was one of our favorites of the episode: It was funny and emotional, and it really gave Lea and Kurt something special to do together.

The Performances! Oh, the Performances: Seriously, the last number of the episode got us all choked up. It was a fun and upbeat number, but because we're slightly crazy and can find context in anything, we took it as Glee's way of saying: "We're back, and we've still got it."

Want more scoop from the premiere? Your wish, our command:

• Will Schuester must have grown a pair over the summer, because he is not messing around this year. He even kicks someone out of glee club! But he has every reason to, and we're glad to see him strap on his man melons and do everything he can to keep his club together. Also, Lauren Zizes (Ashley Fink) isn't part of glee club anymore, but she will be back later this season for a storyline that Murphy seems really excited about.
• Idina Menzel will be back in episode two, and Murphy told us the reason she comes back has to do with Quinn (Dianna Agron). And she has some really great stuff with Rachel. So great, in fact, that they might keep Shelby around for longer than six episodes.
• As for the Glee Project winners, Damian McGinty and Samuel Larsen, we will see one before the other. Damian appears in episode four, and as we reported before, he'll be shacking up with Brittany. He's a sophomore, and the first scene he ever shot involved getting shoved in a locker. Murphy hasn't made any concrete plans for Samuel, but he thinks he'll appear as a relative of Puck (Mark Salling).
• They are hoping to do one big two-hour tribute episode, and Murphy says they've been trying to clear the music for a year and a half.
• The musical that McKinley High is doing? West Side Story. And Mercedes voiced her desire to audition against Rachel for the part of Maria.