In a single montage, Rachel Berry is created and defined, for every subsequent episode of the show. She is the show’s main clown – at one moment tap dancing and shilling for solos with a somewhat unhinged zealousness, but in the next, completely destroyed by her inability to fit in with her cruel environment.
Hardly any other character gets this treatment to such a degree, and it was this original stratagem that gave Glee its voice. Rachel Berry represented the entire show as its headlining tragicomic, a show choir loser who spouts crazy but emotes genuine – much like Glee itself. Glee started out as the Rachel Berry of the TV world, a singing and dancing misfit that had a lot of zany dialogue, but that would surprise you with real and honest moments of touching vulnerability.
– Rachel Berry and the Spotlight: Rachel as a Main Character
Go read this.
Yes. Do.