Remembering Glee’s quarterback, Cory Monteith

By Sean Previl

The much-awaited episode of Glee, The Quarterback, to memorialize Finn Hudson and the actor who portrayed him, Cory Monteith, started off Thursday night by having both current and returning cast members perform Seasons of Love from RENT.

Monteith, who was found dead in his hotel room in July as the result of an accidental drug and alcohol overdose, was one of the original cast members in the hit show. His death appeared to cause sadness around the world. Tweets, Facebook posts, Tumblr blogs and every other form of social media had something to say about Monteith after his death, but the message was clear: Remember Cory.

The episode is set three weeks after Finn’s death and focuses on how the teens and adults of the Glee Club mourn but also celebrate Finn’s life, and by extension, Cory’s. From Puckerman’s (Mark Salling) outburst of fearing being without his friend to remind him of who he is, to Santana’s (Naya Rivera) breakdown saying Finn was a better person than she is, they all remembered Finn in a different way.

How Finn died is never explained, aside from Kurt’s (Chris Colfer) comment that Finn “probably had secrets too.” While some people may be upset they did not touch on his drug use, the producers of Glee used the episode as a way to create memories for the fans rather than to teach a lesson about the dangers of drugs.

The two most powerful moments in the episode were of Carole Hudson (Romy Rosemont), Burt Hummel (Mike O’Malley) and Kurt packing Finn’s belongings and the final moment with Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) remembering Finn.

The moment between Burt, Carole and Kurt showed the deep connection a family has and the pain they deal with on the loss of a child. It was clear the characters were not only mourning Finn, but mourning Cory because the three of them had been with Monteith since the beginning of the show.

It was the ending scene with Mr. Schu that, at least for me, was the most painful scene. Throughout the episode Schu stays strong for the rest of the cast and never cries. Even when his wife Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays) expresses her concern for him, he still acts as the shoulder to cry on. It’s at the end of the episode when he returns home that he finally breaks down while clutching Finn’s football jacket. For me, this was the scene that finally caused the tears welling up in my eyes the whole episode to fall. Seeing the man who acted as a father figure for Finn throughout the series show such emotion was not only a powerful moment, but also the best way to end the episode.

Various songs highlighted the episode, each with its own reason behind it, including The Pretenders I’ll Stand by You, the song Finn sang to what he once believed as his unborn baby’s sonogram; James Taylor’s Fire and Rain, The Band Perry’s If I Die Young and No Surrender by Bruce Springsteen.  Near the end of the episode Rachel (Lea Michele) arrives and sings Adele’s Make You Feel My Love as her way of remembering Finn.

While it may have been a show that mourned Monteith, it also brought fans the closure they were waiting for and did so in a sensitive manner that allows the season to continue as planned.  As Finn Hudson is quoted in the episode, “The show must go … all over the place … or something.”