Glee delivers an emotional tribute to Cory Monteith
‘Glee’ stealthily breaks the fourth wall to pay tribute to Cory Monteith, an unusual choice that paid beautiful dividends.
“Everyone wants to talk about how he died, too. But who cares? One moment in his whole life…” When Glee’s producers announced that they were preparing this week’s tribute episode, a great many of us had our doubts. Glee has had an uneven track record over the years, and while they’ve done their “very special episodes” quite well, producing an hour of television that wouldn’t be perceived as callous would be difficult. How can you ask these actors to portray their grief for America to see?
I think it is pretty obvious that it worked. While it must have been difficult for these actors to say lines about “Finn” that obviously carried the emotional weight of Cory, what they did was kind of beautiful. Kurt’s voiceover that followed the wonderful rendition of “Seasons of Love” set the ground rules: yes, the lines fit the context of the story, but only because they had to. Maybe on a different show, it wouldn’t have worked, but it did here. “The Quarterback” was filled with these moments: Burt talking about hugging more, Puck breaking down, Sue talking about the wasted potential … these were people talking about losing their friend.
And then, there was the music. From the opener, to Santana’s “If I Die Young” to Rachel’s “Make You Feel My Love” (which, boys and girls, is a Bob Dylan song that Adele covered after Garth Brooks made it a hit), each song choice was pitch perfect. I have no clue how they got through the performances or the recordings – especially Lea Michelle – but they did so. Proceeds of the iTunes downloads went to Project Limelight, a charity Cory Monteith supported that helped promote the arts with inner city youth in Montreal.
The show’s producers have already said that Finn’s death will reverberate throughout the rest of the season. We may yet find out what caused it, but I hope that we don’t … unless it fits into the story, it doesn’t really matter that much. As Beiste and Puck mentioned in their conversation, one’s life is about the line in-between the numbers. Was “The Quarterback” any less impactful for leaving that detail out? Is it particularly relevant to the story going on? I doubt that anyone who watched this episode of Glee didn’t know Cory’s story. This episode was for the actors, and for the fans that have stuck with this show through these (very) rough last several years. I don’t think any of them had a problem with it in the least. If there was ever an hour of television where it was OK to play fan service, this was it.