'Glee' 'The Quarterback' Recap, Review: Former McKinley High Students Return to Mourn Finn Hudson, Cory Monteith in Highly Emotional Season 5 Episode: Watch Full Performances [VIDEOS]

facebook tweet

Last night, "Glee" aired its heartfelt, tear-inducing episode "The Quarterback," a tribute to fallen actor Cory Monteith and his character Finn Hudson.

From the opening moments of the show, it was clear this was going to be a somber affair. Dressed in all black, members old and new of the William McKinley High glee club performed "Seasons of Love" from "RENT," fading into a photograph of Finn in his football uniform.

The storyline of "The Quarterback" was frankly secondary to the musical performances. While each song from each "Glee" cast member was so honest and revealing that it did not feel like acting, the storyline of the episode was quickly paced. Frequent jump cuts into different scenes occurred with little context between them. Perhaps the clunky editing was due to the fault of the editors, who had to deal with all the heartbreaking footage too much and just wanted to get the job done, or perhaps the producers really just wanted to make the music shine.

Despite the poor pace of "The Quarterback," "Glee" did do a fair job of covering the different ways in which people grieve after loss. There was Santana (Naya Rivera) whose inner b---- truly came out; was unable to show her true love of Finn and ended up assaulting Principal Sylvester. There was Puck (Mark Salling), who felt lost without the friend who guided him. Finn's family tearfully went through his things, and his stepbrother Kurt (Chris Colfer) took comfort in his letterman's jacket.

Most poignantly, there was Mr. Schue (Matthew Morrison) who was so busy taking care of others that he was unable to cry himself, until the very end of the episode wherein he sobbed into the stolen letterman's jacket after over a month. Similarly, Rachel (Lea Michele) appearing with roughly 10 minutes left in the episode highlighted the emotion. Her tearful performance of "Make You Feel My Love" was especially heartfelt, and the "Finn" necklace she wore around her neck reflected the real life "Cory" jewelry Michele wears perfectly.

As Murphy stated in interviews leading up to "The Quarterback," "Glee" did not address how Finn died head on. Instead, the episode took place three weeks after his funeral. It was obvious in some ways that the show was avoiding it, saying vague things like "I can't believe he's gone" without addressing his sudden demise.

Despite the clunks in editing and the awkwardness of the cause avoidance, those things were small fry compared to the performances, which were so highly emotional and tear-jerking, it was hard not to feel a sense of loss.

Tears were frequent occurrences in the performances, which felt less like acting and more like real friends grieving their loss. Performed simply in the glee rehearsal room (excepting "Seasons of Love"), the background characters simply watched and comforted one another while listening to someone share their Finn story through song.

Watch the performances from "The Quarterback" below.

"Seasons of Love" ("RENT"), Full Cast