Written by Megan Madueno / News editor
Glee premiered their tribute episode to Cory Monteith entitled, “The Quarterback.” Brad Falchuck directed and co-wrote the episode along with Ryan Murphy, Ian Brennan, and help from Lea Michele.
Co-creator Ryan Murphy said he wanted to focus “The Quarterback” on how the characters cope and move on with their lives and not focus on how the football player died.
The episode took place three weeks after the football hero’s death. The McKinley students began the episode with a cover of the Rent song “Seasons of Love,” which was sung by the original members of the glee club. At the end of the song they paid homage to the quarterback, Finn Hudson, by the camera panning back and showing a picture of Hudson.
One of the best parts of “The Quarterback,” was the fact that many of the star’s reaction were truly genuine and many did not even have to act.
Each character had a different reaction to Hudson’s death. Rachel Berry could not get out of bed, Noah Puckerman (“Puck”) and Santana Lopez acted out, and Kurt Hummel and Mr. Schuester focused on their loved ones.
The most touching part of the episode was when Hudson’s mom, Carole, (Romy Rosemont) gave a speech saying, “You don’t get to stop waking up, you don’t get to stop being a parent even though you don’t have a child anymore.” This left me crying like a baby.
Lea Michele surprised all of us gleeks, by showing up in the last fifteen minutes of the episode. She covered one song, “Make You Feel My Love,” by Bob Dylan/ Adele.
Personally I would’ve preferred more songs sung from Michele, but the song she sung was beautiful and could make any room silent.
Later in the episode, Berry was showed breaking down to Mr. Schue saying, “I had it all planned out. I was going to make it big…[and] I would come back, he’d be teaching here…then we’d live happily ever after.” She then proceeds to say, “He was my person.” This left gleeks everywhere dying of heartbreak. I just wanted to make everything okay for her and make her happy again.
Schuester wanted to memorialize the football player’s death by singing and building a memorial. Sue Sylvester, being the evil villain on the show, of course fought against these memorials. Sylvester got what she deserved when Santana told her off. Us gleeks were applauding Santana and jumping for joy which revealed that she was “utterly destroyed” knowing that he died thinking she didn’t like him.
The episode continued with the characters fighting over who gets to have Hudson’s letterman jacket. In the end, it is revealed that Mr. Schuester is the one who stole the jacket.
The episode ends with Schuester being an emotional wreck and his fiancee, Emma Pillsbury, comforting him.
“The Quarterback,” left me heavy-hearted and miserable. Knowing Cory Monteith would not be on Glee anymore changed the whole vibe of Glee. There will be no more “Finchel” and no more Finn saving the day and helping others on the show. The creators of the show have confirmed the series will not go beyond the sixth season.
For me, Falchuck and Murphy did an okay job on this tribute episode. There was so much more they could have done to make it exceptional.
