Glee: The Quarterback Review

The hardest word to say is goodbye, and yet that same word provides Glee with one of its best ever episodes...
This was never going to be an easy one- much as the zesty and uplifting Beatles two-part opener attempted to divert our attention from the impending matter, Glee's eventual focus on the passing of Cory Monteith (Finn) was an event which was only ever so far away. That particular moment came this week, with Monteith's death being echoed with the off-screen demise of Finn Hudson, provoking much the same level of grief and emotional struggle as the real-world news did for fans earlier in the Summer.

In spite of its flaws, Glee's track roster has often done a fine job of reflecting accurately the tone of an individual episode, a trait of the show which has never been more true than in The Quarterback. Whether in subtle performances of West End tracks (Seasons of Love is pulled from Rent to this end) or in an unexpectedly sombre rendition of what seemed a more optimistic track (Adele's Make You Feel My Love particularly subverts expectations in this regard), Ryan Murphy and the writing team have clearly dedicated plenty of thought in selecting the music which accompanies the often tear-jerking drama on display in the fifth season's third episode.

No fan would have blamed one or more of the series regulars for skipping this instalment due to the sheer hardship of filming it so after their loss, so the number of cast members old and new who do crop up in the course of the 45-minute running time is mighty impressive indeed. Naya Riviera's Santana in particular has some stellar content to work with in the script, her visceral verbal and physical attack on Sue Sylvester a truly accurate depiction of what fans might imagine her reaction to grief to be based on past experience. That's not to say that Sue is shortchanged in the episode's narrative, though- to say the least, this is Jane Lynch's moment to shine, her final discussion with Santana regarding the fact that now Finn is "just gone" and her dealing with the implications of her relentless antagonism towards him again completely rendicative of the emotions many of us hold when it comes to looking back on our time with the dearly departed.

It's surprising that amongst all of the immense pathos of this heartfelt requiem, then, that Glee retains some comedy. At first that might appear peculiar, however in fact this minor element of the episode only serves to enhance the genuine realism in how proceedings are presented- when we do recall the deceased in the aftermath of their life, what can be both comforting and simultaneously heartbreaking is remembering all of the joy and laughs which that person brought with them, the latter emotion naturally felt in recognising their future absence. As such, the ongoing battle for ownership of Finn's jacket transforms from an aesthetic, superficial teen drama to something with far greater resonance for any viewer regardless of their age, a coping mechanism as much as anything that can help us to remember all we cherished in times gone by.

Thanks to two relatively strong opening episodes and this utterly spellbinding early mid-season finale, Glee is in a far superior position already in comparison to the regular troughs of Season Four. Moving on from this loss is going to be difficult for the show's writers, directors and its lovable cast ensemble- at the same time, this reviewer can potentially foresee this initially overwhelming grief being turned to the show's dramatic advantage, finally reviving some of the raw emotion and human realism found in Glee's earlier episodes but seemingly lost in recent instalments. The Quarterback is the best episode that Ryan Murphy and company have offered us in years, quite possibly the show's greatest episode so far to boot. Rest in peace, Cory Moneith- you haven't been forgotten by your cohorts and fans, and quite frankly, you never will.
5/5