The Quarterback (Glee)

"The Quarterback (Glee)"

"The Quarterback" is the third episode of the fifth season of the American musical television series Glee, and the 91st episode overall. Written by all three of the show's creators—Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan—and directed by Falchuk, it first aired on Fox in the United States on October 10, 2013. The episode features the death of character Finn Hudson, and a tribute to Finn and to actor Cory Monteith, who played Finn starting with the show's pilot, and who died on July 13, 2013.

The episode has been received positively by critics. Upon its initial airing, this episode was viewed by 7.40 million American viewers and garnered a 2.9 rating in the 18–49 age group. The total viewership and ratings for this episode were up significantly from the previous episode. It was the show highest rating since September 20, 2012.

Plot

Old and new members of New Directions perform "Seasons of Love" at Finn Hudson's funeral. Three weeks later, they reunite at McKinley High, where glee club director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) invites them to honor Finn through song, as their personal memorials for him. Mercedes Jones (Amber Riley) performs "I'll Stand By You", a song Finn previously sung when he believed he was going to become a father. Principal Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) allows the students to turn Finn's old locker into a memorial, and plants a tree in his honor, which is later stolen. Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer) helps his parents to sort Finn's belongings, keeping Finn's letterman jacket and giving Burt Hummel (Mike O'Malley) Finn's lamp and football. Carole Hudson-Hummel (Romy Rosemont) soon breaks down in grief and the family comes together to comfort one another.

The next day, the glee club meets in the auditorium, where Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet) and Artie Abrams (Kevin McHale) lead them in a performance of "Fire and Rain". Santana Lopez (Naya Rivera), unable to cope with her grief, leaves early and visits Finn's memorial, only to find Bree (Erinn Westbrook) leading a group of Cheerios in taking it apart on Sue's orders. Santana confronts Sue in her office and accuses Sue of hating Finn, shoving her into a bookcase in anger before leaving. Later, guidance counselor Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays), Will's wife, tells him she is worried that Will is slighting his own feelings in order to provide emotional support for the others. Will claims he is fine and returns to glee club, where Santana sings "If I Die Young", only to break down and leave halfway through the song. Kurt finds her in the auditorium. Santana regrets not being nicer to Finn, but Kurt reassures her that Finn cared for her deeply and knew she was a good person. Before leaving, Kurt gives Santana the jacket.

Football coach Shannon Beiste (Dot-Marie Jones) notices that Noah "Puck" Puckerman (Mark Salling) is continuously drunk following Finn's funeral and leads him to the locker room, where Puck breaks down and confesses to Beiste that he is scared that if he starts crying he may never be able to stop and that he feels lost without Finn's guidance. Beiste tells Puck that he'll have to trust that Finn's memory and his own instincts will be enough to guide him going forward. Beiste also reveals that she knows Puck stole Finn's tree, which he promises to return. Puck later performs "No Surrender" at the choir room, where Santana accuses him of stealing Finn's jacket, which Puck denies.

New Directions places drumsticks in Finn's memorial, where they meet Rachel Berry (Lea Michele), who has gathered enough strength to return. She performs "Make You Feel My Love". Santana later apologizes to Sue, who reveals she is heartbroken Finn died believing she hated him, while she actually respected him and looked forward to having him as a colleague. Santana also speaks to Will and tells him that she doubts she will return to Lima, as it is filled with painful memories for her. Will says he's proud of her and respects her decision. Puck replants the tree and tells Beiste he's joining the Air Force to keep himself on the right path and honor Finn's memory. Beiste wishes him luck and tells him to be safe as he drives off, smiling as she discovers Puck had carved the word "Quarterback" into the tree.

Rachel later speaks with Will in the choir room and confesses that she still talks to Finn and is scared that her memories of him will eventually fade. She is uncertain of what the future will hold now, as she always planned to have a successful career on Broadway before returning home and reuniting with Finn so they'd be together for the rest of their lives. Will asks her if she ever told Finn her plan and Rachel explains that she didn't have to as he already knew. Will reassures her that, although her life might have a different outcome than the one she planned, it might be even better than she expects, though Rachel disagrees, as Finn was her soulmate. Rachel then gives Will a plaque she had made with a picture of Finn and a quote from him that reads: "The show must go...all over the place...or something". Will hangs it in the choir room.

Later, at home, Will pulls Finn's jacket out of his bag, having taken it himself, and finally allows himself to cry. Emma comes home to find Will weeping while holding the jacket, and comforts her husband as he grieves.

Production

Shooting for the episode, which is set in Lima, Ohio, began on August 23, 2013, in parallel with the previous episode—the second of two Beatles tribute episodes—which had started shooting earlier in the month and continued into the following week with scenes featuring new recurring cast member Demi Lovato.

Cory Monteith at the 2010 GLAAD Media Awards

The episode is written by all three of the show's creators—Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan—and directed by Falchuk. Murphy said that "almost everything in that episode is from the first take of every performance because the actors and the crew had a really hard time shooting it." He added, "I've never seen a crew that you can't continue shooting because they've left the room sobbing." Many cast members called to request that they be included in the episode although they weren't under contract to do so, including Iqbal Theba, who plays Figgins on the show, and appears in the episode. The episode was finalized for broadcast—"locked"—on October 3, 2013. The broadcast episode was followed by a dedication: "Cory Monteith 1982–2013".

Cory Monteith, who played Finn, was set to return to Glee for the fifth season after having missed the last few episodes of the fourth season while undergoing drug rehabilitation treatment from late March through late April in 2013. However, Monteith died of a drug overdose on July 13, 2013. At Monteith's request, Finn was to have been featured prominently during the fifth season, so a number of the planned story arcs need to be revised or replaced.

Fox President Kevin Reilly told the Television Critics Association on August 1, 2013, that Finn would be written off the show in the fifth season's third episode, and also that the contents might include previously unused footage and outtakes involving the character. The death of Finn is to be established as the episode begins, though Murphy has said that the cause of death is deliberately not mentioned.

The filming of the episode has been "incredibly hard" according to Matthew Morrison, who plays glee club director Will Schuester—"We've mourned Cory, but now we're mourning Finn. So it's kind of like two people in that one person." Kevin McHale, who plays Artie Abrams, noted that some in the cast are finding it "weird" when they "are having to play reactions that they obviously would not feel in real life"—for example, a number of the characters "aren’t dealing with the loss of Finn" and are in denial, unlike the actors who "were all very much dealing with it."

Reilly said that a series of public service announcements dealing with the topic of drug addiction would be filmed by the Glee cast and creators for airing during this episode. In addition, a fund in Monteith's name would be started using the proceeds from the music contained in the episode.

Recurring characters in this episode include former glee club members Mercedes Jones (Amber Riley), Noah "Puck" Puckerman (Mark Salling) and Mike Chang (Harry Shum, Jr.), Finn's mother Carole Hudson-Hummel (Romy Rosemont) and stepfather Burt Hummel (Mike O'Malley), McKinley guidance counselor Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays), football coach Shannon Beiste (Dot-Marie Jones), McKinley janitor and former principal Figgins (Iqbal Theba), cheerleader Bree (Erinn Westbrook) and McKinley freshman Dottie Kazatori (Pamela Chan).

Six songs from the episode have been released under the title The Quarterback, and the cover of the release features Monteith's face. The six songs are "Seasons of Love" from Rent performed by members of New Directions past and present, The Pretenders' "I'll Stand by You" sung by Riley, James Taylor's "Fire and Rain" performed by Chord Overstreet and Kevin McHale, The Band Perry's "If I Die Young" sung by Naya Rivera, Bruce Springsteen's "No Surrender" performed by Salling and Adele's cover of Bob Dylan's "Make You Feel My Love" sung by Michele.

Reception

Ratings

"The Quarterback" drew in 7.4 million viewers and a 2.9 rating among adults 18-49, Glee's best rating in about a year (The show's highest rating since September 20, 2012). It was soaring up 40 percent from season five premiere episode "Love, Love, Love" which drew in 5.06 million viewers. And it was up 75 percent from the previous week episode "Tina in the Sky with Diamonds " , which drew in 4.42 million viewers.

In Canada, the episode was watched by 1.38 million viewers, placing fourth for the night and twenty-first for the week.

Critical response

"The Quarterback" was received positively by most critics. Miranda Wicker of TV Fanatic gave the episode a 5 out of 5, saying "There's really only so much to be said about this episode. It was, in a word, heartbreaking. But it was also sort of perfect in the way that Glee can be when faced with tough moments." She also praised the writers, who in her opinion "met that challenge in the best possible ways."

Allison Keene of The Hollywood Reporter gave a positive review to the episode saying "Ultimately, "The Quarterback" was respectful, and was successful as the cathartic memorial -- for both the cast and viewers -- that it was intended to be. But beyond anything else that happened in the episode, the real sadness that stays with us about Monteith was said the best, as so many things usually are, by Sue: "It's just so pointless ... all that potential." While noting that (Lea Michele)'s performance was the best, she said that "the most heartbreaking scene was without singing. Kurt, his father Burt (Mike O'Malley), and Finn's mother Carole (Romy Rosemont) all talked about the sadness and tragedy of losing a family member, and the moment when the three of them huddled together on the floor to cry and comfort one another was truly the episode's show-stopper."

Lauren Hoffman of Vulture gave the episode a 4 out of 5 saying that "If you want to distill last night’s Glee down into two sentences, those (spoken to Puck by Coach Bieste) might be the best...It’s tragic. There’s no other word for it." She praised the episode's opening number stating "“Seasons of Love” is the perfect choice to open the episode...It’s the most lovingly mixed track Glee’s produced in quite some time...It’s an offering. And a beautiful one at that."

Katy Kroll of Rolling Stone acknowledged the emotional strength of this episode and that "even if you were just a casual viewer or tuned in for the very first time to rubberneck, you probably shed a tear during the emotionally charged special episode". However, she criticized the way the writers left the cause of Finn's death. Rae Votta of Billboard praised the way Glee was able to deal with grief right upfront in a way other TV shows are not able to do. Also stating "There's no perfect way to do this sort of an episode, but Glee gave Cory and Finn a heartfelt send-off the way they knew best."

External links

• "The Quarterback" at Fox.com
• "The Quarterback" at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com episode