Glee Squee
Oct. 13th, 2013 09:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elfinblazeGlee, episode 5x03: The Quarterback
"There's no lesson here. There's no happy ending. It's just nothing. He's just gone."
I feel like I should be honest and say that I wasn't a fan of the decision to kill off Finn's character on the show (I'd rather he just be let go into the ether), but it was obviously something the cast and crew and many fans wanted, so I can respect that. But it's a lovely episode to remember both actor and character.
It starts three weeks after Finn's funeral, from a cause of death that's never revealed, but that's not the point of the episode. The point of the episode is simply to remember Finn (and the actor who played him).
Those old students who could make it back to Lima, have come back, though not everyone could. Quinn and Brittany (and Matt Rutherford, for that matter) aren't there, presumably for their own reasons. It's implied that everyone was there for the funeral, but now, three weeks later, things are starting to settle into a new normal routine, and Schuester, who still hasn't let himself grieve yet, decides to dedicate the week to Finn.
With the immediacy of death starting to fade everyone is in a different place with their grief. Apart from just being in mourning, people are angry (Santana and Puck), irrational (Puck and Schuester, who both respond with kleptomania), displacing their feelings by focussing on trivialities (Tina in her black clothes), numb, while others are just trying to move on. I can't decide which of the latter two Kurt falls under, because he spends the whole episode comforting other people.
The scene with Finn's family broke me. When Burt started talking about his regrets, that was what got to me, and then Carole falling apart shattered my heart completely.
My first concern when I heard the show was going to kill Finn off was, "oh god, Carole." Because first she lost her first husband, and now her son. That, more than anything else, gets to me. I'm glad she has Burt and Kurt, even though I know they'll never replace her other family, but at least she's not alone.
I can't even begin to imagine how it must have been for the cast and crew to film this episode, but they all did an excellent job. I have so much respect for all of them.
Santana vs Sue was perfect. Naya Rivera was fantastic and blew it out of the water (as usual). They're both fantastic actually. It comes across as so raw and real: Santana who hides a bigger heart than anyone suspects, and Sue who hides having a heart at all. I think a confrontation was inevitable and I'm not surprised that this death triggers it.
Santana's song was, um... Is the show implying Finn committed suicide? Because that's all I can get from that choice of song. O_O And I wouldn't think they'd have chosen that path to kill him off.
Anyway, it's good to see how much Kurt and Santana have grown and changed, how they have a proper and real friendship now. I'm glad to see that.
And Santana's conversation with Schuester at the end was the sort of thing that lifted me up when I first watched the episode, but thinking about it now it's just sunk in that the biggest tragedy apart from Finn dying young, is that he never did get out of Lima. In season 1 it was what he wanted to not become a Lima Loser. So it seems like the place really does crush you if you don't get out. No wonder Quinn's not coming near it any more than she has to.
Bieste was the other one who got to me. I love her scenes with Puck, how she succeeds in reaching him, in echo of their connection when she helped him graduate. And the more I listen to Puck's song, the worse I feel for him. He really feels lost without his best friend.
Bieste: "It's time you gotta be your own quarterback."
In following Finn's lead, Puck decides to join the military (Air Force). And somehow riding off on his motorbike feels like a ride off into the sunset. If we never see Puck back on the show again I won't be surprised. I guess this is his resolution.
I like that Rachel gets the last song.
I'm glad she decided to join the group after all and spend some time with the people who love her; she would have needed it just as much as they all need each other.
My favourite song of the episode, though, was "Seasons of Love," from Rent, which is such a perfect choice.
"It's time now to sing out, though the story never ends,
Let's celebrate, remember a year in the life of friends."
(Tiny aside: Interesting that Dottie is a Cheerio after all. That's not going to end well.)
"There's no lesson here. There's no happy ending. It's just nothing. He's just gone."
I feel like I should be honest and say that I wasn't a fan of the decision to kill off Finn's character on the show (I'd rather he just be let go into the ether), but it was obviously something the cast and crew and many fans wanted, so I can respect that. But it's a lovely episode to remember both actor and character.
It starts three weeks after Finn's funeral, from a cause of death that's never revealed, but that's not the point of the episode. The point of the episode is simply to remember Finn (and the actor who played him).
Those old students who could make it back to Lima, have come back, though not everyone could. Quinn and Brittany (and Matt Rutherford, for that matter) aren't there, presumably for their own reasons. It's implied that everyone was there for the funeral, but now, three weeks later, things are starting to settle into a new normal routine, and Schuester, who still hasn't let himself grieve yet, decides to dedicate the week to Finn.
With the immediacy of death starting to fade everyone is in a different place with their grief. Apart from just being in mourning, people are angry (Santana and Puck), irrational (Puck and Schuester, who both respond with kleptomania), displacing their feelings by focussing on trivialities (Tina in her black clothes), numb, while others are just trying to move on. I can't decide which of the latter two Kurt falls under, because he spends the whole episode comforting other people.
The scene with Finn's family broke me. When Burt started talking about his regrets, that was what got to me, and then Carole falling apart shattered my heart completely.
My first concern when I heard the show was going to kill Finn off was, "oh god, Carole." Because first she lost her first husband, and now her son. That, more than anything else, gets to me. I'm glad she has Burt and Kurt, even though I know they'll never replace her other family, but at least she's not alone.
I can't even begin to imagine how it must have been for the cast and crew to film this episode, but they all did an excellent job. I have so much respect for all of them.
Santana vs Sue was perfect. Naya Rivera was fantastic and blew it out of the water (as usual). They're both fantastic actually. It comes across as so raw and real: Santana who hides a bigger heart than anyone suspects, and Sue who hides having a heart at all. I think a confrontation was inevitable and I'm not surprised that this death triggers it.
Santana's song was, um... Is the show implying Finn committed suicide? Because that's all I can get from that choice of song. O_O And I wouldn't think they'd have chosen that path to kill him off.
Anyway, it's good to see how much Kurt and Santana have grown and changed, how they have a proper and real friendship now. I'm glad to see that.
And Santana's conversation with Schuester at the end was the sort of thing that lifted me up when I first watched the episode, but thinking about it now it's just sunk in that the biggest tragedy apart from Finn dying young, is that he never did get out of Lima. In season 1 it was what he wanted to not become a Lima Loser. So it seems like the place really does crush you if you don't get out. No wonder Quinn's not coming near it any more than she has to.
Bieste was the other one who got to me. I love her scenes with Puck, how she succeeds in reaching him, in echo of their connection when she helped him graduate. And the more I listen to Puck's song, the worse I feel for him. He really feels lost without his best friend.
Bieste: "It's time you gotta be your own quarterback."
In following Finn's lead, Puck decides to join the military (Air Force). And somehow riding off on his motorbike feels like a ride off into the sunset. If we never see Puck back on the show again I won't be surprised. I guess this is his resolution.
I like that Rachel gets the last song.
I'm glad she decided to join the group after all and spend some time with the people who love her; she would have needed it just as much as they all need each other.
My favourite song of the episode, though, was "Seasons of Love," from Rent, which is such a perfect choice.
"It's time now to sing out, though the story never ends,
Let's celebrate, remember a year in the life of friends."
(Tiny aside: Interesting that Dottie is a Cheerio after all. That's not going to end well.)
