Summary
He was a hero. He was a villain. He was a bastion. He was a bastard. He was a coach. He was a cretin. He was intellectually stunted. He was emotionally savvy. He committed acts of emotional blackmail and physical violence. He rallied around his friends. He was... The Quarterback.
We start the tribute to Finn Christopher Hudson, and more importantly, the tribute to Cory Monteith, with a special intro, setting the appropriate mode with "Seasons of Love". We see the current New Directions on stage in funeral black, starting with the newest members, joined by the veterans. They then give way to the graduated members, all members past and present able to be there, united in their grief, before finally turning towards a picture of their angel in the endzone as we get a special Title Card.
Bushwick, three weeks post-funeral. We see Kurt and a V/O about him heading home for a wake Will's planning. He says that as much as going makes it real, needs his friends. He then says that questions about his feelings are irrelevant, as besides the rest of Finn's family, no one knows what he's going through. He then makes clear that how Finn died is not important, but how he lived will always be important.note . We also know there was someone important to Finn as well, as Kurt says his soulmate (and we of course relax the Running Gag for this one) is understandably inconsolable. Cut to the McKinley lounge, where we see Emma tell Beiste she's cleared her schedule for grief counseling which no one has participated in. This of course brings in Sue, barbs as sharp as ever, to seemingly be more heartless than usual. She basically tells them to suck it up and move on. Right, like you did with Jean? Cut to the choir room where Will and all of ND past/present sit. Will says that since it was the music that made them a family, then that's how they need to express their grief. Mercedes is the first one to take the offer, and in an abstract music-based Birth-Death Juxtaposition, she goes into "I'll Stand by You", the song Finn sung to the ultrasound of Quinn's baby back in Ballad. Afterwards, we're with Kurt in Sue's office, where we find she had him go to Home Depot and buy a $20 tree to serve as a memorial because Fuck You Sue. However, we then seen that Puck, having dropped out of college, took the tree, went to a cheap motel, and as we'll see later, made his own memorial. And now, tearful Mood Whiplash as we cut to a duty no mother should ever perform. Carole is sorting through Finn's belongings, deciding what to keep and what to give away. As we see the winning ball from Preggers, we then see the lamp from Theatricality, the one that led to Finn dropping the other F-Bomb. Burt shows remorse for his actions that day, saying that he was right on principle to lash out, but he didn't know the whole story. Burt wants the lamp in his office, wishing he was more physically affectionate. Carole then tries to get rid of Finn's lettermen, but Kurt insists in keeping it, apparently still smelling of him. Carole, breaking down, correctly says it's like a never-ending nightmare, but for one second, you forget. And that one second is paradise. The three comfort each other as we cut to Puck finding Kurt near a familiar dumpster; IE, the one Kurt used to find himself in, and we even get a clip. Said dumpster is being painted into a mural as Puck makes a play for the jacket. Kurt of course refuses, and we get brief posturing between the two as we go to break.
We return from break to see Santana and the current ND on stage, Sam and Artie leading them in some "Fire & Rain"; afterwards, Santana leaves, trying to hold her emotions in check. Cut to a memorial at Finn's locker, messages of remembrance strewn all over. Dottie, apparently still Tina's minion despite the Red and White, asks why Santana's not with the group and she says she needed a breather. What she's gonna get is a way to vent her anger, as the Cheerios! arrives to remove the candles, saying they're a fire hazard. That lights up the Berserk Button as Santana storms to Sue's office and hits her with a very understandable "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
I have hated you ever since the day I met you. You are a horrible person who never had a nice word to say to Finn Hudson, so don't you dare think for a second, that he didn't hate you, too!
Sue tries to call the cops, but Santana, in what is clearly grief-fueled rage, shoves Sue against some file cabinents. She clearly shows remorse and quickly leaves, but Sue stands there in a myriad of emotions as we cut to Tina in Emma's office. We all grieve in different ways, so while Tina's lamenting her being in black again, it's clearly her wondering when she can stop grieving. We sympathize, but as Emma lays out the pamphletsnote , Will arrives and Tina leaves. Will says he's fine, but we'll tell you he's repressing his emotions in order to remain strong for the others. He tells her as much as we go to break.
We return from break to see Beiste in the locker room, Puck arriving tanked. It's now his turn to grievenote , saying if he cries he won't stop, taking his grief out on a towel rack while Beiste of course compares it to Finn throwing chairs. He breaks, the both of them grieving as Puck says he's half a man without him to guide. Beiste tells him to be twice the man he is, and honor Finn. After admitting he took the memorial tree, we cut to the choir room and Santana, who after snark that is clearly a smokescreen, cues up "If I Died Young". However, the emotions overwhelm, causing both Musical Interruptus and Santana to bolt. Kurt finds her in the auditorium, her saying she wanted to be nice, but the defense mechanism kicked in. Kurt in turn says snark doesn't work in this case, and would it matter if on her deathbed she was glad no one saw the real her? Santana offers a list of things Finn did, namely asking if she was okay during their coupling, standing behind her so no one would see she sat on a piece of chocolate cake among others. She says he was better than her, implying her outburst to Sue was her internalizing self-loathing; while Finn will never be forgiven for outing her, evidently she can at least forget it and move on from it. She asks Kurt to leave, Kurt draping Finn's jacket over her as we go to break.
We return to see Noah at the mic for "No Surrender", singing to an empty chair. Afterwards, Santana storms in; having misplaced Finn's jacket she immediately assumes Puck stole it. He of course denies, and he actually didn't. We'll see the culprit later as we cut to Santana returning to Sue's office to apologize. However, her outburst caused Sue to reevaluate. She shows her rare regret for her treatment of Finn, especially not telling him he was actually a decent guy. She grieves as we cut back to the memorial, the current ND laying down drumsticks. We then hear the one voice we were expecting tell them the memorial was beautiful as we go to break.
We return to see Rachel, back in the kneesocks as a way of showing her "broken" down to base elements, in the choir room, Brad Ellis at the keys. She, more than anyone in the choir room, is grieving, for this was her soulmate, her everything. She says there was a song she and Finn would sing in the car, this being "Make You Feel My Love". You can see Lea struggle to get it together, as in character we see Santana comfort Sam, all issues between them at rest for at least this moment. Afterwards, we see Santana put up "wanted" posters for Finn's jacket, all the while telling Will she's not returning. That is of course grief talking, and Will sees it, telling her to go, saying as a teacher he's supposed to love seeing his kids leave, which is better than the "alternative". They embrace as we cut to Puck replanting the tree, sharing root beer with Beiste while saying that Finn's whole life is defined by a single line. Thus, to define his own line, to honor Finn, and as a way to atone for not being able to save his life, Puck has entered the Air Force. He hops on his bike and we'll see him later in the season. Beiste then finds that Puck carved his, or more accurately, Finn's mark in the tree bark: QUARTERBACK.
We return from break to find Will and Rachel in the choir room commiserating. Rachel is clearly lost; sure she has her Broadway dream, but with no one to share it. He always talks to her in her dreams, and in her heart. Rachel then says she had it planned out: She'd be big on Broadway, he'd make it as a teacher, and they'd live Happily Ever After. This was confirmed later as the actual last scene of the series. Eventually, Rachel reveals to Will a plaque made for Finn, with his quote from A Night of Neglect. We cut to Wemma's place to end the episode, with two reveals; namely, that it was in fact Will who took Finn's jacket, the second being that as you'd expect, one can't repress their emotions forever. As Emma holds Will as he finally breaks down, the screen Fades to Black.
Next Time: After this time to mourn, it's back to business with another piece of stuntcasting, plus an answer to an age old question.
Songs
- Seasons Of Love from RENT, performed by the Glee cast.
- I'll Stand by You by Pretenders, performed by Mercedes with New Directions*.
- Fire and Rain by James Taylor, performed by Sam and Artie with New Directions*.
- If I Die Young by The Band Perry, performed by Santana with New Directions*.
- No Surrender by Bruce Springsteen, performed acoustically by Puck.
- Make You Feel My Love by Bob Dylan, performed by Rachel.
Tropes include
- Berserk Button: After seeing Figgins clean up Finn's memorial, Santana confronts Sue and what follows is Sue being raked across the coals in regards to how she treated Finn, ending with Santana shoving her against some file cabinets.
- Book Ends: The first and last song performed by the original six together is "Don't Stop Believin'".
- Bus Crash: A very tragic example.
- Call-Back:
- Mercedes performing "Stand By You", a repeated song first sung by Finn to the ultrasound of Quinn's baby.
- The 'L' in the title card is the silhouette of Cory/Finn in "Don't Stop Believin'".
- The Running Gag of Finn kicking over chairs is referenced when Puck visits Beiste. Also a Call-Back to their heart-to-heart scene in Season 3.
- Burt discusses what happened in the episode 1.20 "Theatricality":Burt: Y'know, I was right in principle — but, y'know, c'mon, the kid didn't have a prejudiced bone in his body. I knew what he meant when he was calling it "faggy." I wasn't teaching him a lesson in tolerance; I was teaching myself one. He was just unlucky enough to be there for it.
- Cassandra Truth: Everyone thinks that Puck has stolen Finn's letterman from Santana/Kurt, but really it was Will.
-
The Character Died with Him - Empty Chair Memorial
- Fade to Black
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: One of the notes on the lockers is from Zach and Brooke, the choreographers.
- The Ghost: Quinn. Terrible trope name - she's frequently mentioned, as is her close relationship with Finn, but doesn't make an appearance.
- In Memoriam
- Meaningful Funeral
- Moment of Silence: The opening
- Musicalis Interruptus: Santana runs off completely broken down and heavily weeping before she can reach the end of "If I Die Young".
- The Oner: Most scenes were only given one take because of how upsetting it was for the rest of the cast. It was also filmed as close to chronologically as possible, and ended up being the shortest episode to film in the series.
- Parting-Words Regret: Way more than just parting words, but the sentiment is the same. Sue is crushed that Finn died believing that she hated him, when in truth, she didn't and did in fact believe him to a be a decent kid.
- Pet the Dog: Sue admits that despite her treatment of Finn, she still believed him to be a decent person.
- Posthumous Character: Finn
- The Quarterback: In honor of the man, each character taking turns expressing how he exemplified these qualities.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: A tragic example. It also explains why Quinn and Brittany couldn't make appearances (Heather Morris had just given birth and nobody's quite sure how Dianna Agron allegedly seriously upset Lea Michele, but you can guess).
- Reality Subtext: Though character names were said, and there was a semblance of "plot", this whole episode was basically the entire cast expressing their grief on camera, the emotions displayed being very real.
- Shrine to the Fallen: In the hallway of McKinley that Sue has dismantled, prompting Santana's fury, since it's a fire hazard.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: A furious Santana delivers one to Sue.
- The Cameo: Mark Salling as Noah Puckerman, Amber Riley as Mercedes Jones, Harry Shum Jr. as Mike Chang.
- The Unreveal: To emphasize his life over his death, there was no mention of how Finn died.
- Title Drop: A few times, and Puck carves it into his tree.
- To Absent Friends
- What Could Have Been: This episode put a definitive lid on any ending that would have featured Finn.
- The original endgame finale that had been planned is mentioned by Rachel in what her dream with Finn would have been.
- A version of "Seasons of Love" was recorded for the end of season 3 but never included, and featured Cory. Instead of using any of it, the song was completely re-recorded.
