Friday, October 11, 2013

Glee - Remembering Cory... Farewell to Finn

I wasn't able to watch last night's Glee Episode which was the Farewell to Finn episode until today.... Wow - talk about a really tough episode to watch.....

I debated all day about when to watch it... I knew it would be emotional but I didn't know just how emotional it would be....

(For those of you who only know me "electronically" - it's probably worth noting that I am not generally an overly emotional person.

You may be thinking "chelle you are crazy to be so emotional about some silly TV show" maybe you're right... but I don't think so.... It's so much bigger than just some silly TV show. Yes I have absolutely grown to really love this show and have become emotionally involved in the fictional world it is but this episode spoke to tragedy which so many of us have experienced in life in some way or another and it did it in a very touching way.

For those of you who don't know Cory Monteith played Finn Hudson on the hit show Glee. A few months ago Cory was found dead of an overdose much to the surprise of many. The writers of Glee decided that they had to tackle the loss of his character in a way that was true to Glee and I think they did an amazing job.


The show never goes into why Cory died but instead shows the emotions and pain of those who loved him so dearly. In that facet, yes this is a fictional show but it is done so true to real life that if this episode doesn't tug at your heartstrings, I don't know what will.

Perhaps one of my favorite parts of the show was when Kurt (Finn's stepbrother and dear friend) says  "Everyone wants to talk about how he died too, but who cares? One moment in his whole life — I care more about how he lived."

I will openly admit I started crying about 5 seconds into the show. The opening scene is "Seasons of Love" from Rent done in a very similar fashion to how it is done in Rent. Very effective emotional set-up for all of us who are fans of Rent because every single time I've seen Rent live on stage... that song/scene always makes me tear up.

Perhaps one of the reasons I love Glee is that while I am not a particularly musically inclined person, music has always spoken to me and been better about expressing emotions better than I can ever find the words to. I listen to songs and the evoke such strong emotions sometimes and sometimes I wish that I was a better singer so I could use other people's words to express how I am feeling. The characters on Glee do this all the time so perhaps that's part of the allure of the show for me. Each song sung with such emotion in the episode kept the tears cascading down my cheeks...

Let's put it this way - even though I was watching on DVR and could've fast forwarded through some of the commercials... I ended up watching some of the commercials just so I could catch my breath and let the tears subside a little..

The emotions of each character were truly palpable as you watched the episode... I highly doubt there was much acting required for their emotions because they truly were paying tribute to their dear friend. Seeing their very real tears and their very real pain of the loss of a loved friend just tore at my heart and kept the tears flowing. I read in an article that almost every scene in this episode was done in only 1 take (absolutely unheard of in TV) because cast members would have to run out of the room crying they were so emotional. That all comes through on the screen and makes this some of the most emotional scenes I've ever seen on the screen in any facet.

Bottom line... I think this episode was beautifully done....

And yes I went through a lot of Kleenex for my buckets of tears... just see my previous Facebook post comments to see how many :)

This episode definitely hit close to home for me in a wide variety of ways from the feelings of the pain of the loss of someone you love to the various ways that grief manifests itself in different people and at different times in different ways...

I hope this episode reminds everyone that life can be entirely too short....  Embrace life! Embrace the ones you love! Remember that each day is not guaranteed and to make the most of your days....

I send hugs to all of you my friends.....



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