Thou Shalt Not Eat Thy Lord
It’s hard to believe a television episode opening with Finn grilling up a sandwich that looks like Jesus could go on to present a balanced, thought-provoking debate on religion in prime time. But that’s the high-low dichotomy that keeps Glee fans coming back week after week.
Puck Gets Spiritual With Billy Joel
Punky Puck got in touch with his own religious side with a funky, guitar-driven performance of Billy Joel’s “Only the Good Die Young” that continued his streak of only doing songs by Jewish artists.
Glee Hits a Serious Note
While Glee can sometimes paint with too broad a brush, toying with stereotypes in the name of a pithy punchline or kicky musical number, it showed some convincing emotion in this scene, where Kurt maintained his atheism after his father suffered a major heart attack. “God’s kind of a jerk, isn’t he?” Kurt said. “I mean, he makes me gay, then has his followers going around telling me it’s something I chose, as if someone would choose to be mocked every single day of their life.” Kurt’s speech had particular resonance in the wake of the recent string of suicides of LGBT youths. Chris Colfer, who plays Kurt, recently made a video aimed at gay youth with a simple message: “It gets better.”
I Want to Hold Kurt’s Hand
If you can watch Kurt’s soul-baring, heart-tugging rendition of The Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and not tear up even a little, you might want to check your pulse. This was easily one of the most stunning performances in the series to date.
Cheesy Come, Cheesy Go
It’s probably safe to say that most spiritual beliefs built around bread and cheese will have the shelf life of, well, a sandwich. After he realized his Grilled Cheesus probably doesn’t give him a direct connection to God, Finn threw down a rocking cover of R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion.”
Adios, Grilled Cheesus!
For the big group finale, the kids covered Joan Osborne’s “One of Us.” But more than any of the religious questions brought up by the episode, the real mystery of the final scene is this: How did Finn manage to eat a several-days-old grilled cheese sandwich without throwing up?
Shannon Donnelly is a video editor at The Daily Beast. Previously, she interned at Gawker and Overlook Press, edited the 2007 edition of Inside New York, and graduated from Columbia University. You can read more of her writing here.