After six seasons of watching the teens of Mckinley High School’s Glee club sing, dance, succeed, fail, and grow up, Fox’s comedy Glee has come to an end.
The series’ last episode aired on Friday and brought fans, the ones who stuck around season after the season and the ones who started watching when the “new generation” of season four happened, to the past and to the future. The first hour featured the events that occurred prior to the show’s pilot, a sort of explanation for how the rag-tag group of ohioan teens came together in that choir room.
Warning: Spoilers below.
It was revealed that Artie and Tina only auditioned for the club because they were dared to, Kurt was suicidal prior to joining the club, Sue’s hatred for Mr. Schue grew from him rejecting her proposal to be friends, and the club debated on whether Finn should join the club.
The first part of the two-hour finale also featured another honoring of Cory Monteith, who played one of the shows central characters, Finn, before passing away in 2011. The first hour ended with the memorable performance of “Don’t Stop Believing,” which was the song Mr. Schue heard Moneith, as Finn, first singing before inviting him to join the cub and also the song that solidified the club and the show’s fan-base.
“Don’t Stop Believing” was a suitable end to the the first half because in the second hour the show jumped five years ahead, where the cast is seen pursuing their dreams.
Sam is the new coach for the New Directions, Mercedes is the opening act for Beyonce, and Artie is a successful director, with one of his movies getting picked by the shows version of Sundance, Slamdance. Rachel is the surrogate for Kurt and Blaine’s baby and wins a Tony award for Jane Austen Sings, she’s also married to her season two boyfriend, Jesse St. James. Lastly, Sue is Vice President, under Jeb Bush’s administration, and returns to McKinley to praise the New Directions, after six seasons of plotting their demise, and to rename the auditorium after Finn Hudson.
It wouldn’t be a proper Glee episode if it didn’t end with a performance. For the finale, this came provided by the entire cast, even the “new generation” of season 4 that randomly disappeared this season. They all sang “I Lived” by OneRepublic.
Although the show started declining season after season, it was still a show that showed the complexity of maturing. There were characters that were gay, disabled, trans, over achieving, and those who were unsure about their futures; It was a cast of “real people” who faced real events. There were teen pregnancies, domestic abuse, bullying, and death.
The best thing that the show leaves behind in its end, however, is the quote, said by Vice President Sue Sylvester to “not see the world as it is, but as it should be.”
