This week Glee brings the highly anticipated episode that will serve as a tribute to Cory Monteith. The actor was found dead in his Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel room in Vancouver, Canada back in July. Officials confirmed that a mix of heroin and alcohol contributed to his passing, after getting the results from the autopsy and toxicology report. "[The episode] was very difficult to shoot," creator Ryan Murphy said. "Those actors and the crew really loved Cory. They loved Cory. ...He was the most kind, the most generous, never a bad word for anybody. So I think what you will see in the episode is what really happened."
Murphy went on, adding, "Almost everything in that episode is from the first take of every performance. The actors and crew had a really hard time shooting it. I've never seen a crew where you can't continue shooting it because they left the room sobbing. It was very hard. I struggled working on it because what you're seeing is not just what people felt about Finn but Cory. When you write something like that there's no right way to do it," Murphy continued. "A lot of the actors contacted me and said, 'I loved him so much can I please be a part of it,' so we put them in. It was very rough. It was very rough with Lea [Michele], but I was very proud of it."
A 30-second trailer for the episode was released following last week's episode, and it is heavily emotional. It finds the cast lining Finn's locker with flowers, letters and other significant items. "The hardest word to say is goodbye," reads the screen. The soundtrack of the trailer is a cover of Bob Dylan's "Make You Feel My Love," performed by Lea Michele, who was Cory's on and off screen girlfriend. This song is just one of the six songs featured in this heartbreaking episode, including "Seasons Of Love" from "Rent," performed by the full cast, "I'll Stand By You" by The Pretenders, performed by Amber Riley, "Fire & Rain" by James Taylor, performed by Chord Overstreet and Kevin McHale, "No Surrender" by Bruce Springsteen, performed by Mark Salling and "If I Die Young" by The Band Perry, performed by Naya Rivera.
The songs were just released prior to the episode's air date, and each one of them is full of raw emotion, especially Lea Michele's. You can hear her voice cracking a few times, but it only makes the song more real and powerful, making it inevitable for the listeners to burst into tears as she sings. We can't help but to think about how an important character of the show will no longer be there, how a real life is gone, and how the people close to Cory must have suffered after learning the devastating news. But one thing is for sure, his legacy will live on and Columbia Records, Fox and the cast will donate all the net proceeds from the sales of the tracks in the U.S. and Canada to Project Limelight Society, an organization that Cory was involved with, that promotes the cultural arts for young people in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
Below is a playlist with all the full songs of this week's Glee episode. But before you play them, we must warn you that you will cry. So go get a box of tissues and hide in your favorite corner where no one will be able to see the mess you will become. Then again, the songs are oh-so-worth-it! Are you excited to see "The Quarterback" on Thursday, Oct. 10 on Fox at 9 p.m.?
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