On Thursday, 10 October, Cory Monteith was remembered by those who perhaps knew him better than anyone else, as he and his character, Finn Hudson, was remembered in an emotional tribute episode of the Fox musical-comedy. The long-awaited episode came early into the latest season of Glee, which was pushed back a week in order to accomodate the passing of Monteith and in preparation for the memorial episode, The Quarterback.

Cory Monteith
Cory died of an overdose of heroin and champagne in June

The handling of the episode has been in discussion since it was announced that series creator Ryan Murphy was planning on making a tribute episode, and last night viewers got to see how delicately the show's writers and cast said farewell to their departed singing quarterback. There was no shortage of emotion, as Finn was written out of the show too, but rather than dwelling on his death the episode reflected on the aftermath of his passing, and featured no funeral or dramatisation of Finn's death. This gave the writers a chance to not disclose how Finn died, but made his death a real experience nonetheless.

"Everyone wants to talk about how he died, but who cares? I care about how he lived," one character said. For a person who was brought down by his own demons, this played well to how Cory himself has been remembered in the months since his passing. With this being Glee, the characters of course gathered together in song to remember him, and although coach-turned-principal Sue Sylvester pleaded in the episode that Finn would be best remember by "not making a self-serving spectacle of our own sadness," this is inevitably what happened in such a (usually) exuberant show.

'Fire and Rain,' '525,600 Minutes' and 'If I Die Young' were among the song being covered by the McKinley High students, each one a moving testament to their fallen brethren. Their grief felt real, and it probably was, especially when Lea Michele's Rachel Berry finally made her way on to the show later on. Her emotional display was probably the most real there, as Montieth's lover both on and off screen couldn't hide her emotions from the camera.

"I loved Finn," Rachel told the glee club, before going into a rendition of 'Make You Feel My Love' to end the show. The episode didn't touch on drug addiction, although it did include a brief public service announcement from cast members after the closing credits, in which they acknowledged how Cory had lived, and died. But the episode didn't need any reminders about how Finn, or Cory, had passed, only his memory needed to be preserved.

Glee will be back in several weeks, on 7 November, as Fox will begin airing their coverage of the Baseball World Series on Thursday nights next week.

Lea Michele Cory Monteith
Cory and Lea were engaged outside the show