Glee Review: All hail the Grilled Cheesus

Thank you, Cheesus! Praise, Cheesus! Oh my Cheesus!

Thanks to Glee, I don’t know if I can ever say the name “Jesus” again without thinking of Grilled Cheesus. The fact that the face of Jesus Christ appeared to Finn on a grilled cheese is completely ridiculous, but it provided for a lot of laughs during an otherwise sad and emotionally-charged episode of Glee.

Finn’s revelation with the Grilled Cheesus causes him to openly announce to Glee club that he’s found Jesus and would like to have a week of Jesus-inspired songs. Some of the members of Glee are very happy with this – namely Quinn and Mercedes – but a select other few aren’t afraid of hiding their looks of revulsion (I’m looking at you, Rachel and Kurt).

Puck takes this opportunity to continue his streak of performing songs by Jewish artists and performs Billy Joel’s “Only the Good Die Young.” Hey, any excuse to have Mark Salling serenade us, right?

But then, bad news strikes: Burt Hummel, Kurt’s dad, has suffered from a severe heart attack and is currently comatose. The Glee kids rally around Kurt, but Kurt wants none of their prayers or sympathy. It leads to a very honest, raw, and heartbreaking rant by Kurt against God and why he doesn’t believe in such a higher power. It’s hard to really fault Kurt for his beliefs, and I think the Kurt story-arch this episode was handled well given how controversial some might consider this episode. Religion is always a touchy subject, as Sue reminds us when she reports the Glee kids for singing religious songs during school time (you know, that whole separation of church and state thing).

Throughout the rest of the episode, Kurt continues to push away his friends though Mercedes finally manages to make a connection when she invites him to her church (he only accepts so he can wear a fabulous hat). It takes Kurt out of his comfort zone and I’m glad they did this – but I’m also glad the show didn’t become cliché and allow Kurt to have some sort of “religious epiphany.”

There were some seriously impressive musical performances during the hour, but nothing quite compared to Kurt’s slowed down rendition of the Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” I don’t know if I can ever listen to that song again without remembering this cover. The flashbacks between a young Kurt and his dad were touching and beautifully done, also.

The episode ends with Kurt at his father’s bedside and a strong glimmer of hope that everything will be alright when Burt responds to Kurt’s grip by squeezing his hand.

I’m really curious as to what everyone else thought about this week’s religion-themed episode of Glee. Religion is usually one of those taboo subjects that tends to be glossed over in popular media, so to see Glee tackle it so head on was refreshing. Did you like this week’s episode? Or did you think it was just a typical, overhyped episode of Glee?

(PS: Will next week’s episode open with Finn coming out of the bathroom after getting sick from eating his WEEK OLD Grilled Cheesus that he brought around with him everywhere and kept in what I imagine is a DIRTY STINKY locker?? Just wondering.)

For another opinion on this episode, check out Well, Cheesus Christ. by Alana D.

Season 2, Episode 3: Grilled Cheesus (originally aired October 2, 2010)

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Tuesdays at 8pm on Fox

Photographs courtesy of Fox and IMDbPro