GLEE: Season 2, Episode 3 - 'Grilled Cheesus'

What's going down?

"And when I pulled the sandwich out I saw the face of God." Finn has seen the light after making
a grilled cheese sandwich, or a 'grilled cheesus' if you like, with the face of Jesus upon it. Keeping
half of the sandwich, the half with Jesus' face of course, he decides to find out what it's like to pray, asking God to let the football team win their first game, especially as he "sorta screwed Artie in the leg department". In return he offers to get the Glee club to honour him in song. The result of the game? McKinley wins.

Kurt is concerned with his dad's health and decides to substitute his normal breakfast of "a coke and two slim jims" for something more healthy, much to Burt's disappointment. What's annoying Burt more though is that Kurt's been skipping Friday night dinners, ever since Finn and his mum Carol started joining the two. The excuse this week? Kurt simply can't miss out going to sing along Sound of Music.

Finn has an announcement for the Glee club. Puck thinks that he's finally coming out. Yes, Finn has
found a man but this man is Jesus Christ and suggests they all sing about him. "I'm sorry but if I
wanted to sing about Jesus I would go to church," says Kurt. Quinn and Mercedes, however, are happy to go along with this. Will comes up with a compromise and suggests they sing about spirituality. Puck then decides to continue his streak of "only doing songs by Jewish artists" and busts out a rendition of "Only The Good Die Young" by Billy Joel. All of the Glee club are on their feet dancing, except for Kurt.

At Burt's mechanics he isn't looking so well but blames it on the salami he got from the gas station.
However, we next see him collapse to the ground and Emma running down the corridor to tell Will to break the bad news to Kurt. When they get to the hospital it isn't good as Burt remains unconscious, the doctor telling Kurt he doesn't know when he's going to wake up. In an emotional scene, Kurt begs his dad to squeeze his hand if he can hear him.

At Glee the next day the club rally around Kurt with support. Brittany offers him a book report,
written in crayon, on heart attacks to give to the doctors. Finn storms in angry that Kurt didn't let
him know what had happened. Kurt said that he didn't think to call him because Burt isn't his father
but Finn yells back that he's closest thing to one that he's ever going to get. Mercedes has been
struggling to choose what to say to Kurt but decides to sing a song about spirituality instead. She
performs a heart-wrenching version of Whitney Houston's "I Look To You". "Thank you, Mercedes.
Your voice is stunning but I don't believe in God," Kurt tells her. The rest of the club is shocked by his views.

Sue, as ever, has something to say about this week's theme at Glee. How did she even find out about it, Will asks? "I have cameras everywhere," she tells him. Will and Figgins don't see what the problem is but Sue doesn't think such topics should be touched within school. "If your kids want to praise Jesus in class I suggest they enrol at Sweet Holy Mother of God Academy on I Love Jesus street," she tells them.

Finn once more has a request from grilled cheesus. Even though Rachel's boobs "aren't that great" he'd still really like to touch them. The next day at Finn's house Rachel wants to discuss his new
found love for Jesus. She has concerns as she wants their babies to be raised in the Jewish faith. Finn agrees, which makes Rachel very happy. Happy enough for her to let him touch her boobs. And so grilled cheesus strikes once more.

Sue sends Brittany and "Jugs the clown" i.e. Santana to spy once more on the goings-on of Glee. They tell her that mostly everyone just feels bad for Kurt, Brittany even made him a card that said "heart attacks are just from loving too much". Santana doesn't see what the big deal is but lets slip that Kurt doesn't like it. Sue has some words of kindness for him; "I'm sorry for what you're
going through, Lady. I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy and I guess I wouldn't have to. Mary
Lou Retton is like ... an orphan or something." She tells him she wants to fight against what Will is
teaching but that she can't go to the school board without an official complaint from a student. Hint, hint, Kurt.

The next day Emma storms into Sue's office, angry at what she made Kurt do. All anybody was trying to do was just give that boy a bit of support, she says. "What horrible, horrible thing happened to you that made you such a miserable tyrant?" she asks. Sue tells Emma how she prayed every night to stop the bullying that went on towards her sister Jean, who has Down's Syndrome. After a while she realised that it wasn't that she wasn't praying hard enough, it was that no one was listening. "Asking someone to believe in a fantasy, however comforting, isn't a moral thing to do, it's cruel."

"Last week we were too sexy. This week we're too religious. We can't win," Tina complains. "Now
I know what Miley (Cyrus) feels like," says Brittany. Rachel is just upset that she's found the perfect spiritual song to sing and now it's been torn away from her like Sophie's daughter. The club aren't happy that Kurt has sided with Sue, meaning that they can't express their feelings of religion within school but he refuses to change his mind.

Finn needs another favour from grilled cheesus, praying that he makes quarterback again. When
Puck walks in on him, he worries that he's going to give him grief. Turns out though that Puck has
started going to temple and praying for Kurt's dad, knowing how hard it is not to have a father.
Finn feels bad as he realises how trivial the things that he's been praying for are. During the football game Finn calls his own tactics going against Bieste and the rest of the team. His judgement ends up with Sam dislocating his shoulder, meaning that once again he's the team's quarterback. This time Finn feels really, really guilty.

It's night time and Rachel and Finn are at the park, as she wants nothing to come between them and God. As a prayer for Burt, she belts out yet another Streisand song, this time "Papa can you hear me?" from Yentl. As the song ends we see Rachel, Quinn and Mercedes taking turns to pray for him at his bedside, as they're all from different religions and denominations they figured one of them must be able to help. When Kurt finds out what they're doing he isn't happy. He has instead brought in an acupuncturist as he believes science will do more good.

At Glee club, Will makes everyone congratulate Finn for regaining his position in the team and for leading them to another victory. "Too bad that Sam kid had to basically get his arm ripped off for it to happen," is Puck's response. Kurt also has an announcement; he thanks the club for their well-wishing but says that his dad's condition remains the same. He needs to express himself through song. At his mum's funeral, his dad took his hand and squeezed it to try and reassure him, he tells the club. So, because of this, he has chosen to sing "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles.

"I know you're not spiritual or whatever but I think you're closing yourself off to a world of
experiences that might surprise you." Mercedes wants Kurt to come to church with her just to try
it out. At her church they dedicate a service to someone every week and this week she has them to dedicate this week to Burt. Reluctantly, he agrees to go with her.

Finn has something to confess. He blurts out to Emma everything about the grilled cheesus and
how the three things that he asked for all came true, including Sam's injury. Emma is confused as he explains further, "Jesus appeared to me on a sandwich and it has special powers". She tries to calmly explain to him how none of these things were because of the cheesus, as she's pretty sure God doesn't try to speak to us through sandwiches. Disappointed by this answer, Finn sings, what else, but "Losing My Religion" by R.E.M. "I used to think God was up there watching over me, now I'm not so sure," he tells his fellow Glee kids.

At church, Kurt, dressed in his Sunday best, is admiring everyone's "Christ chic". He tells Mercedes
that as of yet no treatment is working on his dad still. Mercedes gets up and gives a heart-warming
speech, asking the congregation to send all their prayers to Kurt and Burt. With the backing of a
gospel choir she belts out "Bridge Over Troubled Water". By the end, Kurt is up on his feet and
clapping along with everybody else.

Sue visits her sister Jean at her care home, where she lets her win at draughts. She asks her if she believes in God, to which Jean asks her the same question. She replies no because she had "to watch the world be cruel to you". "God never makes mistakes," Jean says and offers to pray for Sue, to which she says, "Yes, that would be nice."

At the hospital Burt remains the same, as Kurt by his bedside reminisces about the memories that
they've shared. He admits that he should have let the others pray for him because "it wasn't about me, it was about you and it was nice...I don't believe in God dad, but I believe in you. And I believe in you and me." As Kurt starts to cry, Burt begins to show some signs of life and he starts to move his fingers.

We end as the club sing "One of Us" by Joan Osborne and we see Finn finally get to eat the grilled
cheesus.

11 o'clock number

My favourite two numbers from tonight's episode were definitely those by Mercedes. In
particular "Bridge Over Troubled Water", backed by a gospel choir, sounded stunning. Rachel's
number from Yentl wasn't quite up there with her performance but I think that was due to the song
which I found unusually disturbing. Kurt's version of The Beatles classic really showcased his voice
and it was obvious that he was really feeling it. We haven't heard from Puck or Finn lately and both
were given numbers tonight which suited them to a tee and really showcased their voices. "One of
Us" was pretty average as group performances go but of course it fitted thematically with the rest of the episode.

Quote of the week

Sue to Emma: "I realize you're only half-orangutan, but I'm still allergic to your lustrous ginger
mane."

Overall

As Glee episodes go this week's subject matter of religion and spirituality was particularly deep. I
liked the fact that the focus was on Kurt this week, rather than the typical relationship drama, and
enjoyed the development of the relationship between him and his dad. I felt the show tackled the
issue of God well and was successful in showing different views. Alongside her usual snipes, Sue
once again showed us her soft side in relation to her sister Jean.

 

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