‘Glee’ stars say the episode feels ‘sick’ after Cory Monteith’s death

Cory Monteith’s death changed the way cheerfulness alums Jenna Ushkowitz And Kevin McHale felt like rewatching an episode of season 3 of the series.

The pair discussed the ‘creepy’ season 3, episode 9 storyline during the Monday, January 7 episode of iHeartMedia’s “And you REALLY missed that“podcast.

In the episode, which aired in January 2012, Finn learns that his father has died of a drug overdose. Monteith died in July 2013 at the age of 31 from an accidental drug overdose.

The scene “hit a little too close to home,” Ushkowitz, 37, said during the recap, while McHale, 35, agreed, “Way, way too close.”

Finn wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps by joining the army. He believed his father died a war hero, but his mother, Carole (Romy Rozemont), revealed that she lied to Finn about the cause of his father’s death.

“He died in Cincinnati after being dishonorably discharged,” Carole said through tears. “Honey, he had a drug problem that he tried to get rid of when he came home – especially for you – but sometimes he would disappear for a day or a week. One day he just didn’t come back. It was an overdose.”

Carole explained that she lied “because your father was so much more than the last few months of his life.”

Ushkowitz and McHale had no memory of the arc, so they were unprepared to see Monteith portray such a dark storyline. “We probably don’t remember it because we thought it was just another storyline for Finn that was done really well [at the time]” Ushkowitz explained. “But in retrospect, the entire arc of this storyline – every line he said about it – really just struck another chord that resonated too closely or reflected his life. It was just very sad to see.”

McHale added: “Yes, it felt very dark and morbid watching it. But it was clear that there was no way to know what the future would be. ..it just felt really creepy.”

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The podcast’s cohosts have been open about how cheerfulness changed after Monteith and then his character died. “Finn was the heart of the show and Cory was the heart of our group,” Ushkowitz, who played Tina on all six seasons of the musical comedy series, told exclusively We weekly in October 2022. (Finn’s death occurred in season 5, episode 3, but his cause of death was never revealed.)

“I feel like when Cory died, in many ways the show died with him,” she added. “It became a different show… it was very difficult to do and it was never the same, at least for me.”

McHale, who played Artie from the 2009 pilot to the 2015 series finale, added that he once got “flack” for saying that in another interview. “People on Twitter and all this stuff said I was talking trash about the show,” he said Us. “I’m like, ‘No, no, no. I just said the show was never the same after Cory died, because it clearly wasn’t. ”