‘Glee’ series finale: Our look back at six memorable episodes

Friday, the end of the road is here for “Glee.” There were many great seasons of the show, and there were also some great individual moments within them. While we’re not sure we can ever sit here and point out our favorite songs (there’s over 700 to choose from!), we can still go through here and point out six episodes over the past six seasons that we feel we could revisit at any point and still love.

We should mention in here that the first three seasons were clearly our favorites, which is why five out of the six choices below are from that time. There were still good episodes (including a few this season), but it was extremely hard post-graduation for the show to capture that original magic.

6. Grilled Cheesus (season 2, episode 3) – “Glee” has never been afraid to tackle some tough subjects, but this episode to us still remains one of the most honest discussions the show has had on a subject like religion. Multiple different perspectives were presented with humor and an even-handed approach. Plus, “Losing My Religion” remains our favorite Finn solo he ever did.

5. Asian F (season 3, episode 3) – Through the first two episodes, we were somewhat worried about the show starting to lose a little of its luster. This was the best Mike Chang story we ever had, and we learned more about the pressures that were on him by his family, and also to a certain extent by his own ethnicity. Another honest but funny episode.

4. Wheels (season 1, episode 9) – For the first few episodes of season 1, you started to realize that this was going to be a great show for its leads (Which we considered at the time to be Will, Rachel, Finn, Kurt, and Sue). This Artie episode started to prove to us that every person on the show had their own great history and brought something to the table.

3. Goodbye (season 3, episode 22) – The last episode of what we call the Original Glee Era, when the characters all were in high school. There are also times we wonder if this should have been the series finale. Looking back, we do feel like the show should have abandoned McKinley High at this point rather than going back into it and focusing on new people. This was a powerful conclusion to that story, and Rachel, Finn, Puck, and others’ time in high school.

2. The Quarterback (season 5, episode 3) – Easily the most emotional “Glee” episode to date. It was hard for the cast to film, and even hard to watch at times. Still, it was anchored by an incredible performance by Matthew Morrison, and tributed Cory Monteith and Finn in the best way possible. We still appreciate greatly that the show never specified how Finn died; it was not exploitative, and instead built out of love and care.

1. Pilot (season 1, episode 1) – The story that started it all. Ironically, we didn’t actually like it that much when it first aired, but we blame that more on us not really understanding the show. Since that time, we’ve gone back and watched it countless times, and that famous song at the end still gets us.

Which episodes do you consider to be among the all-time favorites on “Glee”? Share with a comment, and head over here if you want to see some other scoop on the finale! Also, sign up to get some other TV news worth singing / performing over via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: Fox.)