Glee Revisits 2009 & The Original New Directions

As expected, things got really emotional on the Glee series finale. While the show has over time lost some of its original charm, and the cheesiness has cut through a lot of the original, clever qualities of the show's first season, it was all brought back during the Part 1 of the series finale entitled "2009." The episode was a flashback to the original formation of the New Directions under the direction of Mr. Schuester. Basically it was a revisit of the pilot but with deeper stories and little hidden gems that we weren't able to experience the first time around. The series gave each of the main characters a chance to have their own inner monologues and hint to future storylines from the series, and it gave us their initial meetings. But even with all the focus being on Rachel, Kurt, Mercedes, Artie and Tina, it feels as though the series was really giving us one final tribute to Finn Hudson. And the tears did not stop flowing.

The series finale began with the re-introduction of Kurt Hummel, giving us a glimpse at what his life was like when he was still in the closet and just about to really go through everything he had to experience throughout his high school life. He was still trying to be the man he thought his father wanted him to be, and he had no friends. The first friend he tried to make was Rachel and the two even sang Wicked's "Popular" together before Rachel drove Kurt away with her intenseness.

From there Kurt met Mercedes and started their friendship (which Mercedes originally thought could become romantic, a move I think is still pretty odd), and then Mercedes and Rachel began their rivalry which was more intense than I apparently remembered. More than anything else, the funniest memories for me came from the reintroduction of Tina and Artie, their future relationship and Tina's original audition song with "I Kissed A Girl." Still the best.

While all of these moments were wonderful to re-watch now with everything we know and love about these characters, the show spent quite a bit of time talking about the joining of Finn Hudson to The New Directions. Originally most of the group felt intimidated by Finn's introduction, they even had a group meeting about possibly trying get him out of the group.

But then Artie talked about Finn's true kindness and how when the jocks threw and locked him in the Porta-Potty, Finn got him out, pushed him all the way and apologized to Artie's mother on behalf of his idiot friends. The rest of the group talked about what they loved about Finn as well as Rachel looked on with a confidence in her future love and how she knew even from the start that he was no different than them. He was an outsider just looking for the perfect place to find himself and be with people who would always respect and accept him. At the end of the series finale, Sue helped re-dedicate the McKinley High auditorium as the Finn Hudson Auditorium, proving that Finn Hudson will always been in our hearts.

Images: Carin Baer (2), Mike Yarish/FOX