Last night was the season 3 finale of Glee, graduation, and goodbye to the glee club for many of its original members. We’ve got a full recap of the episode below.

So this week, I’m basically just going to create a tally of every moment Glee references the early days in a really transparent attempt to force people to recall their original emotional investment in the show.

Mr. Schue walks into the choir room to find the club entertained by the original five performing “Sit Down, You’re Rocking The Boat” – a throwback to their first ever glee rehearsal (1 + 1 bonus point for including flashback footage just in case we didn’t pick up on the reference). Schuester gets emotional watching the kids and then announces the week’s assignment – finding a way to say goodbye. Seniors must prepare a song to say goodbye to the underclassmen, and the younger students must perform one to send the graduating class on its way. Schuester picks up his guitar in order to lead by example – he sings them “Forever Young” by Rod Stewart. It’s really lyrically appropriate and everything, but unfortunately Matt Morrison sings it in some sort of bizarre tone much lower than his natural voice, and it sounds appalling. Nevertheless, the students are suitably moved.

Kurt Hummel glides through the halls of the school as if on an airport moving walkway, delivering his last inner monologue as a student of McKinley. He’s seen greeting some jock and then walking to his locker with confidence as he talks about how he’s come a long way from the closeted kid who pretended to be in love with Rachel so that he wouldn’t have to date Mercedes (1 point). He says that his legacy may be that he’s paved the way for other “tadpole gays” to feel safe expressing themselves, and we see him being checked out approvingly by a young fashionable gay couple. He makes his way to the auditorium, where, to his confusion, his father has asked to meet him. Burt sits on the edge of the stage, rocking nervously, and says that he wants to give Kurt his graduation present. He explains to his son about how their relationship grew apart – that as a small child it had been easy to look after Kurt and make him happy, but as he got older he started to develop the personality and identity that Burt could not relate to, and that once Kurt’s mother died, Burt had no idea what to do with his small son. Kurt assures him that Burt has done a good job, and Burt corrects him – says he’s proud of what they did together, the way they re-forged a bond of understanding. Burt asks his son if he remembers when they turned that corner and started walking towards each other, rather than in opposite directions, and in that moment I know EXACTLY what Burt’s graduation gift to Kurt is going to be. A moment later I’m proven correct when Burt goes on to describe the night he found Kurt practising “Single Ladies” (1 point, episode 1×04, “Preggers,” the plotline that led to Kurt’s coming out). Burt pulls on a sequinned glove and is joined on the auditorium stage by Tina and Brittany, and they perform “Single Ladies” for Kurt. Kurt is momentarily horrified, then delighted by his father as flashback footage (+1 bonus point) of the original performance intercuts with Burt’s as Kurt laughs and mimes along. This is far and away the best moment in the episode, so be warned, we’re going downhill from here.

Kurt is rehashing the performance to Blaine, and Blaine uses the opportunity to bring his boyfriend back down to earth and suggests talking about the reality of the fact that Kurt will be leaving and Blaine will not be graduating. Kurt flat-out asks for some more denial time, but Blaine insists that they face the issue now. As usual, Blaine takes the mature and adult approach to this relationship, as opposed to Kurt’s fantasy land of no consequences. Kurt refuses to see the separation as a problem, as he claims that he looks forward to the end of his life and looking over and seeing Blaine still there with him. Still a bit fantasy land, but, again as usual, Blaine is quieted into submission when he receives assurance of Kurt’s love, so we will assume for now that the couple is going to confidently try the long-distance thing. Satisfied that Kurt won’t be saying goodbye to him, Blaine asks if Kurt’s figured out how to say goodbye to everyone else, which segues into Kurt performing “I’ll Remember” by Madonna for the choir room. His introduction to the song is really bizarre, because he says he specifically wants to thank the men there who have inspired and accepted him, and how they never saw him as different. Um, I think Kurt has been living a very different life to the one I’ve been watching him live, because he’s had zero relationship with any male in that club aside from Blaine, obviously, and Finn, who definitely saw him differently and it took a season-and-a-half for them to build a solid friendship. The only person I really buy this about is Sam, who, in his first glee club assignment, was totally chill regarding Kurt’s differences and sameness, but was talked out of working with him by Finn. Anyway, a teary-eyed Kurt exchanges lingering looks with all the dudes, and maybe I’m biased, but Sam’s is the most charming. This number and his dedication was mostly just confusing for me.

The next day (outfit change) Rachel finds Finn and Kurt together in the hall and tells them she’s called their prospective schools in New York to find out when the acceptance letters would go out, and it turns out they’re on their way. The three make a pact to open them in the choir room, together, as each of the trio are the other’s most important people (does this make Blaine Ginny Weasley?).

Santana walks into Sam and Mercedes amidst a giant bunch of balloons and discovers that, due to the video Sam posted of the “Disco Inferno” performance, Mercedes has been offered a recording contract in Hollywood. Sam’s convinced that his girl will be a star by Christmas, but Mercedes is more realistic, explaining that she’ll be a back-up session singer on an indie label, and taking some classes at UCLA. Still, she’s thrilled about it, and Santana is genuinely happy for her. Sam tells Santana about Mike’s new plans as well – he was set to go to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York, but was then offered a scholarship by the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago. Tina asks if Santana is excited about her own cheerleading scholarship at the University of Louisville, and Santana has an inner monologue that shows she has doubts about her future – seeing her other friends succeed in their creative endeavours, she realises she is just as talented as them and asks herself why she’s not pursuing that path. She resolves to talk it over with her mother.

Santana and Brittany share dinner at Breadstix with Santana’s mother, played by Gloria Estefan. Mom Lopez proves to be cheerful and accepting of her daughter, sharing a story with Brittany about how Santana trick-or-treated as Uncle Jesse as a child, including a full mullet haircut. She also expresses sympathy over the incident with Santana’s grandmother, telling her daughter that she shouldn’t accept people into her life that don’t support her dreams. Santana uses this as an entry point to start discussing her dreams, and tells her mom that she doesn’t want to go to college on a cheerleading program, that she wants to go to New York. Her mom cuts her off and says not to waste the opportunity, and that New York will still be there when she’s earned her college degree. They change the subject to Brittany’s future, and apparently the blonde will not be graduating, and is actually a little excited to repeat her senior year and do better. Santana is shocked and horrified to hear this, proving once again that she’s a little weak and delusional when it comes to her girlfriend, a fact that even Brittany seems aware of when she asks what Santana thought was going to happen to her, given her terrible GPA. Santana looks ashamed at her own denial, and says that if Britt is staying in Lima, that maybe she should as well.

Here’s my thing. Everyone was busting their balls to help Puck graduate, and rightly so. But no one – Will, Emma, Sue, none of her friends – no one thought to step in earlier and do something about this situation? No? Okay.

In the choir room, the seniors are performing their goodbye song to the rest of the club – “You Get What You Give” by the New Radicals. I never really got the bit where Sam turned into an underclassman. I mean, I guess it was never specified, but okay. He’s definitely meant to be 18, it’s stated, so… whatever. The number is cute, unchoreographed, the singing is a bit over-the-top, but all the seniors share moments with the underclassmen that they have special connections with. Eventually they pull the younger students from their seats, dancing around them until the seniors are seated and the underclassmen are symbolically left in the performance space – the new main body of the glee club.

In an empty classroom, Finn and Rachel are deciding between the chairs to hire for their wedding. The price of the chairs and the things compromised for the celebration turns into a minor argument about their relationship, but Rachel reassures Finn that she’s not settling for him – in fact, in a sad moment dipping into Rachel’s psyche and showing us how she still feels about herself, she says “when did you become the one I was settling for,” implying that she still considers it the opposite way around. She claims that he’s stressed about finding out about college, but no matter who gets in where, she is going to marry him and that will make her the happiest.

It’s Finn’s inner monologue time now, and it turns out he’s looking back on his high school career with pride, including the fact that it turns out he never actually accidentally impregnated anyone (+1). We see a flashback to him meeting with James Lipton, but none of his actual audition piece, yet he’s pretty confidant regarding his audition for the Actors Studio and his plans to move to NYC with Kurt and Rachel. His internal speech ends when he enters Mr. Schue’s office to pick up his yearbook that he’d asked his teacher to sign. He reads Schuester’s message incredulously – “Dear Finn, great knowing you, Will Schuester” – and calls the teacher out on the lack of emotion or personalisation, saying as he’s the best man at Will’s wedding (ADULT FRIENDS, WILLIAM) that he at least wants some son-I-never-had nonsense. Will admits that he tried ten times to write a meaningful message and couldn’t do it without falling apart. Finn accepts this, and the two shake hands. As Finn goes to leave, Will stops him, asking Finn to shut the door because there’s something he needs to tell Finn that he’d rather other people didn’t hear. Now, I thought for a split second that Will was about to finally reveal that he’s creepily and obsessively in love with Finn, and it turns out that according to Twitter, I was not alone in thinking this. Anyway, that’s not it – of course he’s telling Finn about planting the pot on him in order to blackmail him into joining glee (+1 throwback, +1 flashback footage). While Will is saying this, there’s a hilarious mockumentary-style moment where the camera zooms in on a page torn from a teaching manual stuck up behind Will, with a headline reading Priority #1 – HELP THE KIDS. Finn looks frozen and shocked, and I really thought that he was going to throw down about this, snap and sever ties with Will; but no, sigh, he just says, still stunned, “You are so much cooler than I ever thought you were,” before the two dissolve into laughter together. Errrrrrrgh. My loathing of Will and his failure as a teacher and a decent human started in that moment, so just errrrrrgh.

At home, Finn’s mother is laying out his graduation robes while Finn stares at the picture of his father holding him as a baby. Carole offers him the picture to keep, to take to New York, but Finn’s got bigger concerns – he’s deep in thought and expresses concern that he didn’t put in enough effort writing to the army regarding getting his father’s dismissal changed to an honorable discharge. He talks about the heroic things that he found out his father did before his dismissal and decline, and feels like a career in acting is a weak choice as a form of redemption. He muses that everything in his life is falling into place – except for his father. Carole looks concerned with where this is going.

Back at school, it’s the seniors’ turn to get sung to, and Artie, Joe, Sam, Rory, Tina, Blaine and Sugar perform “In My Life” by The Beatles to the rest of the class. This is my favorite Beatles song and one of the greatest love songs of all time, but the performance is a bit average. Confusingly, Artie dedicates it particularly to Finn. But they sing the song and again, lingering looks pass between couples and friends. One side note about this – Kurt looks and feels so much older than Blaine in this scene. I don’t know what it is, but for the first time, he looks the adult to Blaine’s desperate child, the way I picture the dynamic being when Kurt the college man comes back to visit his high school boyfriend. Anyway, everyone is basically weeping by the end of this one, and as they all leave the room, Puck is left alone, looking despondent.

As we cycle through all the seniors, it’s now Quinn’s turn for an inner monologue and a go on the airport moving walkway. As she glides through the halls, she notes her own calm mental state compared to the rest of the students becoming emotional messes – she puts it down to the confidence she has in herself, ending up back on top, and her friends in whom she believes. She falters a little as she sees Puck, struggling to study with Beiste for the make-up test that will make or break his high school career. Quinn decides that she wants to spend her last week giving back, as repayment for all the gifts McKinley has given her during her high school career. She starts with Rachel: she presents her with a Metro-North train pass so that the girls can visit each other on the East Coast. Rachel is delighted almost to the point of disbelief about Quinn’s faith in their friendship – like we saw in the prom episode, she still has real trouble believing that these people, especially Quinn, are her friends now. Quinn also offers support for Rachel and Finn’s engagement. She says she believes the pair are meant to be, and Rachel offhandedly says that she always thought the same thing about Quinn and Puck, that he was at his best when he was with Quinn.

The idea of her influence inspires Quinn to help Puck study, and after school at her house they try to work on it, but he gets frustrated and almost walks out, saying she still gets credit for trying to help out the loser. Quinn tells him that she’s helping him because she loves him, and that she has no regrets about their past. She tells him that they will always be bonded for life, and he says that if she ever needs him, she knows where to find him – right there in Lima. She admonishes him, saying the Puck she originally fell in love with would never be this lacking in confidence, and she tries to kiss him in order to inspire him and make him believe he’s not worthless. He tries to push her away, saying he doesn’t deserve her help, but she says that no one deserves it more than him, reminding him of the swagger he used to possess. He allows her to kiss him and the two share a romantic moment. This segues into Puck’s own inner voice, strutting through the halls with confidence as he goes in to take his exam. He grabs the paper and stares the teacher down, ready to give it his all with as much certainty as he once harboured when he used to rule the school.

While Puck takes his exam, we see Quinn visit Sue in her office. This is briefly preceded by a strange scene in which Coach Roz also visits and proposes that the two of them team up to displace Figgins as principal, so I guess that could be a season 4 plotline, but whatever. Quinn comes in to return her Cheerios uniform, in case a new girl needs it. Sue gives it back to her, saying that she is retiring the uniform (how do you retire a cheerleading uniform, they don’t have numbers…) and instructs her former captain to sit and talk. Sue tells Quinn that originally, when they’d met, she thought Quinn was just like her; but over time she’s come to realise that she admires the girl, that Quinn is better than she’ll ever be – just as smart and beautiful, but “less evil,” and that Quinn will go far in life. It is an incredibly tender scene, with both women trying not to cry until they jump from their seats to hug, and it’s just so good to see Sue – very human, not a caricature – in this light with her favorite student, the one person she really has loved throughout the past three years. I changed my mind, this bit is my favorite, above the Burt-“Single Ladies” bit.

Quinn – now mysteriously in a different outfit, though it seems to be the same day – then joins Puck and the other kids outside a classroom where they anxiously wait while Puck’s exam is graded. The teacher finally appears and sternly hands over his paper. Rachel tries to grab it, but Puck gets hold of it himself and clutches it to his chest vulnerably, stepping away from the group to check his grade – and rejoices to see it’s a C-. “That’s a Puckerman A+!” Finn declares, as Quinn hugs Puck, and Kurt, for some reason, hugs the teacher. Puck’s now eligible to graduate, and the next scene is our eight New Directions seniors, striding through the halls en masse in their red graduation robes, and then the auditorium stage where Finn and Puck perform Springsteen’s “Glory Days” during the lively graduation ceremony. Each senior boogies out as their name is called, and the crowd whoops and dances as the graduates receive their diplomas from Emma and Figgins. Puck, in particular, is very vulnerable in this moment, and Kurt finally breaks down crying when he enters. We see many of the parents in the crowd that we’ve met before, and the underclassmen glee club members are in the front row, offering support to their friends and partners. Last of all, of course, because this show has no pretence about realism so there’s no alphabetisation, is Rachel Berry, and Figgins presents the crowd with the William McKinley High School Class of 2012.

After the ceremony, Finn, Rachel and Kurt meet in the choir room with their college letters. Finn wants to put off opening them – forever, if possible; he wants to hold on to the moment before everything changes – but eventually offers to go first. He opens his – he didn’t get into the Actor’s Studio. Kurt opens his letter – he did not get into NYADA (I’m not shocked, but see this week’s Glee Chat for a long assessment as to why). Rachel opens hers – she did get in. Whether it was the perseverance she displayed, the way many people went out of their way to tell the dean how different and special Rachel is, or her victory at Nationals, Rachel did get into NYADA, and neither of her boys succeeded. They try very hard to look happy for her, and she in return has trouble looking happy for herself.

Finally, as she clears her locker, it’s time for Rachel’s own inner monologue, her last as a McKinley student. She says that if she’d been asked her first day of high school how her last would be, this would be it – Finn, Nationals, being the prom queen, and on her way to study on Broadway. But she’s unable to be happy for herself without the boys, and so she’s decided to defer her placement for a year in order to help them with their own re-applications, to guarantee that they’ll all go together next year. She looks and sounds happy with this decision, going as far as to say honestly that, while she originally thought stardom was her one and only love, she’s glad that she’s come to her senses and discovered that there’s more to life, such as genuine human interaction. She meets Finn as he clears his own locker and the two leave McKinley together, seemingly content.

Santana’s also collecting her things, when she’s met by her mother, who offers her a graduation gift. It turns out to be a check for a large amount of money that her mom had been saving Santana’s whole life. Santana tries to give it back, saying that she has the scholarship so she doesn’t need the money now, that her parents should use it for a trip or something, as she’s still not sure about college. Her mother says that she should then take the money and use it to go to New York, as she trusts Santana’s dreams and talent, and that this is her first moment of adulthood and her own choice to make.

Finn, dressed nicely in a suit, beeps the horn as he picks Rachel up from her house to go to their low-key wedding. She chatters away happily until she realises Finn isn’t going the right way – he ends up at the train station. Rachel is confused, and Finn tells her, very strained, that she’s booked on the next train to New York, where her dads will meet her and help her check out NYADA. Rachel tries to refute this, saying she has all year, and Finn tells her that he’s not going to let her defer her dreams for him. They won’t be getting married today. Rachel fights and fights, but starts to process what Finn is saying to her and starts to lose control, crying and begging, and refusing to go. Finn says that he can’t come with her, that she has to make it on her own to become all she can be. She continues to deny it, saying if he won’t come with her that she will follow him. He tells her she won’t be able to follow him to where he’s going – Fort Benning, Georgia, to join the military, as he needs to redeem his father and he knows it’s somewhere she can’t follow, forcing her to pursue New York alone. As this sinks in for Rachel, she sobs, and Finn tries to hold it together. “You’re going to get on that train, and go to New York, and you’re going to be a star, without me. That’s how much I love you,” he claims, and asks her to surrender, with him. He knows how hard it is for her to let go of things, but he asks her to just surrender now and accept that this is how it has to be, and if they’re meant to be, they’ll come back to each other. Still crying, she agrees, and they hold on to each other as they metaphorically let go. I don’t mean to take away from the gravity of the situation, because it actually was genuinely painful given how much I have come to support Finchel, but he is basically White-Fanging her (New Girl fans – Schimdt repreSENT). They kiss and proclaim love, but Rachel can’t bear it, as she pulls away and covers her face. They get out of the car and go to the train, where the rest of their friends are waiting to say goodbye to Rachel. She starts to sing “Roots Before Branches” as she says goodbye to everyone, saving Kurt and Mr. Schue for last before kissing Finn one last time as he puts her on the train with an expression like he’s at a funeral. The train starts to move and the crowd of glee clubbers wave cheerfully, but Finn runs alongside the train until it speeds up and departs. The song continues until we see Rachel arrive in New York alone, towing her suitcase through the city streets.

And that’s what went down on the most disappointing season 3 finale I ever could have imagined Glee having! Goodbye original cast! We’re sure to see you next year in some format, and knowing that made this episode decidedly less emotional! Thanks for reading our recaps, and see you all next season!