Glee (TV Series) Grilled Cheesus (2010) User Reviews

"Grilled Cheesus" is a very dramatically compelling, but still occasionally humorous, episode of "Glee"

[tavm · 10/10 · 22 October 2010]

This is a very special episode of "Glee" (and I mean that in the most complimentary manner) that touches greatly at the heartstrings but also provides some gentle, if sharp, humor. First, Finn makes a grilled cheese sandwich which-when it burned at a certain place-made an image that looked just like the son of God. So he makes three wishes which all come true, perhaps too much so since his third one was to replace the new guy as the quarterback which he loved being previously. The other story concerns Kurt's dad who-after expressing disappointment at his son's wanting to skip a family dinner to see a singalong version of The Sound of Music-gets an attack and goes into a coma. That upsets Kurt greatly and it doesn't help when everyone tries to pray since Kurt doesn't believe in God...This particular episode hits all the right buttons without missing a beat and the songs are well chosen from Puck's version of "Only the Good Die Young" to Rachel's "Papa, Can You Hear Me?" to Finn's "Losing My Religion" to Mercedes' "Bridge Over Troubled Water" to Tina's "One of Us" and, especially, to Kurt's very touching version of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" which he dedicates to his father. It's also nice to see Sue dial it down a bit in expressing her own doubts about her faith because of her older sister's condition. One of the most dramatically compelling eps of "Glee" yet. Kudos to everyone involved.

Hits the heartstrings but is ignorantly offensive

[celticfilidh · 6/10 · 21 December 2020]

Being someone who has lost a parent as a young child and an atheist as an adult, this episode definitely triggered me in multiple ways.

There's a review couple down that hits the atheist perspective pretty on the nose, so I'm not going to spend too much time on that except for it really did disrespect the atheist viewpoint. We're raised in a country where believing in a spiritual power is the norm. Making the conscious, ostracizable decision to break from that belief is actually a very heavy and difficult decision, especially after losing a loved one. It's letting go of the possibility of hope and reconnection. It's losing a guardian angel. It's knowing they missed those special moments. That hurts the heart, but it has personally allowed me to appreciate the finiteness and importance of life.

So, for Kurt's friends to be mad at him and for him to have to apologize while he's trying to process another traumatic event is despicable. I had friends who tried to be supportive while my dad was sick, and I was irrationally pissed, too. It's grief, and it's natural to feel (and we continued being friends for years afterwards). Kurt didn't need to apologize for putting up walls while his world was falling apart - that's self protection and preservation, and there is zero shame in that. As friends, you sit on the sidelines and just be there ready for when the sufferer is ready to break down, and then you listen to them. You don't shove your personal ideological perspectives down their throats and call it "comfort," especially when they're not ready.

But the Cheezus sandwich was funny.

I would tell you to skip this episode, if it didn't include a major plot twist.

[beebikinis · 2/10 · 11 November 2015]

This episode is something I'd call religious propaganda. No, I'm not kidding. It's a serious topic about losing your loved ones and there's nothing wrong with religion or spirituality, at all. What I do not agree with is chowing one's religious views down my throat. I really identified with Kurt, because everyone except SUE, of all people, were kind of against him.

What really bothered me about the episode was that when Kurt said that he doesn't believe in god and made up something equally as impossible to be true for him metaphor, Quinn got upset and said "this isn't what we should be talking"/whatever and Tina looked at Kurt with a chocked expression. Americans love their Constitution and especially the First Amendment. It's been a consistent theme that the kids should be able to be whatever they want to be, but not atheists? So in Glee world it is unheard of that a person doesn't believe in god? Is it some kind of Mid West thing or what? Everyone in the school seemed to be religious apart from Sue and Kurt, seriously. Kurt was ready to mind his own business if everyone else minds their own regarding this topic. But no. Mercedes demands that Kurt comes to church with her. "Be open to other options", what about that mutual respect? Kurt did not cross anyone with his ideas and there they go, fueled by their righteous religious exaltation and go pray for his father. That is literally where to draw the line. Mercedes' speech at the church was pretty well veiled to be "accepting" and "open minded" but at the same time it still insisted that you just HAVE TO believe in something (though it "doesn't have to be god"). Eh, no, you don't.

While Kurt had a bit of a black and white idea about religion (considering the gays and Jesus-thing) and while I'm obviously biased being an atheist my self, I don't think the episode showed good taste at all. Religion offers certain things to people: Communion, proximity, routine, (false)feeling of safety... Those things do not equal church or belief. If that was the point of the episode it was very poorly conducted. It also showed both believers and atheists in an inaccurate, possibly hurtful light. Kurt might be the most mature one out of the bunch and seems to have battled with more hardship than the other kids, considering this, it was laughable that his views on life were put under question. Also, it is not acceptable to get a bit distance from your buddies when your dad is in a coma at the hospital? What a horrible attempt at making it seem like there's a clash between atheism and religion on daily basis, and what's worse, Kurt were made to seem like the heartless one, "pushing people away" (indirectly because he couldn't enjoy the wondrous wonders of believing in a character parallel to the Easter Bunny)

The end also bothered me because it seemed like religion "won" the "battle". As always, Mr. Schue does what he wants, but this time it was inconsiderate. What was even more lame than the kids singing What if god was one of us, was how Sue reacted to it. Talk about writing out of the character.

While this episode truly sucked in my opinion, I found it amusing that while Kurt and Sue are seen as "the evil monsters depriving children from expressing their belief" at the beginning (and shifted to more pro-religion position near the end), there goes Finn naively worshiping Grilled Cheesus. Maybe it was self irony from the writers, maybe it was not, but it was the best part.

What bigotry!

[carolinisabelborger · 1/10 · 4 January 2021]

I have watched every glee episode up to this one. So far, I absolutely love the show. But this episode is kind of horrible. The atheist viewpoints depicted are by no means comprehensive (both Sue and Kurt are portrayed as missing something important, like their longing for something bigger, especially near the end. In reality, there are atheists that are very much at peace with themselves). While Sue's and Kurt's atheism origin story is by no means universally relatable (I think there are far more atheists that do not believe in God due to a lack of evidence than due to hardships in life), they do raise strong arguments against God's existence and against using the opportunity (grief) for trying to indoctrinate a student at school. The arguments are not debunked by any of the religous characters. Quinn acted like a bigot and all of the students clearly crossed a line with their praying in the hospital when they knew Kurt didn't want that. Except for calling them "mental patients" at one point, Kurt had nothing to apologize for. The others did. Kurt did not have a problem with the others being religious, he just wanted to stop them from shoving their ideologies down his throat. My favorite character Emma calling Sue "arrogant" in this episode disappointed me, because while Sue is generally arrogant, of course, in this scene, she was not. She was right. In the end, religion somehow "won" the fight, even without arguments. Just because. This really disapponted me intellectually, and I consider it bigoted. Intellectual diversity would have been nice. The opposing mindsets could have been portrayed as equal alternatives, at least. Maybe present one third of the students as theists, one third as skeptics and one third as atheists, with a few characters questioning their respective opinions at the end.

Terrible

[hah1993 · 1/10 · 17 January 2022]

This episode simply should not have been made, but not for the reasons other reviewers think. I don't understand how people think religion won in this episode or whatever. Religion was mercilessly mocked throughout the entire episode. That isn't a win. The sandwich was borderline blasphemy, not humorous. At all.