Art Imitating Life, or Why I'm Dreading Tomorrow

As some of you may know, I have three kids in various stages of teen- and tween-hood. And one of the shows they have watched with varying degrees of consistency is Glee.

(Last season was pretty much a miss to the Davies family, but prior to that, it was must see TV for several of us.)

Yes, I count myself among the Glee-watchers. I started watching to have something to do with my kids, but ended up sticking around for the songs and the storylines. Sometimes we loved it, sometimes we hate-watched, but either way, we watched.

And if every episode there was at least one action or decision by a main character that ended up in a "THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER DO THAT" conversation with my kids, well, I took it as a teaching moment.

But last summer, real life intruded on the little microcosm that is Glee, when actor Cory Monteith was found dead in a Vancouver hotel, a death that was tied to drug and alcohol abuse. My kids were saddened but not distraught, and sadly, it was another teaching moment for our family - about how hard addiction can be to beat, and how even people with advantages and resources can get caught in that downward spiral.

Which brings us to tomorrow. The show will be airing its tribute episode, saying goodbye to both Cory and the character he played, Finn. Midkid asked on the way to soccer, "What happened to Finn? Have they announced how he died?"

As far as I know, they haven't. And I'm a little wary of watching the episode, for several reasons. Trepidation over how they'll walk the fine line between grieving for a character and castmate, and putting him up on a pedestal. Concern that the 'cause of death' will be too close to how he really died - or not close at all. And not sure how I'll make it through the episode without a box of kleenex, for me and my kids.

But we'll be there, nonetheless, hoping that this episode, more than any other, the creative team gets it right.