I was a little skeptical of this just because I had expected it to be another few days before the coroner’s office released a statement, but a quick Google indicates that more mainstream news sources (like CBS and USAToday) are saying the same thing.
Given Monteith’s history of substance abuse it’s not really surprising this was the cause of death, but I feel bad for his friends and family. I’m sure many of them are wondering now if they could have helped him if they’d been at the hotel with him.
It looks like a Very Special Episode is inevitable.
From the linked article:
But Murphy hopes that the show can perhaps “save a life” in dealing with the tragedy.
“One of the most gratifying things about ‘Glee’ is that when the show is at its best, it has helped young people and given them information about the human condition that moves and informs them,” Murphy says. "What we’ve been talking about in the writer’s room is that maybe the way we deal with this tragedy might save the life of someone.
I lived through that era in the 1980s when seemingly every show with a young audience did a Very Special Episode, and normally it’s pathetic and worthy of eye-rolling. But this event does seem deserving of a legitimate, well-written and genuine Very Special Episode. The only problem is that they’d need competent writers to pull it off.
I think this would be in poor taste, but having Finn overdose does seem more plausible than plenty of things that have happened on Glee. This is mostly due to the sloppy writing during season four, but Finn disappeared for several episodes at both the beginning and ending of the season, had an uncharacteristically violent outburst near the end of the season, and was also shown partying hard and neglecting his studies once he enrolled in college. Between this and the season three revelations about his father, I can imagine a pretty coherent story about how Finn had developed a serious drug and/or alcohol problem but kept it hidden from his friends and family.
Again though, I think this would be insensitive to Monteith’s family and real-life girlfriend Lea Michele unless they all actually wanted to see such a storyline. Having Finn killed by a drunk driver would be one way for Murphy to send a Very Special message without making the circumstances similar to Monteith’s death.
My guess is they will have Finn texting to Rachel…“On my way!” or “Can’t wait to see you star in Funny Girl!” or whatever…and have him die in a car wreck while texting. That would get the “special episode” factor about the perils of texting and driving, plus texting would allow the character to “live” until the ultimate death news.
They wouldn’t have to show any real elements of the cause of his death, and they could quickly get passed the tragic news in side stories of one episode.
It would be hard to do anything else, under the circumstances. Too disrespectful of Monteith and Michele, if not the fans (respect for the fan has never been an issue for these guys, though).
In the inevitable Very Special Episode, I’ll say Finn will have been talked into shooting up at a party at school after trying some other things, it got out of hand, etc. and now he’s gone, so remember, kids, Don’t Do Drugs.