The . It’s a lovely tribute to a star who passed so young, with touching home videos of her as a child—but then we return to the thesis of this show, which states that there was some sort of “curse” that forced all these poor Glee stars into darkness.
Rivera, who accidentally drowned in July 2020 while boating with her son Josey Dorsey, should be allowed to rest peacefully. This show accuses the Glee star of needing space from the world around her because she was struggling to book roles after the series ended. What’s the point in speculating? Everyone involved should be allowed to process grief in peace. In the series, Rivera’s father says he has to “compartmentalize” her death, to put his daughter “in a box” in his mind and not open it for the rest of his life. It’s tragic. A scene later, an entertainment journalist sails out with a coroner to attempt to understand why she passed away. They reach no conclusion—but they did post a photo smiling on the same lake where Rivera died.
Justin Neill, a friend of Cory Monteith, in The Price of Glee.
Investigation Discovery
When it comes to smaller scandals, like when people on the show accused Lea Michele of racism, or when Melissa Benoist made domestic abuse allegations against co-star and ex-husband Blake Jenner, everything is rehashed from old headlines. We get the same story about Michele kicking a Black actor out from his seat at a table because he “didn’t belong there.” We have to sit through the Instagram video Benoist posted to open up about being abused. None of this is new information. The Price of Glee is real-life trauma porn, repackaged from tweets and clickbait articles about the so-called Glee curse.
The doc doesn’t go in-depth about Salling, who died by suicide after pleading guilty to child pornography charges, though it doesn’t hesitate to use his image to defend their theory of the “price” of starring on Glee. But it does reach the same conclusion about him and it does for Monteith and Rivera—that the stress of Glee may have been partly to blame for the circumstances behind their respective deaths—even though the three incidents are completely unconnected.
Monteith takes up most of the discussion, filling almost the entirety of the first two episodes, and there’s clearly the most background about him. The series interviews his friends, his old roommate, and his publicist, who all offer up tearful memories of the late star as they recount his final days. But even though the doc has all these sources, they rely on his Season 3 hairdresser for a big bombshell—that one of his Glee co-stars allegedly encouraged him to drink after he had left rehab—that feels incredibly cruel. Again: Let Monteith rest in peace. There’s no need to speculate or point fingers in his death.
The Glee stars need not feel responsible for any part of Monteith’s death. Nor do the producer’s or show creators, who also are loosely blamed for overworking the young actors. The show tries to put a band-aid over its gossiping at the end of the show, discarding the idea of a curse to instead argue that “it’s just life” and tragedies happen. Sure, that’s all true. But in that case, there shouldn’t be a whole docuseries dedicated to unpacking a string of unconnected deaths and other controversies. Each of these incidents referenced is tragic—but there’s no need to hunt for answers after the fact, especially when most of the folks involved only want to move forward with their lives.
If you or a loved one are struggling with suicidal thoughts, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. You can also text or dial 988.
