On Friday night, after six seasons, 121 episodes, and more than 700 musical performances, Glee came to an end with a two-hour episode, the first hour of which recreated the pilot.
But there was one character whose absence was felt from the get-go: Finn Hudson (played by Cory Monteith, who died in 2013).
Past Kurt did mention Finn when talking to Mercedes Jones (Amber Riley) about the just-formed New Directions ... but he wasn't exactly a fan.
(He did, however, unknowingly give Finn credit for coming up with New Directions' biggest hit.)
Though Kurt wasn't pro Finn, Artie (Kevin McHale) fondly remembered the quarterback wheeling him home from school one day after he was bullied.
But, of course, it was Rachel who convinced Kurt and the other members of New Directions to give Finn a chance.
Because she knew what they were all capable of.
And then, breaking the finale's form of recreating scenes from the pilot or adding new ones, old footage rolled of Finn singing the song that first put New Directions on the map.
And seeing him reach out for Rachel and smile made gleeks everywhere reach for the tissues.
Because Finchel lives on forever.
See?
Mr. Schue's (Matthew Morrison) tears were all of our tears.
The second hour of the series finale flashed forward five years in the future, where Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) was vice president (yes, of the U.S.) and she returned to McKinley, which had become a performing arts school, and showed how much she'd grown.
And that she finally came to understand how important the glee club is.
She had the honor of rededicating the school's auditorium in Finn's name. And his mom Carole (Romy Rosemont) and stepdad — and Kurt's dad — Burt (Mike O'Malley) were overcome with emotion.
Then, pretty much everyone who's ever been in New Directions danced and sang in Finn's honor.
And their performance of "I Lived" ended the exact same way the group's first performance of "Don't Stop Believin'" ended.
For those who could still see through their tears, right before the credits rolled, we saw the new plaque hanging at McKinley in Finn's honor...
And it was everything gleeks everywhere could have asked for.
