Here Are All The "Glee" References In "The Girl From Plainville" So Far

There are more than meets the eye.

Hulu's newest true crime drama series, The Girl From Plainville, follows the 2017 criminal case about Michelle Carter's involvement in the suicide of Conrad Roy.

Hulu / Courtesy Everett Collection

You may recall hearing about this "texting suicide" case when it was in the news, but one thing you probably didn't know about Michelle is that she's a huge Gleek.

Hulu / Courtesy Everett Collection

Elle Fanning stars as Michelle, and she's doing some of her best work yet — especially when she's channeling Michelle's Glee obsession.

Hulu / Courtesy Everett Collection

With four episodes currently streaming on Hulu, there are already a bunch of references to Glee. Here, we've rounded them up for you:

1. In the first minute of the first episode, we see Michelle watching Glee while she texts Conrad.

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Just casually watching Brittany sing an Alanis Morissette–and–Carole King mashup while inquiring about Conrad's plans. I wonder if there's any significance implied by this also being the episode where Santana proposes to Brittany. 

2. When Michelle's friends come over to comfort her, she talks about her and Conrad's love in a quote that seems pulled from Glee.

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It's even cemented later on when she references the exact Glee scene she was pulling the quote from as she rehearses it in front of her mirror.

3. Michelle's outfit at Conrad's funeral was Rachel Berry–inspired.

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That headband just screams Rachel. In real life, Michelle was pretty obsessed with Lea Michele, who played Rachel on Glee, which she made clear on her Twitter and in texts she sent to Conrad. 

4. In Episode 1, Michelle asks her dad to turn up the song on the radio, which is "Can't Fight This Feeling" by REO Speedwagon, a song that Finn performs on Glee.

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Her sister scoffs about how she can't possibly like the song, then later apologizes. Michelle says the song reminds her of Conrad.

5. At the end of the first episode, Michelle is practicing reciting Rachel's monologue about Finn's death from the Glee episode "The Quarterback."

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I recognized the speech right away, before it even cut to the laptop screen showing what she was watching and copying. It was an eerie and powerful moment, watching Elle as Michelle emulating Lea as Rachel mourning her fictional boyfriend while Lea was really mourning her real-life partner, Cory Monteith. Elle says she spent a lot of time rehearsing to get every movement just right.

6. In Episode 3, after Michelle says Conrad was too bright for this world and her sister asks, "Is that from Glee?"

Hulu, Hulu / Via Hulu

While it isn't a direct Glee quote, Finn did refer to himself as Rachel's star when he bought her a star named after himself in Season 3's Christmas episode.

7. In Episode 3, Michelle is watching Glee with her new friend, Susie, while making friendship bracelets.

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Michelle quickly shows how obsessed she is with Rachel and Finn, even mentioning the actors' real-life postponed engagement. Then Susie asks about Santana and Brittany, a charged moment that alludes to a romantic relationship developing between Michelle and Susie, especially considering that Santana and Brittany are known to wear matching bracelets.

8. Later in Episode 3, Michelle goes through a memento box that holds her friendship bracelet from Susie and her rabbit ear headband from Conrad.

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It's implied that she and Susie are no longer friends, though Susie is still alive. But it's also implied that they were romantically involved, as Michelle was with Conrad. This shows that Michelle was trying to identify with both Santana and Brittany's relationship with Susie as well as with Rachel and Finn's with Conrad.

9. In Episode 4, Michelle is watching Glee and texting Susie, who tells Michelle she's now hooked on Glee too.

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Michelle looks proud to have gotten Susie into Glee, and Susie calling Michelle "babe" further implies a romantic aspect to their relationship.

10. At the end of Episode 4, Michelle fantasizes about her and Conrad dressed as Rachel and Finn and performing a song from Glee together.

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The delusion seems to really set in during this episode, where Michelle frequently imagines her and Conrad together. The song they sing dressed as Rachel and Finn is "Can't Fight This Feeling Anymore," the song that was playing on the radio in Episode 1.

11. In Episode 5, Michelle wears a "New Directions" t-shirt while she runs on the treadmill.

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The New Directions is the name of the Glee Club in Glee.

12. In Episode 6, Michelle has a photo of Cory Monteith and Lea Michele (Rachel and Finn from Glee) on her vision board at the treatment center.

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It implies how much she admires their relationship, which ended with Cory's untimely death.

13. In Episode 7, Michelle attends her sister's chorus recital, where she fantasizes about them bringing her on stage to sing "Teenage Dirtbag" to her. In reality, they are performing "Somebody to Love" by Queen, which the New Directions performed in Glee.

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Also in Glee, there are multiple instances of a character fantasizing about song performances that never happened, including Brittany and Santana performing Britney Spears songs while under anesthesia at the dentist. 

14. In Episode 8, the series finale, Michelle is watching Glee as she texts Conrad about his impending suicide plans.

Hulu / Via Hulu

She is notably watching the same episode she watched in the first episode, where the Glee club, including Rachel, is mourning the loss of Finn.

Which scene shocked you the most?