“River” Made an Appearance in Ryan Murphy’s World Before ‘The Politician’

There’s so much to enjoy about The Politician, Ryan Murphy’s first show for Netflix: the gorgeous costumes and sets, the parade of divas, the endless drama. But one of the most buzzed about performances is something Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan already tackled. Eight years before Payton Hobart made us all cry by singing “River” in The Politician, Rachel Barry nailed it in Glee.

The Politician‘s take on Joni Mitchell’s beautiful, highly emotional song is one of the most devastating parts of the show’s first season. Payton (Ben Platt) is a young man so defined by his blind ambition to become President of the United States he’s completely unable to experience life in any kind of authentic way. At least that’s the case until Payton meets his friend turned political rival River (David Corenswet).

During their brief time together Payton’s relationship with River is frustrating and confusing. They sleep together even though Payton claims to be straight and they both have girlfriends. Though they’re technically rivals, River remains serenely supportive and Payton can’t stay away. River comes to embody the only real thing in Payton’s superficially constructed life. So when he performs the aptly titled “River” following his lover’s tragic death, that internal battle between the career-driven husk Payton wants to be and the actual human he is plays out throughout the song.

It’s a surprisingly gentle and complicated moment. But this wasn’t be the first time Murphy experimented with a rendition of “River.” That honor would go to the Glee episode “Extraordinary Merry Christmas.”

The episode originally aired on December 13, 2011 and centers around Artie (Kevin McHale). The aspiring director is given complete control of New Directions’ Christmas special, something that somehow comes to involve Judy Garland and Chewbacca. Naturally, Glee’s resident diva Rachel Barry (Lea Michele) is only too eager to be the special’s star. She takes the Christmas tree-decorated stage to belt out the most dramatic yuletide song around, “River.”

Ultimately, Artie rejects Rachel’s song selection because Joni Mitchell is too sad. He instead goes with a jazzy black-and-white rom-com performance starring Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Blaine (Darren Criss), which fair. That sounds way more fun than a Mitchell cry-fest. Yet these two performances map a decade of growth.

Michele could always be counted on to sell whatever emotion Glee’s songs-of-the-week required. That is certainly the case in her performance of “River.” All the notes are there, and the song is just tragic enough for Rachel to still emerge looking beautiful. It’s not Rachel Barry at her best, but it is her at her pretty good.

But there’s something so devastating and dynamic to Platt’s take on the same song. It’s not just that the stakes are higher — a dead boyfriend versus an audition — or that having Platt’s Payton sing a blatantly sexual song about a man is shocking in the context on his closeted character. It’s all of those things. Payton as a person is trapped in his own ego. Even directly after River’s death he’s unable to cry over his loss. Similarly, he is completely unwilling to acknowledge his sexuality until the very end of Season 1. But during this one song in Episode 1, Payton can finally be honest with himself. He’s singing his truth, and it’s deeply painful.

That’s always what Glee was about, utilizing music and art to communicate a deeper personal truth. And through Platt’s performance in The Politician, Murphy quietly reminded us of this lesson.

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