TV Romances
All of Rachel Berry’s Boyfriends on ‘Glee,’ Ranked
Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) had quite the arc throughout Glee‘s six-season run. She began as a nerdy high school theater kid in Ohio and turned into a big-time Broadway star.
May 24 marks the 14-year anniversary of the Glee Season 2 finale, which featured Rachel rekindling her romance with football-turned-glee-club-star Finn (Cory Monteith). While this relationship was one of the central parts of Glee, Rachel and Finn were very on-and-off before his death in Season 4.
That left room open for Rachel to explore other relationships throughout the show, but how do the guys in her life stack up? From her high school flings to New York romances, scroll down for our definitive ranking of Rachel Berry’s boyfriends over the years.
Who do you think is Rachel’s best and worst love interest on Glee? What did you think of our ranking? Make sure to hop into the comments section and share your thoughts.
5. Sam
Sorry, but Sam (Chord Overstreet) and Rachel just didn’t really have any chemistry. This brief romance kind of just seemed like something that was thrown into the show when storylines were running out.
4. Puck
The good girl falling for the bad boy is typical of teen dramas, and these two never really got too serious, so I’m fine with it. It happened. It was fine. But Rachel and Puck (Mark Salling) obviously weren’t a real love match.
3. Brody
Okay, so Brody (Dean Geyer) kept a big secret from Rachel, and he wasn’t the greatest boyfriend, but he was kind of exactly what Rachel needed during the time they were together. She was trying to figure out a way to move on from Finn while settling into her new life in New York, and Brody was the right distraction. They were never going to end up together, but he was in the right place at the right time for Rachel.
2. Finn
If Cory Monteith hadn’t died, it’s likely that Rachel and Finn would’ve been endgame. Ryan Murphy said as much in 2013.
“At the end of Season 6, Lea’s Rachel was going to have become a big Broadway star, the role she was born to play. Finn was going to have become a teacher, settled down happily in Ohio, at peace with his choice and no longer feeling like a Lima loser,” Murphy said. “The very last line of dialogue was to be this: Rachel comes back to Ohio, fulfilled and yet not, and walks into Finn’s glee club. ‘What are you doing here?’ he would ask. ‘I’m home,’ she would reply. Fade out. The end.”
The entire show always came back to Rachel and Finn’s relationship. But, really, Finn wasn’t who Rachel was meant to be with. Her dreams were always so much bigger than his, and she was always going to want more.
Their love story of the popular football star falling for the dorky theater girl was cute and fun in high school, but I really don’t think they were meant to be in the long run. Still, this romance was truly a pivotal part of Glee, and she’ll always be able to look back on their time together fondly.
1. Jesse
Jesse St. James (Jonathan Groff) is the guy Rachel ended up with, and rightfully so. Jesse is essentially the male version of Rachel. Their paths always aligned in a way that made a lot more sense than Rachel and Finn’s. This was the correct fit, and not just because Finn was no longer an option.
