Murphy hoped to produce a balanced depiction of religion, and he, Falchuk and series co-creator Ian Brennan worked to ensure that there was an equality between pro and anti-religious sentiments expressed.

Critics disagreed over the appropriateness of the musical performances, with some complaining of the tangential relationship between the numbers and religion, and others appreciating that the Glee versions brought new meaning to the songs.

However, other reviewers criticized the episode for its lack of subtlety, and Lisa Respers France of CNN denounced "Grilled Cheesus" as an Emmy-submission showpiece for Colfer.

Glee club co-captain Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith) believes he has found the face of Jesus in a grilled cheese sandwich and asks for three prayers to be granted: for the school football team to win a game, for his girlfriend Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) to let him touch her breasts, and for him to be reinstated as quarterback.

Cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch), also an atheist, takes umbrage at the glee club singing religious songs in a public school setting, and has Kurt make a formal complaint.

When confronted by guidance counselor Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays), Sue admits that as a child, she prayed that God would cure her sister Jean (Robin Trocki), who has Down syndrome.

Kurt is resistant, and later at glee club rehearsal sings The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand", stating that his faith takes the form of love for his father.

[6] He hoped to produce a balanced depiction of the subject matter, and he, along with co-writers Brennan and Falchuk, checked the script to ensure that for every anti-religious sentiment conveyed, there was a pro-religious one to counterbalance it.

[10] Recurring characters who appear in this episode include glee club member Mike Chang (Harry Shum, Jr.), football player Sam Evans, Principal Figgins (Iqbal Theba), football coach Shannon Beiste (Dot-Marie Jones), Finn's mother Carole Hudson (Romy Rosemont),[11] and Sue's sister Jean Sylvester.

[24] She praised Salling's "Only the Good Die Young", which was selected by Lisa de Moraes of The Washington Post as the best performance of the episode, for being the most in-keeping with Glee's usual tone.

[25] Erica Futterman of Rolling Stone praised "I Want to Hold Your Hand", writing that, "the Beatles' coy flirtation is replaced with a simple, wistful plea that hits just the right note."

Benigno felt that both Michele and Colfer's solos were damaged by the fact that the songs' only link to the episode's plot were their titles, finding it particularly jarring to hear Kurt singing "I wanna be your man" about his father.

Club's Emily VanDerWerff felt that the music was the worst aspect of the episode, similarly criticizing song selections based on their tangential relationship to religion.

Tim Stack of Entertainment Weekly named it as one of his favorite episodes of the series, calling it "not only funny and moving, but incredibly important", both for its religious element and message of tolerance.

Stack praised the performances by Colfer and O'Malley,[39] as did USA Today's Robert Bianco, who deemed the episode a "smart, moving, musical exploration of the power and limits of faith and religion in a democratic society".

Bianco commented positively on the way Colfer's singing was used to "dig beneath the archness and anger in Kurt's behavior", calling it "a textbook example of what music can add to drama.

"[40] Mark Perigard of the Boston Herald went further in his praise, deeming "Grilled Cheesus" "the perfect blend of music, characterization and plot - and easily the most provocative scripted hour in prime-time of the new season."

[41] Raymund Flandez of The Wall Street Journal felt that "Grilled Cheesus" succeeded in balancing opposing viewpoints, resulting in "a nuanced, atypical episode of Glee that was both conflictingly emotional and confidently serious about the topic of religion",[15] and Semigran similarly commended the episode's balance, writing that Falchuk "covered both sides of controversial debate with grace, humor, and most importantly, respect.

"[29] In an article discussing Glee's increasingly inconsistent tone, characterizations, and weird moments in the second season, film and television critic Matt Zoller Seitz cited "Grilled Cheesus" as an exception: "an episode built around an earnest, Afterschool Special-style contemplation of faith that improbably turned out to be one of the series' boldest, silliest, maybe finest hours".

Robert Canning of IGN felt that "Grilled Cheesus" was too varied tonally, failing to effectively bring together the "true anguish" of Kurt's storyline and "lunacy" of Finn's.

Canning commented that the Hummels' relationship is "the most affecting" of the show, and praised O'Malley's "outstandingly nuanced" performance as Burt, yet felt that the religious element gave the episode an after school special vibe and almost became "over-the-top preachy and self-important".

Fallon had been excited to see religion and homosexuality tackled on Glee, but was disappointed that the end result was "completely devoid of humor", with dialogue "so stilted, wooden, and earnest that the treatment of the subject was largely ineffective and far too easy to make fun of.