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When Cory Monteith died in July, the fact that it put Glee in a terrible position was certainly the least of the rotten outcomes.

But it did, in fact, put the show in a terrible position.

He was a core member of the cast, and hadn't been gradually fading from view like some of the original kids, so there was nothing to do but deal with it — and Thursday night, after starting the season with two Beatles tribute episodes, they did.

Called "The Quarterback," the episode picked up three weeks after Finn's funeral, so the cast was spared playing the news of his death. And Lea Michele, who was dating Monteith at the time he died, appeared only in the last act. The episode didn't explain how Finn died, and through Kurt, it explicitly disclaimed any interest in talking about it: "Who cares?" Kurt said to us.

As an episode of Glee, "The Quarterback" was sort of all over the place. Little plots involving Finn's jacket and a tree planted in his memory worked unevenly, and there were moments — which I think it would be profoundly uncharitable to identify — when performers seemed to be simply overmatched by the experience and seemed uncomfortable in character.

But it was, oddly enough, in the moments when the performers seemed to be peeking through that the episode did work. It was when the illusion that this was entirely a depiction of fictional characters mourning a fictional person receded that it did contain a graceful and very real sense of grief and tribute.

The show was somewhat transparent about all this; that's why the "Seasons Of Love" opener began with the newer cast members and then revealed those who'd been there since the beginning. And those older cast members looked, as you might expect, palpably more wrecked throughout. It felt real and yet not, as if they were both working behind the artifice of character and acknowledging it. It wasn't a secret that this was a remembrance for actors as well as characters — we knew, and they knew we knew, and we knew they knew we knew.

But this sense that you were watching two things at once was never more acute, of course, than when Michele appeared at the very end to sing Bob Dylan's "To Make You Feel My Love." It's probably smart, and merciful, that she sang a love song and not a song about death and grief. Despite all the things that have pulled Glee off course at times, she remains a really talented singer, and it's a really lovely rendition. And you do know that you're watching both the character and the actress, and it is a little distracting, and that's okay, I think.

Elizabeth Smart dominated headlines back in 2002. She was just 14 years old when she was kidnapped at knifepoint from her Salt Lake City home by Brian David Mitchell and his wife Wanda Barzee. Smart was held captive for nine months. Mitchell forced her to act as his second wife, raped her nearly every day, and told her that the ordeal was ordained by God.

Smart's Mormon faith played a key part in her survival and spiritual health today. She says there were moments when she felt there was no one to turn to – except God. She writes about all of this in her new memoir My Story.

"When I was kidnapped and he was telling me all of these things, I remember what my parents said: 'You'll know a person by their actions.' And so even though he was sitting there telling me that he was a prophet, that I should be thankful for what was happening to me, I was really a lucky girl – I realized that he wasn't a good person. He was hurting me. He made me feel terrible," Smart tells NPR's Michel Martin. "And growing up believing that I have a kind and loving heavenly father, I couldn't believe that God had called him to do what he was doing to me."

Smart says that — even when she feared for her life — she never lost faith. "You don't just take what's given to you and say, 'Okay this is what we're supposed to do.' But that you pray about it, you think about it, and you find your own answer. That's what true faith is."

A central question for people of faith is why God allows bad things to happen. Smart says that her experience gives her a unique perspective on that issue. "Although I never asked to be kidnapped or for something like that to happen to me, I can find that goodness can still come out of it, and that I can be grateful for the opportunities that it's opened up to me that otherwise wouldn't have been."

As for Smart's captors, they have been sentenced to long prison terms without parole. Smart says she's not focused on what happens to them anymore, but that she forgives them. "I have let go of the past. I have let go of what they have done to me. And I've let go of them. They no longer have a part in my life, and I have no desire to see them. I have just moved on."

Smart says that one lesson she wants people to take from her story is the importance of treating sexual assault victims with compassion. "After being raped, I felt completely worthless. I didn't even feel like I was human anymore. And it is just so important to let these survivors know that they're not any less of a person. You don't love them any less. And that to pretend like it never happened, or to pretend like rape doesn't exist or that it only happens in the wrong parts of wrong – you're doing that survivor a disservice."

The kidnapping is not the final chapter of Smart's story. She is now married, and working as an advocate on children's issues. Smart says writing the book was a healing experience that helped her realize how far she has come. "All of us have the potential inside us to reach so much further and grow so much more than any of us think we can," she notes.

We had a complicated problem on our kitchen table in Jerusalem. A stack of homemade birthday thank-you notes, tucked in brightly colored envelopes, ready to be whisked off to friends in the U.S. And a commemorative packet of Israeli stamps in all sorts of different denominations, none of which added up to the 6.20 NIS (6 New Israeli Shekels, 20 agorot, or $1.74) it took to mail a letter or postcard from here to the States.

Postage Around The World

In the U.S., it costs $1.10 to send an overseas letter weighing up to 3.5 ounces (or approximately 100 grams). How does the rest of the world compare? Here's a roundup of what it costs for a U.S.-bound missive.

South Africa: 66 cents (up to 50 grams)

Russia: 88 cents (20g ); $2.19 (100g)

Brazil: 95 cents (50g)

Saudi Arabia: $1.07 (50g)

U.S.: $1.10 (approx. 100g)

Jamaica: $1.15 (15g, Caribbean, North and South America), $1.35 (Europe), $1.74 (rest of the world)

Ireland: $1.22 (50g)

Mauritania: $1.23 (100g)

Great Britain: $1.41 (10g); $5.59 (100g)

China: $1.63 (50g)

France: $1.90 (50g)

Japan: $1.96 (50g)

Australia: $2.46 (50g)

Denmark: $2.64 (50g)

Argentina: $2.75 (20g, within the Americas); $2.92 (outside the Americas)

Note: Converted to U.S. dollars on Oct. 8 and 9, 2013

Sachin Tendulkar, the man who is to Indian cricket what Babe Ruth is to baseball, says he'll retire in November after his 200th test match, ending a more than two-decade-long career in which he broke many of the sport's batting records.

"All my life, I have had a dream of playing cricket for India. I have been living this dream every day for the last 24 years," Tendulkar said in a statement Thursday. "It's hard for me to imagine a life without playing cricket because it's all I have ever done since I was 11 years old. It's been a huge honor to have represented my country and played all over the world. I look forward to playing my 200th Test Match on home soil, as I call it a day."

The announcement, which was expected, marks the end of an era for Indian cricket. Tendulkar, along with the West Indies' Brian Lara, entertained the sport's fans with his batting prowess through much of the 1990s and 2000s. And though his powers waned slightly, his zeal for the game and his fans' enthusiasm for him did not.

For an excellent summary of Tendulkar's 24-year career, visit ESPNCricinfo. In this video, the website also chronicles why Tendulkar is so beloved in the cricketing world: