"Glee" takes on school gun violence in "Shooting Star"

"Glee" has tackled heavy topics before, but probably none as serious as a school shooting.

In Thursday night's "Shooting Star" episode, the Fox comedy took on school violence -- four months after the Newtown, Conn., school shooting that left 20 children and six faculty members dead.

About half-way into the hour-long episode, Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) is rehearsing with the McKinley High glee club when a gunshot is heard. They quickly gather into the corner of the choir room, when Will tells the students: "Start texting, tweeting, let everyone know what's going on but don't tell them we're here. Alright? Shooters have smart moves too," adding, "I love you guys."

Over the next several minutes the high-schoolers take videos of themselves, leave voice messages and send texts to their families in case they don't make it out alive. It turns out that special needs student Becky Jackson (Lauren Potter) brought the gun to school and it accidentally went off in cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester's (Jane Lynch) office. Nobody was hurt, but Sue gets fired from her job as she takes the blame for the gun to protect Becky. "I'm sorry, but in light of recent events, I feel more safe with it in my office," Sue said as she took the fall.

"Glee" creator Ryan Murphy tweeted that "Shooting Star" is the "most powerful emotional 'Glee' ever. So proud of the cast & crew." "Glee" actress Lea Michele, who didn't appear in the episode, tweeted: "Such a moving a powerful episode tonight ... Made me so proud to be a part of this show."

Tell us: What do you think about "Glee" tackling school violence?