Though next week’s big “Break-Up”-themed Glee marks the return of Cory Monteith as Finn, the former New Directions warbler has more pressing concerns than the ambiguous state of his relationship with Rachel. Like, for instance, the treatment we see him receiving when the episode briefly visits him at boot camp!

“I’ve never been called names like that before,” the actor tells TVLine with a smile. “‘Wormstool’ is the one that sticks out in my memory.”

VIDEO | Glee‘s Lea Michele on “Break-Up” Episode: “Get Your Tissues Out!”

Thankfully for Finn, the army detour is not only short-lived, but it leads him to head to New York to reevaluate his romance with Rachel. Monteith — who’s spent the last month flying back and forth to Philadelphia to shoot the indie film McCanick — was careful not to reveal the outcome of the couple’s deliberations. However, he did acknowledge that, for all involved, the hour was an emotional roller coaster.

Far less gut-wrenching to tape was a sequence that’ll air on Nov. 8 (the show’s comeback after its baseball-induced hiatus): Monteith covering Foreigner’s “Juke Box Hero” alongside Glee Project Season 2 champ Blake Jenner, who’ll recur as McKinley newbie Ryder Lynn.

“It was cool, because I felt like I was passing the torch in a sort of awesome way,” previews Monteith. “Ryder inadvertently auditions [for New Directions], and it turns into a fantasy in his head, which explodes into dancing girls, throngs of screaming women in the crowd, and he turns into the ‘Juke Box Hero.’ He’s on drums, and I’m on lead vocals. It’s epic.”

RELATED | Glee Exec Confirms: [Spoiler]’s Story is Over

Now fully settled back in at the Fox hit, Monteith is finding the changes made in his absence invigorating. “There’s still a part of me that’s nostalgic for sure,” he admits. But “all of the possibilities are really exciting.”