Glee, season 1, episode 7, "Throwdown

Episode Summary:

Mercedes wants to do a music number that is a bit more "black," and she is met with no's from Rachel and Will. Sue decides that the best way to destroy the glee club is to turn them against each other, and she exploits the unhappiness felt by minority members of the group. Despite enjoying glee club, it is revealed that Quinn is still reporting back to Sue and conspiring to destroy the club.

Quinn goes in for her ultrasound, and she finds out that the baby is a girl. Will drives Quinn and Finn to the appointment, and afterwards, Will counsels Finn. Finn is unsure that he can raise a child, but he is also worried that when the time comes, Quinn will not want to give up the baby.

The school newspaper reporter Jacob continues to stalk Rachel, and he blackmails her with the information that Quinn is pregnant and Rachel is heartbroken over Finn. Rachel asks him what she needs to do to keep both stories a secret.

Sue divides up the glee club and puts the minorities all in one group, saying that she "cares about the voices of minorities." Will goes home stressed out, and he gets in an argument with Terri over her making decisions about their baby without his input. He puts his foot down and says, "I'm coming to your next ultrasound."

Finn thanks Rachel for helping keep Quinn's secret hidden, and he promises that he will make it up to her someday. Jacob tracks down Rachel and tells her that he wants a pair of her used panties or else Quinn's secret will be published in the school newspaper. Rachel unwillingly agrees.

Sue picks out a song for the minority students, and Mercedes sings an epic solo to "Hate On Me." Will confronts Sue after rehearsal, and Sue admits that she is trying to get Will fired. After talking to Terri, Will decides to fight fire with fire and starts stealing members of Cheerios who are failing his Spanish class during Cheerios practice. Sue throws an insane hissy fit, screaming and throwing chairs.

Finn and Quinn have a fight that starts with Will coming up with names for their unborn baby and ends with Will telling Quinn that he wishes she was more like Rachel. Quinn tells Finn that he had better not cheat on her with Rachel, and Quinn slams her locker closed and storms off.

The whole glee club gets together outside of rehearsal to sing "Ride With Me" together, and they all admit that they hate being separated. Will picks out a song for his kids for sectionals, Jordin Spark's "No Air," and gives Finn and Rachel the solos. Quinn is obviously not happy with this pairing, and she pulls Puck into Sue's office to discuss defecting to Sue's group.

Will comes home, and Terri almost gets caught without her fake baby belly. Will tells Terri that he is grateful to her for pushing him to stand up for himself, and he tells her that he has set up an appointment with Dr. Wu for Friday. Will gushes about seeing his baby for the first time, and Terri panics.

Terri's sister blackmails Dr. Wu, and he agrees to fool Will into thinking he's seeing his baby's ultrasound. Meanwhile, Quinn tracks down Rachel and tells her to back off of Finn. Rachel shoots back that she knows that Quinn is Sue's spy in the glee club, and Quinn sings "Set Me Free" by Diana Ross and the Supremes.

During a performance by the remaining three non-minority students, Sue starts heckling the kids, and Sue and Will have the fight they have been aching to have for weeks. Sue calls Will a failed performer, and Will tells Sue that she will end up alone. The kids, fed up, tell Will and Sue that they are sick of their fighting, and Mercedes gives an impassioned speech about being a proud black student. All the students walk out, and Will and Sue are left alone in the auditorium.

At the fake sonogram, Will is stressed out and tense from his fight with Sue. When he sees the fake sonogram image, though, his attitude changes completely. The doctor conveniently tells Will that his child is actually a girl, not a boy as Terri told him earlier. "I don't care what she is," Will says. "She's all ours." Terri is moved by his reaction, and they share a loving kiss.

Will stops by Sue's office, and Sue tells him that she is stepping down as co-director of glee club. Sue says that she will stay on as an adviser on music choices, but then at the next glee club meeting, she voices what the glee club has known for weeks: Quinn is pregnant. She discovers the news from Jacob, and Sue, mad as hell, tells him to run the story. Quinn is crushed, and the glee club shows their support for Quinn by singing Avril Lavigne's "Keep Holding On."



Final Thoughts:

I was surprised that Quinn was still spying on the glee club for Sue. After the way she has acted the past few weeks, her betrayal was pretty awful. Still, it was hard not to feel bad for her once her secret was out. I felt worse, though, for the minority students when they realized just how much Sue was using them. Mercede's speech about being a proud black female student spoke to the way that many minority students feel when their schools single them out and use them as publicity tools.

I hope that young people learn a lesson of acceptance from the Quinn-Finn-Rachel storyline and that they try to live out Rachel's selflessness in protecting their friends from judging peers, though hopefully not in the same way that Rachel does. At the same time, I hope that any teachers, administrators, or other school officials watching "Glee" tonight listen to Mercedes and start celebrating their minority students instead of exploiting them.