Preggers

"Preggers"

"Preggers" is the fourth episode of the television series Glee. The episode premiered on the Fox network on September 23, 2009, and was written and directed by executive producer Brad Falchuk. "Preggers" sees Kurt join the football team and admit his homosexuality to his father. Quinn discovers she is pregnant and tells Finn the baby is his, when in fact the father is his best friend Puck. Sue Sylvester and Sandy Ryerson team up in an effort to bring down the glee club, luring away a disillusioned Rachel, who quits when Will refuses to award her a solo song. The episode was watched by 6.624 million viewers and received mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

Kurt (Chris Colfer) is caught dancing to Beyonce's "Single Ladies" by his father (Mike O'Malley). He claims that it is a football exercise, and that he is now part of the team. Finn (Cory Monteith) helps Kurt to practice, and he becomes the team kicker. When Finn's girlfriend Quinn (Dianna Agron) tells him she is pregnant, Finn asks Will (Matthew Morrison) to coach the team at dancing, believing it will help them to improve and aid his chance of securing a football scholarship, increasing his prospects. Finn confides Quinn's news in his best friend Puck (Mark Salling), who later confronts Quinn, claiming to be the baby's father. Will's wife Terri (Jessalyn Gilsig) reveals to her sister Kendra (Jennifer Aspen) that she experienced a hysterical pregnancy and is not really carrying Will's baby. Kendra suggests that they acquire a baby, and when Terri learns of Quinn's pregnancy from Will, she approaches the cheerleader claiming concern for her pre-natal care.

Cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) approaches former glee club director Sandy Ryerson (Stephen Tobolowsky) and enlists him in her plan to sabotage the club. She blackmails Principal Figgins (Iqbal Theba) into appointing Sandy as the school's new Arts director, and together they hold auditions for a school musical, hoping to lure Rachel (Lea Michele) away from the glee club. Rachel, who feels slighted when Will awards Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz) a solo song, auditions for the musical and is given the lead role. When Will refuses to reassign the solo song to Rachel, she quits the club. The football team put their dance training into practice and with Kurt's help are able to win a game. Buoyed on by his success, Kurt comes out to his father, who tells him he loves him just the same.

Reception

"Preggers" was watched by 6.623 million viewers and attained a 3.0/8 in the 18-49 demographic. Shawna Malcom for the Los Angeles Times reviewed the episode positively, praising the football team's performance of the "Single Ladies" dance, and Kurt coming out to his father. Malcom also wrote: "Will and Emma, and even Finn and Rachel, seem destined to get together, yes. But do any two Glee peeps really deserve each other more than Terri and Quinn?" adding that "Sue and Sandy, the former glee club coach, make for a pretty entertaining team, too." While Malcom commented positively on the show's fast pacing, Mike Hale for the New York Post suggested that Glee: "may be just a wee bit overstuffed with story lines — not to mention characters fighting for screen time." Hale opined: "It’s not good when the most important relationship on the show, Will and Emma’s stifled romance, gets barely a minute of screen time" and that "There was so much exposition going on that there didn’t seem to be much room for laughs." Hale wrote that the pregnancy plot felt "out of step" with the rest of the episode, and that Lynch gave a "one-note performance", suggesting that she had been miscast in the role. Raymund Flandez for The Wall Street Journal commented that in "Preggers": "Rachel has become insufferable. The disagreements with Mr. Schue about her own development as a bonafide triple-threat have branded her as an overbearing prima donna to the rest of Glee."

External links

• "Preggers" at IMDb