Hold On to Sixteen

"Hold On to Sixteen"

"Hold on to Sixteen" is the eighth episode of the third season of the American musical television series Glee, and the 52nd overall. The episode title is from a line in John Mellencamp's song, "Jack & Diane". Written by Ross Maxwell and directed by Bradley Buecker, the episode aired on Fox in the United States on December 6, 2011, and featured the return of Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet) to McKinley High and New Directions, and their participation in the Sectionals show choir competition.

Plot

Quinn (Dianna Agron) intends to get Shelby (Idina Menzel) fired for sleeping with one of her students, Puck (Mark Salling), which she believes will also disqualify the Troubletones at Sectionals and improve her chances of reclaiming Beth, the baby she gave up to Shelby for adoption. Rachel (Lea Michele) counsels against this vindictive behavior, telling her she'd ruin Beth's life if you took her mother away from her and that doing so would really prove Quinn has hit rock bottom. Meanwhile Kurt (Chris Colfer) has a face-to-face with Sebastian (Grant Gustin) where they speak openly about their hatred towards eachother, Kurt telling Sebastian to keep away from his boyfriend Blaine (Darren Criss) and Sebastian telling Kurt that by the end of the year, he will have Blaine by his side.

New Directions invites several band members to join the group since they don't meet the minimum requirement of 12 members. Despite this, Rachel and Finn (Cory Monteith) travel to Kentucky to recruit Sam (Chord Overstreet) to return to McKinley High and compete in Sectionals. Sam, currently dancing at a strip joint, wants to go but if afraid of leaving his family. He tells his parents and they agree on his leave, telling him how proud they are of him for manning up for the family but it's still his time to be a teenager. Sam comes to Ohio and sings "Red Solo Cup" to celebrate his return. Quinn attempts to reconnect with him, but he rebuffs her, telling her she has "rich people problems" and she should "hold on the being sixteen", a line from the song Jack and Diane. He then announces to Mercedes (Amber Riley) that he intends to woo her back, regardless of her new boyfriend.

Blaine and Sam have an argument about the choreography for sectionals. Sam, due to his work in the strip club, wants to "sell sex", and insists on doing a strong pelvic thrust, and starts to get the club to do crotch-humps. Blaine refuses to sell sex, and after an argument, Blaine storms off. Finn goes off after him, and finds him taking out his anger with a boxing bag. Blaine confronts Finn about Finn's low tolerance of anything he has to say and Finn admits his jealousy towards Blaine's talent, and how he was afraid that Blaine would replace him. The two agree to working hard together, for Sectionals.

Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz) and Mike (Harry Shum Jr.) quarrel when he reveals that he intends to give up his dream of dancing to be a doctor, solely to please his father, as he was disowned and his father had never spoken to him since the performance of West Side Story. Tina confronts Mike Chang Sr. (Keong Sim) about Mike's gift as a dancer, and brings a recording of the performance for Mike Sr. so he could see his son perform. Mike Sr. originally asks Tina to leave but then tells her his feelings of Mike dancing are only because he loves Mike and wants him to succeed in life and that being in the show business is too hard. Tina tells him both Mike and her understand that but they have a need to perform, no matter the odds of getting a job. He ignores her and goes back to work and she suggests that he needs to honor his son's gift. When the New Directions are preparing for Sectionals, Mike learns that Tina was talking to his father and gets mad for speaking to his dad. Mike tells Tina that she has made matters worse and that he is disappointed in her. She rebuffs telling him "that can make two of them", due to her anger over Mike not accepting what Tina did.

During Sectionals, Harmony (Lindsay Pearce) and the Unitards perform "Buenos Aires". After the performance Quinn gets up to inform Figgins about Shelby having sex with Puck, but Rachel follows her and asks her not to do it before the Troubletones' performance because she wants the competition. Rachel also tells Quinn to tell Shelby before she reports to Figgins, seeing it as the adult thing to do. Quinn confronts Shelby, in which Shelby expresses how she empathizes with Quinn and tells her to live her life regularly because she won't be young forever. Shelby leaves the backstage telling Quinn how she will enjoy her last moments as a teacher. Shelby enters the audience to watch the Troubletones, who perform a mash-up of "Survivor" and "I Will Survive". New Directions decide to perform "ABC", "Control" and "The Man in the Mirror". During the performance of New Directions, Mike Sr. appears to watch his son perform, much to the surprise of Mike and Tina. After the performance, Mike Sr. confronts Mike and Tina and tells them that he now understands what they were saying and that he will fully support Mike's path to become a dancer. The judges reveal the results of Sectionals- the Unitards finish in 3rd, the Troubletones finish in 2nd, and New Directions win, moving on to Regionals.

Back at McKinley, Quinn decides not to reveal Shelby's secret upon Rachel's urging and her wanting to keep Beth's life normal. She also contemplates on going to Yale due to her singing talent being mediocre compared to Rachel and Blaine, and the fact that Yale has a good drama program/ Quinn convinces Troubletones members Mercedes, Santana (Naya Rivera), Brittany (Heather Morris) and Sugar (Vanessa Lengies) to disband the Troubletones and return to New Directions with the promise of increased visibility. With Rachel's suspension finally over, all of New Directions, which now consists of Finn, Blaine, Kurt, Mike, Puck, Sam, Quinn, Rachel, Santana, Brittany, Mercedes, Tina, Sugar, Artie (Kevin McHale) and Rory (Damian McGinty) all sing "We Are Young" together in the auditorium.

Production

The episode was written by Ross Maxwell and directed by Bradley Buecker, and its title comes from a line in John Mellencamp's song "Jack & Diane". Filming began on November 2, 2011, following completion of the seventh episode the previous day, and finished on November 21, 2011. All but the first eight days was shot in parallel with the ninth episode, "Extraordinary Merry Christmas", which began filming on November 10, 2011.

Overstreet, who played New Directions member and football team player Sam Evans in every episode but one in the second season, returns for the first time this season, and will have a multi-episode recurring role. His parents will appear for the first time in this episode; his father is played by John Schneider, and his mother by Tanya Clarke. Series co-creator Ryan Murphy also stated that Pearce would be returning as Harmony in this episode, and Gustin will appear for the second time as Sebastian Smythe, a member of the Dalton Academy Warblers.

Other recurring guest stars appearing in the episode include teacher Shelby Corcoran (Menzel), exchange student and New Directions member Rory Flanagan (Damian McGinty), Troubletones member Sugar Motta (Lengies) and Mike's father Mike Chang Sr. (Sim).

Eight songs are covered in the episode, which include three songs originated by members of the Jackson family and performed by New Directions: The Jackson 5's "ABC", with leads by Ushkowitz, Colfer, Shum and Agron; Janet Jackson's "Control", with leads by Kevin McHale, Criss and Overstreet; and Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror", with leads by McHale, Monteith, Salling, Criss and Overstreet. The five other songs are Toby Keith's "Red Solo Cup" sung by Overstreet; a mash-up of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" and Destiny's Child's "Survivor", performed by the Troubletones featuring leads by Rivera and Riley; "Buenos Aires" from Evita featuring Pearce; and Fun's "We Are Young" sung by a reunited New Directions.

Reception

"Hold on to Sixteen" recived a mixed reception by critics. Most reviewers praised Sam's return and the resolution of Quinn's plot to get Beth back, but some criticized its rushed feeling and pointed out many plot holes. Jen Chaney of The Washington Post was happy to see Sam back, but was puzzled by how simple it was for him to transfer back to McKinley so easily, and other questions raised by his return, such as "why was Finn so adamant that, with Rachel suspended, the New Directions needed “star power” and that said star power could only be provided by Sam? Doesn’t Blaine have star power? And what about his recent recruit Rory (Damian McGinty) — is he suddenly a pot of bland, boiled Irish potatoes?". She ultimately felt that the lack of basic knowledge made the episode less strong. Abby West from Entertainment Weekly comented the same thing, "You know, there would have been a considerable amount of paperwork required for this minor to move in with noncustodial guardians in another state and register for school", and was sadned by the briefness of the scene with Kurt and Sebastian. However, she ultimately praised the episode for the return of the character and the way it resolved Quinn's issues.

Crystal Bell of AOL TV made similar remarks, saying that the episode was a return to track following many unsatisfying episodes and character developments, "It actually gave me some hope for the rest of the season, hope that the writers had not forgotten about their characters." Amy Reiter of The Los Angeles Times said the same thing, mentioning "In some cases, they acknowledged and apologized for recent missteps. There were no students sleeping with teachers, no election fixing or smear campaigns, no outing of fellow students in the hallways -- and by the end, misunderstandings were resolved and rifts were repaired in unexpected ways and the whole New Directions gang was back together, hugging, holding hands and singing out. It came as a huge relief." Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club focused his review mostly on the subplot of Mike Chang coming to terms with his father, and was pleased with the result, even though he said that the storyline felt a bit rushed. He also criticized Sam's storyline, comenting on the improbability of a 16/17 year old being a stripper, and how fast his return to McKinley was.