| "Home" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Glee episode | |||
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| Episodeno. | Season 1 Episode 16 | ||
| Directed by | Paris Barclay | ||
| Written by | Brad Falchuk | ||
| Featured music | "Fire" "A House Is Not a Home" "One Less Bell to Answer / A House Is Not a Home" "Beautiful" "Home" | ||
| Production code | 1ARC15 | ||
| Original air date | April 27, 2010 (2010-04-27) | ||
| Guest appearances | |||
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| Episode chronology | |||
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| Glee(season 1) | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"Home" is the sixteenth episode of theAmerican television seriesGlee. The episode premiered on theFox network on April 27, 2010. It was directed byParis Barclay and written by series creatorBrad Falchuk. "Home" sees new cheerleaderMercedes Jones (Amber Riley) deal with body image issues, whileKurt Hummel (Chris Colfer) sets his dad andFinn Hudson's mom together, in an attempt to get closer to Finn (Cory Monteith), and club directorWill Schuester (Matthew Morrison) is reunited with his friendApril Rhodes (Kristin Chenoweth). Chenoweth first appeared inGlee in the episode "The Rhodes Not Taken". She enjoyed the role of April so much that she agreed to return for "Home", and has expressed an interest in reappearing in the future.
The episode featurescover versions of five songs, all of which were released assingles, available fordigital download, and four of which are included on thesoundtrack albumGlee: The Music, Volume 3 – Showstoppers. "Home" was watched by 12.18 million American viewers and received mixed reviews from critics. Both Gerrick D. Kennedy of theLos Angeles Times and Tim Stack ofEntertainment Weekly recommended that Chenoweth receive anEmmy nomination for her performance, and Mark A. Perigard of theBoston Herald opined that the episode itself should be submitted for Emmy consideration. Jean Bentley ofMTV felt that Chenoweth was overused in the episode, however, and criticized the songs performed as being unrecognizable to younger viewers. Emily VanDerWerff ofThe A.V. Club felt that the episode was poorly balanced, and Bobby Hankinson of theHouston Chronicle deemed "Home" the weakest episode ofGlee thus far.
In preparation for an interview withSplits Magazine, cheerleading coachSue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) demands that new cheerleaderMercedes Jones (Amber Riley) lose ten pounds in a week. She reserves the school auditorium for cheer practice, soglee club directorWill Schuester (Matthew Morrison) has to find the club a new rehearsal space. He visits a localroller rink where he finds former glee club memberApril Rhodes (Kristin Chenoweth), who tells him that she is the mistress of the wealthy eighty-year-old[1] tycoon who owns the rink. Upon learning that Will is looking to sublet his apartment, April invites herself to visit. After spending the night sharing a bed, Will forbids April from staying over again and tells her she is worth more than being a mistress. April says she will break up with her tycoon.
Mercedes struggles to eat healthily and her mid-week weigh-in shows that she has gained two pounds. She begins extreme dieting and faints in the school cafeteria. Former cheerleading captainQuinn Fabray (Dianna Agron) sympathizes with Mercedes, commending her for being so comfortable in her own body and advising her not to let being a cheerleader detract from that. Though Mercedes is embarrassed, Quinn tells her that she is beautiful. On the day of thepep rally, Mercedes abandons the planned routine, and instead sings "Beautiful". The journalist fromSplits Magazine assumes that Sue engineered the performance and expresses his admiration for her, promising her positive publicity from his article.
Glee club memberKurt Hummel (Chris Colfer) sets up his widower fatherBurt (Mike O'Malley) withFinn Hudson's (Cory Monteith) widowed motherCarole (Romy Rosemont). He believes that it will help him become closer to Finn, for whom he has feelings. Finn is upset when Carole sells their old furniture, and stops his late father's recliner from being sold. He is initially hostile to her dating someone new, but begins to bond with Burt over sports at a group dinner. Kurt feels left out, and later asks Finn to help him break up their parents. Finn initially agrees, but relents after Burt tells him that he loves Carole and would never hurt her. They watch a basketball game together and Finn allows Burt to sit in his father's recliner, while Kurt watches on sadly through the window.
When April attempts to break up with her tycoon, he has a stroke and dies. His wife gives April $2 million inhush money, and April uses some of it to buy the auditorium for the glee club. She plans to go toBroadway to launch the first all-white production ofThe Wiz.
"Home" was directed byParis Barclay, who also directed "Wheels",Glee's ninth episode.[2] It was written by series co-creatorBrad Falchuk, who deemed the episode potentially the best of the series so far.[3] "Home" sees the return of guest star Kristin Chenoweth,[4] who first appeared in episode five, "The Rhodes Not Taken", as former glee club member April Rhodes. Prior to her first appearance, Chenoweth was already acquainted withGlee creatorRyan Murphy, having appeared in his 2006 filmRunning with Scissors.[5] Murphy commented that he loves writing for Chenoweth,[6] and both he and Chenoweth expressed their desire for April to return toGlee in the future, with Chenoweth stating: "This part is like nothing I've had the chance to do on TV."[7] It was confirmed in October 2009 that Chenoweth would reprise the role of April later in thefirst season,[8] and on March 14, 2010 that her return would occur in "Home".[4]
WhileGlee also features Chenoweth's formerWicked co-starIdina Menzel as recurring characterShelby Corcoran, the producers declined to give the two scenes together, explaining that the series is story-driven, and as re-uniting the two on-screen did not work for storytelling purposes, it was deemed unnecessary.[9] Of Chenoweth's future withGlee beyond "Home", Falchuk commented that the producers want to "have her around as much as possible", and although no plans have been solidified, she may return in the second season.[10] He expanded: "[When] you have talents like that, it's very hard to not want them back. The one advantage we have, I think, is that we have so many incredibly talented people in our … cast that … we don't need [guest actors] as much. But there are certain very special people that, of course, you'd always be interested in."[9]
The episode features acover version of "A House Is Not a Home", performed by Colfer and Monteith, as well as amash-up of "A House Is Not a Home" and "One Less Bell to Answer", performed by Chenoweth and Morrison. Morrison and Chenoweth also duet onThe Pointer Sisters' version of "Fire". In keeping with the "home" theme of the episode,Mötley Crüe's ballad "Home Sweet Home" (and also "Heart of Glass" byBlondie, although this isn't about home) can be heard in the roller rink scene, but was not covered by the cast. Chenoweth performs "Home" from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_(Phillip_Phillips_song)', and Riley sings "Beautiful" byChristina Aguilera.[11] The songs performed were all released assingles, available fordigital download.[12] Each track except "Fire" and "Home Sweet Home" is also included on the albumGlee: The Music, Volume 3 – Showstoppers.[13]
In its original broadcast, "Home" was watched by 12.18 million American viewers and attained a 5.2/13rating/share in the18-49 demographic.[14] In the United Kingdom, the episode was watched by 1.91 million viewers and was the second most-watched show of the week on thenon-terrestrial channels, beaten only byBritain's Got More Talent.[15] In Canada,Glee was watched by 2.16 million viewers, makingGlee the tenth most-viewed program of the week.[16] In Australia, the episode lead in its timeslot in all key demographics,[17] and was watched by 1.3 million viewers, makingGlee the 16th most-viewed show of the week.[18]
"Home" received mixed reviews from critics. Gerrick D. Kennedy of theLos Angeles Times deemed it the series' most emotional episode, and his favorite next to "Wheels". Kennedy praised O'Malley's performance as "nothing short of perfection" and recommended that Chenoweth receive anEmmy nomination for her performance.[19] Tim Stack ofEntertainment Weekly concurred that Chenoweth's performance was Emmy-worthy, though felt she may have been slightly overused in the episode. Stack noted that he did not love "Home" upon his first viewing, but praised it for adding depth to the characters and tackling body image and sexuality issues.[20] Rick Bentley ofMcClatchy Newspapers called the episode "as perfect as television can get", praising Colfer's performance and also deeming him deserving of an Emmy nomination.[21] Mark A. Perigard of theBoston Herald similarly assessed that "Home" is: "the strongest episode of the season to date, the one Fox should submit for Emmy consideration." Perigard was impressed by the range shown by O'Malley, and opined that the episode as a whole had no low-points.[22]
In contrast, Jean Bentley ofMTV described "Home" as "an hour of television better suited for Internet surfing than actually paying attention." She criticized the songs as being unrecognizable to younger viewers, and called the main plots "emotional doozies, with not much comic relief in between." Bentley felt that Chenoweth was overused, and called her appearance in the episode "nonsensical and unnecessary".[23] Emily VanDerWerff ofThe A.V. Club graded the episode "C". She felt that the three main plot strands were poorly balanced, resulting in an episode with "powerful moments that drown as they're nearly subsumed by everything else going on." VanDerWerff criticized Mercedes' storyline as being too abrupt, and deemed her performance of "Beautiful": "so forced that it loses any power it might have from what's a genuinely nice arrangement of the song." Finally, she expressed her concern that the prevalence of songs inGlee may detract from the quality of the show.[24] Bobby Hankinson of theHouston Chronicle also criticized the episode, deeming it the weakest of the series so far, and one that left him underwhelmed.[25]
Boozy glee club alum April Rhodes has been knocking adulterous roller skates with an eighty-year-old strip mall king, who gifted her the skating rink.