"Sexy" is the fifteenth episode of the second season of the American musical comedy-drama television series Glee, and the thirty-seventh episode overall. It was written by Brad Falchuk, directed by Ryan Murphy, and first aired on the Fox network on March 8, 2011. The episode mainly revolves around the topics of sex and adolescent sexuality. In it, Holly Holliday (Gwyneth Paltrow) returns to McKinley High School as a substitute teacher in a class devoted to sex education. Glee club director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) begins to develop feelings for Holly, and guidance counselor and celibacy club advisor Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays) is less than pleased with Holly's lessons. Santana (Naya Rivera) expresses her love for Brittany (Heather Morris), and Burt Hummel (Mike O'Malley) has a talk with his son Kurt (Chris Colfer) about sex.
"Sexy" received generally positive reviews. Many critics praised Paltrow's performance, preferring it to her first appearance in "The Substitute", though they disagreed over how Paltrow was used. The storylines were well received, particularly the one involving Brittany and Santana: Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club and Patrick Burns of The Atlantic deemed it the highlight of the episode. The scene featuring Burt having "the talk" with Kurt was also singled out for praise. This episode featured cover versions of five songs, including "Kiss" by Prince and "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac. The latter song was very well received, though the musical performances and cover versions in the episode were mostly given a mixed reception by reviewers.
Upon its original airing, this episode was viewed by 11.92 million American viewers, and garnered a 4.6/14 Nielsen rating/share in the 18–49 demographic. The episode's total viewership and ratings increased significantly from the previous episode, "Blame It on the Alcohol".
Plot Substitute teacher Holly Holliday (Gwyneth Paltrow) returns to McKinley High to cover sex education classes, and tells Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison), director of the school glee club New Directions, that his club members are among the most ignorant about sex. He asks her to educate them using song, so Holly performs "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)". Will later rehearses a rendition of "Kiss" with her, which culminates in a kiss, but Holly will not go further as she believes she would end up hurting him.
Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch), director of rival glee club Aural Intensity, seeks out former New Directions member and current Dalton Academy Warbler Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer) to tell him and his friend Blaine (Darren Criss), the Warblers' lead singer, that New Directions is planning a sexually provocative routine for the upcoming Regionals competition, having heard that the judges will be looking for same. Blaine responds by having the Warblers work up a "sexified" performance of "Animal", with Kurt joining him on lead, but Kurt's "sexy" faces and moves are anything but. Kurt insists on remaining ignorant of sexual matters, which Blaine feels is dangerous at their age, so he visits Kurt's father, Burt (Mike O'Malley), and prompts him to give Kurt "the talk" about sex.
At McKinley, glee club members Puck (Mark Salling) and Lauren (Ashley Fink) plan to make a sex tape, until Holly informs them that it would be considered child pornography.Ironic, considering actor Mark Salling would later be charged and convicted of child pornography possession https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/01/31/who-are-mark-sallings-victims-and-will-they-get-their-restitution Puck, appalled, joins the celibacy club. The club's advisor Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays) thinks Holly's lessons are inappropriate, so she arranges for the club to perform a wholesome song for New Directions. She picks "Afternoon Delight", unaware that the song is about sex. Her husband Carl (John Stamos) approaches Holly afterward about counseling. During the counseling session, he reveals that Emma is still a virgin, and Emma admits that she may still have feelings for Will. Carl tells her he will be moving into a hotel until she is certain of her feelings.
Holly also counsels glee club members Santana (Naya Rivera) and Brittany (Heather Morris) when they express confusion about their sexuality. She joins them for a performance of "Landslide", after which Santana tearfully confesses to Brittany that she is in love with her and wants to be with her, but she is afraid of being bullied and ostracized for being in a same-sex relationship. Brittany reciprocates her love, but explains that she also loves her boyfriend Artie (Kevin McHale) and will not break up with him, to Santana's distress.
Lauren is annoyed with Puck for joining the celibacy club, but when he explains that he is trying to take responsibility for his actions, she kisses him and agrees to join too. Quinn (Dianna Agron) and Finn (Cory Monteith) are secretly back together. Holly's stint as a sex education instructor ends when parents complain about her classes. She tells Will that she wants to learn about romance; he offers to teach her, and they kiss.
Production
"Sexy" marked Paltrow's second guest appearance on Glee as substitute teacher Holly Holliday. She first appeared earlier in the second season, in the seventh episode, "The Substitute". The role was devised for her by series co-creator Ryan Murphy, who suggested that she showcase her vocal and dancing talent ahead of the release of the film Country Strong, in which Paltrow plays a country singer. Paltrow was signed to Glee for two episodes, with "The Substitute" originally intended to feature a love quadrangle between Holly, Will, Emma and Carl. Her initial arc was, however, reduced to a single episode. Post-broadcast, Murphy said they both hoped she would appear on Glee again in the future, depending on the right storyline. In January 2011, Paltrow confirmed that she would be reprising the role. Murphy stated that she would appear in episodes fifteen and sixteen as a sex education teacher, and would serve as a love interest for Will, though she actually appeared in episodes fifteen and seventeen. Stamos also reprised his role as Emma's husband Carl. As of March 2011, he was unsure whether he would return to Glee again, but stated that he might do so to conclude Emma and Carl's storyline, explaining: "I think people like me on there, but they really love Will and Emma together. So I don't know how much longer people can stand Will and Emma not being together."
The episode continued the romantic relationship between Brittany and Santana, first alluded to during the first season. The two kissed on-screen for the first time in the season two episode "Duets", after which their romance was little explored, leading to what Rivera described as an "uproar" by fans of the pairing in December 2010. The following month, executive producer Brad Falchuk revealed via the social networking website Twitter that further developments to the storyline had always been intended, with Paltrow's Holly serving as a catalyst.
In addition to Paltrow reprising her role as Holly Holliday, recurring characters who appear in the episode include Stamos as dentist Carl Howell, glee club members Lauren Zizes (Fink), Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet) and Mike Chang (Harry Shum, Jr.), football coach Shannon Beiste (Dot-Marie Jones) and Kurt's friend Blaine Anderson (Criss).
"Sexy" features cover versions of five songs, all of which were released as singles, available for download: "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)" by Gary Glitter as recorded by Joan Jett, "Animal" by Neon Trees, "Kiss" by Prince, an acoustic version of "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac, and "Afternoon Delight" by the Starland Vocal Band. Paltrow performs on "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)", "Kiss" and "Landslide", all of which feature on the series' sixth soundtrack album, Glee: The Music, Volume 5. In the United Kingdom, "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)" was omitted from Glee: The Music, Volume 5, and "Afternoon Delight", which features Stamos and Salling, was included instead. A cover of Rod Stewart's "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" sung by the Warblers was planned to be featured in the episode but did not appear; "Animal" was the Warblers number performed. Both tracks appear on the seventh soundtrack album, Glee: The Music Presents the Warblers. Neon Trees bassist Branden Campbell recounted how Criss approached the band at the 2011 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival to thank them for allowing "Animal" to be used, as Criss was the one who brought the song to Murphy's attention. Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac, who wrote and originated "Landslide", visited the Glee set on the day the song was filmed.
Reception
Ratings "Sexy" was first broadcast on March 8, 2011 in the United States on Fox. It was watched by 11.92 million American viewers upon its initial airing, according to the Nielsen ratings. The episode attained a 4.6/14 Nielsen rating/share in the 18–49 demographic, and was the highest rated show of the night. The episode's total viewership and ratings/share increased significantly from the previous episode, "Blame It on the Alcohol", which received over 10.58 million viewers and garnered a 4.4/12 rating/share in the 18–49 demographic during its original airing two weeks earlier. Its Canadian broadcast was also on March 8, 2011, and "Sexy" received 1.81 million viewers and placed eleventh in the weekly program rankings. This was not quite as good an audience as for "Blame It on the Alcohol", which aired two weeks earlier and was watched by 1.89 million viewers, though it was an improvement on the show's weekly ranking from fourteenth place.
In Australia, "Sexy" was watched by 1.03 million viewers on March 14, 2011, which made Glee the eighth most-watched show of the night. This was a slight increase over the 1.02&million viewers who had watched "Blame It on the Alcohol" the week before, though it had been the sixth most-watched show that night. In the United Kingdom, the episode was broadcast on April 18, 2011, and watched by 2.58 million viewers (2.039 million on E4, and 541,000 on E4+1); it was the most-watched show on cable for the week. Viewership was up slightly from "Blame It on the Alcohol" the previous week, which had totaled 2.53 million viewers.
Critical reception The episode received a positive response from reviewers. They disagreed over how well Paltrow was used, but generally praised the Brittany–Santana and Kurt–Burt storylines. The Atlantic Kevin Fallon deemed "Sexy" an episode of mixed messages, one which treated the issues it raised with "an appropriate amount of levity", but failed to "play the nuances of the [celibacy vs. sex] argument as delicately as it probably thought it did." His Atlantic co-writer Patrick Burns criticized the series for glorifying a risqué subject, "then half-heartedly attempt[ing] to hammer home a moral." Meghan Brown, also writing for The Atlantic, called it a "solid episode with some strong character moments." Time James Poniewozik felt that the episode "began clumsily, lacked subtlety, involved some embarrassing moments" and focused too much on Paltrow, but as it continued, "achieve[d] a few moments of delight and honest emotion". Anthony Benigno of The Faster Times described it as "incredibly comprehensive and enjoyable to boot", and IGN Robert Canning said it "avoided preaching and teaching and instead just had some fun and let guest star Gwyneth Paltrow steal all the scenes". Erica Futterman of Rolling Stone wrote that "Glee continues its climb, delicately and successfully marrying actual sex lessons with camp and humor".