| This article is about the episode. You may be looking for the song sung in Season One, the song sung in Season Three, or the song sung in Season Six. |
Home is the sixteenth episode of Glee's first season and the sixteenth episode overall. It premiered on April 27, 2010.
When Kurt sets his dad, Burt, up with an unexpected partner in order to have a real family, his plan for an average family backfires. Sue demands that Mercedes go on a diet and lose ten pounds in preparation for a big interview with Splits Magazine. Mercedes and Quinn discuss body issues, while April Rhodes returns to help Will save the Glee Club.
The episode was directed by Paris Barclay and written by Brad Falchuk.
Plot
In preparation for an interview with Splits Magazine, Sue demands that new cheerleader Mercedes Jones loses ten pounds in a week. She reserves the school auditorium for Cheerios practice, so Will has to find the club a new rehearsal space.
He visits a local roller rink, Rinky Dinks, where he finds former glee club member, April Rhodes, who tells him that she is the mistress of the wealthy tycoon Buddy, who owns the rink. Will and April sing Fire while rollerblading. Upon learning that Will is looking to sublet his apartment, April invites herself to sleep over.
Kurt sets up his widowed father Burt with Finn's widowed mother Carole. 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. Kurt is really exciting about them going to be roommates soon, but Finn is hostile to this idea and to his mother dating someone new. In the choir room Kurt sings A House Is Not A Home, projecting his frustration about the situation.
Back in Will's apartment, April sleeps over and singing One Less Bell to Answer/A House Is Not a Home with Will, then they fell asleep in his bed. After this 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.
Kurt is not as supportive of Mercedes as usual in this episode, pushing her to lose weight and going on a crazy diet himself. This is partly due to his preoccupation with Finn, and partly because of Kurt's desperation to remain a Cheerio and therefore part of the "in crowd". 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. Quinn sympathizes with Mercedes knowing what she is experiencing, 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 the pep rally, Mercedes abandons the planned routine to sing Beautiful by Christina Aguilera. After this Kurt realizes his mistake and admits he was wrong.
The journalist from Splits Magazine assumes that Sue engineered the performance and expresses his admiration for her, saying that he was going to publicly humiliate her before, but now he promises her positive publicity from his article.
Finn begins to bond with Burt over sports at a group dinner. After Kurt found out that his father is interested in being with Finn, he 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 two million dollars as hush money, and April uses some of it to buy the auditorium for the glee club. She plans to go to Broadway to launch the first all-white production of The Wiz. The episode ends with April and the glee club performing Home from The Wiz.
Songs
| Song Title | Original Artist | Performer(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Fire | Bruce Springsteen | April Rhodes and Will Schuester |
| A House Is Not a Home | Dionne Warwick | Finn Hudson and Kurt Hummel |
| One Less Bell to Answer/ A House Is Not a Home |
Keely Smith/ Dionne Warwick (Barbra Streisand original mash-up) |
April Rhodes and Will Schuester |
| Beautiful | Christina Aguilera | Mercedes Jones with WMHS students |
| Home | Cast of The Wiz | April Rhodes with New Directions |
Unreleased Songs
- Fergalicious by Fergie feat. will.i.am. sung by Kurt Hummel and Mercedes Jones with the Cheerios.
Background Songs
- Heart of Glass by Blondie - Background music at Rinky Dinks.
- I Melt With You by Nouvelle Vague - Background music during Will's first conversation with April at Rinky Dinks.
- Home Sweet Home by Carrie Underwood - Background music at Rinky Dinks.
Guest Cast
Special Guest Stars
Guest Stars
- Mike O'Malley as Burt Hummel
- Romy Rosemont as Carole Hudson
- Michael Benjamin Washington as Tracy Pendergrass
- Naya Rivera as Santana Lopez
- Heather Morris as Brittany Pierce
- Harry Shum Jr. as Mike Chang
- Dijon Talton as Matt Rutherford
Co-Stars
- Lauren Potter as Becky Jackson
- Noel Arthur as Guy
- Earnestine Phillips as Nurse
Absent Cast Members
Trivia
- This is the first episode where the title is also the name of a song sung in the episode.
- This is the second episode (after Throwdown) in which two duets are sung by the same people.
- This episode marks the second appearance of Kristin Chenoweth (April) on Glee.
- This is the second episode to feature the same song twice in the same episode. A House Is Not a Home is sung both alone and as part of a mash-up. The first being And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going in Sectionals. However, this is the first and only time that the songs were released though.
- This is the first episode to not feature Rachel in a storyline.
- This marks the second time that "Heart of Glass" is used to introduce April, but this time, the original Blondie version is heard, whereas in The Rhodes Not Taken, the Nouvelle Vague cover is heard.
Mistakes
- When Sue is showing Santana, Brittany, and Becky how to make her "master cleanse," she says she hasn't had solid food since 1987, however, she's eating solid food in Mattress. This, however, could be one of Sue's ways of showing the validity of the drink.
- When Finn and Carole are arguing, Carole says, "We've been pretending for fifteen years." Later on in the argument she says "sixteen years." Statements like these, however, are constantly made in arguments such as this where something happened so many years ago, the numbers could be slightly exaggerated.
- The Roller Skating Rink is a bit far-fetched. There are many other places they could have practiced, such as the Choir Room or the Gym. Also, why would the Cheerios need the Auditorium when most of the time the Cheerios practice in the Gym?
Quotes
| “ |
I hate Duke like I hate the Nazis. |
” |
| “ |
On assembly days, I arrange for the rest of the school to be fumigated, so the gym is the only place with clean air. |
” |
—Sue to a reporter | ||
| “ |
Will: The liquor cabinet is off limits. |
” |
| “ |
Will Schuester?!? I just had a sex dream about you. |
” |
| “ |
I'm pretty sure my cat is reading my diary. |
” |
| “ |
Kurt: Mercedes, you shouldn't be embarrassed about your body. |
” |
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Finn: That's your and dad's honeymoon set. I was conceived on that bed. |
” |
| “ |
Why are you being so nice to me? I can't remember the last time you said two words to me that weren't "you" and "suck." |
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I haven't had a drink in 45 minutes. |
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I can't be your dad, but I'll be her hero for as long as she'll take me. |
” |
| “ |
I feel like the guy who set off Liza and David Gest. |
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—Kurt | ||
| “ |
Can you go now? I'm a half hour behind on my moisturizer routine, and I need to wake up early. |
” |
—Kurt | ||
| “ |
Finn: I miss getting hit. |
” |
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