History Recap / GleeS3E6MashOff

And here it is. The most infamous moment in ''Glee''[='s=] entire run. The episode where a portion of the fanbase began to hate Finn Hudson ''and'', until he died, [[NeverLiveItDown everything he did thereafter was tainted by these events]].

We start with a Puck V/O, talking about how he suddenly has a thing for Shelby, who walks by him not exactly thrilled to see him. See, it's unclear whether Puck wants another cougar, or whether he feels he has a responsibility to be in Beth's life. Granted, the camera focusing on Creator/IdinaMenzel's ass seems to swing things toward the former, but most likely it's a bit of both; Puck gets the hot chick while being the responsible father. Unfortunately for Puck, it's pretty clear Shelby thinks the former as well, and is not thrilled. We cut to a geometry class that Shelby is subbing, the normal teacher having ate a bad cantaloupe and apparently Shelby was smart enough to get a backup degree. In any case, Puck fantasizes about Shelby becoming a "sexy" teacher and the Music/VanHalen is of course obvious. Afterwards, Rachel questions the appropriateness of the song, and since ND has done much worse ("Push It", anyone?), this is clearly so she can inadvertently protest Puck wanting to hump her mother. Puck lies that he just digs Van Halen, though Finn seems to suspect otherwise as we hit the TitleCard.

We cut to Sue running an attack ad against Burt; it's as outrageous as you'd expect, the gist of it being Burt has a baboon heart. Yes. Will sees the ad and is naturally appalled, Emma calming him down and saying that they have to play nice because winning dirty is not winning. Um, all well and good Em, but you can only stand so much and if provoked, they can lash out. We'll of course get a hideous example of that later on. Cut to Sue's office where Kurt tells her off and she of course responds by saying it's politics, nothing personal, and that Kurt should know on account of Brittany whipping him in the [=McKinley=] polls. Kurt needs a cause to fight for, and he agrees, but maintains that he'll win with a clean campaign. Yeah no. In the lounge, Shelby approaches Will and, after placating his lamenting that he's the reason Brittana and Mercedes left for the Troubletones, reveals that she and Will (plus a group called the Unitards) will face off at Sectionals. Will then says that while he and Shelby get along, the competitive natures of both groups will equal chaos. He then points out that this is usually the time for mashups, like the [[Recap/GleeS1E6VitaminD previous]] [[Recap/GleeS2E6NeverBeenKissed two]] episode sixes, and this ignites the braincells as we cut to both groups on stage. Finn tries to act magnanimous, though it's magnanimous arrogance designed solely for Santana to lob her most vicious insults solely at him, the tension between the two clearly building up. We then get an attempt to defuse said tension in the form of both directors indulging in a unique mashup; two different songs with the same title, the idea being two conflicting things can create something totally unexpected. Will and Shelby then call for head-to-head mashups, declaring a TitleDrop.

Cut to geometry class, Puck giving Shelby a pumpkin as they were out of apples. Shelby remains pensive, knowing Puck's basically becoming a lovesick puppy and she wants no part of that, or him. Puck then gets very blunt with his intentions, straight up saying he wants her, Shelby calling him sweet but saying the kiss was a mistake. Puck disagrees, and then drops the L-word; again, it's probably a mix of wanting her and wanting to be in Beth's life. He basically says as much, and when Shelby tries to dismiss him, he remains stubborn. After the break, we're in the choir room with suggestions for music[[note]]The Clash, Music/ThePolice, {{Music/REM}}, Music/SpiceGirls, Music/JonasBrothers[[/note]], all of which are rejected due to being bands that broke up. Finn specifically cites Hall & Oates as a group together for the long haul. He then suggests his pet Irish for the solo because he's a generous lordmaster. Cut to Psycho Quinn, dormant the last episode, but rearing her ugly head again. She demands to know why CPS hasn't taken Beth, reiterating her futile plan. We then see another phase of said plan as we cut to her finding Shelby, asking to join the Troubletones. Shelby contemplates as we cut to Finn and Rory, Rory basically pledging his loyalty to his superior. Finn complains about the insults, saying Santana's been extra vicious in order to get in his head, and he wants to fight back. We'll get his obscene retaliation later as said Lopez approaches and lays down more smack. The two ND boys try to retort with token insults that are so very lame. Santana replies that insults are what raised her; her grandmother in particular was especially nasty. We'll see her later in the season to confirm this. Finn then offers a duel: dodgeballs at fifty paces, ND vs. Troubletones. Santana seemingly agrees as we cut to the auditorium, Rachel finding Shelby and asking her to rubberstamp a self penned letter of recommendation for her. Shelby signs, then says she's proud of her kid. Rachel is understandably taken aback by this, Shelby expressing wonder at what's to come for her offspring, Rachel so overwhelmed by emotion that she puts the ego aside and asks her mother to write her own letter.

And now, dodgeball. And while the page image above is the sadly appropriate one for the main thrust of the episode, it really could've been any face that Quinn pulls during this event because they're priceless; there's a reason she earned the nickname "[[Franchise/TheLionKing Lion Quinn]]". Rachel approaches Kurt and says NYADA applications are due and she needs one more letter of recommendation. She then laments her estrangement, only for Kurt to remind her that said estrangement is of her doing. Both teams stand ready, the Benetar & Blondie providing the soundtrack and the lyrical trash talking. Dodgeballing ensues, Artie with goggles on while Rachel protects the nose. While this all seems fairly tame, Santana, who as established is a victim of extreme {{Flanderization}} for hideous purposes, sees a special target: Rory, who's never played dodgeball before because he's not from North America (what? no, they do have dodgeball in Europe) and thus gets quite easily damaged. Everyone else out, Santana and the Troubletones go over and pummel him. This is a particularly malicious act, especially because he bleeds. Despite this, Santana continues to find her assault of Rory to be hilarious. This contributes to the building frustration and anger that Finn is feeling towards Santana. Of course, nobody could really find a way to justify the xenophobic bullying and Rory was an easy target representative of Finn who knew what he was getting into playing [[DodgeballIsHell such a dangerous game as dodgeball]]. Santana's taking the competition that she was told to take seriously a little ''too'' seriously. This is another microcosm of what's to come.

Cut to the Troubletones rehearsing as Mercedes approaches and suggests {{Music/Adele}} for their mash up. Shelby agrees as Santana puts priorities in improper order. Mercedes tells her to stop going after Finn, only for Santana to attempt dominance. The rest of the group put her to heel, unfortunately, it turns out she was only placating them.

And here it is. We knew the tension between Finn and Santana would eventually reach a boiling point. This is when it spills over.

Santana goes to "apologize" to Finn and Rory. She instead goes on a long rant of dehumanising, degrading and cruel remarks to both Finn and Rory, the latter of which she continues to make racist remarks regarding his heritage. Finn has reached his limit and had enough of the insults. He says the single, most cruel thing he can, that he knows will shake the usually impervious facade of Santana.

->''"Hey, Santana, why don't you come out of the closet?"''

Santana freezes, eyes going wide at the words and the realization that Finn just hit her with the one thing that would hurt her where she lived.

->''"You know, I think I know why you're so good at tearing everybody else down. It's because you're constantly tearing yourself down, you can't admit to everybody that you're in love with Brittany... and she might not love you back. That must hurt, to not be able to admit to everyone how you really feel. You know what I think you are? A coward."''


As we go to break with Santana emotionally shattered, we come back to another outlandish Sue attack ad against Burt. These ads serve another purpose, which we'll see later. Burt is at Will's house incensed, and insists it's time to fight back. Will contemplates as we cut to Shelby's where she's fixing a chair while Puck entertains Beth. She looks torn, between Puck's feelings for her and the fact that he really is a good parent. As Puck hands Beth to her mom, he then realizes that if he's gonna man up in whatever way possible, he has to come clean about Quinn. So he does, ratting her out and revealing everything. He then says that at first he thought Beth was an accident, but then realized that he may have punched Q's V-Card, but Beth was always supposed to be Shelby's, and all he wants is to be in her life. From there, we cut to the auditorium for a Hall & Oates mashup, half the ND men in fake wigs and mustaches. And so far, the bastard has suffered no repercussions for his actions. The longer it takes, the more everyone hates him. Hell, he performs the mashup like nothing happened, no remorse. Afterwards, we cut to defaced campaign posters as things take another ugly turn, like we haven't had enough of them. It's time for a debate, and it turns out that there's another candidate: lesser [=McKinley=] boogeyman Rick "The Stick" Nelson. We don't care. Then it's Brit-Brit's turn, and she goes into a spiel about making tornadoes illegal. Standard Brit-speak, but she does end with a flourish by pledging topless Tuesdays. Won't be very effective on account of Santana castrating everybody. Next up is Kurt, who originally wanted to campaign against obesity, but between certain tactics from his opponents, plus what happened to Rory, he instead pledges to eliminate dodgeball. This causes Rachel to reevaluate and go MyGodWhatHaveIDone. Thus, when it's her turn, she instead withdraws, telling everyone to vote for Kurt because he's the only candidate who's played fair. Glad Rachel's come to her senses.

Anyway, we cut to her taking down her posters as Kurt approaches, Rachel admitting she missed the friendship, and that while she has her dreams, she wants someone to share them with. They embrace, friendship renewed. And from there, MoodWhiplash as we cut to Quinn at Shelby's. She's there to drop off a gift, only for Shelby to reveal Puck ratted her out. Shelby gives a somewhat deserved TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, saying it doesn't matter who gives birth, it's about making sure the kid's needs are met. Of course, Quinn spins it back by saying Shelby gave Rachel up for money, calling her a "cash whore". Ouch Q. Shelby dismisses her by saying she doesn't want Quinn in her daughter's life, telling her she can change her look but it won't make her any less lost. Q leaves, looking like she's going to have another breakdown and, honestly, both are to blame here. Shelby should've called ahead of her return to let Q know, while Q should've accepted that she made the choice to give Beth up.

And now, since Glee occasionally likes to have its despair in layers, we cut to Becky summoning Santana to Sue's office. Will and Burt are there, and Sue looks guilty, a rare look for her. She takes some responsibility for what's happened, as always seemingly okay with relentless bullying until she experiences the direct consequences of it. What has happened is that one of her and Burt's opponents has a niece who goes to [=McKinley=]... and overheard Finn out Santana. She decided to tell her uncle that there's a lesbian cheerleader, and that man made his own smear campaign, looking like the page image. And of course, this is a televised spot that's going to run regionally, FYI. We can now hate this guy, too, because he's an adult who thinks that giving the entire population of a largely homophobic country the name, photo, occupation, and location, of a teenage lesbian is a good idea. No, Finn couldn't have known that this would happen, but he should have realised that people would talk - especially when the gossip is what it is - and the outcome is the same but on a Ohio-sized scale. There's still a lot of Russell Fabrays who would be happy to try and cleanse either ''her'', or America ''of'' her. She's already Hispanic and a woman, she's already hated enough, she's already disadvantaged; you need to be punished, Finn. (SPOILER: Next episode, ''Santana's'' the one who gets in trouble!) Santana is broken further, saying she hasn't even told her parents yet. She runs out like her life depended on it, and at this point, it just might.

From there, we begin the emotional home stretch with the Troubletones and some awesome Adele, mashing up two of her most famous songs. And the emotions are there as well, Santana's wailing of the line "...don't forget me, I beg" being particularly effective. It's clear her head isn't all there, but she soldiers on, pouring all the emotions into the performance. We then see ND in the crowd looking on. As the song ends, we see Brittany, wild-eyed; seems she, in her ability to sense Santana's emotions, somehow worked out what happened. We cut to Finn whispering something in Rachel's ear which causes her to laugh. In Santana's slightly fractured psyche, they're laughing at her, mocking her, revelling in what he has done. She hops down from the stage and delivers a power slap.

* [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown Dodgeball Them While They Are Down]] Santana deliberately takes things too far and injures Rory. At the sight of his blood, everybody except Santana feels as though they took it too far. Santana just laughs.

And here it is. The most infamous moment in Glee's entire run. The episode where a portion of the fanbase began to hate Finn Hudson ''and'', until he died, [[NeverLiveItDown everything he did thereafter was tainted by these events]].

* [[WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief Unwilling Suspension Of Disbelief]]: Have we noted how implausible some elements of pretty much every plot line in the episode seem?

And now, dodgeball. And while the page image above is the sadly appropriate one for the main thrust of the episode, it really could've been any face that Quinn pulls during this event because they're priceless; there's a reason she earned the nickname "[[Disney/TheLionKing Lion Quinn]]". Rachel approaches Kurt and says NYADA applications are due and she needs one more letter of recommendation. She then laments her estrangement, only for Kurt to remind her that said estrangement is of her doing. Both teams stand ready, the Benetar & Blondie providing the soundtrack and the lyrical trash talking. Dodgeballing ensues, Artie with goggles on while Rachel protects the nose. While this all seems fairly tame, Santana, who as established is a victim of extreme {{Flanderization}} for hideous purposes, sees a special target: Rory, who's never played dodgeball before because he's not from North America (what? no, they do have dodgeball in Europe) and thus gets quite easily damaged. Everyone else out, Santana and the Troubletones go over and pummel him. This is a particularly malicious act, especially because he bleeds. Despite this, Santana continues to find her assault of Rory to be hilarious. This contributes to the building frustration and anger that Finn is feeling towards Santana. Of course, nobody could really find a way to justify the xenophobic bullying and Rory was an easy target representative of Finn who knew what he was getting into playing [[DodgeballIsHell such a dangerous game as dodgeball]]. Santana's taking the competition that she was told to take seriously a little ''too'' seriously. This is another microcosm of what's to come.

We start with a Puck V/O, talking about how he suddenly has a thing for Shelby, who walks by him not exactly thrilled to see him. See, it's unclear whether Puck wants another cougar, or whether he feels he has a responsibility to be in Beth's life. Granted, the camera focusing on Creator/IdinaMenzel's ass seems to swing things toward the former, but most likely it's a bit of both; Puck gets the hot chick while being the responsible father. Unfortunately for Puck, it's pretty clear Shelby thinks the former as well, and is not thrilled. We cut to a geometry class that Shelby is subbing, the normal teacher having ate a bad cantaloupe and apparently Shelby was smart enough to get a backup degree. In any case, Puck fantasizes about Shelby becoming a "sexy" teacher and the Music/VanHalen is of course obvious. Afterwards, Rachel questions the appropriateness of the song, and since ND has done much worse ("Push It", anyone?), this is clearly so she can inadvertently protest Puck wanting to hump her mother. Puck lies that he just digs Van Halen, though Finnegan seems to suspect otherwise as we hit the TitleCard.

Cut to geometry class, Puck giving Shelby a pumpkin as they were out of apples. Shelby remains pensive, knowing Puck's basically becoming a lovesick puppy and she wants no part of that, or him. Puck then gets very blunt with his intentions, straight up saying he wants her, Shelby calling him sweet but saying the kiss was a mistake. Puck disagrees, and then drops the L-word; again, it's probably a mix of wanting her and wanting to be in Beth's life. He basically says as much, and when Shelby tries to dismiss him, he remains stubborn. After the break, we're in the choir room with suggestions for music[[note]]The Clash, Music/ThePolice, {{Music/REM}}, Music/SpiceGirls, Music/JonasBrothers[[/note]], all of which are rejected due to being bands that broke up. Finn specifically cites Hall & Oates as a group together for the long haul. He then suggests his pet Irish for the solo because he's a generous lordmaster. Cut to Psycho Lucille, dormant the last episode, but rearing her ugly head again. She demands to know why CPS hasn't taken Beth, reiterating her futile plan. We then see another phase of said plan as we cut to her finding Shelby and, clearly putting her love for Shelby's ''other'' kid aside for the moment, asks to join the Troubletones. Shelby contemplates as we cut to Finn and Rory, Rory basically pledging his loyalty to his superior. Finnegan complains about the insults, saying Santana's been extra vicious in order to get in his head, and he wants to fight back. We'll get his obscene retaliation later as said Lopez approaches and lays down more smack. The two ND boys try to retort with token insults that are so very lame. Santana replies that insults are what raised her; her grandmother in particular was especially nasty. We'll see her later in the season to confirm this. Finn then offers a duel: dodgeballs at fifty paces, ND vs. Troubletones. Santana seemingly agrees as we cut to the auditorium, Rachel finding Shelby and asking her to rubberstamp a self penned letter of recommendation because Rachel. Shelby signs, then says she's proud of her kid. Rachel is understandably taken aback by this, Shelby expressing wonder at what's to come for her offspring, Rachel so overwhelmed by emotion that she puts the ego aside and asks her mother to write her own letter.

As we go to break with Santana emotionally shattered, we come back to another outlandish Sue attack ad against Burt. These ads serve another purpose, which we'll see later. Burt is at Will's house incensed, and insists it's time to fight back. Will contemplates as we cut to Shelby's where she's fixing a chair while Puck entertains Beth. She looks torn, between Puck's feelings for her and the fact that he really is a good parent. As Puck hands Beth to her mom, he then realizes that if he's gonna man up in whatever way possible, he has to come clean about Dear Lucille. So he does, ratting her out and revealing everything. He then says that at first he thought Beth was an accident, but then realized that he may have punched Q's V-Card, but Beth was always supposed to be Shelby's, and all he wants is to be in her life. From there, we cut to the auditorium for a Hall & Oates mashup, half the ND men in fake wigs and mustaches. And so far, the bastard has suffered no repercussions for his actions. The longer it takes, the more everyone hates him. Hell, he performs the mashup like nothing happened, no remorse. Afterwards, we cut to defaced campaign posters as things take another ugly turn, like we haven't had enough of them. It's time for a debate, and it turns out that there's another candidate: lesser [=McKinley=] boogeyman Rick "The Stick" Nelson. We don't care. Then it's Brit-Brit's turn, and she goes into a spiel about making tornadoes illegal. Standard Brit-speak, but she does end with a flourish by pledging topless Tuesdays. Won't be very effective on account of Santana castrating everybody. Next up is Kurt, who originally wanted to campaign against obesity, but between certain tactics from his opponents, plus what happened to Rory, he instead pledges to eliminate dodgeball. This causes Rachel to reevaluate and go MyGodWhatHaveIDone. Thus, when it's her turn, she instead withdraws, telling everyone to vote for Kurt because he's the only candidate who's played fair. Glad Rachel's come to her senses.

Anyway, we cut to her taking down her posters as Kurt approaches, Rachel admitting she missed the friendship, and that while she has her dreams, she wants someone to share them with. They embrace, friendship renewed. And from there, MoodWhiplash as we cut to Quinn at Shelby's. She's there to drop off a gift, only for Shelby to reveal Puck ratted her out. Shelby gives a somewhat deserved TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, saying it doesn't matter who gives birth, it's about making sure the kid's needs are met. Of course, Quinn spins it back by saying Shelby gave Rachel up for money, calling her a "cash whore". Ouch Lucille. Shelby dismisses her by saying she doesn't want Quinn in her daughter's life, telling her she can change her look but it won't make her any less lost. Q leaves, looking like she's going to have another breakdown and, honestly, both are to blame here. Shelby should've called ahead of her return to let Q know, while Q should've accepted that she made the choice to give Beth up.

** Finn being so EasilyForgiven.
*** Finn being evil enough to out Santana in the first place.

* ForgivenButNotForgotten: Upon Finn's death, fans found ways to forgive him. Mostly this was reasoning that Santana forgave him, and after the event (even though it was shitty) was out and proud and didn't care who knew, as well as providing the viewership with Brittana (albeit mostly in the background).
* HarsherInHindsight: Some viewers, fans of Santana and Finn included, wanted Finn to die because of his outing Santana. While most had wanted him to be imprisoned or something equally deserving for the crime that would hurt him in life, and make it maybe as shitty after a period of years as he made sure Santana's would be every day in Lima, the few who had called for his blood went back on this when Cory died. Finn still had other traits, and Santana didn't condemn him because she knew she'd have to come out eventually, and he was a person who Santana evidently cared for.
* {{Jerkass}}: Finn is usually a Jerkass who still has overarching good intentions. If there is a Jerkass[[superscript:2]], though, he becomes it in this episode with his both malicious, egotistical, and careless outing of Santana without true justification and consequences both possibly endangering and ruining her life [[KarmaHoudini but celebrating him]].
* [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown Dodgeball Them While They Are Down]]

And now, since Glee occasionally likes to have its despair in layers, we cut to Becky summoning Santana to Sue's office. Will and Burt are there, and Sue looks guilty, a rare look for her. She takes some responsibility for what's happened. What has happened is that one of her and Burt's opponents has a niece who goes to [=McKinley=]... and overheard Finn out Santana. So we now we have some random girl to hate as well as Finn, because she decided to tell her uncle that there's a lesbian cheerleader, and that man made his own smear campaign, looking like the page image. And of course, this is a televised spot that's going to run regionally, FYI. We can now hate this guy, too, because he's an adult who thinks that giving the entire population of a largely homophobic country the name, photo, occupation, and location, of a teenage lesbian is a good idea. No, even the bastard couldn't have known that this would happen, but even he would have known that people would talk - especially when the gossip is what it is - and the outcome is the same but on a Ohio-sized scale. There's still a lot of Russell Fabrays who would be happy to try and cleanse either ''her'', or America ''of'' her. She's already Hispanic and a woman, she's already hated enough, she's already disadvantaged; you need to be punished, Finn. (SPOILER: Next episode, ''Santana's'' the one who gets in trouble!) No, actually, the writers need to be punished because Finn seemingly isn't supposed to be that stupid or evil. Seriously, it was genuinely evil, writers, and vastly outweighs whatever you think Santana did to deserve it, and make no mistake about it: SHE. DID. ''*NOT*''. DESERVE. IT. Besides, it's not even like she's played by Dianna or anything. Santana is broken further, saying she hasn't even told her parents yet. She runs out like her life depended on it, and at this point, it just might.

From there, we begin the emotional home stretch with the Troubletones and some awesome Adele, mashing up two of her most famous songs. And the emotions are there as well, Santana's wailing of the line "...don't forget me, I beg" being particularly effective. It's clear her head isn't all there, but she soldiers on, pouring all the emotions into the performance. We then see ND in the crowd looking on. As the song ends, we see Brittany, wild-eyed; seems she, in her ability to sense Santana's emotions, somehow worked out what happened. We cut to the bastard whispering something in Rachel's ear which causes her to laugh. In Santana's slightly fractured psyche, they're laughing at her, her believing that that the only people she thought were actually nice and could like her as a person instead hate her (in this context, very easy to believe). She hops down from the stage and rightfully gets in the bastard's face, saying everyone's gonna know. The bastard, in a revolting attempt to save face, claims everyone knows and doesn't care. This is clear BlatantLies as we'll see next episode. Santana has had enough, and ends the episode with the most deserved ArmorPiercingSlap you'll ever see in your life.

Next Time: A very misleading title, and we see what happens when the producers decide to favor a KarmaHoudini bastard character over one whose life was just shattered.

And here it is. The most infamous moment in Glee's entire run. The episode where everyone, even people who loved him, hated Finn Hudson ''and'', until he died, [[NeverLiveItDown everything he did thereafter was tainted by these events]].

And now, dodgeball. And while the page image above is the sadly appropriate one for the main thrust of the episode, it really could've been any face that Quinn pulls during this event because they're priceless; there's a reason she earned the nickname "[[Disney/TheLionKing Lion Quinn]]". Rachel approaches Kurt and says NYADA applications are due and she needs one more letter of recommendation. She then laments her estrangement, only for Kurt to remind her that said estrangement is of her doing. Both teams stand ready, the Benetar & Blondie providing the soundtrack and the lyrical trash talking. Dodgeballing ensues, Artie with goggles on while Rachel protects the nose. While this all seems fairly tame, Santana, who as established is a victim of extreme {{Flanderization}} for hideous purposes, sees a special target: Rory, who's never played dodgeball before because he's not from North America (what? no, they do have dodgeball in Europe) and thus gets quite easily damaged. Everyone else out, Santana and the Troubletones go over and pummel him. This is a jerky thing to do, especially because he bleeds. Finn, who we've established has decided that he's lord protector of the Irish boy because he needs to be in charge of everything and make himself look like a good guy, now hates Santana even more. Of course, nobody could really find a way to justify the possibly-xenophobic bullying, except for the fact that certain members (Finn) of New Directions haven't been the nicest to the girls, and Rory was an easy target representative of Finn who knew what he was getting into playing [[DodgeballIsHell such a dangerous game as dodgeball]]. Santana's taking the competition that she was told to take seriously a little ''too'' seriously. This is another microcosm of what's to come.

Santana goes to "apologize" to Finn and Rory, but mostly Finn because he is Finn Hudson, lord and master of all he sees. She instead says that he's chubby. And this is all the excuse Finn needs, though there is no excuse for what happens here. This boy is no longer sensitive about weight issues, and nobody is going to care about Santana saying it, if they even heard her because it was in close quarters. This is the moment when Finnegan Christopher Hudson shows his true self. He wanted a reason, and here it is, the most infamous WhamLine in the entire series, and he delivers it with the purest anger and hatred you'll ever hear from him...

...You. Complete. ''Bastard''.

Now, in Ohio, nobody cares if you're chubby - but gay? You're dead. There are no words. This was malicious in a way that Santana at her most caustic wasn't, and if he doesn't realize how dangerous it was he's truly in every sense of the word an idiot. Only few fans (VERY few) thought that he could be reasonably excused as being riled up and because she (and 12 others...) hurt his poor pet Irish. The truth is, again, he was waiting for his moment, and got it. He wanted a psychological advantage over her. This wasn't about the Troubletones, or New Directions. This was a piece of shit being a piece of shit, and since Will Schuester has a hardon for him, plus Santana's own reputation, he knew he could get away with it and twist the blowback on her.

And on top of that, saying Brittany might not love her. Brittany Susan Pierce would lay down her life for her, and despite Murphy being a moron next season, she is Santana's soulmate in every sense of the word. So for the son of a bitch to even imply otherwise, not to mention outing her by proxy as well, is not just salt in the wound, it's salt followed by nails.

...bastard.

As we go to break with Santana emotionally shattered, we return with a chance to give the new batch of Finn-haters (which at this point, is about everyone with a soul) a moment to cool off, another outlandish Sue attack ad against Burt. These ads serve another purpose, which we'll see later. Burt is at Will's house incensed, and insists it's time to fight back. Will contemplates as we cut to Shelby's where she's fixing a chair while Puck entertains Beth. She looks torn, between Puck's feelings for her and the fact that he really is a good parent. As Puck hands Beth to her mom, he then realizes that if he's gonna man up in whatever way possible, he has to come clean about Dear Lucille. So he does, ratting her out and revealing everything. He then says that at first he thought Beth was an accident, but then realized that he may have punched Q's V-Card, but Beth was always supposed to be Shelby's, and all he wants is to be in her life. From there, we cut to the auditorium for a Hall & Oates mashup, half the ND men in fake wigs and mustaches. And so far, the bastard has suffered no repercussions for his actions. The longer it takes, the more everyone hates him. Hell, he performs the mashup like nothing happened, no remorse. Afterwards, we cut to defaced campaign posters as things take another ugly turn, like we haven't had enough of them. It's time for a debate, and it turns out that there's another candidate: lesser [=McKinley=] boogeyman Rick "The Stick" Nelson. We don't care. Then it's Brit-Brit's turn, and she goes into a spiel about making tornadoes illegal. Standard Brit-speak, but she does end with a flourish by pledging topless Tuesdays. Won't be very effective on account of Santana castrating everybody. Next up is Kurt, who originally wanted to campaign against obesity, but between certain tactics from his opponents, plus what happened to Rory, he instead pledges to eliminate dodgeball. This causes Rachel to reevaluate and go MyGodWhatHaveIDone. Thus, when it's her turn, she instead withdraws, telling everyone to vote for Kurt because he's the only candidate who's played fair. Glad Rachel's come to her senses.

And here it is. The most infamous moment in Glee's entire run. The episode where everyone, even people who loved him, hated Finn Hudson.

As we go to break with Santana emotionally shattered, we return with a chance to give the new batch of Finn-haters (which at this point, is about everyone with a soul) a moment to cool off, another outlandish Sue attack ad against Burt. These ads serve another purpose, which we'll see later. Burt is at Will's house incensed, and insists it's time to fight back. Will contemplates as we cut to Shelby's where she's fixing a chair while Puck entertains Beth. She looks torn, between Puck's feelings for her and the fact that he really is a good parent. As Puck hands Beth to her mom, he then realizes that if he's gonna man up in whatever way possible, he has to come clean about Dear Lucille. So he does, ratting her out and revealing everything. He then says that at first he thought Beth was an accident, but then realized that he may have punched Q's V-Card, but Beth was always supposed to be Shelby's, and all he wants is to be in her life. From there, we cut to the auditorium for a Hall & Oates mashup, half the ND men in fake wigs and mustaches. And so far, the bastard has suffered no repercussions for his actions. The longer it takes, the more everyone hates him. Hell, he performs the mashup like nothing happened, no remorse. Afterwards, we cut to defaced campaign posters as things take another ugly turn, like we haven't had enough of them. It's time for a debate, and it turns out that there's another candidate: lesser [=McKinley=] boogeyman Rick "The Stick" Nelson. We don't care. Then it's Brit-Brit's turn, and she goes into a spiel about making tornadoes illegal. Standard Brit-speak, but she does end with a flourish by pledging topless Tuesdays. Won't be very effective on account of Santana castrating everybody. Next up is Kurt, who originally wanted to campaign against obesity, but between certain tactics from his opponents, plus what happened to Rory, he instead pledges to eliminate dodgeball. This causes Rachel to reevaluate and go MyGodWhatHaveIDone. Thus, when it's her turn, she instead withdraws, telling everyone to vote for Kurt because he's the only candidate who's played fair... wait. Play fair? Did the show just give everyone in Lima a reasonable motive to kill Santana for this lesson? Play fair? Also: really, Berry, really? Has Finn's small bits robbed you of whatever intelligence you had?

And here it is. The most infamous moment in Glee's entire run. The episode where everyone, even people who loved him, hated Finn Hudson ''and'', until he died, [[NeverLiveItDown everything he did thereafter was tainted by these events]].

And here it is. The most infamous moment in Glee's entire run. The episode where everyone, even people who loved him, hated Finn Hudson ''and'', until he died, everything he did thereafter was tainted by these events.

And now, dodgeball. And while the page image above is the sadly appropriate one for the main thrust of the episode, it really could've been any face that Quinn pulls during this event because they're priceless; there's a reason she earned the nickname "[[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing Lion Quinn]]". Rachel approaches Kurt and says NYADA applications are due and she needs one more letter of recommendation. She then laments her estrangement, only for Kurt to remind her that said estrangement is of her doing. Both teams stand ready, the Benetar & Blondie providing the soundtrack and the lyrical trash talking. Dodgeballing ensues, Artie with goggles on while Rachel protects the nose. While this all seems fairly tame, Santana, who as established is a victim of extreme {{Flanderization}} for hideous purposes, sees a special target: Rory, who's never played dodgeball before because he's not from North America (what? no, they do have dodgeball in Europe) and thus gets quite easily damaged. Everyone else out, Santana and the Troubletones go over and pummel him. This is a jerky thing to do, especially because he bleeds. Finn, who we've established has decided that he's lord protector of the Irish boy because he needs to be in charge of everything and make himself look like a good guy, now hates Santana even more. Of course, nobody could really find a way to justify the possibly-xenophobic bullying, except for the fact that certain members (Finn) of New Directions haven't been the nicest to the girls, and Rory was an easy target representative of Finn who knew what he was getting into playing [[DodgeballIsHell such a dangerous game as dodgeball]]. Santana's taking the competition that she was told to take seriously a little ''too'' seriously. This is another microcosm of what's to come.

This is the episode where everyone, even people who loved him, hated Finn Hudson ''and'', until he died, everything he did thereafter was tainted by these events.

Puck tells Shelby that Quinn wants Beth back. Shelby calls Quinn to see her, Quinn says that she wants to join the Troubletones, Shelby refuses and says that she doesn't want Quinn in her daughter's life. Quinn looks like she's going to have another breakdown and, honestly, Shelby, you're a teacher! Aren't you meant to know when a kid's sensitive and you're about to emotionally destroy them? This isn't brought up again this episode, though.

Sue, who's running for Senate against Burt and a pizza guy, starts a smear campaign against Burt, turning the election dirty. This does come up again this episode.

Shelby and Will decide that in order to get the Troubletones and New Directions to be friends but also more competitive, they need to do mash-ups, and have a mash-off (like the [[Recap/GleeS1E6VitaminD previous]] [[Recap/GleeS2E6NeverBeenKissed two]] episode sixes). The kids decide that a dodgeball war will suffice, and really the page image could've been any face that Quinn pulls during this event because they're priceless. Rory, who's never played dodgeball before because he's not from North America (what? no, they do have dodgeball in Europe), gets quite easily damaged. Everyone else out, Santana and the Troubletones go over and pummel him. This is a jerky thing to do, especially because he bleeds. Finn, who has for some reason decided that he's lord protector of the Irish boy because he needs to be in charge of everything and make himself look like a good guy, now hates Santana. Of course, nobody could really find a way to justify the possibly-xenophobic bullying, except for the fact that certain members (Finn) of New Directions haven't been the nicest to the girls, and Rory was an easy target representative of Finn who knew what he was getting into playing [[DodgeballIsHell such a dangerous game as dodgeball]]. Santana's taking the competition that she was told to take seriously a little ''too'' seriously.

Santana goes to "apologize" to Finn and Rory, but mostly Finn because he is Finn Hudson, lord and master of all he sees. She instead says that he's chubby. This boy is no longer sensitive about weight issues, and nobody is going to care about Santana saying it, if they even heard her because it was in close quarters. This is the moment when Finnegan Christopher Hudson becomes the definition of the word douche. Wait, scratch that, make that evil bastard. As Santana's leaving, he shouts down the hall to her telling her to come out - and in doing so not actually giving her a chance to come out, because everyone heard it. Now, in Ohio, nobody cares if you're chubby - but gay? You're dead. There aren't words to summarize how much Finn dun goofed here. It was malicious, in a way that Santana wasn't, and if he doesn't realize how dangerous it was he's actually an idiot. Only few fans thought that he could be reasonably excused as being riled up and because she (and 12 others...) hurt his poor pet Irish. In fact, with the protection he's gotten from all other times he fucked up, it could be said that he knew what he was doing, cause he knew he'd get away with it.

In order to give the new batch of Finn-haters (which at this point, is about everyone with a soul) a moment to cool off, we swap to Burt getting mad about the campaign. Then to a mash-up by New Directions, with Quinn on lead for the first time in forever. So far, Finn has suffered no repercussions for his actions. The longer it takes, the more everyone hates him. Even ''Burt'' hasn't told him it was a downright evil (or, at least, {{jerkass}}) thing to do.

Rachel withdraws from the Senior Class President election. So she has more time to plot how to punish Finn? No, because for some reason she doesn't care either. She tells everyone to vote for Kurt because he's the only candidate who's played fair - wait, did the show just give everyone in Lima a reasonable motive to kill Santana for this lesson? Play fair? Also: really, Berry, really? Has Finn's small bits robbed you of whatever intelligence you had?

And, now we have some random girl who goes to [=McKinley=] (as well as Finn even more) to hate, because she decided to tell her uncle that there's a lesbian cheerleader for some reason, and that man happens to be the pizza guy running against Sue and Burt. He's made his own smear campaign, and it looks like the page image. This is a televised spot that's going to run Nationally, FYI. We can now hate this guy, too, because he's an adult who thinks that giving the entire population of a largely homophobic country the name, photo, occupation, and location, of a teenage lesbian is a good idea. Even though Finn couldn't have known that this would happen, he would have known that people would talk - especially when the gossip is what it is - and the outcome is the same but on a Lima-sized scale. In that there's still a lot of Russell Fabrays who would be happy to try and cleanse either ''her'', or America ''of'' her. She's already Hispanic and a woman, she's already hated enough, she's already disadvantaged; you need to be punished, Finn. (Next episode, Santana's the one who gets in trouble!) No, actually, the writers need to be punished because Finn isn't that stupid or evil. Seriously, it was genuinely evil, writers, and vastly outweighs whatever you think Santana did to deserve it, and make no mistake about it: SHE. DID. *NOT*. DESERVE. IT. Besides, it's not even like she's played by Dianna or anything.

The Troubletones perform an awesome Adele mash-up, but then Finn whispers something to Rachel, who laughs, and now Santana honestly believes that the only people she thought were actually nice and could like her as a person instead hate her (very easy to believe). She slaps Finn, and we all wished we could too.

*** Finn being evil, or potentially stupid, enough to out Santana in the first place.

* EasilyForgiven: Finn. Far too easily. This is something that sticks in Gleeks' craws to this day.

* FanficFuel: As with [[Recap/GleeS3E14OnMyWay On My Way]], many fics emerged from this episode, most featuring Finn getting proper comeuppance for his actions, while some, sadly, feature Santana and/or Brittany getting [[RapeAsDrama "straightened"]] out.

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[[SarcasmMode In case you didn't realise, whoever wrote the summary was very neutral and isn't taking sides.]]

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* EnforcedMethodActing: Only the director knew that Santana was going to slap Finn before it happened - really, he mouthed it to Naya Rivera during the filming. After the first take, Creator/CoryMonteith told Naya that for the re-takes she should continue actually slapping him, rather than use a stage-slap.

* "Yoü and I/You and I" by Music/LadyGaga / by Eddie Rabbitt and Crystal Gayle, performed by Shelby and Will
* "Hit Me With Your Best Shot/One Way or Another" by Music/PatBenatar / by Music/{{Blondie}}, performed by Santana and Finn with the Troubletones and New Directions
* "I Can't Go For That/You Make My Dreams" by Hall and Oates, performed by Quinn and Rory with New Directions

* "Yoü and I/You and I" by Music/LadyGaga and Crystal Gayle, performed by Shelby and Will
* "Hit Me With Your Best Shot/One Way or Another" by Music/PatBenatar and Music/{{Blondie}}, performed by Santana and Finn with the Troubletones and New Directions

Shelby and Will decide that in order to get the Troubletones and New Directions to be friends but also more competitive, they need to do mash-ups, and have a mash-off (like the [[Recap/GleeS1E6VitaminD previous]] [[Recap/GleeS2E6NeverBeenKissed two]] episode sixes). The kids decide that a dodgeball war will suffice, and really the page image could've been any face that Quinn pulls during this event because they're priceless. Rory, who's never played dodgeball before because he's not from North America (what? no, they do have dodgeball in Europe), gets quite easily damaged. Everyone else out, Santana and the Troubletones go over and pummel him. This is a jerky thing to do, especially because he bleeds. Finn, who has for some reason decided that he's lord protector of the Irish boy because he needs to be in charge of everything and make himself look like a good guy, now hates Santana. Of course, nobody could really find a way to justify the possibly-xenophobic bullying, except for the fact that certain members (Finn) of New Directions haven't been the nicest to the girls, and Rory was an easy target representative of Finn who knew what he was getting into playing such a dangerous game as dodgeball. Santana's taking the competition that she was told to take seriously a little ''too'' seriously.

This is the episode where to everyone, even people who loved him, hated Finn Hudson, and until he died, everything he did thereafter was tainted by these events.

* EasilyForgiven: Finn. Far too easily. and something that sticks in Gleeks craws to this day.

* HarsherInHindsight: Some viewers, fans of Santana and Finn included, wanted Finn to die because of his outing Santana. While most had wanted him to be imprisoned or something (equally deserving for the crime) that would hurt him in life and make it maybe as shitty after a period of years as he made sure Santana's would be every day in Lima, the few who had called for his blood went back on this when Cory died. Finn still had other traits, and Santana didn't condemn him because she knew she'd have to come out eventually, and he was a person who Santana evidently cared for.
* {{Jerkass}}: Finn is usually a Jerkass who still has overarching good intentions. If there is a Jerkass[[sup:2]], though, he becomes it in this episode with his both malicious, egotistical, and careless outing of Santana without true justification and consequences both possibly endangering and ruining her life [[KarmaHoudini but celebrating him]].

Shelby and Will decide that in order to get the Troubletones and New Directions to be friends but also more competitive, they need to do mash-ups, and have a mash-off (like the [[Recap/GleeS1E6VitaminD previous]] [[Recap/GleeS2E6NeverBeenKissed two]] episode sixes). The kids decide that a dodgeball war will suffice, and really the page image could've been any face that Quinn pulls during this event because they're priceless. Rory, who's never played dodgeball before because he's not from North America (what? no, they do have dodgeball in Europe), gets quite easily damaged. Everyone else out, Santana and the Troubletones go over and pummel him. This is a jerky thing to do, especially because he bleeds. Finn, who has for some reason decided that he's lord protector of the Irish boy because he needs to be in charge of everything and make himself look like a good guy, now hates Santana. Of course, nobody could really find a way to justify the possibly-xenophobic bullying, except for the fact that certain members (Finn) of New Directions haven't been the nicest to the girls, and Rory was an easy target representative of Finn who knew what he was getting into playing dodgeball. She's taking the competition that she was told to take seriously a little ''too'' seriously.

Santana goes to "apologize" to Finn and Rory, but mostly Finn because he is Finn Hudson, lord and master of all he sees. She instead says that he's chubby. This boy is no longer sensitive about weight issues, and nobody is going to care about Santana saying it, if they even heard her because it was in close quarters. This is the moment when Finnegan Christopher Hudson becomes the definition of the word douche. Wait, scratch that, make that evil bastard. As Santana's leaving, he shouts down the hall to her telling her to come out - and in doing so not actually giving her a chance to come out, because everyone heard it. Now, in Ohio, nobody cares if you're chubby, but gay? You're dead. There aren't words to summarize how much Finn dun goofed here. It was malicious, in a way that Santana wasn't, and if he doesn't realize how dangerous it was he's actually an idiot. Only few fans thought that he could be reasonably excused as being riled up and because she (and 12 others...) hurt his poor pet Irish. In fact, with the protection he's gotten from other times he fucked up, it could be said that he knew what he was doing, cause he knew he'd get away with it.

In order to give the new batch of Finn-haters (which at this point, is about everyone with a soul) a moment to cool off, we swap to Burt getting mad about the campaign. Then to a mash-up by New Directions, with Quinn on lead. So far, Finn has suffered no repercussions for his actions. The longer it takes, the more everyone hates him. Even ''Burt'' hasn't told him it was a downright evil (or, at least, {{jerkass}}) thing to do.

Rachel withdraws from the Senior Class President election. So she has more time to plot how to punish Finn? No, because for some reason she doesn't care either. She tells everyone to vote for Kurt because he's the only candidate who's played fair - wait, did you just give everyone in Lima a reasonable motive to kill Santana for this lesson? Play fair? Really Berry, really? Has Finn's small bits robbed you of whatever intelligence you had?

And, now we have some random girl who goes to [=McKinley=] (as well as Finn even more) to hate, because she decided to tell her uncle that there's a lesbian cheerleader for some reason, and that man happens to be the pizza guy running against Sue and Burt. He's made his own smear campaign, and it looks like the page image. This is a televised spot that's going to run Nationally, FYI. We can now hate this guy, too, because he's an adult who thinks that giving the entire population of a largely homophobic country the name, photo, occupation, and location, of a teenage lesbian is a good idea. Even though Finn couldn't have known that this would happen, he would have known that people would talk - especially when the gossip is what it is - and the outcome is the same but on a Lima-sized scale. In that there's still a lot of Russell Fabrays who would be happy to try and cleanse either ''her'', or America ''of'' her. She's already Hispanic and a woman, she's already hated enough, she's already disadvantaged; you need to be punished, Finn. (Next episode, Santana's the one who gets in trouble.) No, actually, the writers need to be punished because Finn isn't that stupid or evil. Seriously, it was genuinely evil, writers, and vastly outweighs whatever you think Santana did to deserve it, and make no mistake about it: SHE. DID. *NOT*. DESERVE. IT. Besides, it's not even like she's played by Dianna or anything.

* "I Can't Go For That/You Make My Dreams" by Music/HallAndOates, performed by Quinn and Rory with New Directions

** Finn being so EasilyForgiven. Finn being evil, or potentially stupid, enough to out Santana in the first place.

* UnwillingSuspensionOfDisbelief: Have we noted how implausible some elements of pretty much every plot line in the episode seem?

[[caption-width-right:350:Hey, Santana, why don't you come out of the closet?]]

This is the episode where everyone, even people who love Finn, hated him.

Santana goes to "apologise" to Finn and Rory, but mostly Finn because everything's about Finn and he can do no wrong. She instead says that he's chubby. This boy is no longer sensitive about weight issues, and nobody is going to care about Santana saying it, if they even heard her because it was in close quarters. This is when Finn becomes a douche. As Santana's leaving, he shouts down the hall to her telling her to come out - and in doing so not actually giving her a chance to come out, because everyone heard it. Now, in Ohio, nobody cares if you're chubby, but gay? You're dead. There aren't words to summarise how much Finn dun goofed here. It was malicious, in a way that Santana wasn't, and if he doesn't realise how dangerous it was he's actually an idiot. Only few fans thought that he could be reasonably excused as being riled up and because she (and 12 others...) hurt his poor pet Irish.

In order to give the new batch of Finn-haters a moment to cool off, we swap to Burt getting mad about the campaign. Then to a mash-up by New Directions, with Quinn on lead. So far, Finn has suffered no repercussions for his actions. The longer it takes, the more everyone hates him. Even ''Burt'' hasn't told him it was a downright evil (or, at least, {{jerkass}}) thing to do.

Rachel withdraws from the Senior Class President election. So she has more time to plot how to punish Finn? No, because for some reason she doesn't care either. She tells everyone to vote for Kurt because he's the only candidate who's played fair - wait, did you just give everyone in Lima a reasonable motive to kill Santana for this lesson? Play fair? Really?

And, now we have some random girl who goes to [=McKinley=] (as well as Finn even more) to hate, because she decided to tell her uncle that there's a lesbian cheerleader for some reason, and that man happens to be the pizza guy running against Sue and Burt. He's made his own smear campaign, and it looks like the page image. This is a televised spot that's going to run Nationally, FYI. We can now hate this guy, too, because he's an adult who thinks that giving the entire population of a largely homophobic country the name, photo, occupation, and location, of a teenage lesbian is a good idea. Even though Finn couldn't have known that this would happen, he would have known that people would talk - especially when the gossip is what it is - and the outcome is the same but on a Lima-sized scale. In that there's still a lot of Russell Fabrays who would be happy to try and cleanse either ''her'', or America ''of'' her. She's already Hispanic and a woman, she's already hated enough, she's already disadvantaged; you need to be punished, Finn. (Next episode, Santana's the one who gets in trouble.) No, actually, the writers need to be punished because Finn isn't that stupid or evil. Seriously, it was genuinely evil, writers, and vastly outweighs whatever you think Santana did to deserve it. It's not even like she's played by Dianna or anything.

The Troubletones perform an awesome Adele mash-up, but then Finn whispers something to Rachel, who laughs, and now Santana honestly believes that the only people she thought were actually nice and could like her as a person instead hate her (very easy to believe). She slaps Finn.

* EasilyForgiven: Finn. Far too easily.

* {{Jerkass}}: Finn is usually a Jerkass who still has overarching good intentions. If there is a Jerkass[[sup:2]], though, he becomes it in this episode with his both malicious, egoistical, and careless outing of Santana without true justification and consequences both possibly endangering and ruining her life [[KarmaHoudini but celebrating him]].

And, now we have some random girl who goes to [=McKinley=] (as well as Finn even more) to hate, because she decided to tell her uncle that there's a lesbian cheerleader for some reason, and that man happens to be the pizza guy running against Sue and Burt. He's made his own smear campaign, and it looks like the page image. This is a televised spot that's going to run Nationally, FYI. We can now hate this guy, too, because he's an adult who thinks that giving the entire population of a largely homophobic country the name, photo, occupation, and location, of a teenage lesbian is a good idea. Even though Finn couldn't have known that this would happen, he would have known that people would talk - especially when the gossip is what it is - and the outcome is the same but on a Lima-sized scale. There's still a lot of Russell Fabrays who would be happy to try and cleanse either her or America ''of'' her, though. She's already Hispanic and a woman, she's already hated enough, she's already disadvantaged, you need to be punished, Finn. (Next episode, Santana's the one who gets in trouble.) No, actually, the writers need to be punished because Finn isn't that stupid or evil. Like, it was genuinely evil, writers, and vastly outweighs whatever you think Santana did to deserve it. It's not even like she's played by Dianna or anything.

[[caption-width-right:350:Hey, Santana, why don't you just come out of the closet?]]

Puck tells Shelby that Quinn wants Beth back. Shelby calls Quinn to see her, Quinn says that she wants to join the Troubletones, Shelby refuses and says that she doesn't want Quinn in her daughter's life. Quinn looks like she's going to have another breakdown and, honestly, Shelby, you're a teacher! Aren't you meant to know when a kid's sensitive and you're about to emotional destroy them? This isn't brought up again this episode, though.