Funk

Funk is the twenty-first episode of Glee's first season and the twenty-first episode overall. It premiered on June 1, 2010.

The New Directions get some news that's sure to rattle a few nerves as Jesse St. James returns to Vocal Adrenaline, which shakes Rachel. Vocal Adrenaline intimidates New Directions by 'decorating' their choir room with toilet papers, leaving them in a "funkification." Will motivates the Glee Club to perform funk numbers as that is Vocal Adrenaline's main weakness. Meanwhile, Quinn connects with her "funky" side with a little help from Mercedes, and Sue begins to have a crush on someone she always calls an enemy. Jesse and Rachel's relationship goes even further down in the dumps and Will and Terri finalize their divorce.

The episode was directed by Elodie Keene and written by Ian Brennan.

Plot[]

Jesse returns to Vocal Adrenaline, telling them that the New Directions treated him poorly, never accepted him for who he was, and "never listened to his clearly superior ideas." Vocal Adrenaline performs Another One Bites the Dust in the McKinley High auditorium. After the performance, New Directions discovers that Vocal Adrenaline also toilet papered the choir room to further intimidate them before Regionals begin (which the club says they call a 'funkification'), also learning that Sue was the one who gave them a key to the choir room, causing Will angry and smash one of her trophies. The New Directions members become depressed. Will tries to re-invigorate them by asking them to perform funk numbers. When Quinn shows interest in the assignment and wants to show her funky side, Mercedes criticizes her and says she can't pull it off. Later, Quinn performs It's a Man's Man's Man's World with a group of heavily pregnant backup dancers to vent her frustration about being an unmarried teenage mother. Mercedes is still skeptical, but during a heart-to-heart in the library, they come to a mutual understanding. Mercedes believes Quinn needs a place to dig trough her frustration and invites Quinn to move in with her since her brother moved out and went to college. Quinn accepts, as she is unhappy living with Puck.

Will and Terri finalize their divorce. He talks to the Glee kids about regrets and tells them their assignment is to do a funk number. Attempting to deal with his sorrow and Sue's incessant bullying, Will attempts to seduce Sue with a performance of Tell Me Something Good and asks her out on a date, standing her up to humiliate her. Sue withdraws the cheer squad from their upcoming Nationals competition and becomes bed-bound. Will apologizes to Sue when he sees the negative impact on the cheerleaders and realizes hurting her did not make him feel any better. Sue re-enters the competition and wins Nationals, placing the large trophy in Will's living room. She gives Will an ultimatum: either house her new trophy inside the choir room or kiss her. Will's realization that this is his punishment for humiliating Sue is trumped by the fact that Sue backs out and determines that the trophy will be set up in a bulletproof case in New Directions' choir room as a supposed reminder that of Sue's "superiority."

In retaliation for Vocal Adrenaline's vandalism, Puck and Finn slash the tires of their rivals' Range Rovers. Principal Figgins thinks they should be expelled, but Shelby disagrees as she decides not to press charges, but she insists they pay for the damages. She requests that they take the money out of Glee's budget, but Will says that the club will go bankrupt. Finn then says that he and Puck will get jobs and Shelby agrees. Puck and Finn get jobs at Sheets-N-Things, working for Terri. Expressing the dissatisfaction in their lives, Puck, Finn, Terri, Sandy Ryerson, and Howard Bamboo perform Loser in a dream sequence. Terri finds that Finn reminds her of Will and befriends him by helping him with his funk assignment.

Puck and Finn also perform Good Vibrations by Marky Mark and The Funky Bunch with Mercedes. Mr. Schue points out that Good Vibrations isn't a funk song, and artist name is not with standing.

Jesse further breaks Rachel's heart when he lures her to the parking lot, where Vocal Adrenaline throws eggs at her. When pressured into egging her himself however, Jesse admits that he did truly love her before squashing an egg on her forehead. Will talks the male New Directions members, led by Puck, out of a violent retaliation, and instead the group performs Give up the Funk to show Vocal Adrenaline that they are not defeated by their bullying. Quinn performs despite being heavily pregnant. Vocal Adrenaline is stunned by their ability to perform a funk number, and they become depressed, as funk is their only weakness; Giselle admits that they're "souless automatons."

Songs[]

Song Title	Original Artist	Performer(s)
Another One Bites the Dust	Queen	Jesse St. James with Vocal Adrenaline
Tell Me Something Good	Rufus and Chaka Khan	Will Schuester
Loser	Beck	Noah Puckerman, Finn Hudson, Howard Bamboo, Sandy Ryerson, and Terri Schuester
It's a Man's Man's Man's World	James Brown	Quinn Fabray with the Unwed Mothership Connection
Good Vibrations	Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch	Finn Hudson, Mercedes Jones, and Noah Puckerman
Give up the Funk	Parliament	New Directions

Guest Cast[]

Special Guest Stars[]

Jonathan Groff as Jesse St. James
Idina Menzel as Shelby Corcoran

Guest Stars[]

Co-Stars[]

Taisha Monique Clark as Giselle
Jeanine Anderson as Waitress Sandy

Absent Cast Member[]

Jayma Mays as Emma Pillsbury

Trivia[]

The episode was originally supposed to air on May 25, but was swapped with Theatricality. There are some slight continuity errors in some episodes because of this.
Heather Morris said the Give Up the Funk number might be her favorite number.
Harry Shum Jr. said he enjoyed the Give Up the Funk number because they got to be free and express themselves.
The intro and ending to Give Up the Funk were actually sung by Chris Colfer and weren't computerized. He just has a very wide vocal range.
Naya Rivera does what has been dubbed the "Naya Dance" during the performance of Give up the Funk.
Artie mentions in the episode that he likes the song Boogie Shoes. That song would later be performed by Unique and Vocal Adrenaline in the season 3 episode Saturday Night Glee-ver.
The name of Quinn's backing group, the "Unwed Mothership Connection" is a play on the title of the Parliament album that Give Up The Funk is featured on.
The phrase "Ooh, bop" from My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It) was frequently used during this episode. This song was later performed by Artie and Tina in the season five episode Frenemies.
This episode was referenced by Tina in Dynamic Duets.