Vitamin D (Glee)

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"Vitamin D"
Halo" / "Walking on Sunshine
"
Production code1ARC05
Original air dateOctober 7, 2009 (2009-10-07)
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
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"Vitamin D" is the sixth episode of the American television series

guidance counsellor Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays), and starts giving the students performance-enhancing pseudoephedrine
tablets.

The episode features mash-up covers of "

Beyoncé Knowles and "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves. Both tracks were released as singles, available for digital download. "Vitamin D" was watched by 7.30 million US viewers, and received generally positive reviews from critics. Performances by Morrison, Mays and Jane Lynch as cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester attracted praise, as did the staging of the musical mash-ups. However, Aly Semigran of MTV and Mandi Bierly of Entertainment Weekly
both noted critically that dramatic storylines in the episode dominated over the musical performances.

Plot

Believing the glee club members are becoming complacent ahead of the forthcoming

sectionals, director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) divides the club into boys against girls for a mash-up competition. Cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) observes that head cheerleader Quinn Fabray's (Dianna Agron
) performance standards are slipping. When Quinn blames her tiredness on her glee club participation, Sue renews her resolve to destroy the club, planning to sabotage Will's personal life.

Sue tells Will's wife

hysterical pregnancy
from Will, and upon realizing how much her life is changing due to her pregnancy, Quinn agrees to let Terri secretly adopt her baby.

Halo" and "Walking On Sunshine". Finn and Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) feel guilty for cheating, however, and agree to nullify the competition. When Principal Figgins (Iqbal Theba
) learns what has happened, he fires Terri and, angry with Will, appoints Sue as co-director of the glee club.

Production

Before filming "Vitamin D", Michele practiced speaking "manically" for several days in order to convey the effects of pseudoephedrine on Rachel.

Recurring characters who appear in "Vitamin D" are glee club members

Rod Remington (Bill A. Jones) and Andrea Carmichael (Earlene Davis). Joe Hursley guest stars as Joe.[1]

The episode features mash-up

Beyoncé Knowles and "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves. Both tracks were released as singles, available for digital download.[2] "It's My Life / Confessions Part II" charted at number 7 in Ireland, 14 in the UK, 22 in Australia, 25 in Canada and 30 in America,[3] while "Halo / Walking on Sunshine" charted at number 4 in Ireland, 9 in the UK, 10 in Australia, 28 in Canada and 40 in America.[4] Michele revealed that she practiced talking "manically" for several days in order to convey the effects of pseudoephedrine on Rachel. In order to portray the character in her altered state, she questioned: "How manic is the right amount of manic? What would Rachel be like on uppers? What would she sound like?" She deemed performing the mash-up piece in that state "so much fun".[5]

Reception

The episode was watched by 7.30 million U.S. viewers and attained a 3.2/8 

18–49 demographic.[6] Glee maintained its ratings from the previous week, despite all of the other new Wednesday night shows of the season declining by double-digit percentages.[7] It was the eighteenth most watched show in Canada for the week of broadcast, with 1.61 million viewers.[8] In the UK, the episode was watched by 2.008 million viewers (1.608 million on E4, and 400,000 on E4+1), becoming the most-watched show on E4 and E4 +1 for the week, and the most-watched show on cable for the week, as well as the most-watched episode of the series at the time.[9]

"Vitamin D" was nominated for the best "Comedy Series Episode" award at the 2010 PRISM Awards.[10] It received generally positive reviews from critics. Shawna Malcom of the Los Angeles Times noted that she preferred the boys' performance to the girls', commenting: "Their number had the same heart-soaring power as "Don't Stop Believin'" [performed in the pilot episode]."[11] Malcom enjoyed Sue's character development in the episode, claiming that, "In less skilled hands, there’s no doubt Sue would be an over-the-top disaster. But thanks to the incomparable Jane Lynch, I can’t wait to see what trouble the character stirs up next."[11] Aly Semigran of MTV also enjoyed the boys' performance more than the girls', and gave the episode a mostly positive review, writing that it moved the series' storylines to "a whole new level". She felt, however, that the episode "didn't have nearly enough singing".[12] Mandi Bierly for Entertainment Weekly similarly noted that: "So much happened in this hour that the musical numbers, though enjoyable, were almost an afterthought."[13] Bierly favoured the girls' performance, and praised Morrison's acting, commenting: "Matthew Morrison communicates so much with his eyes. There’s a softness and a longing in them that I’m always surprised Emma (Jayma Mays) matches."[13]

Mike Hale for the

New York Times praised Mays' performance, noting: "Jayma Mays registered Emma’s devastation with just the slightest widening of those enormous eyes. In fact all the best non-singing moments in the episode were hers."[14] Hale was less impressed with the rest of the episode, deeming the pregnancy storyline "so boring that it hardly mattered".[14] He noted that: "For many viewers, the best moments in the episode probably came very early on and involved Jane Lynch’s Sue Sylvester, who still got all the best lines."[14] Anna Pickard of The Guardian called the pseudoephedrine storyline "relentlessly silly [...] but joyfully so", preferring the boys' performance to the girls' as "some excellent comedy helped me forget about Finn's dodgy autotuned vocals for once".[15]

References

  1. ^ "More than the recommended daily allowance on "Glee"" (Press release). Fox Broadcasting Company. September 21, 2009. Retrieved January 18, 2010.
  2. ^ ""Glee" rules the iTunes charts with astounding 1.1 million downloads" (Press release). Fox Broadcasting Company. October 6, 2009. Archived from the original on February 29, 2012. Retrieved January 18, 2010.
  3. ^ "Glee Cast – It's My Life / Confessions, Pt. Ii". aCharts.us. Retrieved January 19, 2010.
  4. ^ "Glee Cast – Halo / Walking On Sunshine". aCharts.us. Retrieved January 19, 2010.
  5. ^ Martin, Denise (December 2, 2009). "Lea Michele's 'Glee'-ful awakening". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 19, 2010.
  6. ^ Seidman, Robert (October 8, 2009). "TV Ratings: FOX, CBS tie; Glee steady; Hank, Mercy, Eastwick, Modern Family, Cougar Town slip". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on October 12, 2009. Retrieved October 8, 2009.
  7. ^ Kissell, Rick (October 8, 2009). "'Glee' still glowing for Fox". Variety. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
  8. BBM Canada. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on July 6, 2011. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
  9. BARB
    . Retrieved March 1, 2010.
  10. ^ Block, Alex Ben (February 18, 2010). "'Crazy Heart' among Prism Awards noms". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
  11. ^ a b Malcom, Shawna (October 8, 2009). "'Glee': A dose of (not entirely) friendly competition". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 8, 2009.
  12. ^ Semigran, Aly (October 8, 2009). "'Glee' Recap: Taking 'Vitamin D' And 'Walking On Sunshine'". MTV. Archived from the original on September 16, 2012. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
  13. ^ a b Bierly, Mandi (October 8, 2009). "'Glee': Just say no to drugs (and to Ken!)". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
  14. ^
    New York Times
    . Retrieved October 8, 2009.
  15. ^ Pickard, Anna (February 8, 2010). "Glee: season one, episode six". The Guardian. Retrieved February 22, 2010.

External links

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