Glee: Sectionals

"Sectionals" is the thirteenth episode of the American television series Glee. It premiered on the Fox network on December 9, 2009. The episode was written and directed by series co-creator Brad Falchuk, and serves as the mid-season finale for the show's first season. "Sectionals" sees the glee club win the sectionals round of competition, advancing on to regionals. Glee club member Finn (Cory Monteith) discovers he is not the father of his girlfriend Quinn's (Dianna Agron) baby. Football coach Ken Tanaka (Patrick Gallagher) plans his wedding with Emma (Jayma Mays) on the same day as the sectionals competition. Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) is unable to take the students to sectionals and Emma offers to take them. The episode sees the return of Eve and Michael Hitchcock as rival glee club directors Grace Hitchens and Dalton Rumba. The episode features covers of six songs, studio recordings of four of which were released as singles, available for digital download, and are also included on the album Glee: The Music, Volume 2. "Sectionals" was watched by 8.127 million U.S. viewers, and received mostly positive reviews from critics. The episode's musical performances attracted praise, as did the development of Will and Emma's relationship, though Dan Snierson of Entertainment Weekly suggested it may have been preferable to leave their romance unresolved. James Poniewozik of Time felt that by concluding the pregnancy storyline in "Sectionals", Glee was able to "clear the decks for a second half of the season as the confident show it now is".