Glee: Sexy

"Sexy" is the fifteenth episode of the second season of the American musical comedy-drama television series Glee, and the thirty-seventh episode overall. It was written by Brad Falchuk, directed by Ryan Murphy, and first aired on the Fox network on March 8, 2011. The episode mainly revolves around the topics of sex and adolescent sexuality. In it, Holly Holliday (Gwyneth Paltrow) returns to McKinley High School as a substitute teacher in a class devoted to sex education. Glee club director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) begins to develop feelings for Holly, and guidance counselor and celibacy club advisor Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays) is less than pleased with Holly's lessons. Santana (Naya Rivera) expresses her love for Brittany (Heather Morris), and Burt Hummel (Mike O'Malley) has a talk with his son Kurt (Chris Colfer) about sex. "Sexy" received generally positive reviews. Many critics praised Paltrow's performance, preferring it to her first appearance in "The Substitute", though they disagreed over how Paltrow was used. The storylines were well received, particularly the one involving Brittany and Santana: Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club and Patrick Burns of The Atlantic deemed it the highlight of the episode. The scene featuring Burt having "the talk" with Kurt was also singled out for praise. This episode featured cover versions of five songs, including "Kiss" by Prince and "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac. The latter song was very well received, though the musical performances and cover versions in the episode were mostly given a mixed reception by reviewers. Upon its original airing, this episode was viewed by 11.92 million American viewers, and garnered a 4.6/14 Nielsen rating/share in the 18–49 demographic. The episode's total viewership and ratings increased significantly from the previous episode, "Blame It on the Alcohol".