The Power of Madonna

Plot

Cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) has the Cheerios emulate Madonna, so that they will be more empowered in their cheerleading routines. Continuing her blackmail of Principal Figgins (Iqbal Theba), Sue has Madonna tracks played over the school intercom throughout the day. Glee club director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) overhears the girls in the club discussing difficulties they are having in relationships and life. Rachel (Lea Michele) asks the other girls for advice on a boy pressuring her to have sex, while Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz) tells them that Artie (Kevin McHale) has asked her to start wearing more revealing clothes if she wants to be with him. When Will observes the Cheerios performing a routine with stilts to "Ray of Light", he is inspired to set a Madonna-themed assignment to restore the girls to equal status. Most of the male club members are unimpressed, even when the girls perform "Express Yourself". Club co-captains Rachel and Finn (Cory Monteith) practice performing a mash-up of "Borderline" and "Open Your Heart".

When Will ridicules Sue's fashion sense, Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Mercedes (Amber Riley) give her a makeover, recreating Madonna's "Vogue" video. Guidance counselor Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays) is inspired by Madonna's example, and tells Will that she intends to lose her virginity to him that evening. Santana (Naya Rivera) offers to take Finn's virginity, and Rachel and her boyfriend Jesse St. James (Jonathan Groff) also decide to have sex, leading to a dream performance of "Like a Virgin" between all three couples. Ultimately, Emma and Rachel do not go through with it, but Finn does have sex with Santana. He later hides this from Rachel, having concluded that the sex was meaningless, and that he truly regretted it, in contrast with Rachel, who despite not going through with it, claims she did as she said and it was no big deal.

Jesse transfers to William McKinley High School, leaving the Vocal Adrenaline glee club to join New Directions, so that he and Rachel can be openly together. There is resistance from the group, who believe that this will result in them getting even fewer solos than they had been, and they suspect that Jesse is a spy for his former club. Kurt and Mercedes are recruited by Sue to join the Cheerios and perform "4 Minutes" with them during a school assembly. They tell Will that they are unhappy about never being given solos and will be in both groups. The boys sing "What It Feels Like for a Girl" and decide to treat the girls better. Artie apologizes to Tina for his prior behavior, and they kiss. Finn formally welcomes Jesse into New Directions and tells him and Rachel that he won't interfere in their relationship. The entire glee club sings "Like a Prayer" backed by a gospel choir, and Kurt and Mercedes each have a solo in the song.

Production

In 2009, Madonna granted Glee the rights to her entire catalogue of music, and the producers planned an episode which would feature Madonna songs exclusively. Series creator Ryan Murphy had worked with Madonna in the past, and wished to produce a Glee tribute to her. Madonna agreed and "cooperated in every way possible." The episode was filmed in January 2010. Lynch performed Madonna's "Vogue", her first vocal performance on the show. Rehearsals for the routine began in December 2009. It was filmed in black and white, with the original video playing in front of the performers as they worked. Lynch also wore a conical bra in the episode, emulating Madonna's image.

Before the episode's track listing was announced, Morrison hoped that his character, glee club director Will Schuester, would sing "Like a Virgin", believing it befit Will's relationship with guidance counsellor Emma Pillsbury. TV Guide William Keck later confirmed that Emma would be involved in the staging of "Like a Virgin", with Mays' agreement that the song is "very appropriate and fitting" for her character.

Glee: The Music, The Power of Madonna, an EP containing studio recordings of songs performed in the episode, was released on April 20, 2010. Its track list encompasses "Express Yourself", a mash-up of "Borderline" and "Open Your Heart", "Vogue", "Like a Virgin", "4 Minutes", "What it Feels Like for a Girl", and "Like a Prayer". The iTunes edition features a bonus track, "Burning Up", which was not performed in the episode. Although they were not performed by the show's cast, Madonna's "Ray of Light", "Burning Up", "Justify My Love", and "Frozen" were also used as backing tracks in the episode. All songs on the EP apart from the bonus track were also released as singles, available for digital download. In its first week of release, Glee: The Music, The Power of Madonna reached number one on the Billboard 200, with 98,000 copies sold.

Reception

Ratings

In its original broadcast, "The Power of Madonna" was watched by 12.98 million American viewers and attained a 5.3/13 rating/share in the 18–49 demographic. In the United Kingdom, the episode was watched by 1.98 million viewers, and was the most-watched show of the week on the non-terrestrial channels.{{Cite web |url= http://www.barb.co.uk/viewing/weekly-top-30/? |title=Weekly Top 30 Programmes w/e 2 May 2010

Critical response

Lynch received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance in the episode. At the 2010 Creative Arts Emmy Awards, Phillip W. Palmer, Doug Andham and Joseph H. Earle won the "Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (One Hour)" award. Lou A. Eyrich and Marisa Aboitiz were additionally nominated for the "Outstanding Costumes for a Series" award. Competing against the Glee episode "Hairography", Stacey K. Black, Mary G. Stultz, Roxanne N. Sutphen and Gina Bonacquisti were nominated for "Outstanding Hairstyling for a Single-Camera Series", and competing against the episode "Theatricality", Eryn Krueger Mekash, Kelley Mitchell, Jennifer Greenberg, Robin Neal-Luce, Kelcey Fry and Zoe Haywas were nominated for "Outstanding Makeup For A Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic)".

Madonna approved of the episode, telling Us Weekly that she found it "brilliant on every level", praising the scripting and the message of equality. The episode also received positive reviews from critics. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly called it "one of the best hours of TV you’re likely to see all year", writing that the episode pays Madonna "the highest compliment possible" in not just expressing admiration for the singer, but "demonstrat[ing] a potent understanding of why Madonna matters." Fellow Entertainment Weekly writer Tim Stack deemed it the best episode of Glee thus far, grading each of the songs performed "B+" through to "A+". Stack felt that the episode lived up to its hype, an opinion concurred with by Aly Semigran of MTV, who also deemed "The Power of Madonna" the show's best episode to date. Bobby Hankinson of the Houston Chronicle went further in his praise, calling "The Power of Madonna" potentially "the most-enjoyable hour of television of all time." Kevin Coll of Fused Film felt that the episode redeemed the series following its "dismal comeback" with "Hell-O", calling it "a great story that explored the characters of Glee in much better depth than they ever have."

Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club graded the episode "B", however was less positive than other critics. While she stated that the musical numbers were "among the best things the show has ever done", she felt that "just about everything else around them gets short shrift", criticizing the increase in performances in the first half of the season for upsetting the balance of the series. Eric Goldman of IGN rated the episode 8/10, observing that while he was in the minority of reviewers for not "absolutely loving it", he found "The Power of Madonna" to be "a bit messy in the writing department, even while it delivered several really great scenes and moments along the way."

References

References

1. Stack, Tim. (October 21, 2009). "'Glee' Exclusive: Madonna is on board! Is Adam Lambert next?".
2. Dos Santos, Kristin. (March 14, 2010). "Glee Cast and Creators Dish on Neil Patrick Harris, "Puckleberry" and Lady Gaga!". [[E!]].
3. Ausiello, Michael. (January 18, 2010). "Exclusive: 'Glee' boss on Rachel/Puck, Kurt's new BF, and Madonna!".
4. Malkin, Marc. (January 20, 2010). "Glee's Jane Lynch: In "Vogue" With Madonna". [[E!]].
5. Kinon, Cristina. (April 7, 2010). "Second chunk of 'Glee's' first season to feature more music, guest stars like Neil Patrick Harris". [[Daily News (New York).
6. Keck, William. (January 19, 2010). "Details on Glee's Madonna-Themed Episode". [[TV Guide]].
7. Scharf, Lindzi. (November 23, 2010). "Matthew Morrison on Madonna and More!". [[TV Guide]].
8. (March 25, 2010). "Glee to release album of Madonna covers". [[BBC Radio 1]].
9. "The Power of Madonna".
10. Estes, Mark O.. (April 21, 2010). "Glee - "The Power of Madonna" Review". [[CraveOnline]].
11. Farkas, Elissa. (April 21, 2010). "'Glee' Recap: The Irresistible Power Of Madonna". Starpulse.
12. "'Glee' Cast". [[Apple Music]].
13. Caulfield, Keith. (April 28, 2010). "Glee's 'Madonna' Powers To No. 1 On Billboard 200".
14. Gorman, Bill. (April 21, 2010). "Broadcast Finals Tuesday: Lost, Idol Adjusted Up; Glee, V Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers.
15. Deans, Jason. (April 27, 2010). "TV ratings: BBC's Five Daughters wins the 9pm hour with 5m". [[The Guardian]].
16. "Top programs - Total Canada (English) April 19 – April 25, 2010". [[BBM Canada]].
17. (May 7, 2010). "TEN Gleeful With Prime-time Wins In All Key Demos". eBroadcast.
18. "Consolidated Metropolitan Top 20 Programs". [[OzTAM]].
19. "2010 Emmy Nominations: Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series". emmys.com.
20. O'Neil, Tom. (July 15, 2010). "Emmy episode entries revealed: Lea Michele, Hugh Laurie, Jim Parsons plus more". [[Los Angeles Times]].
21. O'Neil, Tom. (August 21, 2010). "Emmys Creative Arts: Winners list". [[Los Angeles Times]].
22. "2010 Primetime Emmy Awards Nominations". [[Academy of Television Arts and Sciences]].
23. (April 16, 2010). "Exclusive: Madonna Rates Glee's All-Madonna Episode: "Brilliant"". [[Us Weekly]].
24. Tucker, Ken. (April 20, 2010). "'Glee' review: Tonight's 'Power of Madonna' episode is one of the best hours of TV you'll see all year".
25. Stack, Tim. (April 21, 2010). "'Glee' recap: The Most Madge-ical Hour Ever!".
26. Semigran, Aly. (April 21, 2010). "'Glee' Recap: Episode 15, 'The Power Of Madonna'". [[MTV]].
27. Hankinson, Bobby. (April 21, 2010). "Glee: Just like a dream". [[Houston Chronicle]].
28. Coll, Kevin. (April 21, 2010). "TV Review: Glee – Episode 1.15 – The Power of Madonna". Fused Film.
29. VanDerWerff, Emily. (April 20, 2010). "The Power of Madonna". [[The A.V. Club]].
30. Goldman, Eric. (April 21, 2010). "Glee: "The Power of Madonna" Review". [[IGN]].