Comeback

Comeback is the thirteenth episode of Glee's second season and the thirty-fifth episode overall. It premiered on February 15, 2011.

Will allows Sue to join the Glee Club in an attempt to ease her depression. Sam creates a tribute band, The Justin Bieber Experience, in order to win Quinn's heart, and is later joined by the group's other male members, except co-captain Finn. They recreate Bieber's Somebody to Love in order to woo their significant others.

The episode was directed by Bradley Buecker and written by Ryan Murphy.

Plot
Sue has fallen into a deep depression since her loss at the Cheerleading Regionals, which had cost the Cheerios a spot at nationals. She attempts suicide (Sue-icide) by eating gummy bear vitamins, but is suitably unimpressed when they don't work. Emma suggests to Will that he invites Sue to join the Glee club for a week to help her get out of her funk. Initially skeptical, Will eventually warms up to Sue and notices the Glee club has a positive effect on her. However, Sue secretly reveals in her diary that she wants to destroy the club from the inside. She does this by attempting to turn Mercedes and Rachel against each other. Angry, the girls have a vocal "Diva-Off" at glee club rehearsals and sing Take Me or Leave Me. However, they admire each other's singing during the song and become friends again, to the dismay of Sue. Will then takes Sue to the Pediatrics Cancer unit at the local hospital where he sings this little light of mine with the kids once a month. Sue's demeanor softens, and she enjoys her visit. Sue becomes annoyed with the students' efforts at singing anthems, which will be the theme at Regionals. Sue and the rest of the club sing a song of her own choosing. Finn and Rachel lead the club members and Sue in a rendition of Sing by My Chemical Romance. Ultimately, Sue becomes a fan of the 'music within me' and takes a part-time position as the coach of Aural Intensity, much to Will's horror.



Meanwhile, Rachel dresses Brittany in her own signature style of conservative dress to her make a social comeback at McKinley. This starts off with one article of clothing which was leg warmers, but Brittany wore them on her arms because she was cold. Rachel demands for Brittany to dress exactly like her, and informs her to go to Kids "R" Us. That next day Brittany Comes into school dress head to toe like Rachel, and Rachel tells her to tell everybody she is just copying Rachel Berry. This plan backfires when the rest of the female student body dresses like Rachel but claim that it was Brittany that made the style trendy. Sam forms a Justin Bieber tribute band to impress Quinn, and sings Baby to woo her from Finn. Earlier, Quinn lied to Sam that she did not kiss Finn but had saved his life by extracting a gumball from a choking Finn's mouth. Artie and Mike are concerned that their girlfriends are coming down from a "Valentine's Day high" and Puck wants to impress Lauren, so they join The Justin Bieber Experience. Together they perform Somebody to Love, and the boys suitably impress their girlfriends who show their affection. When Lauren becomes nervous about performing for the first time in front of the glee club, Puck suggests that during her solo she should imagine they are all wearing only their underwear. Starting off timid, Lauren eventually confidently sings I Know What Boys Like to the rest of the Glee club.



Santana confronts Sam about his relationship with Quinn. She explains to Sam that he knows Quinn kissed Finn but that he was willing to believe her story to stay with her, and that he has an opportunity to show everyone that he is not a pushover. Santana then proceeds to proposition Sam. Quinn was impressed by Sam's Bieber-inspired performance but Sam confronts her about her encounter with Finn and states that he is now dating Santana. Finally, Rachel asserts that Sing will not be competitive enough at Regionals and suggests that the club write their own original anthem. The other members disagree, but later Finn tells Rachel that he agrees with her and suggests that she is on a "comeback."

Unreleased Songs

 * This Little Light of Mine by Harry Dixon Loes. Sung by Sue Sylvester and Will Schuester with Pediatric Patients

Guest Stars

 * Iqbal Theba as Principal Figgins
 * Harry Shum Jr. as Mike Chang
 * Chord Overstreet as Sam Evans
 * Ashley Fink as Lauren Zizes
 * Charlene Amoia as Nurse Bailey

Absent Cast Members

 * Chris Colfer as Kurt Hummel
 * Jessalyn Gilsig as Terri Del Monico
 * Mike O'Malley as Burt Hummel

Trivia

 * This is the second non-tribute episode to feature more than one song originally done by a specific artist, following Theatricality (Lady Gaga and KISS) and followed by New New York (Petula Clark) and, arguably, Bash (in which three of the songs are from musicals with songs written by Stephen Sondheim).
 * Additionally, numerous fans call this episode an unofficial "Justin Bieber" tribute, not just for featuring more than one of his songs but also because Bieber himself influences the episode's plot.
 * This episode features the first and only solo by Lauren.
 * When Rachel and Mercedes sing the song Take Me or Leave Me from the Broadway musical Rent, Rachel sings the part of Maureen Johnson originally played by Idina Menzel who also happens to play the role of Rachel's mother.
 * Kurt is absent for the first time in the series.
 * Sue's nickname for Will "SpongeHair SquareChin" is a parody of SpongeBob SquarePants.
 * There were several sticky notes inside of Quinn's locker. One mentioned "A Fuschia Elephant," which is an unreleased short film that Dianna Agron wrote, designed the set and costumes, directed, and starred in. Another says "Call Charlie" who, according to Dianna, was the name of many characters in stories she wrote, a male counterpart of herself, and her in a past life.
 * Puck's "Bieber Hair" is attached to the hood of his jacket.
 * In the final scene, Rachel is wearing the same sweater that she dressed in River Deep, Mountain High performance in Duets.
 * Real patients from the cancer and blood diseases ward of Children's Hospital Los Angeles portray the children in the pediatric cancer ward at Lima Hospital.
 * During the performance of Take Me or Leave Me, Santana and Quinn are wearing leg warmers on their arms, copying Brittany's accessory.
 * Rachel's to do list includes Celine Dion's birthday, friend request Barbra Streisand again, and Avatar on ice audition.
 * When Santana was talking to Sam in the library, she said "make no mistake", a duet they would both sing together in the episode Diva.

Errors

 * After the performance of Sing, Quinn approaches Sam wearing black leggings. Then after they break up, at Glee Club rehearsals, she is wearing red leggings.

Quotes
"Rachel, I'm gonna give you some tough love right now. You're not a trendsetter. When people look at you, they don't see what you're wearing; they see a cat getting its temperature taken, and then they hear it screaming."

"Despite the fact that your mouth to face ratio is way off, you still somehow manage to be cute."

"I wants on them froggy lips, and I want on them NOW."

"You know... I really like the Rachel that I saw in there today. Reminded me of the old you. Focused and take no prisoners. I think she might be making a comeback."