Pot o' Gold

Pot o' Gold is the fourth episode of Glee's third season and the forty-eighth episode overall. It premiered on November 1, 2011.

Rory, a foreign exchange student from Ireland, is new to McKinley and is staying at Brittany's home and it is clear he has a crush on her. After Quinn's return to the New Directions, she tells Puck that she wants Beth back from Shelby, and asks for Puck's assistance. However, Puck and Shelby seem to have found a romantic connection together. Finn assists Rory and convinces him to join the Glee Club, while Shelby's all-female Glee Club, The Troubletones, recruits Mercedes and two other members from New Directions, leaving the Glee Club in shock.

The episode was directed by Adam Shankman and written by Allison Adler.

Plot
This episode opens with Brittany at her locker when a new student, named Rory, comes up to her. They have a conversation that shows Brittany believes Rory to be a leprechaun. He goes along with it, because she says she will give him her "pot of gold," and promises to grant her first wish: an all marshmallow box of Lucky Charms. Finn eavesdrops on their conversation from across the hall. After Brittany leaves, Rory gets pushed into the lockers by a hockey player who tells him to "go back to Mexico."





Puck and Quinn convince Shelby to let them babysit Beth for a night. Meanwhile, in another episode of Sue's Corner, Sue continues to campaign for "no arts in schools," mainly going after McKinley's musical. Parents agree with Sue and start calling McKinley to complain, which leads Figgins (who was assaulted by an angry parent that is outside the office holding up a sign with "ANGRY" written on it) to cut the musical's budget. Will claims he can get the money himself.

Mercedes approaches Santana asking her how many solos she was given last year. Mercedes uses this to try convince Santana to join Shelby’s all-girl group because they would get all the solos. Her proposal intrigues Santana but she says she could never leave Brittany, and Mercedes tells her to bring Brittany along. Finn is following Mercedes and Santana during their conversation and looks worried.

Back in the choir room, Tina and the other members are distraught that Mercedes has left, because she was one of their strongest singers, as well as an original member who had been with them right from the start. They start arguing and then Rachel comes in late, saying that she was hanging posters for her campaign; this leads Kurt to make a snide comment, showing that their friendship still hasn’t mended. Finn tells them to stop fighting and then attempts to raise their low spirits. Blaine backs him up but Finn is offended by the interjection to his pep talk. Will suggests they sell ads to raise money for the musical.

Finn meets Rory, who explains that he is a foreign exchange student from Ireland who loves America. He wants more friends and to get Brittany's "pot of gold." Finn agrees to be Rory’s friend as long as Rory spies on Brittany and Santana for him.



Quinn and Puck babysit Beth. Quinn plants false evidence to frame Shelby as an unfit mother in Shelby’s apartment so that she can call child services and get custody of Beth.

Kurt tells Burt about the musical's money problem and Burt immediately gets the money (from Lima’s funeral owners) and goes to Figgins - as a result, the musical is back on. Sue and Burt have an argument in the hall about her campaign.

Rory has a bullying problem; the hockey players keep targeting him. He grants Brittany’s first wish and she asks him to grant her a second wish - to make Lord Tubbington poop candy bars. He asks her out on a date but she declines, saying she has plans with a "friend." Rory has his first solo and the first song of the episode when he sings Bein' Green.

Brittany and Santana are then seen on a date at Breadstix. Santana wants to talk about their "status" because she doesn’t know if they’re dating or not, and Brittany replies that she thought they were already dating. They agree that they are now officially dating. Santana says that she wishes that Brittany would join her into going to Shelby’s Glee Club, but Brittany says she doesn’t want to be a quitter. However, she does say that she’ll think about it. Santana asks to hold hands but puts a napkin over their linked hands, revealing that she is still afraid of people judging her because of her sexuality.

Puck’s pool-cleaning business is booming, but Quinn doesn’t think that the job is good enough. They have a moment in which Quinn confesses her true feelings about Beth. Shelby helps Puck with his job.

Will announces the musical is back on. Blaine wants the group to remember what Glee is all about and sings Last Friday Night. Santana gets mad, claiming that New Directions is going to become the "Rachel and Blaine show." Santana confronts Rory about his crush on Brittany, and ultimately scares him into granting her a wish; getting Brittany to join Shelby's show choir. Later, Rory puts candy bars in Lord Tubbington’s litter box and convinces Brittany to join Shelby’s group.

Will visits Burt and asks him to run against Sue, who says that he was already going to do it because the arts saved Kurt’s life.

Puck visits Shelby to thank her and get rid of the evidence Quinn planted earlier. During all of this Beth won’t stop crying, but he puts her to sleep by singing Waiting for a Girl Like You. Puck and Shelby have a moment where Puck lets her know that he will always be there to help her.

Rory reveals the news of Brittany’s defection to Finn. Finn goes to Brittany to try and talk her out of defecting from New Directions. Santana points out Finn's jealousy towards Blaine, which aggravates him. He then snaps and frustratedly tells Brittany that leprechauns aren’t real, and tells her to stop being such an "idiot." However, this proves to be the wrong move, as Brittany is greatly offended by this, pointing out that, as Finn is the group's leader, he has even less of a right than the other guys in the club to say such a thing to her. This ultimately seals her decision to quit New Directions.

Burt states his political views on "Burt’s Corner" as Sue and Will observe.



Brittany and Santana go to Shelby’s choir. Sugar appears happy that there are more people to "sing back up for her," but Santana immediately tells her that all she's talented enough to do is sway in the background and sing "very quietly." The five of them (Brittany, Santana, Mercedes, Sugar, and Shelby) discuss their group name, which they conclude to be The

Troubletones. They sing Candyman in the auditorium and the impressive performance intimidates Finn and Will. Later Finn apologizes to Brittany and says he understands why they left, even if he doesn’t like it. Rory claims that he has granted Brittany’s last wish and that he is ready for her pot of gold, but Brittany tells him that she now knows leprechauns don’t exist and leaves. Santana tells Rory to disappear.

Burt and Carole talk to Finn and Kurt about his campaign at Breadstix. Kurt expresses his concern for Burt’s health and Burt offers Finn the option of running the tire shop if he gets elected into office. Sue shows up at their table, thanking Burt for making her remember why she decided to run in the first place; not simply to cut arts budgets, but to give more money to special education programs.

Later, back in school, Finn stands up for Rory. New Directions are upset because so many people have left, so Finn convinces Rory to try out for the club where he sings Take Care of Yourself. The episode ends with Shelby and Puck sharing a kiss.

Unreleased Songs

 * Sugar, Sugar by The Archies. Sung by Sugar Motta with The Troubletones

Special Guest Star

 * Idina Menzel as Shelby Corcoran

Guest Stars

 * Mike O'Malley as Burt Hummel
 * Iqbal Theba as Principal Figgins
 * Romy Rosemont as Carole Hudson-Hummel
 * Vanessa Lengies as Sugar Motta
 * Damian McGinty as Rory Flanagan
 * Bill A. Jones as Rod Remington
 * Earlene Daviss as Andrea Carmichael

Co-Stars

 * Rock Anthony as Rick Nelson
 * Claudia Choi as Make-Up Woman
 * Sonya Eddy as Angry Mom
 * Jack Harding as Mr. Baroody
 * Kristopher Logan as Mr. Shor
 * Joe Davis Massigill as Jock #1
 * Suraj Partha as Pony
 * Suzy Sincock as Mrs. Denny-Brown
 * Tava Smiley as Mrs. Figler
 * Peter Spruyt as Mr. Danforth
 * Talula as Beth Corcoran

Absent Cast Member

 * Jayma Mays as Emma Pillsbury

Trivia

 * The song at the end of this promo for the episode, although originally thought to be an original song, is actually "Lightyears" by Mica Javier. Full Version
 * This is the debut episode for Damian McGinty (Rory Flanagan), one of the winners from The Glee Project.
 * Blaine sings Last Friday Night in this episode, with Artie singing backup in parts. Likewise, both Darren Criss and Kevin McHale were in the original music video by Katy Perry.
 * This is the first episode not to be written by any of the Glee co-creators (Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, or Ian Brennan). Instead, it's written by co-executive producer Allison Adler.

Errors

 * When Mercedes talks to Santana about how many solos she got last year, Santana says only Valerie and Science Fiction Double Feature (as the Rocky Horror lips). Santana doesn't mention Songbird  but it seems clear she didn't mention it because she was alone with Brittany in the choir room and it wasn't a solo that was given or sung in front or with the club.

Quotes
"Kurt: She could have a field day with this whole gay son thing.

Burt: I'm proud of you, Kurt. Don't care who knows it."

"I have one final wish, Leprechaun. Would you do this whole school a favor and just disappear?"

"Finn: It's true?

Brittany: Of course not.

Finn: You're not quitting New Directions?

Brittany: Oh, I thought you meant the Selena Gomez pregnancy rumors."

"You cannot call your future president an "idiot." It's mean, it's bullying and I won't accept it."

"Beth is perfect. She's my perfect thing."