A Night of Neglect

‎A Night of Neglect is the seventeenth episode of Glee's second season and the thirty-ninth episode overall. It premiered on April 19, 2011 in America. It was originally slated to air April 12, 2011, but it was pushed back a week.

New Directions is soon heading to Nationals in New York but can't afford the money to fly there. As they attempt to raise money selling water taffy as suggested by Will; Mike, Tina, Artie, and Brittany reveal that they need money as they are part of the Academic Decathlon competition and are disappointed with New Directions greed, only wanting to invest the money on the plane ride to New York. Will decides to create a concert, "‎A Night of Neglect" attempting to raise money for the Academic Decathlon but remains anxious as to whether the New Directions will be able to get the money for their trip to Nationals.

The episode was directed by Carol Banker and written by Ian Brennan.

Plot
Mr. Schuester suggests that the Glee Club should sell salt water taffy to make money for them to go to Nationals, since Sue has hidden the Cheerios' funds (which were supposed to go to Glee Club once the Cheerios lost their chance at Nationals) in off-shore accounts where Will can't access them. The Glee kids shoot down his idea, complaining that they can't possibly sell enough candy since, despite winning Regionals, they are still at the bottom of the social status quo at McKinley.

Disheartened by the selfish attitude of the glee club members, Mike reveals that he, Tina, Artie and Brittany (who they bribed with dots) are in the finals for the Academic Decathlon TV show "Smarty Pants" but their club, The Brainiacs, can't afford to go, so Mr. Schue formulates a plan to raise money for them as well.

Sue recruits Sandy Ryerson, Dustin Goolsby, and Terri Del Monico (formerly Schuester) into her 'League of Doom', (Although Sandy Ryerson thinks that it is called 'League of Evil') a group whose sole purpose is to destroy the Glee Club. She gives them each code names "The Pink Dagger", "Sergeant Handsome" and the "Honey Badger" respectively and pagers so that she (as the leader "General Zod") can contact them for missions as needed.

Holly and Will discuss the Glee Club and Brainiacs fundraising troubles while on a date but Holly thinks his idea is terrible. She blames Terri for crushing Will's dreams and thinks they should hold a benefit concert, titled '‎A Night of Neglect' comparing the situation to a "sad disease." Will loves the idea and tells the glee club members that they will only do songs by neglected artists. The Glee kids take this to mean artists that are underappreciated in the music industry as a whole and by the Glee club's choice of artists so far. Will further explains that a neglected artist is "someone whose brilliance isn't always appreciated." Rachel chimes "oh you mean someone like me" to which Will rebuffs "I mean like all of us."

Sue hears about the benefit and hands out her first missions. Dustin is to break up Will and Holly and Sandy is to destroy the Night of Neglect by heckling the kids until they quit. Sandy (with direction from Sue) organizes a new club, the 'Heckling Club' and recruits Jacob, Azimio, and Becky into it with their first club activity taking place during the Night of Neglect.

Glee Club members are deciding on their performances for the benefit. Tina announces she will perform a song by Lykke Li, Mike decides to put on a dance number and Mercedes will perform a number by Aretha Franklin, since they haven't done any of her songs to date. Rachel is determined to perform the closing number My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion. When the group questions her about her choice, she says the neglected artist she is honoring is herself. When Mercedes brings up the fact that she wanted to do the closing number, it looks like there could be an argument about it, but Finn runs in to announce Sunshine is back.

Sunshine comes to McKinley's auditorium after hearing about the benefit concert on Facebook and wants to perform All By Myself. However most of New Directions object, calling her a spy, until Sunshine mentions she can get all 600 of her Twitter followers to come. Rachel is still opposed to Sunshine but everyone else agrees she should be allowed.

Rachel corners Mercedes into taking a middle slot in the performing roster and she doesn't object. Lauren thinks that Mercedes is neglected only because she lets people walk all over her. Lauren suggests Mercedes demand the respect she deserves and offers her, her skills as a manager for a ten percent cut of whatever they can ask for.

Will finds Emma trying to clean up; her OCD has gotten worse since Carl left her. Will offers to be there for Emma as a friend, to help her get better. Holly is supposed to meet with Will for lunch but oversees the moment and is jealous so she skips their lunch date. This is compounded by the fact that she is currently Emma's therapist and hears how much she is still in love with Will.

Finn and Quinn approach Rachel about their problems with Mercedes' new demands, which include a small barrel of green M&Ms, a room full of humidifiers and a fresh puppy on which to dry her hands. Rachel, while upset at them flaunting their new relationship in her face, agrees to resolve the problem. She says stars make demands because they cannot help themselves, they need to feel appreciated and respected. Rachel then takes on the task of seeing to Mercedes' needs and making sure she is happy.

Holly has another of her infamous lessons in History class (this time about supposed hermaphrodite and Nazi sympathizer Wallis Simpson). Dustin stops by and attempts to flirt with Holly but Will overhears and threatens to knock his teeth out, whereby Dustin slips away. Will and Holly argue, but agree not to have a silly fight over jealousy. Will accuses Holly of not showing up for their lunch date and Holly explains what she saw. Holly, still upset, says she doesn't want to practice their duet for the benefit and deflects a kiss on the cheek from Will.

Rachel shows Mercedes and Lauren how she has made efforts to meet Mercedes' demands and when they find out Sunshine will be closing the Night of Neglect, Mercedes makes a new demand - to be carried onto the stage on the night of the benefit like her fellow artists (Celine's Wedding, Cher's Comeback Tour, Gaga at the Grammys). Rachel, confused asks whether Mercedes means she wants to be carried onto the stage in a giant egg to which Lauren replies "We'll get back to you."

On the day of the benefit concert, Kurt shows Blaine around the school with a sad expression on his face. As Blaine points out that Kurt misses McKinley, Dave Karofsky shows up and insults them. After some homophobic comments, Blaine gets angry and points out Dave's hypocrisy. Dave calls Blaine an insulting name and he instinctively gives Dave a shove. Kurt stands by comfortable with having Blaine defending him (the exact opposite of what happened when they fought in "Never Been Kissed"). Dave shoves him back. Kurt calls Dave a "coward when it comes to the truth," Santana jumps in curious to find out more. Dave tells her, referring to her as "J-Lo," it's none of her business and Santana rips into him as revenge for tossing that slushie in her "grill." Blaine points out that he and Kurt could have handled themselves but Santana simply smiles and says "It was more fun doing it together." Kurt smiles, appreciating the defense and show of strength in friendship still held with his Glee girls. Santana then gets a Twitter update on her phone and rushes off; Sunshine and her 600 Twitter followers aren't coming anymore to the benefit because of Dustin's orders. The benefit now have only 6 people in the audience (Kurt, Blaine, Sandy, Azimio, Becky and Jacob) but the show must go on.



Tina performs first with I Follow Rivers but was cut short when she ran off the stage after being heckled off by the Heckling Club and cries for over an hour. Artie suggests canceling the benefit but Will encourages them to keep going because it's a good practice for Nationals. They decide to give the hecklers the salt water taffy (specifically Quinn, using it as a minor bribe to vote for her for Prom Queen). Mike's dance performance to Jack Johnson's Bubble Toes is a hit, as the taffy keeps the Heckling Club quiet.

As New Directions wonders what to do next with the Heckling Club, Will suggests they will simply have to leave them in awe of their terrific performances, so there will be nothing to heckle about. He looks for Mercedes but she had left the benefit after how she has been treated. The Glee Club is sent to find her, while Holly decides that she will handle the hecklers. She pulls them into the library and tells them how bad heckling makes people feel and offers them the chance to turn it around and do something good. They all decide to leave the benefit instead.

Rachel catches up to Mercedes and attempts to persuade her to come back. They discuss the way Rachel gets all the best solos, despite Mercedes' obviously equal talent. Rachel suggests that the reason is that there is nothing she personally will stop at to achieve stardom (which she admits isn't necessarily a good trait) but if Mercedes wants the spotlight, she needs to go in there and take it from Rachel.

After intermission everyone returns and Blaine makes a snide comment to Sandy "You're a really horrible person, you know that?" while Kurt nudges him back to their seats. Sue pulls Sandy away during the intermission and gets angry at him for letting the Heckling Club leave while he was practicing catchphrases in the girls' bathroom. Meanwhile Holly performs Adele's emotional hit Turning Tables as Will watches.



Mercedes then returns and decides that she will perform but she has one final demand, she wants New  Directions to watch her perform. So she performs Ain't No Way with the gospel choir from the Madonna episode (possibly her church choir) which causes Sandy to reconnect with his love of the arts and music. We see Kurt and Blaine cheering her on. Rachel stares at Finn behind the curtains during the number with a look of sadness. Awestruck with Mercedes when her performance is over, Rachel says that she can't top her and ends the benefit saying that she was the best closing number. The two share a friendly embrace.



After the show ends, Holly comes out of a janitor's closet (a.k.a. her office thanks to Figgins) and reveals to Will she got a 4 month job teaching French in Cleveland. When Will points out that this will be the end o f their relationship, Holly reminds him of her commitment issues and tells  Will about Emma. Holly has been counseling Emma and she still loves Will. Just before Holly leaves, she agrees to Will's request that one day she will be back with, "I thought you'd never ask."

When Will gets back to the choir room, New Directions is joined by Sandy who has decided to use his drug money to fund their trip to Nationals and the Brainiacs' trip.



Meanwhile, Sue calls the League of Doom together and deems them a failure. Sandy supported the benefit while Dustin wasn't the one to break up Holly and Will. Disappointed with the two men's efforts, Sue turns to "Honey Badger" saying that her time has come. At the Brainiacs' tournament, the scores are tied at 124, when the final questions come up. The category: Hermaphrodite Nazi Sympathizers. Artie and Brittany smile at each other - they have this in the bag.

Background Songs

 * Bubble Toes by Jack Johnson danced to by Mike Chang.

Special Guest Stars

 * Gwyneth Paltrow as Holly Holliday
 * Cheyenne Jackson as Dustin Goolsby

Guest Stars

 * Stephen Tobolowsky as Sandy Ryerson
 * Charice as Sunshine Corazon
 * Harry Shum Jr. as Mike Chang
 * Chord Overstreet as Sam Evans
 * Darren Criss as Blaine Anderson
 * Ashley Fink as Lauren Zizes
 * Max Adler as Dave Karofsky
 * James Earl III as Azimio
 * Josh Sussman as Jacob Ben Israel
 * Bill A. Jones as Rod Remington

Co-Star

 * Lauren Potter as Becky Jackson

Absent Cast Member

 * Mike O'Malley as Burt Hummel

Trivia

 * In the very beginning, Will states that the club needs $5,000 to pay for the trip to Nationals. However, the equation he had just written on the board reads "5,000 x 0.25 = 20,000." This equation is not correct, as 5,000 x 0.25 = 1,250, and not 20,000. The correct equation would be "5,000 / .25 = 20,000" or "20,000 x .25 = 5,000." This was probably a gag related to Will's lack of mathematical knowledge, even though it has never been mentioned in previous episodes. According to Amber Riley's Twitter, this was indeed done on purpose, and was an inside joke of sorts with the cast. Source
 * While confronting Karofsky, Santana threatens him with the line, "You can stay here and I'll crack one of your nuts; right or left, that's your choice..." This may be a reference to a short film that Chris Colfer starred in, "Russel Fish: The Sausage or Eggs Incident."
 * This is the first episode in the series where all songs are performed in the auditorium.
 * The episode had bad reviews, just like the episode Funeral that aired later in the season. The bad reviews caused Ryan Murphy to hire new writers for Season Three episodes.
 * The categories for questions in the Brainiacs competition were: Cat Diseases, Deadly Cyclones, Defunct Sodas, Famous Mervs, Fat or Pregnant, History of Shoehorns, Organic Chemistry, Potpourri, and White Rappers. The bonus question category was Hermaphrodite Nazi Sympathizers.
 * Early in this episode, Holly is teaching Brittany and Artie's history class about Hermaphrodite Nazi Sympathizers. The final category in the Academic Decathlon is related on what Holly taught.
 * This is the only episode in Season Two where Rachel doesn't sing, although she was planned to sing How by Lisa Loeb in this episode by her. It is unknown if this was recorded.
 * "The show must go...all over the place... or something" was written on Finn's plaque in The Quarterback. However, the quote is incorrect and what Finn actually said was "The show's gotta go all over the place, or something"

Errors

 * During the flashback of the Brainiacs competition, Brittany says Feline AIDS was discovered in 2001 in Calcutta. Feline Immunodeficiency Virus was actually isolated at UC Davis in 1986.
 * Another reference to medical marijuana in Ohio is made. Until 2016 there were no medical marijuana laws in Ohio.

Quotes
"What's that saying? The show's gotta go all over the place, or something."