I Kissed a Girl (Episode)

I Kissed a Girl is the seventh episode of Glee's third season and the fifty-first episode overall. It premiered on November 29, 2011.

Picking up from the last episode, Santana is to be suspended for slapping Finn but Finn thinks of a better idea. After he outed her, he feels bad and he makes an assignment for both The Troubletones and the New Directions. The assignment is Lady Music Week and to sing songs to show Santana that they support and love her for who she is. Santana learns to love herself and be proud of her and Brittany's relationship. The McKinley Senior Class Presidential campaign and Congress Campaign heats up as it's time to vote while Puck and Shelby's relationship slowly comes to an end.

The episode was directed by Tate Donovan and written by Matthew Hodgson (also written in part by Allison Adler, although she was not credited).

Plot
Finn, Santana, Shelby and Will are in Figgins' office, where Figgins wants to suspend Santana for slapping Finn. Shelby and Will agree that Santana should be punished for her actions, but she denies doing anything, despite there being witnesses. After Figgins says that Santana will be suspended for two weeks, Santana is outraged as she would be forced to miss Sectionals. Finn then stands up and says that Santana didn't actually slap him, Saying it was a "Stage Slap," therefore Santana is not suspended.



Finn makes Santana and the Troubletones come to The New Directions lesson that week. He declares it lady music week so to start off Blaine and Kurt do a duet of Perfect to support Santana and show her, they are there for her. Puck sings I'm the Only One for the Glee Club, during the song he kept on gazing at Shelby. Later, Santana doesn't understand why Finn is basically forcing her to embrace herself. Finn says that Santana was his first, and she means something to him, stating that if something were to ever happened to her and he didn't do everything he could to prevent it, he could never live with himself. Finn, was backed up by the New Directions boys, and sings a slow and emotional rendition of Girls Just Want to Have Fun. Santana gets very sentimental during this song and after the performance, Santana gives Finn a hug.

Sue is incensed that people are assuming she is a lesbian - just because she "has short hair, is aggressive and man-ish, wears nothing but track suits, coaches a girls' sports team and is married to herself." She turns to her little black book of booty calls, realizing that she needs a man to boost her campaign image if she wants to win the election.

Beiste, Will and Emma have a chat during lunch, Beiste is happy and admits things are going well between her and Cooter.

The scene cuts to Beiste picking up food at Breadstix, where she sees Sue and Cooter on a date with Becky snapping pictures of them. Beiste is upset and confronts Cooter, who says he thought she wasn’t interested because every time he wanted to ask her on a date, they ended up lifting weights. Cooter tells Beiste that he "likes her heaps" but is a grown man and needs more than just a buddy.

Voting day is on at McKinley, with both the school president polls and the Congressional polls taking place in the gym. According to Jacob Ben Israel, Brittany is far ahead of Kurt in the polls. Sue is at McKinley with Cooter doing her campaigning (not to mention rubbing it in Beiste's face) and it is killing Beiste to see them together. Beiste performs Jolene as she watches Sue and Cooter together.



Santana walks down the hall and to her dismay is the center of attention. Josh Coleman, the sophomore rugby team captain approaches her, telling her that he saw Salazar's ad and calls Santana "smokin'." He states that girls like her are a challenge and he's going to "make her normal." The girls of New Directions and Troubletones come to her rescue, with Quinn stating that it's not a choice to be a lesbian and even if it was he would be the girls' last choice. He calls all the girls lesbians to which Rachel replies that "What if we are? You wouldn't stand a chance either way." The girls then break into I Kissed a Girl led by Santana and Rachel. Santana updates the groups that she came out to her parents and that they were actually okay with it, but she's still yet to tell her grandmother. Figgins interrupts to tell Kurt to come see him in his office.

Beiste, Burt, and Figgins are waiting in the principal's office for Kurt. Beiste tells Kurt that he won the election, but by a suspicious margin - there were more votes than there were students. Kurt admits to having thought about cheating but insists that he wouldn't go through with it. He tells Finn and Rachel, and sadly walks off saying that he has lost everything and stands no chance of getting into NYADA. Rachel confides in Finn that it was her who rigged the election, and he urges her to come clean.

Puck, who is actually doing well in math class (apparently due to running his pool cleaning business) gets a phone call and rushes out of class. Shelby is in the hospital with Beth, who has fallen and split her lip open. Puck takes charge and insists that Beth see a plastic surgeon to avoid a scar on Beth's face. Shelby and Puck take Beth home and sleep together, but Shelby regrets it in the morning and kicks Puck out. Puck argues with Shelby, but becomes angry and storms out, calling Shelby a coward for being too afraid to be with him.

Santana sits in her abuela's (grandma's) kitchen and tells her that she has something important to share with her, her abuela being one of the most important and influential people in her life. Her abuela asks her if she's pregnant, and Santana laughs it off and continues on to tell her grandmother that she "loves girls the way she's supposed to feel about boys" and that when she's with Brittany she finally understands what love is. Santana's abuela tells her to leave and to never return, and that secrets are called secrets for a reason. She says that the sin is not in the act, but in the scandal of talking about it, and that Santana had no right to make her feel uncomfortable and walks out of the room. Santana is crushed by her abuela's rejection and bursts into tears.

Puck and Quinn are making out in her bed. Puck says he didn’t bring protection but Quinn says "That's okay, because they can make another perfect baby, just like Beth." Puck says that he screwed up, that the whole glee club screwed up, in working so hard to help Santana that they neglected Quinn, who's been hurting and broken since she had Beth and gave her up. Quinn is comforted by this and asks Puck to lay beside her and hold her. Puck then tells Quinn he has a secret to tell her, presumably that he slept with Shelby, but the scene cuts to black before he tells her what the secret is.

Sue and Cooter are in Sue's office. Burt won the election and Sue came in third. Cooter asks what this means for him and Sue, and Beiste enters saying that she wants to know the same thing. She confesses to Cooter that she is in love with him. However Sue won’t back down and says Cooter is the best thing that came out of the election mess. Beiste claims she "won’t go down without a fight."



In the choir room, Kurt congratulates Brittany sincerely and she tells him that he is "the most unicorn of them all." Santana is to close this week's assignment and she says she has chosen a song that "gives her strength and gets her through." She sings Constant Craving, with Shelby and Kurt joining in as all three characters deal with their struggles along with Rachel; Shelby walks down the hall trying to deal with her mixed feelings for Puck. Kurt celebrates his father's victory while dealing with his own defeat, and submits his NYADA application despite lack of credentials. Rachel deals with her mistake and confesses her involvement in rigging the school election. The final moments of the episode show Rachel announcing to New Directions and Troubletones that she rigged the election, and has confessed to Figgins, meaning Kurt will not take the blame. As punishment, Rachel has been suspended for one week, the incident is going on her permanent record, and she is banned from competing at this year's Sectionals.

Special Guest Star

 * Idina Menzel as Shelby Corcoran

Guest Stars

 * Mike O'Malley as Burt Hummel
 * Iqbal Theba as Principal Figgins
 * Dot-Marie Jones as Shannon Beiste
 * Damian McGinty as Rory Flanagan
 * Vanessa Lengies as Sugar Motta
 * Lauren Potter as Becky Jackson
 * Josh Sussman as Jacob Ben Israel
 * Ivonne Coll as Alma Lopez
 * Eric Bruskotter as Cooter Menkins
 * Jim Gleason as Doctor
 * Jan Hoag as Roberta
 * David Wilson Page as Josh Coleman

Co-Star

 * Mary Gillis as Mrs. Hagberg

Trivia

 * This is the sixth episode to feature a song with the same title as the episode. (The earlier episodes were Home, Dream On, Silly Love Songs, Blame It on the Alcohol and Born This Way).
 * In Mash Off, Santana says that her abuela was not a nice lady who tried to sell her and threatened to beat her with a chair, but in this episode it is revealed that Santana looks up to her grandmother and loves her dearly. However, it's is possible she might have another abuela.
 * This episode was viewed by 7.90 million people.
 * There were quite a few deleted scenes including the scene of Brittany holding Santana from behind, Santana coming out to Sue and Becky, the Will and Emma kiss, an unknown Brittana scene that had been confirmed by several sources and Becky saying that she's made out with a girl. Why these were cut is unknown.
 * The Santana coming out to her abuela scene was written by Allison Adler and inspired by her own experience.
 * However, Adler was not credited as a writer in this episode.
 * This is the only episode of Season Three to not feature a performance in the auditorium.
 * On August 6, 2012, Ryan Murphy uploaded a deleted scene where Santana comes out to the Cheerios.
 * Eric Stoltz is one of the names present in Sue's black book of booty calls. Stoltz is one of the directors.
 * Every song in this episode was originally performed by a female artist who either identifies as lesbian or is a strong supporter of LGBT rights.
 * The kitchen where Santana and her abuela had their scene was also featured in the first season of Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk's other series, American Horror Story as the kitchen of Constance Langdon.

Errors

 * If Kurt was born in May 1993, this would mean he would have graduated in 2011.
 * In the scene with Quinn and Puck in Quinn's bedroom, as the camera angle changes, the cross on Quinn's necklace switches from her chest to the back of her neck.
 * During the lunch scene with Coach Beiste, Will Schuester, and Emma Pillsbury, Will's lunchbox is open. When it cuts back to him, you see him open his lunchbox again.
 * When Quinn asks Puck to have sex, he says that normally he would take the risk, but they have a bad track record. However, in Audition, Puck states that he had a vasectomy. If this is the case, there would be no risk and Quinn wouldn't even want to have sex with him, as he can't provide the child that she wants. However, this could have been just a rumor, because Jacob asks if it is true.
 * At the start of the episode when Kurt is interviewed by Jacob, Kurt puts a book in his locker. The camera shot briefly switches to Jacob, then when it cuts back, Kurt puts the same book in his locker.
 * At the start of the episode, it is stated that Rachel is running for president against Kurt, Brittany and Rick, but this is incorrect as she has already withdrawn in Mash Off.
 * In the scene with Cooter, Sue, and Beiste, Sue recalls that Becky was a sophomore when they met, which means she would be a senior in this season, yet she appears next season as a student. This could be an error or she could've repeated her senior year.

Quotes
"My iPhone 5 is vibrating. That's a new feature of the iPhone 5: they vibrate now."

"Screw you. Sure, you've got the boom and the pow, and your lips are cash money. But what really turned me on about you was how much of an asskicker you were, winning all those championships, going to New York, raising Beth on your own. All garbage. This was your chance to get in on the ground floor of something really special: me. But you're too much of a coward to go for it."