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Ballad
Season One, Episode Ten

First Aired	November 18, 2009
Episode Guide
previous "Wheels"	next "Hairography"

Ballad is the tenth episode of Glee's first season, and the tenth episode overall. It premiered on November 18, 2009.

Mr. Schuester splits the Glee club into pairs to sing their favorite ballad, but when Matt gets sick, he's forced to step in and winds up in a sticky situation as Rachel develops a crush on him. Meanwhile, Finn and Quinn have to face the music when dinner with her parents goes awry. Quinn's parents learn that their daughter is pregnant, and she moves in with Finn and his mother when her own parents throw her out. Puck reveals to Mercedes that he is the father of Quinn's baby, not Finn.

It was written and directed by Brad Falchuk.

Plot

Will tells the Glee club they must perform at least one ballad at this year's sectional competition. They will use random pairings and work on singing to the partner. Puck is paired with Mercedes, Tina is paired with Mike, Brittany is paired with Santana, and Finn is paired with Kurt, much to his embarrassment, as he initially wanted to be paired with Quinn and Rachel had hoped to be paired with him. As Kurt beams, Finn laments to Will that he doesn't think he can do it with another guy. Because Matt's absence (due to having a spider in his ear) resulted in an uneven number of participants, Will gets paired with Rachel, who wants to sing Endless Love. During the duet, Rachel begins falling for Will.

While trying on her dress for the Chastity Ball, Quinn's mother notices it no longer fits her and tells her to exercise more. Quinn's father pops into the room and tells Quinn he wants to have Finn over for dinner.

Rachel brings Will a gift, which sets off further alarm bells that she may have a crush on him.

Will tells Emma the tale of Suzy Pepper, a student from two years earlier who fell hard for Will. She also gave him a novelty gift and ended up calling his home in the middle of the night. When Will finally was honest with Suzy,

she attempted suicide by eating the hottest pepper alive. She ended up in the hospital because she burned a hole in her esophagus. Later, Emma suggests Will let Rachel down easy with a song.

Kurt insists that Finn sing to him "everything you feel" but Finn struggles and lashes out about the pressure he constantly feels, given all the things on his mind. He is bothered that his daughter may never know who he is. Kurt, after fleetingly mentioning that girls may be the base of his issues, suggests Finn try to sing away all of his problems. Finn performs I'll Stand By You. Carole catches him singing to a sonogram. He breaks down and tells her Quinn is pregnant. Quinn is furious Finn told his mother and is worried it might come back to her parents. Via voiceover Kurt tells that he has been "madly in love with Finn" ever since they crossed paths in the hallway (Finn briefly chastised Puck for running Kurt into the lockers) and is helping him so Finn will come crying to Kurt when Quinn inevitably blows him off.

With Emma in the room, Will sings a mashup of Don't Stand So Close to Me and Young Girl. Instead of listening to the lyrics, Rachel stares star-struck at Will, as does Emma.

Kurt helps Finn look through his dead father's nice clothes. With Kurt's mother having passed away as well, the two bond over losing a parent. Kurt tells him that there is a dresser that smells like his mother and sometimes he just sits on the floor and smells her. Finn is worried about meeting Quinn's parents and Kurt suggests he sing to them.

Will returns home to find Rachel has made dinner. Realizing Rachel had a thing for her husband, Terri let her cook and clean the house, until Will stopped Rachel.

Will drives Rachel home. On the way she tries to sing him Crush, but he cuts her off after a few bars. She tells him she's not interested in high school boys and has her "sights set much higher." The next day, Suzy Pepper corners Rachel in the hall and tells her to stay away from Will.

When Mercedes tells Puck the club wants to sing a ballad to Finn and Quinn, he blurts out that he is actually the father of her baby. Mercedes tell him it doesn't matter, that Quinn has made her choice and he owes her staying out of the picture.

At dinner, Finn begins to get nervous when Quinn's father makes a toast. He excuses himself and calls Kurt for help. He heads back out and sings (You're) Having My Baby to the whole family. Quinn's parents sit Finn and Quinn down. Quinn's father is so disappointed he kicks her out of house. Quinn is upset that her mother must have known that she was knocked up but did nothing out of fear of what Quinn's father would say if she said that she noticed Quinn had a big round baby bump.

Finn brings Quinn to his own home and his mother tells her she can stay with them as long as she needs to.

Suzy tells Rachel that after two years of psychotherapy she's learned that girls like them select crushes who will never like them back in order to re-affirm their low self-esteem.

Rachel tells Will she knows they will never be more than teacher-student. She brings flowers as an apology and was going to sing "Sorry." Will assures her that someday a boy will come along who will like her for who she is.

Finn tells Kurt he thinks it's good that everything with Quinn and her parents is out in the open. Kurt tells Finn his song was going to be "I Honestly Love You" in a shallow attempt at revealing his feelings, but Finn remains oblivious and states that he's unfamiliar with the song.

The Glee kids sit Finn and Quinn down and sing Lean On Me in order to show them how they feel. During the song Puck and Quinn glance knowingly at one another. Kurt meanwhile gives Finn the "call me" sign, which causes Finn to look nervously taken aback.

Songs

Song Title	Original Artist	Performer(s)
Endless Love	Lionel Richie and Diana Ross	Rachel Berry and Will Schuester
I'll Stand by You	The Pretenders	Finn Hudson
Don't Stand So Close to Me/Young Girl	The Police/ Gary Puckett & The Union Gap	Will Schuester
Crush	Jennifer Paige	Rachel Berry
(You're) Having My Baby	Paul Anka and Odia Coates	Finn Hudson
Lean on Me	Bill Withers	New Directions

Guest Stars

Guest Cast

Main Cast Absent

Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester

Trivia

During (You're) Having My Baby, Dianna kept laughing as Cory sang to her. Cory forgot his lines as soon as he saw Dianna laugh.
The Lean on Me scene was actually the first time both Dianna and Cory had seen it, they knew the cast was singing the song but hadn't heard it. They were not allowed in rehearsals with the rest of the cast.
"Ballad" was the episode submission of Dianna Agron (Quinn) for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, but her nomination failed to make the final cut.
All of the songs within this episode are on the Glee: The Music, Volume 2 CD.
In some scenes Kurt is wearing the same hat as he does in The New Rachel.
The piano guy's name is Brad. This is the first time they refer to him as anything.
When this episode airs in the UK, it is titled "Ballads" instead of Ballad.

Errors

When Kurt is ironing and his cellphone rings, he goes to pick it up, leaving the iron facing down. When the camera angle changes, it's facing up, as to not burn the clothes.
When Suzy Pepper is eating the hottest pepper alive, she has a lock of her hair in her mouth. However, at side shots, the hair disappears.
When Quinn's parents kick her out they are doing something illegal. Law forbids parents to kick out minors and if it's proved that they've kicked out a minor they can get in serious legal trouble.