The Power of Madonna
Season One, Episode Fifteen
First Aired	April 20, 2010
Episode Guide
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The Power of Madonna is the fifteenth episode of Glee's first season, and the fifteenth episode overall. It premiered on April 20, 2010.

It is a tribute episode to the artist Madonna, featuring songs only by her. After Sue uses her love and inspiration for Madonna, she begins to train and ask her Cheerios to emulate Madonna.  Mr. Schuester is concerned that the girls in the glee club are being disrespected and bullied by the guys. Looking ot Madonna and her musical message of equality as insiration, he challenged the entire team to choose Madonna songs as their assignment in the hopes tat the girls embrace her strangth, independence, and confidence and that the guys will see the error of their misogynstic ways. The Glee Club takes the assignment to heart as they perform some of Madonna's greatest hits.

It is the first tribute episode the show has produced and also the first episode with an Extended Play album created for the episode.

The episode was written and directed by Ryan Murphy.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Songs 2.1 Background Songs 3 Guest Stars 4 Trivia 5 Errors 6 Gallery 7 Videos 8 Quotes 9 Navigational 10 Comments

Plot

Cheerios coach Sue Sylvester is revealed to be a major Madonna fan, praising her powerful example and asking her Cheerios to emulate Madonna (including dating younger men and using their first names only, "A La Madonna") so that

they will be more empowered in their performance as cheerleaders. By blackmailing Principal Figgins, she arranges for Madonna tunes to blast through the school intercom (except in Emma's office, with Sue justifying that Emma does not have the confidence to take control of her body and sex appeal like Madonna does).

Will Schuester sees the Cheerios performing a routine with stilts to the tune of Ray of Light after overhearing the girls in New Directions discussing difficulties they are having in relationships and life. Rachel, for example, asks the other girls for advice if a guy (who vaguely implies she is still dating Jesse St. James) is pressuring her to have sex. Will is inspired to declare a Madonna-only assignment for the week, to restore the girls to equal status. The boys dislike the idea, with the exception of Kurt, who along with Mercedes, want to do a multimedia presentation honoring Madonna.

The girls sing Express Yourself with most of the male members remaining unimpressed, except Kurt. Meanwhile Santana, decides to bring it upon herself to take Finn's virginity. Initially Finn is hesitant to accept because he still has feelings for Rachel. Santana informs him that Rachel is already planning to have sex with Jesse, who she is still dating. Furious, he confronts her and after resigning himself to the fact Rachel is dating Jesse, agrees to do a mash-up of Borderline and Open Your Heart that also recaps issues in their relationship.

A music-video cover of Madonna's Vogue video starring Sue Sylvester in the Madonna role (which also features Kurt, Mercedes, Santana and Brittany) is intended as a makeover after Sue admits to Kurt and Mercedes that she is secretly jealous of Will's hair after an incident that happened to her as a child.

Three people decide to have sex for the first time and with their chosen partners (Finn & Santana, Rachel & Jesse, and Emma & Will) they sing Like a Virgin. Rachel and Jesse decide not to go ahead, but Finn pushes through to losing his virginity with Santana, and he later hides this from Rachel because "it meant nothing." Also, Will and Emma don't go through with it. She wanted to, but freaked out and ran out of his house with no shoes on. Meanwhile, Jesse surprises Rachel and New Directions by transferring to William McKinley High School so that

he and Rachel can be openly together. There is resistance from the group, especially from Finn because he has feelings for Rachel and says "What the hell! It seems like now everybody is doing things just to hurt my feelings!" Kurt and Mercedes are resistant as well because this will mean even fewer solos, and the suspicion that Jesse is a spy for Vocal Adrenaline.

In retaliation for this move, Kurt and Mercedes accept Sue's offer to the Cheerios, who wants to add their musical talents to the Cheerleading performance (and further undermine Will) and perform 4 Minutes with them during a school assembly. They tell Will that they were unhappy about never having solos, and will be in both groups.

The boys sing What It Feels Like For A Girl, although Puck is uneasy with the song choice. They decide to treat the girls better and Artie, in particular, apologizes to Tina for his prior misogynistic behavior towards her. The two kiss for the first time since their fight about Tina's stutter.

The episode ends with Finn apologizing to Rachel and saying "I really liked you. And I could have had you but I blew it." Rachel shocked by what he said replies "You really liked me?" However, before Finn could even answer,

Jesse enters and Finn welcomes Jesse into New Directions and letting him and Rachel know he won't interfere in their relationship even though he "really liked" Rachel. He also says "I'll try and stay away from your girl." The entire Glee club, now with Jesse part of the group, sing Like A Prayer backed by a gospel choir, with Kurt and Mercedes each having solo.

Songs

Song Title	Original Artist	Performer(s)
Express Yourself	Madonna	New Directions Girls
Borderline/Open Your Heart		Rachel Berry and Finn Hudson
Vogue		Sue Sylvester
Like a Virgin		Rachel Berry, Jesse St. James, Finn Hudson, Santana Lopez, Emma Pillsbury and Will Schuester
4 Minutes	Madonna feat. Justin Timberlake	Kurt Hummel and Mercedes Jones with the Cheerios
What It Feels Like For a Girl	Madonna	New Directions Boys
Like a Prayer		New Directions
Burning Up ‡		Jesse St. James with Vocal Adrenaline

• ‡ denotes that the song was either cut from the episode entirely.

Background Songs

• Ray of Light by Madonna - Danced to by Cheerios
• Burning Up by Madonna 
• Justify My Love by Madonna
• Frozen by Madonna

Guest Stars

Special Guest Star

• Jonathan Groff as Jesse St. James

Guest Cast

• Iqbal Theba as Principal Figgins
• Naya Rivera as Santana Lopez
• Josh Sussman as Jacob Ben Israel
• Heather Morris as Brittany S. Pierce
• Harry Shum Jr. as Mike Chang
• Dijon Talton as Matt Rutherford

Co-Stars

• Lauren Potter as Becky Jackson

Main Cast Absenт

• Jessalyn Gilsig as Terri Schuester

Trivia

• Chris Colfer commented that this episode was one of the cast's favorite but the hardest work.
• Dijon Talton stated that Like A Prayer was his favorite song from this episode.
• Ryan Murphy was eager to do a tribute episode to Madonna, having worked with her in the past. Madonna gave her full co-operation and allowed the show to have access to her entire music catalogue.
• When Emma is talking to Will about role models she mentions Britney Spears and her "shaved head" is a bad role model for the kids. This is funny because in the second episode of the second season there is an episode dedicated to her and Emma talks of how she is a great role model for rebirth and defeating adversity.
• Brittany's line, "Mr. Schue, is he your son?" was ad-libbed by Heather Morris.
• When Quinn is doodling Rachel, there are hearts around Rachel's name for some unknown reason.
• Amber Riley's mother was one of the members of the choir during Like A Prayer.
• When Brittany is suggesting that Santana should date Finn because he is younger, she said his birthday was three days before hers which would mean he is actually three days older than her, not the other way around. This is probably scripted to be a Brittany error, which is characteristic for her.
• At Comic-Con, Ryan said the original plan was to have Tina sing a mash up of Justify My Love and Erotica, but it didn't make the final cut - it was also said there were plans to have a second Madonna episode in Season 2.Source
• This is the first time in which an educutor has told their students to think, "What would ___ do?" using the name of the artist that the episode is being dedicated to. The second was in Michael when Will told the New Directions to think "WWMD," "What would Michael do?" The third time 'What would ____ Do? was used in Thanksgiving. Kitty showed Quinn a picture of her that she has in her locker. She tells Quinn 'Everyday I look at this and think 'What Would Quinn Fabray Do?'
• The pamphlets in Emma's office include the titles "Congratulations You're Pregnant!," "My Mom's Bipolar and she Won't Stop YELLING," "Help! I'm in LOVE With My Stepdad!," "I Still BREASTFEED …but How Old IS Too Old," "Radon: The Silent Killer." Other titles begin with "LOOSE," "Toxic Shock," "YUK! My Privates," and "Why is There Blood."
• Sue Sylvester claims to be 29; she was born on June 30, 1980.
• This is the first episode that Santana sings.
• This is the first tribute episode on Glee.
• This is the first time we see Sue in something besides a tracksuit or something tracksuit related.

Errors

• When Rachel is talking to the female Glee members about her date with Jesse you can see Brittany rubbing Santana's hand and when the angle switches back after the flashback of the date Brittany isn't rubbing her hand, but when the angle switches again she is still rubbing her hand, indicating they never dropped hands.
• When Will and Emma are in Will's office, he pulls out her shoes and places them on his desk. She never picks them up and in the next shot of the desk the shoes are gone.

Gallery

Videos

Behind the Glee The Power of Madonna(03:53)
51 views

Quotes

“	Brittany: Mr. Schue, is he your son?	”
—Brittany (about Jesse), The Power Of Madonna

“	Jesse: Just come out so we can talk. Or sing about it.	”
—Jesse to Rachel, The Power Of Madonna

“	Somewhere in the English countryside, in a stately manor, Madonna is weeping.	”
—Sue to the Cheerios after a performance that displeased her, The Power Of Madonna

“	You think this is hard? I'm passing a gallstone as we speak! That's hard!!!	”
—Sue to the Cheerios after a performance that displeased her, The Power Of Madonna

“	Quinn: Would you please stop talking? You're grossing out my baby.	”
—Quinn to Rachel, The Power Of Madonna

“	Sue: As Madonna once said, I'm tough, I'm ambitious and, if that makes me a bitch, okay; pretty sure she stole that line from one Sue Sylvester. No, really, I said it first.	”
—Sue to the Cheerios, The Power Of Madonna

“	Emma: Lindsay Lohan looks like something out of the Lord Of The Rings.	”
—Emma to Will, The Power Of Madonna

“	Santana: I mean for me. Its win-win for me.	”
—Santana to Finn, The Power Of Madonna

“	I'm not down with this. I like being a dude.	”
—Puck, The Power of Madonna

“	Will: You took ownership of your body when you said you didn't wanna sleep with me... and then ran out of my apartment with no shoes on.	”
—Will to Emma, The Power of Madonna

“	Santana: I've noticed it takes about 20 times until a feeling of accomplishment really kicks in.	”
—Santana to Finn, The Power of Madonna

“	I'm gonna leave constant reinvention to Madonna.	”
—Sue

Navigational

v - e - d Glee Episodes

Season One Pilot • Showmance • Acafellas • Preggers • The Rhodes Not Taken • Vitamin D • Throwdown • Mash-Up • Wheels • Ballad • Hairography • Mattress • Sectionals • Hell-O • The Power of Madonna • Home • Bad Reputation • Laryngitis • Dream On • Theatricality • Funk • Journey Season Two Audition • Britney/Brittany • Grilled Cheesus • Duets • The Rocky Horror Glee Show • Never Been Kissed • The Substitute • Furt • Special Education • A Very Glee Christmas • The Sue Sylvester Shuffle • Silly Love Songs • Comeback • Blame It on the Alcohol • Sexy • Original Song • A Night of Neglect • Born This Way • Rumours • Prom Queen • Funeral • New York Season Three The Purple Piano Project • I Am Unicorn • Asian F • Pot o' Gold • The First Time • Mash Off • I Kissed a Girl • Hold on to Sixteen • Extraordinary Merry Christmas • Yes/No • Michael • The Spanish Teacher • Heart • On My Way • Big Brother • Saturday Night Glee-ver • Dance with Somebody • Choke • Prom-asaurus • Props • Nationals • Goodbye Season Four The New Rachel • Britney 2.0 • Makeover • The Break-Up • The Role You Were Born to Play • Glease • Dynamic Duets • Thanksgiving • Swan Song • Glee, Actually • Sadie Hawkins • Naked • Diva • I Do • Girls (and Boys) on Film • Feud • Guilty Pleasures • Shooting Star • Sweet Dreams • Lights Out • Wonder-ful • All or Nothing

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