In "Bad Reputation", cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) is publicly ridiculed when a video of her dancing to Olivia Newton-John's "Physical" is posted on YouTube.

Following their romance in the episode "Mash-Up", club members Rachel (Lea Michele) and Puck (Mark Salling) are reunited, a decision made by the producers due to the unexpected popularity of the pairing.

The episode features cover versions of five songs, all of which were released as singles, available for digital download, and two of which are included on the soundtrack album Glee: The Music, Volume 3 Showstoppers.

Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly and Bobby Hankinson of the Houston Chronicle both considered it a return to form following disappointing episodes.

When Kurt (Chris Colfer) steals a video of cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) performing Olivia Newton-John's "Physical" to a Jazzercise routine, the glee club members decide to post it on YouTube as a prank.

In retaliation, she gives Principal Figgins (Iqbal Theba) a list she has found, called a "glist", which ranks the students in the glee club based on a scale of sexual promiscuity.

Sue is laughed at by her co-workers, who have seen the video, and is mocked by new alcoholic astronomy teacher and badminton coach Brenda Castle (Molly Shannon).

In light of her sister's advice, Sue decides to act as a therapist to guidance counselor Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays), informing her that Will has been unfaithful to her.

After apologizing to Emma and presenting her with flowers, Will sees a depressed-looking Quinn (Dianna Agron) in the hallway and realizes that she is responsible for the list.

Jesse breaks up with Rachel as a result, and she sings Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" as the club members walk out of the classroom, leaving her behind.

Recurring characters who appear in the episode are glee club members Brittany (Heather Morris), Santana Lopez (Naya Rivera), Mike Chang (Harry Shum, Jr.), Matt Rutherford (Dijon Talton) and Jesse St. James (Jonathan Groff).

Adults who appear in this episode are Principal Figgins (Iqbal Theba), former glee club director Sandy Ryerson (Stephen Tobolowsky), football coach Ken Tanaka (Patrick Gallagher) and Sue's sister Jean Sylvester (Robin Trocki).

[6] The two first became involved in Glee's eighth episode, "Mash-Up", but at the time, series creator Ryan Murphy did not expect the pairing to be well received by viewers.

Although Murphy described this response as "strange and bizarre", explaining that he had believed fans would prefer for Rachel to be with Finn, as a result he planned to revisit their romance later in the first season.

[6] Despite the popularity of the pairing—referred to by the portmanteau "Puckleberry" in the media[8]—the series writers intend to retain Puck's "bad boy" persona, and ultimately plan on pairing him with most of the female characters.

"[20] Dave Itzkoff of The New York Times recapped the episode positively, describing it as: "pack[ing] more camp into an hour's worth of television than most kids will get all summer.