"Big Brother" is the fifteenth episode and spring premiere of the third season of the American musical television series Glee, and the fifty-ninth overall.

Written by Michael Hitchcock and directed by Eric Stoltz, the episode first aired on Fox in the United States on April 10, 2012.

It features the introduction of special guest star Matt Bomer as Blaine Anderson's (Darren Criss) elder brother Cooper, and the revelation of how badly injured Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron) had been in the automobile accident that had ended the previous episode, "On My Way".

The episode received mixed to positive reviews, and most critics praised Bomer's performance as the elder Anderson brother.

Their two songs together were given a mixed response and did not chart; by contrast, "Somebody That I Used to Know", performed by Bomer and Criss, was given an enthusiastic reception, and sold 152,000 digital copies in the US in its first week.

Sue makes a deal with Figgins: if she helps New Directions win the Nationals show choir competition, she can regain sole control of the Cheerios.

Most of New Directions goes on a "senior ditch day" to Six Flags, but Artie takes Quinn to a skate park designed for people with disabilities to enjoy adventurous sports.

[6][7] In addition, it was reported in early February that there would be a flashback scene featuring Cooper and Blaine when they were children; young actors were then being cast for the roles.

[12] Recurring guest stars appearing in the episode include Principal Figgins (Theba), coach Roz Washington (Leakes), glee club members Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet), Rory Flanagan (Damian McGinty) and Sugar Motta (Vanessa Lengies), cheerleader Becky Jackson (Potter) and recent McKinley transfer student Joe Hart (Larsen).

[16] In Australia, "Big Brother" was broadcast on Thursday, April 12, 2012, a change from the Friday time slot used for the seventh through fourteenth episodes of the season.

[19][20] Houston Chronicle's Bobby Hankinson was not fond of Cooper's appearance, and described it as "an old-school sitcom cliche to introduce long-lost or oft-neglected family members".

[23] Raymund Flandez of The Wall Street Journal characterized their message as "Move on, folks, nothing to see here", added that "there wasn’t even a scratch on her face" and concluded that it was "nice to know that touches of irony haven’t left the show".

[18] VanDerWerff noted the pair's "chemistry" as friends, and Rolling Stone's Erica Futterman described "Quinn's kids-in-wheelchairs bonding scenes with Artie" as the "second best thing about the episode".

[19][24] Michael Slezak of TVLine expressed the wish that the extras in the scene in the skateboard park "had actually gotten a chance to, um, speak like real humans, not just like props for a kicky musical number".

[26] Strecker noted that "their scenes together are always some of my favorites", and commended the episode's "poignant heart-to-heart"—which Dodge also praised as "very touching"—where Becky gave Sue the advice to "work on her patience".

[18][20] VanDerWerff thought that Sue's storyline was one of several in the episode beyond the two main ones—Blaine and Cooper's conflict and Quinn's post-accident return—that the show "kept piling" on, to its detriment.

Bell called it the "highlight of the episode", and it was Hankinson's favorite performance: "Bomer and Criss did a fantastic job bringing it to life".

[24] Flandez felt that with the song's conversion to a "Cain-and-Abel therapy session", despite being "gorgeously sung", it was nevertheless "the most disappointing duet ever", but Slezak gave the performance an "A−", and wrote, "I bought the sibling angst in the room, and Matt Bomer really is a charismatic fella, no?

[29][30] The Mail's quote continued after a comma with "ultra-dry, sounded pretty tuned and the rock has no real sense, like it's playing to you from a cardboard box.

"[31] In an interview published ten days later, Glee's executive music producer Adam Anders said that although the iTunes version of the song that the show released was "very true" to Gotye's, that in the episode itself, "the reality is, it was drier".

[20] Chaney's "B" was far more complimentary: she characterized the performance as "the most energetic set piece of the night" which "made nice use of the infectious Givers song".

[22][25] Strecker wrote that "the energy and emotional punch totally resonated" and gave the song an "A−", though she also stated that "the talk-singing at the beginning was a little weird".

[20] Votta said that "vocally, Darren Criss embodies the song", but she characterized the staging as "too jagged and haphazard to make an impact", and the transitions not "as smooth as they could be".