Laryngitis (Glee)
In "Laryngitis", glee club member Puck (Mark Salling) dates Mercedes (Amber Riley) in an attempt to raise his social status.
Kurt (Chris Colfer) is jealous of the time his father is spending with Finn (Cory Monteith), and Rachel (Lea Michele) worries about her future when she is diagnosed with tonsillitis.
Mike O'Malley guest-stars as Kurt's father Burt, and Zack Weinstein appears as disabled former football player Sean Fretthold.
The episode features cover versions of seven songs, five of which were released as singles, available for digital download, and three of which are included on the soundtrack album Glee: The Music, Volume 3 Showstoppers.
When glee club member Puck (Mark Salling) has his mohawk shaved off at the insistence of his dermatologist for medical purposes, he discovers he is no longer considered a credible bully.
She reveals the non-participants as Finn (Cory Monteith), Quinn (Dianna Agron), Puck, Brittany (Heather Morris), and Santana.
To put her fear into perspective, Finn introduces her to his friend Sean (Zack Weinstein), who was paralyzed from the upper chest down during a football game.
At first, Rachel is nervous and overwhelmed by the meeting, but Finn forces her to stay as Sean tells her about his grueling experiences with his disability and how he realized that a person is not just one single thing.
He dresses in outdoorsman gear, sings John Mellencamp's "Pink Houses" during a glee club rehearsal, and attempts to have a fling with Brittany, making out with her in his bedroom and ensuring that his father is aware of his new behavior.
They start singing U2's "One", and the scene switches back and forth between her duet with Sean and the full glee club's performance of the song on stage at school.
Recurring characters who appear in "Laryngitis" are Kurt's father Burt Hummel (Mike O'Malley), glee club members Santana Lopez (Naya Rivera), Brittany (Heather Morris), Mike Chang (Harry Shum Jr.) and Matt Rutherford (Dijon Talton), school reporter Jacob Ben Israel (Josh Sussman) and AV club president Lauren Zizes (Ashley Fink).
[1] Zack Weinstein guest stars as Sean Fretthold, a football player who was paralyzed below the upper chest after injuring his spinal cord at C4 in an accident, similar to the actor's injury in real life.
Lisa Respers France of CNN felt that "Laryngitis" highlighted a trend of Glee storylines becoming progressively sadder, rather than comedic.
She wrote of the Sean storyline that it: "should feel offensive but mostly skates away from actually being so because it treats the paralyzed character with a great deal of respect".
[16] Bobby Hankinson of the Houston Chronicle also noted that he had been underwhelmed with the show since its return, but loved "Laryngitis", writing: "The story focused exclusively on the kids—not Mr. Shue or Sue Sylvester—and the performances were realistically small-scale.
"[18] Vanity Fair's Brett Berk deemed "Laryngitis" a "truly successful episode", but also highlighted the show's inconsistency in quality since its return.
