The episode's musical performances attracted praise, as did the development of Will and Emma's relationship, though Dan Snierson of Entertainment Weekly suggested it may have been preferable to leave their romance unresolved.

James Poniewozik of Time felt that by concluding the pregnancy storyline in "Sectionals", Glee was able to "clear the decks for a second half of the season as the confident show it now is".

[1] As a result of a technicality in the show choir competition rules, glee club director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) is not allowed to accompany New Directions to sectionals.

Guidance counsellor Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays) postpones her own wedding by a few hours so that she can take the club in his place, although her fiancé, football coach Ken Tanaka (Patrick Gallagher), feels she is choosing Will over him.

Angered by their betrayal, Finn quits the club on the eve of sectionals, and has to be replaced by school reporter Jacob Ben Israel (Josh Sussman), who is only going to stalk Rachel.

New Directions arrive at the event to discover their competitors have received an advance copy of their set list and are performing all three of their chosen songs thanks to Sue's plan to sabotage the glee club.

Emma confronts rival choir directors Grace Hitchens (Eve) and Dalton Rumba (Michael Hitchcock), while New Directions chooses new performance pieces for their set list at the last minute.

Back at school, Principal Figgins (Iqbal Theba) suspends cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) for leaking the glee club's set list, and has Will reinstated as the director of New Directions.

[4] Events in "Sectionals" are influenced by the season's eleventh episode "Hairography", in which cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester gave New Directions' competition set-list to their rival glee clubs.

[3] Recurring characters who appear in the episode are glee club members Brittany Pierce (Heather Morris), Santana Lopez (Naya Rivera), Mike Chang (Harry Shum Jr.) and Matt Rutherford (Dijon Talton), football coach Ken Tanaka (Patrick Gallagher), school reporter Jacob Ben Israel (Josh Sussman), Principal Figgins (Iqbal Theba) and local news anchor Rod Remington (Bill A. Jones).

Anna Camp and Patricia Forte guest star as sectionals judges Candace Dykstra and Donna Landries, Peter Choi is the Emcee, and Thomasina Gross plays Perfect Engleberger, a member of the Jane Addams Academy glee club.

TV Guide's Natalie Abrams felt it ended the beginning of the season on a "high note",[21] while Raymund Flandez of The Wall Street Journal commented: "You couldn’t have asked for a better cliffhanger of a fall finale".

[1] Abrams deemed Rachel's solo performance at sectionals "amazing",[21] and Flandez recommended: "Watch it again if you ever want to take back three minutes of your life that you’ve wasted on something else.

"[28] Critics also commented positively on the development of Will and Emma's relationship, with Abrams noting that she had been waiting for them to kiss since the pilot episode,[21] and Goldman deeming their coming together "very hard to not feel good about".

[22] Snierson, however, wrote that although there was satisfaction in the episode ending on the kiss, it may have been "more intriguing" to conclude with Will finding Emma's office empty, questioning whether it was too soon for the two of them to begin a relationship.

Poniewozik wrote that the pregnancy storyline had felt as though "the early Glee wasn't confident that people would be interested in it without these over-the-top soap opera twists."