Hold On To Sixteen

**Hold On to Sixteen** is the eighth episode of *Glee's* third season and the fifty-second episode overall. It premiered on December 6, 2011.

The episode features the return of Sam at McKinley, and the New Directions and The TroubleTones participation at Sectionals. Quinn plans to get Shelby fired for sleeping with Puck after learning of their affair. After Rachel is suspended from school, the New Directions need more members, and Mike's father makes a decision about his son's dreams of dancing due to Tina's words.

The episode was directed by Bradley Buecker and written by Ross Maxwell.

## Plot

Quinn plans to get Shelby fired for sleeping with Puck. She wants to reclaim Beth and sabotage The TroubleTones prior to the Sectionals competition. Rachel insists that she will ruin Beth's life if she takes her from her true mother, Shelby.

The New Directions needs twelve members to compete, but only has ten with Rachel suspended from school. Finn and Rachel travel to Kentucky to ask Sam to come back to McKinley for Sectionals. Unknown to his parents, Sam is dancing at a strip joint to help pay for family expenses. He wants to return to McKinley, and his parents agree to let him go. Ash is shocked when he walks into the choir room and performs *Red Solo Cup*. At the end of the performance Santana walks in and reads him a welcome back note from her notebook, stating that she has written one just in case he was ever coming back. Ash leaves hastily and Sam follows her. Sam questions what he did wrong for her to leave like that, and she tells him that she's happy to see him but he caught her off guard because she didn't think she was going to see him again. Ash then tells him that what they had was a "summer fling," that she has a boyfriend and he needs to move on. As Ash begins to walk away he announces that he doesn't care who her boyfriend is, he will still fight for her, and that he will see her at home, causing Ash to stop in her tracks as she wasn't informed that Sam was moving in.

Kurt and Blaine are at The Lima Bean when Sebastian interrupts them and joins them at the table. The Warblers are revealed to have won their Sectionals. When Blaine goes to get more coffee, Kurt warns Sebastian to stay away from Blaine.

Tina is appalled when Mike tells her that he will not be applying to dance schools as planned, but has instead applied to Stanford's pre-med program to please his father. When she tries to argue with him, Mike is angered and tells her if she doesn't understand maybe they should break up. Tina tries to intervene with Mike's father, but he remains convinced that dancing is too risky a path for Mike.

After a brief argument in the choir room between Blaine and Sam, which results in Blaine storming out angrily, Finn walks in the locker room to find Blaine boxing a punching bag, and he explains that he was in the Fight Club back at Dalton. He confronts Finn about the problems Finn has with him, to which Finn admits that he was jealous of him. The two make up.

Tina goes to Mr Chang's office and hands him a bootleg copy of McKinley's performance of West Side Story. Mr Chang wants nothing to do with it. Tina reveals that Mike is doing what he hates just to appease his parents when he could be doing what he loves. Tina also reveals that she wants to be a performer someday, it's what she was born to do just as Mike was born to dance. She then turns to Mr Chang and discusses honor with him, and how Mr Chang does not honor Mike's gifts.

Sectionals is being held in the McKinley auditorium. Before the competition, The TroubleTones come to see the New Directions and tells them they are welcome to join The TroubleTones after they lose, much to the New Directions' offence.

Mike is angry at Tina for talking to his father.

The Unitards - led by Harmony - are first, performing *Buenos Aires*. Quinn leaves the auditorium to tell Principal Figgins about Shelby and Puck, but Rachel stops her and urges her to warn Shelby first. Quinn confronts Shelby, who tells her that she is resigning from McKinley and apologises to her.

The TroubleTones perform *Survivor/I Will Survive* before the New Directions then perform *ABC*, *Control* and *Man in the Mirror*, where Mike and Tina are surprised to see Mike's father in the audience. Afterward, he tells the couple that he now understands that dancing is Mike's passion, and Mike should apply to the best dance schools. At first Mike is disappointed because he missed the deadline, but Tina reveals that she applied for him, causing Mike to proclaim his love for her in front of his father.

The Unitards finish in third place, which Harmony is surprisingly proud to receive. She and Kurt talk before she walks off stage. Kurt believes Harmony is very talented, to which Harmony smiles at him and reveals that she is only a sophomore so she's only going to improve. The TroubleTones are then announced as being second place as the New Directions are crowned first. The crowd slowly disperses and the group are left alone on stage as the lights dim.

Quinn decides not to reveal Shelby's secret for Beth's sake. Outside Figgins' office, Quinn thanks Rachel for stopping her from doing something she would have regretted her whole life, and the two become friends. She also tells Rachel that she's thinking of applying to the drama program at Yale thanks to her growing love of performing. Quinn then convinces Rachel and Will to promise to feature the TroubleTones members in all future New Directions competitions if they agree to be in the group. Quinn meets up with Mercedes, Brittany and Santana in the girls' bathroom to tell them that they don't have much time left together in high school, and lets them in on the plan. She invites them to join the New Directions in the auditorium for a victory number and to get ready for Regionals, saying they need a few more girl voices. Mercedes, Santana and Brittany look pensive as Quinn leaves.

The girls, along with Sugar, show up in the auditorium and during *We Are Young* they start to sing and dance with the New Directions. Quinn waltzes Mercedes onto the stage, Sugar jumps onto Artie's lap, Rachel takes Santana by the hand, and Brittany jumps into Rory's open arms. Eventually, Will walks in and is surprised, yet happy, at what he sees. Finally united and ready to take on the challenges ahead, the New Directions celebrate with a massive group hug as the song ends.

## Guest Cast

### Guest Stars

* John Schneider as Dwight Evans
* Chord Overstreet as Sam Evans
* Damian McGinty as Rory Flanagan
* Vanessa Lengies as Sugar Motta
* Keong Sim as Mike Chang Sr.
* Tanya Clarke as Mary Evans
* Lindsay Pearce as Harmony
* Grant Gustin as Sebastian Smythe

### Others

* Joan Schwartz as Dorothy Saunders
* Scott Henson as Bassist
* John Lock as Drummer

## Trivia

* The title refers to Sam's favourite lyric in John Mellencamp's song, *Jack and Diane*, which he said to Quinn: "Hold on to sixteen as long as you can."
* Fitting with the episode's theme of age and maturity, New Directions' setlist for Sectionals chronologically covers a lifespan: childhood (*ABC*), young adulthood (*Control*), and adulthood (*Man in the Mirror*)
* This is one of three episodes submitted for the 2012 Emmys, the other two being Asian F and Yes/No
* This episode contains the most amount of songs Quinn has sung in a single episode: four
* The competition in this episode is the only one in which Rachel doesn't participate during her high school career
* This is only the second time that Rachel doesn't sing in the setlist for a competition, the first time being 2010 Sectionals
* Rory is the only New Directions member that doesn't sing in this episode