User:Frickative/Sue Sylvester

Sue Sylvester is a fictional character from the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee. The character is portrayed by actress Jane Lynch, and has appeared in Glee from its pilot episode, first broadcast on May 19, 2009. Sue was developed by Glee creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan. She was originally intended to be a recurring character, but was promoted to a starring role when a Damon Wayans pilot Lynch was working on for ABC fell through.

Development
Sue's role in Glee is head coach of the cheerleading squad or "Cheerios", and the glee club's "arch-nemesis". Lynch states that Sue is "pure evil and doesn't hide it", having been created as a product of Murphy, Brennan and Falchuck's "inner mean girl". Discussing Sue's treatment of the students, Lynch has stated: "She's not above engaging in inappropriate behavior with minors. She somehow manages to be horrible and really delightful at the same time." Lynch has described Sue as having "no filter", explaining: "Whatever comes to Sue's head comes out of her mouth. She loves the look of shock on people's face that they can't believe that she would say that and indeed she did." With regards to her motivation, Lynch explained: "Sue will do whatever it takes to win. If that means she has to prostitute herself or take advantage of a 16-year-old boy, she'll do it. It's all about power and winning. That's her entire world view."

Discussing the revelation that Sue's older sister Jean has Down syndrome, Lynch commented: "we get to see the softer side of Sue, and see how much she loves her sister and how gentle and kind she is with her sister. And of course she turns around and stabs someone else in the back. But we know that she does have it in there, that she has a heart. But we won't see a lot more of that of Sue."

Storylines
Sue dislikes Spanish teacher Will Schuester's (Matthew Morrison) attempt at reviving William McKinley High School's failing glee club, and enlists cheerleaders Quinn (Dianna Agron), Brittany (Heather Morris) and Santana (Naya Rivera) to help her bring the glee club down from the inside. When her plan fails, she has former glee club director Sandy Ryerson (Stephen Tobolowsky) reinstated as the school Arts director, working with him to entice Rachel (Lea Michele), the glee club's star, into quitting. In the episode "Vitamin D", Sue is made co-director of the glee club, but in the following episode "Throwdown" she scales back her involvement considerably after a public confrontation with Will. Sue has her own spot on the local news, which she uses to editorialize on issues such as support for caning and pro-littering. She falls in love with news anchor Rod Remington (Bill A. Jones), but their burgeoning relationship comes to an abrupt end when she discovers he is sleeping with his co-anchor Andrea Carmichael (Earlene Davis). In the episode "Wheels", Sue allows Becky Jackson (Lauren Potter), a sophomore student with Down syndrome to join the Cheerios. Will is suspicious of her motives, increasingly so when Sue donates money to the school to fund three new handicap ramps for disabled students. It is revealed that Sue's older sister Jean (Robin Trocki) also has Down syndrome, and lives in a residential care facility. Hoping to sabotage the glee club's chances of winning at sectionals, Sue gives the club's set-list to rival glee club directors Grace Hitchens (Eve) and Dalton Rumba (Michael Hitchcock).

Reception
Sue has been generally well received by critics. Mary McNamara for the Los Angeles Times has written that "Lynch alone makes Glee worth watching". Wendy Mitchell for Entertainment Weekly opined that Sue "may be the sharpest-tongued character on network TV", while Eric Goldman for IGN has called her: "a truly inspired comic creation – so wonderfully smug and sure of herself that she compares herself to the Greek god Ajax." Goldman opined: "You need a comic actress like Lynch to pull it off, and to make her someone we love spending time watching on TV (even if we'd hate her in real life), but kudos to Ryan Murphy and his writing team for giving us such a great television character." Shawna Malcom for the Los Angeles Times enjoyed Sue's character development in the episode "Vitamin D", noting: "In less skilled hands, there’s no doubt Sue would be an over-the-top disaster. But thanks to the incomparable Jane Lynch, I can’t wait to see what trouble the character stirs up next." Raymund Flandez for The Wall Street Journal suggested that Lynch's performance as Sue in the episode "Throwdown" was Emmy worthy and assessed: "without her snappy SAT comebacks and killer delivery, this show wouldn’t be as much fun". As with Flandez, Liz Pardue for Zap2it also opined that Lynch's performance as Sue in the episode was Emmy-worthy. Entertainment Weekly Ken Tucker has called Sue "the greatest Broadway-musical villain to ever co-star in a TV series", and deemed "Throwdown" "possibly the best showcase yet for Jane Lynch".

In contrast, Variety ' s Brian Lowry has criticized Lynch's "tyrannical cheer matron", calling Glee ' s adult cast "over-the-top buffoons." He deemed her performance in early episodes: "fitfully funny but usually just plain annoying". Robert Lloyd for the Los Angeles Times opined that: "the writing flattens her toward a single note. She's funny from line to line, but there is little to her besides tin-pot contrariness." Mike Hale for the New York Post wrote that Lynch gave a "one-note performance" in the episode "Preggers", suggesting that she had been miscast in the role.