| Holly Holliday | |
|---|---|
| Glee character | |
Actress Gwyneth Paltrow portrays Holly Holliday |
|
| First appearance | "The Substitute" |
| Created by | Ryan Murphy |
| Portrayed by | Gwyneth Paltrow |
| Information | |
| Occupation | Substitute Teacher |
| Significant other(s) | Will Schuester |
Holly Holliday is a recurring fictional character from the Fox musical comedy-drama series, Glee. The character is portrayed by actress Gwyneth Paltrow, and appeared three times during the show's the second season. Holly is Paltrow's first-ever role in a scripted television show.[1] The role of Holly was developed by Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy, a personal friend of Paltrow's, who suggested that she showcase her vocal and dancing talents ahead of the release of her film Country Strong, in which she played a country singer.[2] She is a substitute teacher who sometimes works at McKinley High School, and served as the interim director of that school's New Directions glee club while regular director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) was out sick for several days.
Paltrow's portrayal of the character has received positive reviews and earned her a 2011 Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. She sang the lead vocals on several musical numbers during her appearances including Cee Lo Green's hit "Forget You", which she later performed live with Green at the 53rd Grammy Awards.[3] Paltrow was featured in Glee: The 3D Concert Movie after being filmed while she appeared as Holly in the 2011 Glee Live! In Concert! tour performances on June 16 and 17, 2011 at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey and performed "Forget You" along with the Glee cast.[4] She also performed with the tour in London on June 29, 2011.
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Holly is a substitute teacher who makes her first appearance on Glee in the second season's seventh episode, "The Substitute". She is filling in at McKinley High School for the ailing Spanish teacher Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison), who is also director of the glee club, New Directions. Club member Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer), who had seen her perform "Conjunction Junction" when she subbed for his English class, asks her to also take over Will's glee club rehearsals. Instead of assigning songs, Holly asks the club members what kind of music they would like to perform, and when Puck (Mark Salling) suggests "Forget You", she sings the song and they all join in, except for Rachel Berry (Lea Michele). Holly later wins her over by asking Rachel what she would like to sing that she hasn't been able to, and they perform a number from Chicago together. Holly bonds with Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch), who is the acting principal with Principal Figgins (Iqbal Theba) also out sick, and Sue fires the still-ailing Will, making Holly the full-time director of the glee club. When he recovers, Will confronts Holly at school, but she is unwilling to give up her new position. She later discovers she is in over her head when Mercedes (Amber Riley) gets in trouble, and Holly turns to Will for help. She reveals that she was once a more serious teacher like Will until a student punched her in the face, at which point she became far more free spirited. Holly ultimately returns to substitute teaching and Will is reinstated. He assigns the glee club to perform "Singin' in the Rain" on his return, but faced with their dismay at being given another old song, he asks for Holly's help to modernize it, and they all perform a mash-up of it with Rihanna's "Umbrella".[5]
Holly later returns to McKinley High as a substitute sex education teacher in the season's fifteenth episode, "Sexy". She informs Will that the members of New Directions are woefully ignorant about sex. He invites her to teach the glee club about safe sex, and she performs a rendition of Joan Jett's "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)", much to the chagrin of the new head of the celibacy club, guidance counselor Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays). Holly advises Puck and Lauren (Ashley Fink) that the sex tape they plan to make is illegal, as both are minors, and helps Brittany Pierce (Heather Morris) and Santana Lopez (Naya Rivera) start to come to terms with their true feelings for each other, later performing "Landslide" with them in front of the club. When Emma's choice of "Afternoon Delight" as an abstinence song reveals her sexual naivete, her husband Carl (John Stamos) asks Holly for an appointment for him and Emma to work out issues in their sex life. During the counseling session, he reveals that Emma is still a virgin, and in answer to a question from Holly, Emma admits that she may still have feelings for Will. At the end of the episode, Holly begins a relationship with Will.[6]
Holly makes her final second-season appearance two episodes later in "A Night of Neglect". She is still dating Will, and suggests to him that in order to help raise funds for the academic decathlon team, the glee club should present a benefit concert at the school that will feature songs by "neglected" artists. Her contribution to the benefit is a performance of Adele's "Turning Tables". At the end of the episode, realizing that he is still in love with Emma, Holly breaks up with Will and takes a several-month substitute teaching job in another town.[7]
The role of Holly was created specifically for Paltrow by series co-creator Ryan Murphy, a personal friend who suggested that she showcase her vocal and dancing talent ahead of the December 2010 release of the film Country Strong, in which Paltrow plays a country singer.[8] Murphy said of Paltrow, "Gwyneth is a great singer. She's done it a little bit but I really want to show it off and show everyone how great she is."[9] It wasn't the first time Paltrow had sung on screen: she played a karaoke singer in the movie Duets in 2000, and had a number one hit in Australia for her duet of "Cruisin'".[10] Holly was originally set to appear for two episodes,[9] and she was to portray a love interest for Will Schuester in a love quadrangle with Will, Emma and Carl.[11] Her debut was subsequently reduced to a single episode, and the relationship plot removed.[12]
After "The Substitute" aired, Murphy expressed interest in having Paltrow return with the right storyline.[13] She later confirmed she would be seen again on the series as Holly,[14] and was initially supposed to appear in episodes 15 and 16,[15] but instead appeared in episodes 15 and 17, "Sexy" and "A Night of Neglect", the second of these being her final appearance of the second season.[16] Paltrow initially said about a possible return to Glee in its third season: "No, I don't think so. I don't think I should. Though it's honestly been one of the best jobs I've ever had."[17] She did later state that she would love to come back, and said that Holly was "probably the most fun character I've ever gotten to play".[18] Murphy stated before the second season ended that he had plans for Gwyneth to return in season three, though nothing specific has been mentioned since the beginning of the third season.[19]
Holly has been depicted as very carefree and relaxed in contrast with the more uptight Will Schuester. Her catch phrase is "I thought you'd never ask". In her first appearance she gave Noah Puckerman answers to a pop quiz she was going to give in her class, helping him to cheat and told Rachel Berry that she was too uptight and needed to relax more, winning her over with a dance number. She listens to the kids and what music they want to listen to noting that they do a lot of Journey songs and that the songs they sing sound like somebody else's favourites. She reveals in "The Substitute" that she used to be more structred however after being punched in the face by one of her students she decided to become more care free and move from town to town as a relaxed substitute teacher.[5] She claims in "Sexy" to have never had a relationship that lasted more than 48 hours.[6]
When she returns as a sexual education teacher it's also shown that she is a highly sexual person. She claims to have had same-sex sexual encounters at her "all girls college where the only industry in the town was the manufacturing of softball equipment" but does not identify as lesbian or bisexual. She also claims to have made a sex tape with American author J.D. Salinger. She says that she knows a lot about sex but not a lot about romance, and her relationship with Will is one of her first real relationships.[6] She seems to enjoy meditation bringing Santana and Brittany to a meditation room in "Sexy" and going on a meditation retreat during "Original Song".
Holly was initially planned to be in a relationship with Will Schuester as part of the love quadrangle with Emma Pillsbury and Carl Howell in her first appearance.[11] However this storyline was pushed back until her last two episodes Sexy and A Night of Neglect. Soraya Roberts of The Daily News disliked the pairing describing Holliday as a home wrecker in the prolonged separation of Will and Emma.[20] Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club also disliked the couple and felt that Paltrow and Morrison lacked chemistry.[21] The character was depicted as having never had a relationship that lasted more than 48 hours aside from her eventual relationship with Will Schuester which ended because she felt that he was still in love with Emma Pilsbury.
Paltrow's performance in "The Substitute" earned her an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series and attracted critical praise.[22] Indeed, at the time, Entertainment Weekly's Tim Stack and E! Online's Kristin dos Santos called her appearance Emmy-worthy, with the former rating it among her best performances, and the latter stating that Holly received "some of Glee's best-ever one-liners.[23][24] Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club wrote that Holly injected an effortless sense of fun, despite much of her plot being nonsensical.[25] The Atlantic's Meghan Brown commented that Paltrow "brought a massive spark to what could have been a one-note role", and her Atlantic co-author Kevin Fallon wrote that her energetic performance saved an episode that might have been "in shambles without her presence".[26] Robert Canning of IGN noted that Paltrow's casting could have been distracting, but instead she fit the role "seamlessly".[27] Brett Berk of Vanity Fair found her "surprisingly great",[28] and James Poniewozik of Time stated that while her casting was somewhat distracting, she was able to make Holly a sympathetic character without overdoing her neediness and commitment-phobia.[29] However, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) took exception Paltrow's history classroom scene where she role-plays as Mary Todd Lincoln, which it stated "mocked and trivialized bipolar disorder".[30]
Several critics preferred Paltrow's return in "Sexy" to her initial appearance. The Washington Post's Emily Yahr felt that she was better integrated into this episode, and Raymund Flandez of the Wall Street Journal called her return "infinitely better" than her first appearance: "Back then, she was a puzzle, a loony bin. Here, she's sly and quick-witted, appropriately adult and seductively saucy in an episode that showcased more of her comedic timing, than her stiff dance skills. All the better for us."[31][32] Fallon wrote that Paltrow was "if possible, even sassier and sultrier" than before, and felt that she served to anchor a busy episode.[33] In contrast, Sandra Gonzalez of Entertainment Weekly had mixed feelings about Holly and believed that she dominated screen time.[34] VanDerWerff liked Paltrow's acting, but disliked Holly's interaction with Will, saying they lacked "chemistry".[35] Soraya Roberts of the Daily News disliked her return for prolonging Will and Emma's separation, branding Holly a home-wrecker. She commented that while Paltrow's appearance in "The Substitute" was "relatively fresh", in "Sexy" she was "acting almost like a cardboard cutout version of her former self, overly enunciating her lines [and] treading carefully around her choreography".[20] Poniewozik found all of Paltrow's scenes "labored and ridiculous", and wrote that the actress failed to bring an element of realism to her character.[36] By contrast, Holly's third and final appearance in "A Night of Neglect" received little general comment.
Paltrow's rendition of "Forget You" garnered positive critical reception. Anthony Benigno of the Daily News preferred it to the original, and said that Paltrow's deeper voice gave it "more oomph".[37] Erica Futterman of Rolling Stone found her rendition "charming and sassy";[38] Megan Vick of Billboard also reviewed it positively.[39] Cee Lo Green stated he was flattered,[40] and was unaware that Paltrow was such an accomplished vocalist.[41] Benigno gave her song "Conjunction Junction" an "A", and described it as "a glorious ten seconds", but he was less enthusiastic about the episode's final performance of "Singin' In The Rain / Umbrella" and gave the number a "B".[37] Stack said that he loved that mash-up and gave it an "A−".[42] Amy Reiter of the Los Angeles Times appreciated the finale's choreography and the manner in which "Paltrow's sassiness undercuts [Morrison's] overripe sweetness", and named it potentially her favorite group number of the second season.[43]
"Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)" was given more mixed reviews. Gonzalez found it lacking vocally,[34] and Roberts described it as a "leather-clad hair whipping mess". She deemed Paltrow's dancing in "Kiss" rigid and she characterized her performance of "Landslide" as "pretty but uninspired".[20] Other reviewers were more impressed with "Landslide": Flandez called it "a dreamy, perfectly pitched power song of lesbian love",[32] Poniewozik said it was "surprisingly poignant",[36] and VanDerWerff named it the best number of the episode.[35] Stevie Nicks, who wrote and recorded "Landslide", said that Paltrow "sang it beautifully".[44] Paltrow's cover of "Turning Tables" was criticised for "lack[ing] the texture that made Adele's version so heartbreaking",[45] and for Paltrow not being a strong enough singer.[46]
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