Sue Sylvester
Throughout the first season of Glee, Sue makes numerous attempts at sabotaging the William McKinley High School glee club, New Directions. She enlists members of her cheerleading squad, the Cheerios, to bring the club down from the inside, and conspires to lure away its star member, Rachel Berry. Sue is appointed co-director of the club by Principal Figgins, but soon scales back her involvement when her attempts to turn the club members against director Will Schuester fail. Hoping to ruin the club's chances of winning at the show choir Sectionals competition, Sue gives New Directions' setlist to the directors of their rival glee clubs. Despite having to devise a new setlist at the last moment, New Directions win by unanimous decision and Sue is suspended by Figgins. She blackmails him into allowing her back, and is selected as a judge for the show choir Regionals competition. Sue is ridiculed by the other judges for her lack of fame and underdog status, allowing her to empathize with the glee club members. She votes for New Directions to win, and although they place last, she blackmails Figgins into allowing them another year to compete.
Sue's personal life is also explored over the course of the season. She has a commentary feature on the local television news, "Sue's Corner", which she uses to editorialize on issues such as support for caning and littering. She falls in love with news anchor Rod Remington, but their burgeoning relationship comes to an abrupt end when she discovers he is cheating with his co-anchor, Andrea Carmichael (Earlene Davis). In the episode "Wheels", Sue allows Becky Jackson, a sophomore 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 ramps for students with disabilities. It is revealed that Sue's older sister Jean also has Down syndrome, and lives in a residential care facility. Sue becomes a minor celebrity when Olivia Newton-John invites her to remake the video to "Physical", after a viral video of Sue Jazzercising to the track achieves internet notoriety. She donates her share of the profits to her sister's care home.
At the onset of the second season, Sue has formed a truce with Will, and together they conspire against the school's new football coach, Shannon Beiste. When Will comes to regret his actions and apologizes, Sue renews their enmity. She is appointed acting principal after having Figgins infected with the flu, but although the school board is so impressed with her performance they make her position permanent, she resigns when they refuse to uphold her expulsion of Dave Karofsky, a bully who had threatened to kill glee club member Kurt Hummel. After Sue learns that Rod and Andrea have become engaged, she announces her intention to marry herself. Her estranged mother Doris, a recently retired Nazi hunter, visits in an attempt to make amends for her absentee parenting, but is continuously critical of her daughter, to the point that Sue disinvites her during her wedding ceremony. Doris leaves, and Sue and Jean comfort each other.
Sue grows disillusioned with cheerleading, and in an effort to recapture her love for it, plans to fire cheerleader Brittany Pierce from a cannon during the team's next competitive routine. Brittany and her friends Santana Lopez and Quinn Fabray ultimately quit the squad, which loses at Regionals after having won the national title for six straight years. Sue is named Loser of the Year in a televised interview with Katie Couric, and has her budget slashed. Depressed, Sue stages a fake suicide, and as she hoped would happen, is convinced to temporarily join the glee club to lift her spirits, though she really wants to bring down the club from within. When her attempts to do so fail, Sue decides to become the coach of Aural Intensity, one of New Directions' Regionals competitors, and deliberately injures their director in order to get the job. Sue is furious when her club loses to New Directions, and punches the announcer in the face.
More intent than ever on destroying the glee club, Sue forms a "League of Doom", which consists of former glee club director Sandy Ryerson, the coach of rival glee club Vocal Adrenaline, Dustin Goolsby, and Will's ex-wife Terri Schuester. Their first mission, to ruin a New Directions benefit, fails when Sandy is won over by a performance from Mercedes Jones and donates the full amount needed. Devastated by Jean's death from pneumonia, Sue turns to Terri, who has the glee club's plane tickets for Nationals changed from New York to Tripoli. She also removes Becky from the Cheerios, because she reminds her of her sister. Kurt and his stepbrother Finn help Sue to clean out Jean's things, and she accepts their offer to have New Directions perform at the funeral, as she is afraid no one else will come. While going through Jean's belongings, Finn and Kurt discover that Jean's favorite movie was Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, and arrange a funeral inspired by the film. At the well-attended funeral service, an emotional Sue is unable to continue reading her eulogy after a few sentences, and Will reads the remainder for her. The glee club then sings "Pure Imagination", a song from the film. Touched by his support, Sue tells Will he is a good friend and she will no longer go after the glee club. She will instead be running for the United States House of Representatives on a platform of lowering health care costs, as her sister had faced significantly higher bills in her last few years. She then apologizes to Becky, reinstates her as a member of the Cheerios, and tells her she will be captain of the squad next year. As a final act of reconciliation, Sue asks for and receives a hug from Becky.
At the start of the third season, Sue's campaign for congress is not going well. She decides to pledge to get rid of all arts programs in schools, music and theater especially, until all students are reading at or above grade level. Will's attempt to embarrass Sue and highlight the value of the arts by glitterbombing her backfires, and Sue's poll numbers rise. She also goes back on her promise to leave the glee club alone by having her new cheerleading co-captains, Becky and Santana, sabotage the club's recruitment drive.
Sue's personal life is also explored over the course of the season. She has a commentary feature on the local television news, "Sue's Corner", which she uses to editorialize on issues such as support for caning and littering. She falls in love with news anchor Rod Remington, but their burgeoning relationship comes to an abrupt end when she discovers he is cheating with his co-anchor, Andrea Carmichael (Earlene Davis). In the episode "Wheels", Sue allows Becky Jackson, a sophomore 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 ramps for students with disabilities. It is revealed that Sue's older sister Jean also has Down syndrome, and lives in a residential care facility. Sue becomes a minor celebrity when Olivia Newton-John invites her to remake the video to "Physical", after a viral video of Sue Jazzercising to the track achieves internet notoriety. She donates her share of the profits to her sister's care home.
At the onset of the second season, Sue has formed a truce with Will, and together they conspire against the school's new football coach, Shannon Beiste. When Will comes to regret his actions and apologizes, Sue renews their enmity. She is appointed acting principal after having Figgins infected with the flu, but although the school board is so impressed with her performance they make her position permanent, she resigns when they refuse to uphold her expulsion of Dave Karofsky, a bully who had threatened to kill glee club member Kurt Hummel. After Sue learns that Rod and Andrea have become engaged, she announces her intention to marry herself. Her estranged mother Doris, a recently retired Nazi hunter, visits in an attempt to make amends for her absentee parenting, but is continuously critical of her daughter, to the point that Sue disinvites her during her wedding ceremony. Doris leaves, and Sue and Jean comfort each other.
Sue grows disillusioned with cheerleading, and in an effort to recapture her love for it, plans to fire cheerleader Brittany Pierce from a cannon during the team's next competitive routine. Brittany and her friends Santana Lopez and Quinn Fabray ultimately quit the squad, which loses at Regionals after having won the national title for six straight years. Sue is named Loser of the Year in a televised interview with Katie Couric, and has her budget slashed. Depressed, Sue stages a fake suicide, and as she hoped would happen, is convinced to temporarily join the glee club to lift her spirits, though she really wants to bring down the club from within. When her attempts to do so fail, Sue decides to become the coach of Aural Intensity, one of New Directions' Regionals competitors, and deliberately injures their director in order to get the job. Sue is furious when her club loses to New Directions, and punches the announcer in the face.
More intent than ever on destroying the glee club, Sue forms a "League of Doom", which consists of former glee club director Sandy Ryerson, the coach of rival glee club Vocal Adrenaline, Dustin Goolsby, and Will's ex-wife Terri Schuester. Their first mission, to ruin a New Directions benefit, fails when Sandy is won over by a performance from Mercedes Jones and donates the full amount needed. Devastated by Jean's death from pneumonia, Sue turns to Terri, who has the glee club's plane tickets for Nationals changed from New York to Tripoli. She also removes Becky from the Cheerios, because she reminds her of her sister. Kurt and his stepbrother Finn help Sue to clean out Jean's things, and she accepts their offer to have New Directions perform at the funeral, as she is afraid no one else will come. While going through Jean's belongings, Finn and Kurt discover that Jean's favorite movie was Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, and arrange a funeral inspired by the film. At the well-attended funeral service, an emotional Sue is unable to continue reading her eulogy after a few sentences, and Will reads the remainder for her. The glee club then sings "Pure Imagination", a song from the film. Touched by his support, Sue tells Will he is a good friend and she will no longer go after the glee club. She will instead be running for the United States House of Representatives on a platform of lowering health care costs, as her sister had faced significantly higher bills in her last few years. She then apologizes to Becky, reinstates her as a member of the Cheerios, and tells her she will be captain of the squad next year. As a final act of reconciliation, Sue asks for and receives a hug from Becky.
At the start of the third season, Sue's campaign for congress is not going well. She decides to pledge to get rid of all arts programs in schools, music and theater especially, until all students are reading at or above grade level. Will's attempt to embarrass Sue and highlight the value of the arts by glitterbombing her backfires, and Sue's poll numbers rise. She also goes back on her promise to leave the glee club alone by having her new cheerleading co-captains, Becky and Santana, sabotage the club's recruitment drive.