The First Time (Glee)

"The First Time" was first broadcast on November 8, 2011 in the United States on Fox. It garnered a 3.1/8 Nielsen rating/share in the 18–49 demographic, and received 6.91 million American viewers during its initial airing, the lowest number of viewers for a new episode in the third season.[24] While the show's viewership was down by over 7% from the 7.47 million for previous new episode, "Pot o' Gold", which was broadcast on November 1, 2011, the rating in the 18–49 demographic increased slightly from the 3.0/8 rating/share received by that episode.[25]

Viewership also decreased in other countries, and hit season lows in the United Kingdom and Australia as well. In the United Kingdom, "The First Time" was watched on Sky1 by 973,000 viewers, down 7% compared to "Pot o' Gold" the previous week, when 1.05 million viewers were watching.[26] In Australia, "The First Time" was watched by 660,000 viewers, which made Glee the fourteenth most-watched program of the night. The viewership was down almost 9% from "Pot o' Gold", which was seen by 724,000 viewers.[27] In Canada, however, viewership was up slightly and 1.66 million viewers watched the episode, which made it the fifteenth most-viewed show of the week, up three slots and over 2% from the 1.62 million viewers who watched "Pot o' Gold" the week before.[28]

Like "Asian F" before it, screener copies of this episode were sent to a number of critics before the show aired. Michael Ausiello of TVLine called it "stellar" and a "standout episode", and Entertainment Weekly's Tim Stack wrote that it was "one of Glee's best installments ever" and an "exceptional episode". Both articles headlined the sexual theme of the episode, and made prominent mention of the fact that both couples would be "having sex for the first time".[20][29]

Prior to broadcast, Colfer anticipated that the episode's sexual themes and content would prove controversial among television watchdog groups. He said, "I absolutely expect to hear from them, but I think it's handled very sweetly and very emotionally. They're expecting this big, raunchy, suggestive, brainwashing storyline when, really, it's very sweet."[30] Before the episode aired, the conservative Parents Television Council called the show "reprehensible" and the Fox network reckless for "celebrating teen sex".[31]

Reviewers were critical of Rachel's (Michele, left) motivations in her decision to have sex with Finn (Monteith, right).

When the show aired, the reviewers were not as uniformly enthusiastic as the screeners. Bobby Hankinson of The Houston Chronicle called this "one of the better episodes in the show’s three-season run, though not as good as 'Asian F'".[32] Time's James Poniewozik weighted them differently, calling "The First Time" the "best episode, overall, of Glee season three".[33] Raymund Flandez of The Wall Street Journal said it had "tasteful restraint, subtle playfulness and smoothly woven storylines", and The Atlantic's Kevin Fallon said the episode "treats its characters realistically and send an important message".[34][35] Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode a "good" grade of 7.5 out of 10.[36] Rolling Stone's Erica Futterman wrote that it was "clinical and awkward", and the "second flatline" episode in a row, though she complimented the four actors playing the two couples as "genuine and relatable".[37] John Kubicek of BuddyTV said that the episode infuriated him "on a grand scale".[38] Amy Reiter of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the episode was "far more nuanced, gentle-hearted and romantic than it sounds—much more about love than about sex", and a number of reviewers agreed, including AOLTV's Crystal Bell.[39][40] For Hankinson, however, "the teenage lust was played a touch too safe, a bit too romanticized".[32]

Canning said that Kurt and Blaine's "attempts to get a little wild", and "trying to grow up faster than they should", were "the better parts of the episode as they felt the most realistic".[36] Futterman praised their departure from the bar as a "very faithful and honest scene".[37] Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club and Kubicek both had issues with Blaine's characterization. The latter asserted that he "just behaves however the writers need him to behave in order for the scene to work", while the former said that Blaine's season three storyline "hasn’t been bad by any means, but it does feel like Darren Criss is playing someone who’s quite a bit different from the guy he was playing last season".[38][41] Bell was impressed by the way the characters' relationship "inspires gay youth in a way that we haven't seen on network television yet" and called them "amazing role models for all teens", and Fallon said it was "remarkable" and a "milestone" that "the decision by gay teen characters to lose their virginities is given equal weight to that of a straight couple".[35][40] Anthony Benigno of The Faster Times characterized the scene with Kurt and Karofsky as "subtle" and "a home run", and Entertainment Weekly's Abby West called it a "perfect little nuanced scene", while Ausiello said it was his "favorite scene of the episode".[29][42][43]

Poniewozik complimented the way "Monteith really sold Finn’s feeling of being helpless and overmatched", and Canning said that Finn's reaction to Rachel's admission that she wanted to have sex because of the play was a "solid and true moment".[33][36] Rachel's reasoning, however, came in for harsh criticism: Brett Berk of Vanity Fair said it was "neither believable nor even amusing" that she would try intercourse for such a reason, Bell called her a "dunce", and VanDerWerff didn't believe that she would just blurt it out to Finn.[40][41][44] The Star-Ledger's Vicki Hyman felt her decision to go all the way did not "ring quite true", and Poniewozik called it "essentially pity sex".[33][45] Ausiello had a different view—"I would hardly call it pity sex"—and West said she was "going to choose to believe" that Rachel did not have her first time "just to make him feel better".[29][43]

Several of Artie's scenes came in for criticism. The scene where he advised Rachel and Blaine to have sex was viewed by Poniewozik as "a forced conflict designed to drive the plot" and highly implausible for a number of reasons.[33] Kubicek stated that "acting is about pretending, and if Rachel is really a great actress, she'd be able to play the emotion without needing to have sex".[38] Bell and West made similar points.[40][43] Rae Votta of Billboard commented on the "weird" plotline that involved Artie and Coach Beiste, for which Kubicek called Artie's actions "inappropriate".[38][46] While Hyman "liked Artie coming into his own as a director", she called his pre-show jitters "jarring", though she called his final speech "a nice moment", and Benigno characterized it as "a kind of cheesy but actually appropriate speech".[42][45] Futterman felt it was a "valid and heartwarming point", but "awkwardly slotted in".[37] Poniewozik credited Jones as Coach Beiste with "stunning work", and Kubicek said Beiste's "fragile lack of self-esteem" was "believable and heartfelt" and that Jones was "brilliant".[33][38]

The scene where Mike is disowned by his father was characterized as "weird" and "tonally off" by VanDerWerff and "abrupt and unlikely" by Hyman.[41][45] Kubicek was even more critical: "the most over-the-top, terribly clichéd scene ever".[38] However, Votta gave "kudos to Glee for sticking with Mike's story this season as he figures out his path", and West wrote that Shum "played it well", while Canning said it and the later scene with his mother "were mighty effective, if a bit stereotypical".[36][43][46] Hyman and West also approved of the latter scene.[43][45]

Sue's absence from the episode was applauded by Bell, who called it "exactly what the show needed".[40] Michael Slezak of TVLine said "the show might be at its best" when Sue and Will "are relegated to benchwarmer status", and Poniewozik "did not miss them one bit".[33][47] The new Warbler, Sebastian, was said to be "instantly loathsome" by Benigno.[42] His scene with Blaine that was blended with Santana and Rachel singing "A Boy Like That" was variously described as "savvily intercut" by Hyman, "heavy-handed" by Votta, and bringing "the dangers of teen love" to "ferocious life" by Slezak.[45][46][47]

Of the ending, Futterman noted that "the final scenes actually wound up truthful to these characters", and Kevin Sullivan of MTV wrote that "when the two separate moments finally did arrive at the end of the episode, it felt like the natural end and was quite touching".[37][48]

Supervising Music Editor David Klotz received a Best Sound Editing: Short Form Musical in Television nomination at the 2012 Golden Reel Awards for his work on the episode.[49] The musical performances were generally well received by reviewers, though a few songs came in for some criticism. One that was given near-universal plaudits was "America", from Hankinson's "awesome" to Hyman's "killer rendition" to VanDerWerff's "one of the best production numbers the show has ever done".[32][41][45] The most frequent caveat seemed to be the accents used by the singers; Flandez thought they "could've used a little finesse", and Futterman characterized them as "questionable", though both complimented the performance's dance moves.[34][37] Santana's performance in the number and the show came in for particular comment: The Hollywood Reporter's Lesley Goldberg called her "completely captivating as Anita", and Rae Votta of Billboard mentioned her "two stand out vocal performances".[46][50]

Of the four other songs from West Side Story, "Tonight" was given an "A−" and called "pretty wonderful" by Benigno, while Futterman thought it "very sweet, yet very vanilla" and West gave it a "B" and noted it "was lacking something".[37][42][43] Slezak gave the musical's songs a collective grade of "A".[47] Although others praised Santana as Anita, Futterman was not impressed with her rendition of "A Boy Like That" and wrote, "Santana's part of the song is not nearly angry or urgent enough and sounds like a watered-down version of what Santana is capable of".[37] West gave the song a "B+", and stated that the song was "stellar for Rachel's fire".[43] Futterman singled out Rachel for "I Have a Love": "Rachel delivers the best vocals of the night with her powerful, yet incredibly high soprano that sounds effortless despite being out of her normal range."[37] Benigno and West both gave "One Hand, One Heart" an "A"; the former called it "wonderful", although he railed about the prevalence of show tunes in the episode, and the latter wrote, "This was the perfect soundtrack to the trio of first times."[42][43]

The one song that did not come from the musical was "Uptown Girl". Votta said the performance by the Dalton Academy Warblers, with "leads by minor Warbler Nick, played by Curt Mega", was "refreshing and nostalgic all at once, a bright pop musical spot in an episode devoted to Broadway and a reminder of the dominant Dalton presence last season".[46] Bell wrote that the "Warblers were totally born to sing 'Uptown Girl'", and Goldberg called it "among the young season’s best" performances.[40] Flandez said it was a "terrific performance", though Benigno was more restrained, and gave it a "B+" despite there being "less innovation" in the a cappella "gimmick", and noted that "the barbershop-quartet finish is actually pretty good".[34][42] Slezak, however, said the song was the only musical "weak link" in the episode, and Canning called it "too polished".[36][47] Futterman thought the lead singers were "grating and over-the-top", and Poniewozik characterized the performance as "unfortunate".[33][37]

One of the six cover versions released as five singles—the "A Boy Like That" single also contained "I Have a Love"—debuted on the Billboard Hot 100: "Uptown Girl" debuted at number sixty-eight.[51] It also debuted on the Canadian Hot 100 at number eighty-three.[52] The other singles, all from West Side Story, did not chart. Two of these singles, "Uptown Girl" and "Tonight", are included on the soundtrack album Glee: The Music, Volume 7.[53]