Glee: 10 Things That Make No Sense About Sue Sylvester

Sue Sylvester was known as the headstrong and intimidating Cheerio’s coach on FOX’s hit musical series Glee and she was ultimately the character that everyone either loved or hated, no in-between. She spent most of her time trying to tear down her fellow co-worker Will Schuester and his Glee club, while she also slowly had the best character developments on the series!

Along with her great comebacks and the great storyline comes some incredibly confusing things about her and her life. At the end of the day, plenty of things about the amazing villain just didn’t make sense.

10 Her Age

One of the most questionable things surrounding Sue Sylvester is her age. In season one episode fifteen titled “The Power of Madonna,” during her self monologue she claimed that she was about to turn 30.

But later on in season two episode twenty-one, titled “Funeral”, while attending her little sister’s funeral, she claims that her sister was in her late fifties when she passed and added that the two of them were best friends in school. Throughout the entire series Sue never once fully came out with the exact number – so who really even knows how old she is?

9 The Number of Cheerio’s Championships

Sue Sylvester quickly makes it known in season one that her cheerleaders, otherwise known as “The Cheerios”, had won five consecutive national championships and she even shows off her trophies in her office. But by season one episode 21 titled “Funk,” she announces that her team had won another championship.

The confusing thing is that by the next episode titled “Journey,” while she is being introduced as a judge at Regionals, the announcer says that she had only won five championships at the time. Maybe the announcer just got it wrong or wasn’t aware of her previous championship – but she was definitely the kind of person to correct something like that, so it’s quite confusing.

8 Being A Judge At Regionals

After a full season of Sue trying her hardest to crush the Glee club and get rid of the club completely, her deciding to be a judge at regionals just seems a bit too extreme and a bit out of character for her. Sure, she was a headstrong cheerleading coach and often fought for what she believed in- but honestly just how did she find the time to be a judge while also juggling the Cheerios and her segments on WOHN news for “Sue’s Corner”?

Ultimately, her being a judge was probably just a way to scare the Glee club and make them want to quit the competition completely, which actually works since they lose to Vocal Adrenaline. But her being a judge is never mentioned again and she never shows her face at a musical competition again.

7 Her Relationship with Will Schuester

The rocky love/hate relationship between Sue Sylvester and Will Schuester was most definitely one of the most entertaining parts of the entire series, but at some points throughout the series, they shared some pretty confusing antics that almost made it seem like they were somewhat attracted to each other.

From season one, Sue was constantly trying to shut the Glee club down and ruin all of Will’s dreams of the club winning Regionals. But by episode 21, titled “Funk”, as Will tries to intimidate Sue with the sensual song “Tell Me Something Good,” it seems like she starts to gain feelings for him which ultimately leads to her hating him even more.

6 Putting Dirt In Santana & Brittany’s Lockers

Santana Lopez and Brittany Pierce were very close to Sue during the first couple of seasons of Glee after she had them join the Glee club and spy on the group in her favor. But that quickly changed after they quit Cheerios and decided that they actually liked being in the Glee club and everything that it stands for.

It isn’t completely out of character for Sue to do some downright awful things to people that she dislikes, but it was pretty surprising for her to torment two of her favorite students. She even made Santana the head cheerleader at one point, so why would she even waste her time trying to go after them since it was never mentioned again in the series?

5 The Fact That She Never Gets Punished

If any high school teacher were seen or heard doing the things that Sue Sylvester had done to the students at William McKinley high school, they would more than likely be fired on the spot – but not in this series. From all of the yelling, physical assaults, and all the things in between, the fact that teachers and other high school staff are able to just turn their heads and act like they didn’t see it really doesn’t make any sense.

Somehow through it all, Sue keeps her job as a coach throughout the entire series of Glee and is allowed to continue bullying students, intimidating co-workers, and trying to tear down the Glee club.

4 The Backstory On Her Short Hair

Sue Sylvester’s iconic short hairstyle was sported throughout the entire series and of course, its backstory was mentioned a couple of times, but it somehow always changed, which really makes no sense. In season one episode 15, titled “The Power of Madonna,” she tells Mercedes and Kurt that when she and her sister were younger they decided to dye her hair to be blonde like Madonna’s but it ends up completely frying her hair and never being able to grow back.

Then in the season five episode, titled “The Puppet Master,” Sue has a flashback and admits that she used to have long hair but cut it off to avoid being made fun of for being too girly.

3 Refusing To Expel Karofsky After Bullying Kurt

In the real world, if a student was constantly being harassed and practically assaulted for their sexual orientation, any teacher would be quick to have them expelled or kicked out of school. But of course, Sue Sylvester is different.

After watching Dave Karofsky continuously bully Kurt Hummel throughout season one, it was quite easy to think that something would happen to keep him from hurting other students. But after Sue found out about his actions toward Kurt, she simply claimed that she had no reason to expel one of her best football players, which ultimately was a very bad look on her part and a horrible writing decision.

2 Marrying Herself

Any news of someone marrying themselves is something sure to be on the front cover of any newspaper and in the main news stream, but in Glee, no one seems to bat an eye at Sue’s decision to marry herself. Of course, Sue Sylvester has been a character that everyone either loved or hated since the beginning, and she always carried herself in such an intimidating manner that it kept her having good luck in all of her relationships.

Her wedding and decision to marry herself was a huge storyline in season two episode titled “Furt,” but after the episode was over it was like the storyline faded in the background and it was never mentioned again- nor does she wear her wedding ring throughout the rest of the series.

1 Her Pregnancy

Sue’s hatred of pregnancy was quite possibly one of the biggest continuity errors on Glee. Although it is very possible that she could have changed her mind, during the first season after discovering that one of her fellow Cheerios, Quinn Fabray, was pregnant she continues to state that she doesn’t see why people want kids along with adding that she can’t have kids since she “doesn’t have a uterus”.

By the season four episode, titled “The New Rachel,” Sue introduces her new baby Robin. The baby is only seen in this episode and only spoke of again in the series finale with no hint as to why. But all in all, by the last episode of the series, Sue’s story does end up being a truly beautiful one with an even better growth of character on her end.