Top 10 worst ‘Glee’ characters, ranked

Not every character in Glee is likable. Some of them are intolerable and you wonder why the show tries its hardest to make them fan favorites. These characters in the show were either poorly developed, were given different reasons as to why their actions were justified, or were straight-up terrible.

Glee was an ongoing TV series with a six-season run from 2009-2015, during which the show introduced viewers to multiple characters to either root for or go against. The problem is that this show tends to have the opposite effect on some of these characters, making them insufferable to watch. And you begin to ask yourself “why are these characters in the show?”

So without any further ado, here are the top 10 worst characters from Glee, ranked.

10. Bree

Bree is the most underdeveloped character in Glee. While it’s fair that during season 4 and onwards, they needed to fill the gaps after the main cast left high school, unfortunately, some of those characters became lower-tier copies of the previous alumni, and Bree is one of them. The show tried to make her like the “next generation” of Santana Lopez by making her more snarky and giving her that “nice mean girl” vibe. But it’s clear that she’s trying way too hard to be the next “bitch” of McKinley.

9. Ken Tanaka

Ken has been “territorial” when it came to Emma and Will’s work relationship and is jealous of how close the two have become. In the show, he admitted to using drugs for whatever reason and made Emma choose between him and Will. While he was only around in Season 1, his fate in the later seasons is weird as the show claims he died, but he also appeared in Season 4 when Coach Beiste joined online dating.

8. Will Schuester

Will Schuester is a mixed bag as to whether or not he’s a good person or not. He believes in his kids and loves his job. But it took three seasons for him to be called out as a terrible Spanish teacher, somewhat tried to get in the way of Emma’s relationship with her dentist/fiancé, and is described by multiple fans as kind of a creep. Also, he agreed to team up with Sue to bully Coach Beastie. However, he still cares about these students and would do whatever it takes to protect them.

7. Santana Lopez

Santana is also a mixed character in Glee. On one hand, she’s willing to go all “Lima Heights” to defend either the people she’s close to, or herself. Yet at the same time, she’s too aggressive and honest to the point where someone needs to call out her actions and behavior. Also, she does things purely out of self-interest, like threatening to out Karofsky to become prom queen. Or threatening Rory into granting her wish for Brittney to leave New Directions to join the Troubletones, even when she somewhat knew that Rory was into Brittney. She’s a complex character, but at least she’s not that bad compared to some others.

6. Finn Hudson

You may be wondering, “how is Finn a bad character?” First of all, he agreed to bully kids such as Kurt with his friends, even if all he did was hold Kurt’s jacket before he got thrown. Also, he used a slur that caught the attention of Kurt’s father and got him kicked out. Speaking of crimes against the LGBT+, he publicly outs Santana in the school hallway, next to the new student in school. And also, there is a “parallel universe” out there that was shown in Season 4 where Finn would physically harm Kurt and use “gay” as an insult. And if that’s not bad enough, he’d rather choose his reputation over his friends and needed people to convince him otherwise.

Also, in this show, he was against some of the male members such as Jessie St. James and Blaine Anderson joining New Directions due to past preconceived notions about them.

So while the show does try to make Finn the good guy who just needs a “push towards the right direction” or was seen as “the next generation of dude,” he really isn’t. He was just lucky that he had friends around to help him.

5. Terri Schuester

Terri is a terrible wife. She should have been honest with her husband who loved her since high school. But instead, she’s jealous that her husband loves the students more than her. She had to come up with a plan to lie about her pregnancy with the help of her sister and a very “distraught” Quinn. Of course, one lie leads to another, and Will realized that Terri was lying to him. She was jealous and terrified of his work relationship with Emma, and about his becoming more confident about himself, as she believed that their relationship worked because “Will didn’t feel good about himself.” After the divorce, she made minor antagonistic appearances throughout seasons 1-3 in which she tried to sabotage the Glee club or his relationship with Emma. Let’s be real, she’s not over Will.

4. David Karofsky

David is a terrible person in Glee. He bullied Kurt to the point of threatening his life, making him feel unsafe. The show tried to justify his actions by telling him that he’s a closeted gay man, but that’s not a valid excuse to hurt and threaten someone. The Glee club even tried to help him steer in the right direction because they believed he could be redeemed, but he behaved very stubbornly. The show did give him a redemption arc in seasons three and six in which he began to slowly accept himself. And to be completely honest, I don’t know how I feel about that, but it does show that all this anger and hate all came from internalized homophobia.

3. Sebastian Smythe

Sebastian Smythe may look innocent on the outside, but on the inside, he’s dangerous. He was introduced in season three, trying to convince Blaine to return to Dalton as well as trying to get him all to himself. He’s also tried bodily harm and blackmail, threatening the Glee club with spiked slushy throws and “fake nudes.”Literally, the only person in the whole show that’s close to being his equal is Santana. Also, the guy, who is clearly gay in the show, is literally someone who hates other gays like Kurt and Karofsky. So much for sticking together. At least he eventually took accountability for his actions and realized what he did was wrong. But jeez, two people got physically hurt due to his actions that he once saw as a “joke.”

2. Sue Sylvester

Sue is the product of her own upbringing. During her interview with Geraldo Rivera, it was revealed that her parents described her as the “daughter that I just couldn’t love.” Not to mention, she had to change her own appearance just so she’d get respect from the students of McKinley High when she started as the new cheerleading coach. While Sue is nice towards Becky, her sister, and Coach Beastie (in the later seasons), she did give the Glee club a very hard time. You could say that she’s very hypocritical as she likes to enforce a zero-tolerance “no bullying policy,” she is indeed a bully herself.

1. Rachel Berry

Who’s ready for the long essay on why Rachel Berry is the worst character on Glee? Hating on Lea Michele/Rachel Berry isn’t new. People have found her intolerable since the show started, to the point where the show tried to make her look good and make the audience empathize with her. Everything she’s done is just so she could achieve her dream, but her own ambition was also her downfall. She’s racist and willing to harm people she’d see as a threat.

The show also showcased this character way too much, so much so that some fans just see her as a diva and as the group’s only hope. Also, when does a club need to get the permission of one member just so things are equal for everyone? Because they needed to have Berry’s approval just to let the Troubletones have one solo performance when they compete. This character could have been likable if the show treated the other group members as equal to her rather than just someone singing in the background.

Glee gave us loveable characters but also introduced us to characters we’d like to punch in the face when given the chance. But these characters, despite their intolerable behaviors, added drama to the show that made the show entertaining and worth watching.