Mercedes Jones is a fictional character from the Fox popular musical comedy-drama series Glee. The character is portrayed by actress Amber Riley, and has appeared in Glee from its pilot episode, first broadcast on May 19, 2009. Mercedes was developed by Glee creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan. She is a dynamic diva-in-training who refuses to sing back-up, and is a member of the glee club at the fictional William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio.
Storylines
Season 1
Mercedes auditions for the school glee club, New Directions, by performing Aretha Franklin's "Respect". She develops a crush on fellow member Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer), unaware that he is gay. Though she is hurt when he rejects her, Mercedes is supportive when he confides his sexuality, and they become close friends. Mercedes has a rivalry with glee club co-captain Rachel Berry (Lea Michele), which comes to a head in the episode "Sectionals", when she impresses the club with a rendition of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going". Rachel agrees that Mercedes should perform the solo competitively, but she loses the chance when a rival school steals the song.
Frustrated with the lack of solos they receive, Mercedes and Kurt join the school cheerleading squad, the Cheerios, as vocalists. Mercedes struggles when cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) demands that she lose weight. She faints after crash-dieting, and is supported by former Cheerios captain Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron), who tells her that she is beautiful regardless of her size. Later, during a pep rally, Mercedes sings the song "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera. Being a member of the Cheerios increases her popularity, and Mercedes briefly dates football player and glee club member Noah Puckerman (Mark Salling). However, she feels that she is being untrue to herself, so she quits the squad and breaks up with Puck. A friendship develops between Mercedes and Quinn; she invites Quinn to live with her family after Quinn's parents evict her for becoming pregnant, and supports her through the birth of her daughter.
Season 2 Mercedes' friendship with Kurt is tested when they disagree over religion; Mercedes is a devout Christian, and Kurt an atheist. When his father has a heart attack, Mercedes convinces Kurt to attend church with her, devoting the service to the Hummels and performing "Bridge Over Troubled Water" with her church choir for him. Kurt later develops a strong friendship with Blaine Anderson (Darren Criss), a gay student from another school. He begins to neglect Mercedes, and offends her by trying to set her up with another student. When Sue Sylvester, temporarily Acting Principal, begins a healthy eating initiative at the school and declares a ban on Tater Tots, Mercedes organizes a student protest and fills the tailpipe of Sue's car with Tots, causing $17,000 worth of damage. Kurt suggests that she is substituting food for love and their friendship for a romantic relationship, and Mercedes agrees to talk to the student Kurt attempted to set her up with. She remains romantically unattached, however, and explains to Kurt and Rachel that sometimes it is necessary to choose between love and talent.
Mercedes writes an original song entitled "Hell to the No" to be a contender for the glee club's set list for the Regionals competition; though director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) thinks it's a great song, he also doesn't think it's appropriate for the competition. When New Directions plans a benefit concert, Mercedes allows her performance slot to be moved to a less desirable place in the program; club member Lauren Zizes (Ashley Fink) is surprised by her failure to stand up for herself, and offers to be her agent, suggesting that she make diva-like demands to ensure they appreciate her talent. Ultimately, Mercedes takes the closing slot from Rachel by performing an overwhelming rendition of Aretha Franklin's "Ain't No Way" so good that Rachel doesn't even try to follow it. Mercedes attends the junior prom as part of a group with Rachel and fellow New Directions member Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet). In the season two finale episode, "New York", it is revealed that she and Sam have begun secretly dating.
Season 3 At the beginning of the third season, Mercedes says that she and Sam had dated for a while, but after he moved out of state she started a relationship with Shane Tinsley, a member of the football team. Shane encourages her to believe in her talent, and she auditions for the role of Maria in the school's production of West Side Story. Both she and Rachel are given callbacks. Mercedes is angry about what she perceives as continued favoritism shown to Rachel, especially in the awarding of solos, and quits glee club. In the audition callbacks, Mercedes gives a performance that Rachel privately concedes was better—Mercedes is sure it is—and when they are both offered the role with half of the performances, she refuses to accept a split role; instead, she joins Shelby Corcoran's (Idina Menzel) rival glee club, and soon has recruited Santana and Brittany away from New Directions into the newly named Troubletones. The Troubletones lose the Sectionals competition to New Directions, and Mercedes and the others rejoin New Directions with the promise that the Troubletones will be given one performance number per competition. Sam returns to McKinley and attempts to rekindle his romance with Mercedes. She still has feelings for him, and eventually breaks up with Shane, though she refuses to date Sam while she is unsure of her true feelings. Sam continues to support her, and a YouTube video he posts of Mercedes singing results in her being offered a job as a backup singer in Los Angeles after she graduates.
Season 4 Although still credited as series regular, Mercedes appears less frequently in the fourth season. She usually returns when there is an event in the lives of one of her friends back home in Ohio. She has moved to Los Angeles and is taking classes at UCLA while she works as a backup singer, though she returns to help with the school musical, for Thanksgiving, and for Mr. Schuester's ultimately failed wedding. She also returns in "Wonder-ful" to do a music video for her newly recorded album, but the record deal falls through.
Season 5 In season five, she was demoted and credited as a guest star. She returned in the premiere episode "Love, Love, Love" to be present for Blaine's proposal to Kurt, and again for Finn's funeral and memorial in "The Quarterback". She sang "I'll Stand By You" as a tribute to Finn, who had sung it to the sonogram of what he thought was his and Quinn's baby in the first-season episode "Ballad", and later told her about doing so. In "City of Angels", she comes to support the New Directions since the nationals is held in LA, and it's revealed that she has landed a new recording contract. While there, she learns that a dejected Marley Rose has given up songwriting and is considering quitting the New Directions and, having mentored her before for Regionals, convinces her to keep following her dreams. In the special 100th episode, due to their recent success, she and Rachel (who was just cast in a broadway role) starts a rivalry, though they made up with each other in the end as they realize they are equally talented. She moves to New York with fellow glee club graduates for the rest of the season to record her album, and while there, rekindled her romance with Sam. In the season finale, she breaks up with Sam as she realizes she can't make him wait for her to be ready to lose her virginity. She went on a mall tour across the state with her high school friends, Santana Lopez (Naya Rivera) and Brittany Pierce (Heather Morris) as her main back up.
Season 6 She was promoted to the main cast again for the final season. She comes back to McKinley with all of the McKinley graduates to try to help Rachel recruit new members for the glee club in the episode "Homecoming". She later tries to convince Rachel to chase her dreams to be on Broadway. In the series finale, Mercedes is going to be Beyoncé's opening act for her upcoming world tour, and gives a tearful farewell to her friends. In 2020, she is headlining her own world tour, and watches Rachel win an award. She attends the McKinley auditorium rededication to Finn Hudson, sings one last song with every former member of New Directions, and takes a final bow with the rest of the Glee cast.
Musical performances
As Mercedes, Riley features in many ensemble musical performances, has had several solos and duets, which have been released as singles, available for download, and included on Glee soundtrack albums. Her first performance, "Respect" by Aretha Franklin, was included in full on the series' first DVD box set, Glee – Volume 1: Road to Sectionals. In the episode "Acafellas", her performance of Jazmine Sullivan's "Bust Your Windows" was called "showstopping" by Raymund Flandez of The Wall Street Journal. It was included on the album Glee: The Music, Volume 1, and released as a single, which peaked at number 35 in Ireland. Riley recorded a version of Dionne Warwick's "Don't Make Me Over" for the episode "Hairography". It was used as an instrumental within the episode, rather than performed by Mercedes on-screen, but was included in full on Glee: The Music, Volume 2. Her performance of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" in the episode "Sectionals" also features on this album. It peaked at number 85 on the Canadian Hot 100.
The rendition of Aguilera's "Beautiful" in the episode "Home" was called "so forced that it loses any power it might have from what's a genuinely nice arrangement of the song" by Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club, while Tim Stack of Entertainment Weekly wrote that it was "a great moment for not only Amber Riley but for the entire show." The number peaked at 39 in Ireland, and 44 in Canada. Riley duetted with Colfer on "4 Minutes" by Madonna, which was included on the extended play (EP) Glee: The Music, The Power of Madonna, and reached number 32 in Ireland. Additional duets include "The Lady Is a Tramp" by Sammy Davis, Jr. with Puck, and of "The Boy is Mine" by Brandy and Monica with Santana. The former was included on Glee: The Music, Volume 3 Showstoppers, and reached number 72 in Canada, while the latter is featured on the compilation album Glee: The Music, The Complete Season One, and reached 46 in Ireland.