"Throwdown" was watched by 7.65 million US viewers and attained a 3.4/9
rating/share in the 18-49 demographic. It was the 26th most watched show of the week in Canada, with 1.4 million viewers. In the UK, the episode was watched by 2.066 million viewers (1.674 million on E4, and 388,000 on E4+1), becoming the most-watched show on
E4 and
E4 +1 for the week, and the most-watched show on cable for the week, as well as the most-watched episode of the series at the time. The episode received mixed reviews from critics. Mike Hale of the
New York Times felt that "Throwdown": "emphasized the show's increasingly dual nature" whereby "the students are in a pretty good musical, and the adults are in a below-average dramedy." Wendy Mitchell of
Entertainment Weekly deemed the episode "welcome light relief", Eric Goldman for
IGN rated the episode 8.8/10, criticizing it for "overly earnest, saccharine moments" but commenting that it was a "great example" of
Glee "just being damn funny". Lynch's performance as Sue attracted praise, with Raymund Flandez of
The Wall Street Journal and Liz Pardue of
Zap2it both calling her portrayal
Emmy-worthy.
Entertainment Weekly writer Ken Tucker called her "the greatest
Broadway-musical villain to ever co-star in a TV series", deeming "Throwdown" "possibly the best showcase yet for Jane Lynch", while Malcom praised the interaction between Lynch and Morrison, writing that their scenes "crackled with electric wit". Reviewing musical performances in the series so far on October 21, 2009, Denise Martin for the
Los Angeles Times rated "Hate On Me" the fourth best performance to date, writing that Riley: "blew [her] away." In December 2012,
TV Guide also named the rendition one of
Glee best performances, describing it as "a real
Beyoncé moment". Aly Semigran of
MTV observed that Quinn spontaneously bursting into song brought
Glee "dangerously close to
High School Musical territory". == References ==