Emma Pillsbury

Emma Pillsbury is a mysophobic guidance counselor at William McKinley High School and is one of Will Shuester's closest friends. Emma has influenced many of Will's dealings with the glee club and is one of the club's biggest fans.

Emma is portrayed by Jayma Mays "(Pilot)."

About
At a young age Emma was pushed into a dairy farm's runoff lagoon by her brother and, since that incident, has developed mysophobia and OCD. Emma is a very sensitive woman and has not had much experience with relationships (she is still a virgin) and has often rushed into whatever relationship she could find. Although having deep feelings for her co-worker and good friend Will Shuester, Emma became engaged to her co-worker Ken Tenaka, a man whom she had no romantic feelings for purely on the believe that "she could not do any better" and later, after breaking the relationship off and failing in a relationship with Will, married her dentist Carl Howell. Although seemingly in love with her new husband Emma's true feelings for Will never disappeared and the two became divorced and through this incident (and some help from Will) Emma gained the courage to finally seek help for her OCD and mysophobia.

Season One
For an episode-by-episode recount of Season One for Emma, click here.

Emma supports Will Shuester's efforts to work with the glee club and offers him advice on how to continue and convinces him not to give up on his dreams after he discovers that his wife is pregnant and attempts to quit his job. Emma grows closer to Will and begins a relationship with Ken Tenaka (although the relationship is not much different than a co-worker's relationship) and gives advice to many glee club members including Rachel Berry, Quinn Fabray and Finn Hudson. After discovering that Quinn is pregnant Emma begins to take a special interest in Finn in order to help him with his future and aids Will in finding an old classmate April Rhodes, although she later objects to April's presence in the school due to her alcoholism. Despite the two both being in relationships, Emma and Will's relationship continues to grow and, after some convincing from Sue Sylvester, Terri finally intervenes and has Ken propose to Emma, which she eventually and reluctantly accepts.

Will then begins to teach Emma and Ken how to dance for their wedding and dances with Emma to the song "Thong Song," Ken's choice for a wedding song. Later, while trying on a new wedding dress, Emma and Will practice her song choice, "I Could Have Danced All Night," which Emma sings as they dance to it. After attempting to mash the two songs together Will informs Emma that he cannot do it, and Emma claims it is because the songs (meaning herself and Ken) do not go together. Emma continues to give advice to Will after he realizes Rachel has developed a crush on him and Sue has leaked his set-list to other schools. Despite her wedding being on the same day Emma accompanies the New Directions to Sectionals and, as a result, is left at the alter by Ken. Heartbroken and embarrassed Emma attempts to quit her job but instead decides to stay after she begins a relationship with Will. She decides to give Will some space to find himself and also decides to lose her virginity to him but is unable to do the deed.

Emma is later horrified to learn that Will had made out with Shelby Corcoran and slept with April Rhodes and so she officially breaks up with him, stating that he is a slut. She later gives advice to Artie Abrams and eventually reveals to Will that she is dating her dentist, Carl Howell. After the New Directions lose Regionals and the club is disbanded Emma fights with Principal Figgins and shares a kiss with Will, who claims he still loves her.

Season Two
For an episode-by-episode recount of Season Two for Emma, click here.

Emma continues her relationship with Carl Howell and claims that Will is too uptight and that is the reason he does not like Britney Spears. Carl visits Emma at work and gives a lecture on dental hygiene to the glee club and causes Will to become more impulsive so Emma will like him again. Emma eventually tells Will that she just wanted him to relax and be himself which upsets Will as he feels he was not good enough for her. Emma is later informed of Burt Hummel's heart attack and informs Will and Kurt Hummel about it, accompanying them to the hospital. Emma later argues with Sue over her attempts to stop the glee club expressing their faiths. Emma then discovers partly why Sue acts so cruelly to everyone.

Emma later tells Will about her newfound love for "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and so he decides to have the glee club perform it and asks Emma to be the costume designer, which she happily accepts. Emma and Carl are then tricked by Sue by having Carl audition for the show with "Hot Patootie-Bless My Soul," which greatly annoys Will as he watches Emma and Carl dance together. Emma is later informed by Will that he will now be playing Rocky and the two practice "Toucha Toucha Toucha Touch Me," ending the performance with Emma running out of the room, shocked at her behavior. She tells Carl what happened between the two and Emma has a discussion with Will about their feelings for each other. Emma later agrees to once again accompany the glee club to Sectionals but has to pull out after she and Carl have an argument (due to Will). Emma then flies to Las Vegas with Carl and the two get married. Sue eventually attempts to commit suicide but is stopped by Will and Emma, who suggests that Sue join the glee club for a week. Emma is also revealed to be the new head of The Celibacy Club and is encouraging both Quinn and Rachel to embrace celibacy while she disagrees with Holly Holiday's idea of preparing and educating the kids on sex. Emma and Carl begin to have marital problems after Holly discovers they have not had sex and asks Emma if she still has feelings for Will. After admitting that she does, Carl and Emma get divorced and Emma begins to relapse into her OCD. Will once again helps her and, during a lesson on self acceptance, Emma finally admits to herself that she has a problem and begins seeing a therapist.

Emma slowly begins to make progress with her OCD and also witnesses Will practicing broadway numbers with April Rhodes and encourages him to follow his dreams. Despite making it to broadway with April's show, Will returns to school to be with Emma, his true dream.

Wemma
Emma's crush from the time they met, Emma and Will share an unbreakable friendship and trust in each other. Though their relationship has been mostly on a friendship level with the two sharing many secrets and personal issues with each other they have been in a sexual relationship with Emma trusting Will to be the one to take her virginity (although she does not go through with it). Emma and Will have both been in serious relationships with other people but have always maintained some sort of attraction for one another. Emma is heartbroken when she discovers that, while "finding himself," Will had sexual encounters with two other women while Will is later heartbroken to discover that Emma is dating her dentist. However, after Emma was unable to deny her feelings for Will any longer, and after getting a divorce, the two have rekindled their flame, (although they still behave as friends).

Carma
Emma's first serious relationship after Will, Emma and Carl's relationship grew to the point where they eventually married in Las Vegas. Carl's influence over Emma seemed positive to all as, thanks to the time they spent together, Emma became more and more confident and her OCD began to reside. However, despite her affections for Carl she was still unable to commit to him physically and emotionally as she later admitted she still had feelings for Will, resulting in the relationships abrupt end and all her progress with her OCD reversed.

Kemma
Emma and Ken Tenaka's relationship was born out of low self esteem as Ken needed to almost bully Emma into accepting him as Emma believed herself not good enough for others. Despite officially stating themselves in a relationship Emma refused to hug, kiss, live with or even touch Ken and refused to see him after school hours, which he accepted as he truly loved her. Eventually becoming engaged Emma continued to harbor feelings for Will Shuester and, after constantly choosing him over Ken and his needs, she was left at the alter. Humiliated and ashamed of herself Emma attempted to quit her job at the school but was stopped.

Season One

 * All By Myself - Solo
 * I Could Have Danced All Night - Solo
 * Like A Virgin - Soloist

Season Two

 * Hot Patootie-Bless My Soul - Dance
 * Toucha Toucha Toucha Touch Me - Soloist
 * Afternoon Delight - Soloist