 " Never Been Kissed " received mixed reviews from critics , who were polarized by Kurt 's storyline . While CNN 's Lisa Respers France thought it was Glee 's best episode thus far and IGN 's Robert Canning rated it 9 out of 10 , which signifies an outstanding episode , Linda Holmes of National Public Radio dismissed it as " one of the most facile and emotionally inauthentic episodes the show has ever produced " , and Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club deemed it a failure on " almost every level . " The Huffington Post 's Leah Anthony Libresco found it an " extraordinarily counterproductive " response to the string of teenage gay suicides in early 2010 . Bobby Hankinson of the Houston Chronicle and James Poniewozik of Time approved of the storyline in principle — the former opined that Glee 's willingness to raise mainstream awareness of such issues was " incredibly courageous " , and the latter appreciated that it would span a multi @-@ episode arc — but both were critical of its depiction in practice . 
