<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> ← Previous Season 4 Next → Season 6 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> List of Glee episodes </Td> </Tr> <P> The fifth season of the Fox musical comedy - drama television series Glee was commissioned on April 19, 2013, along with a sixth season . It premiered on September 26, 2013, as part of the 2013 fall season . After a winter break, it returned on February 25, 2014, moving to Tuesday nights to finish its season . The second part of the season featured the 100th episode of the series, the 12th episode of the season, which aired on March 18, 2014 . It was shorter than previous seasons, with twenty episodes instead of twenty - two . </P> <P> The series features the New Directions glee club at the fictional William McKinley High School (WMHS) in the town of Lima, Ohio, and graduates of McKinley who have moved to New York City, some to attend the fictional New York Academy of Dramatic Arts (NYADA). Unlike previous seasons, the fifth continues the school year begun in season four . The first half of the season follows the club competing on the show choir circuit, while the remainder of the season focuses on graduation and the alumni's lives in New York City as its members, faculty and alumni deal with gay bashing, death, intimacy, STDs, transphobia and other social issues . The central characters are glee club director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison), cheerleading coach and school principal Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch), glee club members Artie Abrams (Kevin McHale), Blaine Anderson (Darren Criss), Tina Cohen - Chang (Jenna Ushkowitz), Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet) and graduates Rachel Berry (Lea Michele), Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer), and Santana Lopez (Naya Rivera). Previously recurring characters Jake Puckerman (Jacob Artist), Marley Rose (Melissa Benoist), Ryder Lynn (Blake Jenner), Wade "Unique" Adams (Alex Newell), and Kitty Wilde (Becca Tobin), who are current glee club members at WMHS, have been promoted to the main cast in the fifth season--though none of them appear in the last trimester, seven episodes, of the season, as the season moves its focus to the alumni . Heather Morris, Amber Riley, Mark Salling, and Harry Shum, Jr., who have portrayed Brittany Pierce, Mercedes Jones, Noah "Puck" Puckerman and Mike Chang (respectively) since season one, are no longer series regulars, but did appear as guest stars . </P>

How many episodes in season 5 of glee