GLEE SEASON 2 EPISODE 4 "DUETS" REVIEW
"Duets" is the fourth episode of the second season of the American television series Glee, and the 26th episode overall. It was written by series creator Ian Brennan, directed by Eric Stoltz and premiered on Fox on October 12, 2010. The episode featured seven cover version, including a mash-up of "Happy Day Are Here Again" and "Get Happy" by Barbra Streisand and Judy Garland, respectively.
In the episode, transfer student Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet) joins the glee club, and director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) assigns the members to perform a duet with another classmate, offering a prize for the best performance. The students form their duos and begin practicing, testing several relationships and initiating others; after first being recruited by Kurt Hummel (Chris Cholfer), Sam ultimately finds himself partnered with Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron).
Meanwhile, Rachel and Finn, after performing the endearingly upbeat “ Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”by Elton John and Kiki Dee with credible chemistry, hatch a scheme. They plan to throw the competition, so Sam can cement his place in New Directions. They don’t want him to bail out again like last time.
This catches Kurt off guard, as Finn tells him that a guy-with-guy duet would be a poor choice. Think how it’d look in the homophobic halls of McKinley High. Purple slushies will only be the start of heckling for the always semi-naked Sam. His excitement short-lived, Kurt throws a plucky performance of “Le Jazz Hot!” from the Victor/Victoria musical, complete with a bi-colored tuxedo, fringes, false eyelashes and falsettos. He’s not going down without a fight.
While Kurt’s dual “vocal masturbation” was brilliant, it was only eclipsed with the thunderous choreography and clever hip-shaking combo of Santana and Mercedes with “River Deep-Mountain High,” an Ike and Tina Turner classic. The cheerleader’s got the legs, and the soul singer’s got the pipes.
A love quadrangle between Mike Chang and Tina as well as Brittany and Artie emerges half-formed. Mike and Tina argue about singing together. He only knows how to dance. They eventually did, with an amusing send-up of A Chorus Line’s “Sing!” The ing’s though got annoying after a while. Brittany, to make Santana jealous of her new interest, seduces Artie and produces another notch: Artie’s virginity. Artie, devastated about the turn of sexual events, decides not to compete.
The winners, after a bit of competitive persuasion from Rachel and Finn, were Sam and Quinn, who got off on the wrong foot. Sam made an early move after some guitar-teaching and Na’vi foreplay. Quinn backed off, but after Rachel talked her into it, found herself enjoying a harmonious duet with an easy-breezy song of “Lucky,” a Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat collaboration. The performance plucks your heart strings with charm and simplicity.
Before our director does his magic with the flux capacitor, we get a bonus duet of Rachel and Kurt Elizabeth Hummel, channeling Barbra Streisand and Judy Garland as if they were in a New York cabaret club. The mash-up of “Get Happy” and “Happy Days are Here Again” means the honeymoon isn’t over yet.
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