page_title: Duets (Glee)
section_title: Music and performances
hierarchical_section_title: Duets (Glee) / Reception / Music and performances
caption_attribution_description: English: Harry Shum, Jr. at the 2011 Comic Con in San Diego
context_page_description: "Duets" is the fourth episode of the second season of the American television series Glee, and the twenty-sixth 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 versions, including a mash-up of "Happy Days Are Here Again" and "Get Happy" by Barbra Streisand and Judy Garland, respectively.
  In the episode, transfer student Sam Evans joins the glee club. Director Will Schuester assigns the members to perform a duet with another classmate, and offers 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, Sam ultimately finds himself partnered with Quinn Fabray.
  "Duets" received generally positive reviews from critics, and many praised the show for its character development and varied song choices. The episode also featured a neck-nuzzle between Santana and Brittany, which was a subject of interest to many critics and led Christie Keith of AfterEllen.com to refer to the episode as "queerest episode of any series that's ever been on television".
context_section_description: The episode's musical performances—deemed "among the most varied and terrific in the show's history" by VanDerWerff—were also generally well received. Futterman found it refreshing for the main characters to receive equal performance time. Although Poniewozik opined that some numbers were included based on iTunes sales potential rather than how well they served the plot, Holbrook was pleased that the songs "drove the story instead of drowning out the characters", and both Hankinson and Dave Itzkoff of the New York Times welcomed the contextually appropriate song selection. Opinions were divided over the best performance. Both Futterman and VanDerWerff felt that Mercedes and Santana should have won the duet competition with their performance of "River Deep – Mountain High". The former called it "one of the series' best" duets, and the latter further praised it as potentially "the best musical number the show's ever done from a pure performance standpoint." Wieselman wrote that it was the best song of the episode, and that he "didn't want it to ever end". However, Hankinson highlighted its lack of "emotional punch", and Semigran deemed it her least favorite performance. She and Benigno named "Sing!" as their favorite routine, though Benigno gave it only a "B" grade, as its appeal hinged on Mike's dancing, rather than his vocal performance. Berk gave it four stars out of five, his highest rating of the episode, tied with "River Deep – Mountain High". Though Flandez and Hankinson also commented positively on the song, the former thought that Tina's sung interjections became annoying and the latter called it "far from the best of the evening".
  Burns chose "Lucky" as "the most impressive number of the evening", and Respers France called it the most adorable. Semigran and the Los Angeles Times's Amy Reiter agreed that it was cute, and Flandez praised its "charm and simplicity". Stack and Benigno gave it an "A"; Stack eagerly anticipated more duets between Quinn and Sam, and Benigno called it "absolutely fantastic", with particular praise for Agron, who he opined is often overlooked. Though Futterman also noted its charm, she did not think it was a worthy winner of the duets competition. Berk gave it just two stars out of five, as he found it "kind of boring". The mash-up of "Happy Days Are Here Again" and "Get Happy" was widely acclaimed. Respers France, Reiter and Hankinson named it the musical highlight of the episode; Fallon and Stack went further and hailed it as a highlight of the entire series. Poniewozik commented that the number was "so appropriate that, had it not existed, Glee probably would have had to invent it". Wieselman suggested that Colfer and Michele "redefined show-stopper" with their performance, and Itzkoff lauded it as "a powerful reminder of why it's worth sticking with Glee through what has quickly proved a polarizing season."
  Of the remaining songs, Rachel and Finn's performance of "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" attracted praise for Monteith's vocals, which Stack and Yahr commented "sounded better than ever". "Le Jazz Hot!" received a split response. Burns wrote that Kurt "pulled it off flawlessly", and Fallon called the performance "far more moving and rousing" than any of the songs in "Grilled Cheesus". Stack and Benigno both graded it "B+"; the latter deemed it "very good" but "not transcendent". Reiter felt that the costumes and choreography overpowered the emotion of the piece, and Futterman found the number "too self-indulgent and reminiscent of previous performances like 'Rose's Turn'." Berk rated it two stars out of five, and commented, "I get the idea, and the execution is commendable, but it still kind of sucked." Rachel and Finn's deliberately offensive version of "With You I'm Born Again" received a "C" and "C+" from Benigno and Stack respectively. Both conceded that it was acceptable vocally, but as Stack acknowledged, "the point of this song was to hate it, and I gotta say, Glee: you played me like a fiddle." In December 2012, TV Guide named their rendition one of Glee's worst performances. 
caption: In "Duets", Mike Chang (Harry Shum, Jr., pictured) gives his first featured vocal performance in a musical number.
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