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Dynamic Duets
Season Four, Episode Seven

First Aired	November 22, 2012
Episode Guide
previous "Glease"	next "Thanksgiving"

Dynamic Duets is the seventh episode of Glee's fourth season, and the seventy-third episode overall. It premiered on November 22, 2012.

The Warblers steal the New Directions' Nationals trophy. Most of the Glee Club members are part of a group called the "Society of Superheroes" meeting and in their superheroes costumes, they investigate the case. Jake and Ryder continue to fight for Marley, which alters to a serious case in which Jake discovers a secret of Ryder's. Finn sets an assignment for Jake and Ryder to pair up and Marley and Kitty to pair up and sing superheroes songs to get even, known as "Dynamic Duets." Kitty acts friendly, but in actual fact she is still trying to get Marley bulimic, Marley unaware of Kitty's plans. Blaine sings a song with the Warblers and considers returning to Dalton as he misses Kurt's presence at McKinley and their break-up.

The episode was written and directed by Ian Brennan.

Plot

Blaine - in his new identity as Nightbird - calls to order the first Society of Superheroes meeting. The McKinley kids are dressed as their own crusading creations: Asian Persuasion (Tina), Blonde Chameleon (Sam), Tarantula Head (Joe), Sweet 'N' Spicy (Sugar), Queen Bee (Becky), The Human Brain (Brittany) and the very Professor X-like Dr. Y (Artie). Blaine ignores Tina's prodding to contact Kurt and reports that the glee club's Nationals trophy has been stolen, replaced with a laptop message from a mystery man among the Dalton Academy Warblers.

Jake asks Marley out but is rebuffed by Ryder, who already has a date with her and warns that he won't let Jake hurt her. Tempers flare, but Finn breaks up their scuffle. Ryder and Kitty join the glee club, qualifying it to compete in next week's Sectionals. Finn grasps at straws for a theme - singing Foreigner songs in foreign languages while wearing foreign wardrobe - but the students aren't impressed.

As the SoS's advisor, Coach Beiste gets into character as The Beiste-master and suggests Finn try it himself. Meanwhile, Sebastian leads Blaine to a new mastermind; Hunter Clarington (Nolan Gerard Funk), a former military academy champion choir leader recruited by Dalton. The trophy was bait: Hunter plays on Blaine's feelings of alienation from New Directions and his desire to escape painful memories of Kurt to lure him back to the Warblers. Against the backdrop of Kelly Clarkson's My Dark Side, Blaine is seen slipping back into his blazer, feeling tempted.

Finn becomes The Almighty Treble Clef, "uniter of glee clubs." With simmering arch rivalries threatening the club's harmony, Finn uses an Avengers analogy: powerful individuals are even more effective as a team. For the new "Dynamic Duets" theme, he pairs enemies Jake with Ryder and Marley with Kitty as duet partners. As tensions rise between Ryder and Jake, both assume the identity of Mega Stud, playing their rivalry out to R.E.M.'s Superman.

After a full-on brawl, Finn enforces "the Kryptonite Lesson": each must confess his deepest fear to the other, in hopes of recognizing their greatest strengths. Meanwhile, Blaine confesses that, with hopes of dousing his broken-hearted feelings, returning to the Warblers may be "my birthright and my destiny."

Marley's ongoing issues with her body image - she's still experimenting with bulimia - and the possibility of a spandex costume scare her, but Kitty promises to be supportive. In the weight room, Jake passes Ryder a note detailing his secret fear, but Ryder insists that Jake be a man and reveal it to his face. Jake admits that he feels like he doesn't fit in anywhere because of his mixed-race background, and McKinley students like Phil Lipoff never cease to reinforce this. Ryder confesses that the reason he made Jake tell him aloud was that he can't read the note Jake passed.

After bolstering Marley's confidence in her outfit as Wall Flower, Kitty - wearing a skin-tight catsuit and cracking a whip as Femme Fatale - kicks off Bonnie Tyler's Holding Out For a Hero,

joined by Marley's revised persona: Woman Fierce. By the duet's end, the students realize that Blaine has departed, going over "to the dark side."

Tipped off by Jake, Finn takes Ryder to undergo a test that diagnoses him as dyslexic. Ryder feels like he's been concealing a secret identity, afraid of being perceived as stupid and letting his PhD. father down. Now set to receive some help, Ryder tells Finn he owes him, but Finn reminds him that he really owes Jake.

Jake notices that Marley's mom has lost some weight, and she in turn encourages him not to give up on Marley and try changing a little - like she has. When Lipoff insults Mrs. Rose, Jake stands up to him. A fight is avoided when Ryder and the glee kids rally behind Jake, as Ryder assures Jake he now has his back as well.

In Los Angeles, Puck is working at Hollywood Boulevard as a superhero - The Pucker Man - charging for photos with tourists. Jake calls for advice: Can he pursue Marley without screwing over Ryder, who he now sees isn't so bad Puck says to play it cool and soon Marley will be desperate for him: "Don't be a dick, but don't give up."

Sam tries to convince Blaine to stay, but Blaine confesses his secret: When doubting his future together with Kurt, he hooked up with a Facebook friend - he realized immediately after how perfect he and Kurt were for each other, but his betrayal ruined everything. Sam urges Blaine to forgive himself, using David Bowie's song Heroes to convince Blaine not to exile himself. They're soon on a mission to Dalton, recapturing the Nationals trophy and replacing it with Blaine's Warbler jacket and a note that says "No Thanks."

Ryder postpones his date with Marley to study for an early appointment with a dyslexia specialist the next day. She grows insecure - aided by Kitty's

subtle digs about her weight - then confident: super heroine Marley won't wait around, so she boldly marches up to Jake and asks him out, and he accepts.

Blaine returns the trophy and announces that he's staying, and the students present Finn with a gift: a superhero utility belt disguised as a backpack and loaded with goodies, including a treble clef pin to affirm his status as "uniter of glee clubs." As New Directions performs fun.'s Some Nights, a new unity settles in among the former rivals - except, it seems, for Kitty.

Superheroes

Blaine Anderson as Nightbird (spoof of Nightwing from DC Comics)
Tina Cohen-Chang as Asian Persuasion
Sam Evans as Blonde Chameleon
Joe Hart as Tarantula Head
Sugar Motta as Sweet 'N' Spicy
Becky Jackson as Queen Bee
Brittany Pierce as The Human Brain
Artie Abrams as Dr. Y (spoof of Professor X from X-Men)
Ryder Lynn as Mega Stud
Jake Puckerman as Mega Stud
Kitty Wilde as Femme Fatale (correctively Fatal Fatale; spoof of Catwoman from DC Comics)
Marley Rose as Woman Fierce (originally Wall Flower; spoof of Wonder Woman from DC Comics)
Finn Hudson as The Almighty Treble Clef
Noah "Puck" Puckerman as The Pucker Man

Songs

Song Title	Original Artist	Performer(s)
My Dark Side	Kelly Clarkson	Blaine Anderson with Dalton Academy Warblers
Superman	The Clique (R.E.M. Version)	Jake Puckerman and Ryder Lynn
Holding Out for a Hero	Bonnie Tyler	Marley Rose and Kitty Wilde with New Directions
Heroes	David Bowie	Sam Evans and Blaine Anderson
Some Nights	fun.	New Directions

Guest Cast

Guest Stars

Absent Cast Members

Trivia

The Glee logo is in a comic-like speech bubble in the title-card.
- The seventh time Glee's title-card is different, the others being The Rocky Horror Glee Show, A Very Glee Christmas, Silly Love Songs, Extraordinary Merry Christmas, Heart, Dance with Somebody, Glee, Actually, I Do, Girls (and Boys) on Film and All or Nothing.
This is the first episode Will does not appear in, leaving Artie as the only character to have appeared in every episode to date.
The episode audience was of 4.62 million viewers, the lowest view count in Glee history so far.
The second episode in the season were no NYC scenes were shown nor its characters.
Along with Shooting Star, this episode features the least amount of present cast members, with only seven.
Kitty tells Marley that her superhero alter ego is "Femme Fatale" she says in French it means "kill women," but Marley corrects her, as the phrase actually translates to "Fatal Woman."
Puck's line to Jake: "Don't be a dick" was omitted from the episode when broadcasted in the UK.

Cultural references

Finn mentiones The Avengers.
Sam does an impersonation of Bane from the movie The Dark Knight Rises.
This episode references the old 1960s Batman TV show in many ways, including using a symbol to transition between scenes, background music reminiscent of Neal Hefti's Batman theme, sound effect title cards, and brightly colored costumes.

Errors

When making his speech, Finn's marker disappears and reappears in his belt.
While Blaine and Sam were running away with the trophy, the door Hunter and Sebastian opened, it starts opening and closing without anyone touching it.

Quotes

“

Sam: Exiling yourself to Dalton won't fix anything.

Blaine: I just want to stop feeling like a bad person.

”

—Sam Evans and Blaine Anderson

“	It was a guy that friended me on Facebook. And I went over to his place because I felt like Kurt was moving on with his life and I wasn't a part of it. And I got to thinking that maybe Kurt and I weren't meant for each other, that we weren't supposed to spend the rest of our lives together. But the horrible thing is, right after I did it, I knew we were.	”
—Blaine Anderson to Sam Evans