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"Duet" is the seventeenth episode of the third season of the American television series The Flash, based on the DC Comics character Barry Allen / Flash. A costumed superhero crime-fighter with the power to move at superhuman speeds, Barry is a crime-scene investigator who gains superhuman speed which he uses to fight criminals, including others who also have superhuman abilities. The series is set in the Arrowverse, sharing continuity with the other television series of the universe. The episode was written by Aaron Helbing and Todd Helbing from a story by Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg, and directed by Dermott Daniel Downs. It features a musical crossover with Supergirl and reunites Grant Gustin and Melissa Benoist with their former Glee co-star Darren Criss, who portrays the Music Meister.

The story begins at the end of the Supergirl episode "Star-Crossed" on March 20, 2017, which sees Kara Danvers / Supergirl (Benoist) being put in a coma by Music Meister, with Mon-El (Chris Wood) and J'onn J'onzz / Martian Manhunter (David Harewood) bringing her to Earth-1 in hope that Team Flash can save her. The episode features two original songs: "Super Friend", written by Rachel Bloom and Tom Root; and "Runnin' Home to You", written by Oscar and Tony-winning Broadway songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. A soundtrack album featuring the songs in the episode was released digitally on March 22, 2017.

"Duet" originally aired on The CW on March 21, 2017, and was watched by 2.71 million viewers according to Nielsen Media Research. The episode received an overwhelmingly positive critical response.

Plot
J'onn J'onzz and Mon-El of Earth-38 arrive on Earth-1 with a comatose Kara Danvers, in hope that Barry Allen and his team can revive her. They warn Barry that the escaped prisoner, Music Meister, claimed he would be coming for him too. Meister attacks and places Barry in a similar coma. Barry wakes up to find himself without his powers in a musical dreamworld where he discovers Kara singing in a nightclub ("Moon River") and where everyone resembles people they know in the real world. Meister tells Kara and Barry that if they follow the script, they will return to the real world. He warns them, however, that if they die in this world, they die in real life ("Put a Little Love in Your Heart").

Barry and Kara are forced to work as singers in a nightclub run by gangster Cutter Moran (Malcolm Merlyn). Cutter's rivals Digsy Foss (Joe West) and his husband (Martin Stein) have their men kidnap Barry and Kara and tell them to find their daughter, Millie Foss (Iris West), whom they believe is being held hostage by Cutter. Barry and Kara find Millie in a forbidden relationship with Cutter's son, Tommy Moran (Mon-El). They convince the pair to reveal their love, which helps Barry and Kara to realize their own mistakes. Digsy, his husband and Cutter seemingly give their approval ("More I Cannot Wish You"), but subsequently decide to go to war. Meanwhile in the real world, Meister is revealed to have been stealing Barry and Kara's powers, using them to rob a bank. Cisco Ramon, Wally West and J'onn arrive to fight Meister. They defeat him and lock him up in a S.T.A.R. Labs cell.

Back in the musical reality, Barry and Kara prepare to sing an original song to appease Cutter ("Super Friend"), but the gang war begins outside. Barry and Kara are shot in the crossfire and are dying, but Cisco, Mon-El and Iris vibe into their world to save them, allowing Barry and Kara to admit their love for Iris and Mon-El respectively. They wake up in S.T.A.R. Labs. Meister escapes his cell, revealing to Barry and Kara that he just wanted them to realize their love before leaving. Kara, J'onn and Mon-El return to Earth-38 and Barry and Iris move back in together. Barry serenades and re-proposes to Iris, who accepts ("Runnin' Home to You").

Development
In August 2016, Greg Berlanti, creator and executive producer on The Flash and Supergirl, announced a two-episode musical crossover between the two series with the episodes likely to air in the back half of the season, around episode 13 or 14. The crossover will use "mostly pre-exisiting" songs, with the hope of writing one original song per episode. Berlanti said, "I've probably been leading the charge myself just because my own nexus of loving musicals and loving superheroes," and "So many times it's a musical episode off the set", referring to the series stars Grant Gustin and Melissa Benoist, who both are Glee alumni. Sarah Schechter, executive producer on both series, noted "We've got such talented actors, 15 years from now when the last of these shows is going off the air, that would be a big regret [if we didn't do it] – it's too much fun not to." Later that month, Andrew Kreisberg, creator and executive producer on both series, revealed that the villain of the crossover "can make you think your friends are singing and dancing in front of you". In September 2016, Berlanti stated he was getting ready "to start talking about clearing music" with already "a few ideas for tone and style" in mind.

Tom Cavanagh, who portrays various versions of Harrison Wells on The Flash was a little bit surprised when he learned that they were doing a musical crossover, commenting "Isn't this the domain of season seven, grasping at straws? We're in season three!" but understands they are doing it "for the fans". He added, "I think it's a sign of respect that we're willing to attempt it... we're not sitting back and repeating the pilot," and that this episode "is just one more version of us moving things along and moving forward".

In January 2017, the Music Meister was announced as the villain of the event, who has the power to control people through song. Kreisberg explained that the musical crossover will come at a "pivotal" moment for both Barry and Kara, and "The experience of going through the musical will have a great impact on both series moving forward." Later that month, it was clarified that the crossover event will begin at the end of episode 16 of Supergirl, and the majority of it will take place in episode 17 of The Flash, titled "Duet". Kreisberg said "[Meister] draws on Barry and Kara's individual love of musicals and creates this movie-musical alternate reality that they find themselves in. They're in a sort of MGM movie musical, and the only way to get home is to follow the plot".

Work on the musical crossover started "far earlier than... on a normal episode", and "Instead of doing stunts and visual effects, we were working on songs and dance," said Kreisberg.

"It's like a gimmick episode," said Kreisberg. "The person who did those episodes the best was Joss Whedon" with Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes "Hush", "The Body", and "Once More, With Feeling". He added, "They didn't stop the ongoing narrative of the season. Those episodes really spoke to what the characters were going through." Similarly, Kreisberg explained that they "set it up" so that both Barry and Kara are purposefully at a "romantic crossroads" and "go on this journey together to get back the love they think they've lost or not."

Kreisberg said, "We’ve always talked about doing it, from the very beginning, more in a joking way,"

Kreisberg described the episode as "overstuffed with joy and fun" with Benoist adding, "I'm used to wearing a cape, and Grant is used to being in the cowl, and it was a nice change to be doing something so different".

Writing
In August 2016, Berlanti said, "We've toyed with who potentially the villain could kind of be, [and] we'll be very careful about how it is they kind of break into song," hinting that some songs may take place "in the characters' heads". The script for "Duet" were written in mid-January 2017, with Berlanti and Kreisberg creating the story for the event, with the teleplay written by showrunners Aaron Helbing & Todd Helbing.

Kreisberg explained the musical occurring in an alternate reality, "We thought it would be a bridge too far to have our characters singing and dancing in their costumes".


 * VarietyAug2016: http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/the-flash-supergirl-musical-crossover-arrow-legends-of-tomorrow-dolph-lundgren-1201835643/
 * TVLineAug2016: http://tvline.com/2016/08/11/supergirl-the-flash-musical-episode-two-parter/
 * TheMusicAug2016: http://themusic.com.au/news/all/2016/08/12/the-flash-and-supergirl-to-join-forces-for-two-part-musical-crossover/
 * VarietyTomOct2016: http://variety.com/2016/tv/features/actor-tom-cavanagh-flash-1201879049/
 * IndieWireBerlantiSept2016: http://www.indiewire.com/2016/09/greg-berlanti-interview-flash-arrow-supergirl-riverdale-1201725110/
 * ColliderKreisbergAug2016: http://collider.com/supergirl-season-2-superman-andrew-kreisberg-interview/
 * EWVillainJan2017: http://ew.com/tv/2017/01/08/flash-supergirl-musical-crossover-villain/
 * EWAirDateCast: http://ew.com/tv/2017/01/20/flash-supergirl-musical-crossover-date/
 * TVInsiderMusicalCrossover: https://www.tvinsider.com/136416/supergirl-the-flash-musical-episode-cw/
 * THRPayleyFest: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/paleyfest-flash-supergirl-arrow-legends-tomorrow-987180
 * EWMarch2017: http://ew.com/tv/2017/03/09/flash-supergirl-musical-crossover-spoilers/
 * EOnlineMarch2017: http://www.etonline.com/tv/213023_the_flash_supergirl_musical_crossover_duet_set_visit_grant_gustin_melissa_benoist/


 * https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/16/arts/television/the-flash-supergirl-duet-singing-superheroes.html?_r=0
 * http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/the-flash-musical-duet-grant-gustin-melissa-benoist-1202012021/
 * http://tvline.com/2017/03/21/flash-recap-season-3-musical-episode-barry-iris-engaged/
 * http://ew.com/tv/2017/03/21/flash-supergirl-musical-crossover-spoilers-2/

Cast interviews

 * Darren Criss: http://ew.com/tv/2017/03/16/flash-supergirl-musical-crossover-darren-criss-music-meister/
 * Grant Gustin: http://ew.com/tv/2017/03/20/flash-supergirl-musical-crossover-grant-gustin/
 * Melissa Benoist: http://ew.com/tv/2017/03/17/supergirl-melissa-benoist-flash-musical-crossover/
 * John Barrowman: http://ew.com/tv/2017/03/18/flash-supergirl-musical-crossover-john-barrowman/
 * Jeremy Jordan: http://ew.com/tv/2017/03/20/flash-supergirl-musical-crossover-jeremy-jordan/
 * Carlos Valdes: http://ew.com/tv/2017/03/19/flash-supergirl-musical-crossover-carlos-valdes/
 * Candice Patton: http://tvline.com/2017/03/14/the-flash-season-3-interview-candice-patton-westallen-engagement-musical-episode/

Casting
In January 2017, it was confirmed that the crossover will feature musical performances from main cast members Grant Gustin as Barry Allen / Flash, Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon / Vibe, Jesse L. Martin as Joe West, Supergirl Melissa Benoist as Kara Danvers / Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow actor Victor Garber as Martin Stein, and John Barrowman as Malcolm Merlyn from Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow, along with David Harewood as J'onn J'onzz / Martian Manhunter and Chris Wood as Mon-El, reprising their roles from Supergirl in non-singing guest star appearances. Darren Criss was later cast as Music Meister, reuniting with his former Glee co-stars Gustin and Benoist. Kreisberg commented, "With our Flash and our Supergirl being Glee alums, how could we not have them go up against another Glee favorite like Darren Criss? We have been blown away by his talent over the years and we can't wait to see what he brings to the Music Meister." He added, "I'm not sure who we would have gotten to do it if Darren had said no, but it turned out to be one of those things where we wanted Darren and Darren actually wanted the part. It was very kismet."

"As with any of our crossovers, it was really just a question of working out the scheduling," said Kreisberg, noting that Arrowverse-series regular Barrowman was the trickiest one to clear, with the actor also guest starring on Arrow and Legends during the filming of the musical. Discussing the Supergirl cast chosen to be apart of the crossover, Kreisberg said "We would've had everybody, because I know this one can sing," referencing Chyler Leigh, but explained that "somebody actually had to be part of an episode of Supergirl" since filming continued on that show while shooting the crossover occurred. So while other Supergirl cast members were away filming for The Flash musical episode, Leigh and Floriana Lima were shooting future episodes of Supergirl, in which their characters, Alex and Maggie "have a bigger storyline... to free other people up."

Additionally, Candice Patton, Danielle Panabaker, Keiynan Lonsdale, and Tom Cavanagh star as Iris West, Caitlin Snow, Wally West / Kid Flash, and H.R. Wells, respectively. In the alternate reality musical world, Barrowman, Valdes, Jordan, Martin, Garber, Patton, and Wood appear as Cutter Moran, Pablo, Grady, Digsy Foss and his husband, Millie Foss, and Tommy Moran, respectively.

Filming
Filming of the episode occurred from February 1 until February 15, 2017, and was directed by series vet Dermott Daniel Downs. The episode was choreographed by Glee Zach Woodlee. Gustin admitted that he has never performed a song like "Super Friend" on stage before, even when he was on Glee, and that it was his first time doing a tap number in nearly a decade. He found it "awesome and bizarre" to be tap dancing on The Flash and Benoist described the energy on set as "really infectious" with people kicking, singing and dancing around you. Both were surprised they were able to pick it back up after so many years later.

Grant compared the filming of the quick-paced choreography to Glee. "Yesterday, we did an hour-and-a-half tap rehearsal and now we're shooting it today. I didn't know. They were just like, 'Yeah, we're shooting this tomorrow.' I was like, 'What?! We're shooting this tomorrow? OK… great.'" Both Gustin and Benoist sang during filming and not just lip-syncing the words. "We've got the flip track and we, like, sing on top of it. So it looks like it's live, but yeah, we're singing for real,... All of us are trained in musical theater, so it's a real musical episode." Grant said.


 * http://tvline.com/2017/03/21/flash-recap-season-3-musical-episode-barry-iris-engaged/

Music
In January 2017, Rachel Bloom, co-creator and star of The CW comedy-drama series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, was revealed to have penned an original song for the episode titled "Superfriends", set to be sung by Gustin and Benoist. Bloom immediately offered her services to The CW President Mark Pedowitz after learning of the musical crossover. She contacted her former Robot Chicken boss Tom Root and they brainstormed together after which Bloom wrote "Superfriends" in less than 24 hours with Root adding "extra superhero jokes". Bloom explained that "Music can be one of the most amazing and efficient forms of storytelling and character development. Also, it was really fun to write a comedy song for two superheroes." Bloom described the song as "a very classic musical-theater 'We'll always stick together' song that knows it's super cheesy." Gustin called it "a goofy song", very consistent with the style of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. The song was later retitled "Super Friend".

Additionally, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, winners of the Academy Award for Best Original Song for providing the lyrics for "City of Stars" in La La Land and winners of the Tony Award for Best Original Score for Dear Evan Hansen, were also revealed to pen another original song, "Runnin' Home to You", which was performed by Gustin. Kreisberg commented, "Benj and Justin are the premiere songwriting duo of our time... To have them be a part of our musical episode is beyond our wildest expectations. We hope everyone falls in love with the song they wrote for us as much as we did." Pasek and Paul are fans of the series and already knew Gustin, who was in a college production of their first musical Edges at Elon University. "We were already caught up on the show and we were excited about the potential to write for these people who are musical theater pros, who can really sing and act and dance," said Pasek.

Pasek and Paul explained that they were approached by producers about "a song moment in the episode for Barry to propose" and the duo were very excited because it felt like "a special moment in the course of the show and of the whole arc of the story" and wanted to make sure it was "a real romantic moment". Pasek said they were struck by how well-conceived the episode was written; "I think sometimes when [TV] people want to do a musical episode, they're not sure how they're going to justify the character singing. But here there was a clear vision for that." After receiving the script in January 2017, the pair were given a week to write a song "no longer than 2½ minutes". Having already worked with Gustin and knowing his voice, they were able "to tailor the song really specifically to [Gustin]'s voice knowing [his] strengths", which was "such an advantage when writing a song to really craft it around an actor". Paul compared writing "Runnin' Home to You" to "writing a theater song, because it was just a very intimate human moment that had to sustain itself between two people, with no cutting away" to a flashback or a montage, typically done for television. Pasek discussed the excitement of "having lyrics in a story that can also resonance as a metaphor outside of it", such as the double meaning of the lyric "This world can race by far too fast / Hard to see while it's all flying past" about the way that we live our lives, but also particular to Barry's character.

Gustin called the song "the biggest musical number in the episode". Patton found that "the title [of the song] says it all" and explained that the show has "established since season one that Iris is very much Barry's home and Barry's very much Iris' home and that you know he'll always kind of run back to her for the sense of safety and solidarity in his life".

Series composer Blake Neely did the the arrangements for the songs in the episode, with a 50-piece orchestra in his studio in Los Angeles. While Neely was working in Los Angeles, he did Skype recording sessions with the cast who were filming in Vancouver. Pasek and Paul went to Neely's studio to tweak some of the vocal takes, work on some guitar arranging, and incorporate different themes. Pasek explained that it was interesting to "take what [Neely's team] do every week and get to mix that with our world coming from the sort-of place of theater". Paul commented that the making of the episode was "done with a lot of love and you can feel that when you watch, with Pasek adding, "it felt like a real love letter to the form".

Soundtrack
A soundtrack album, titled The Flash – Music from the Special Episode: Duet, was released digitally on March 22, 2017 by WaterTower Music featuring the songs featured in the episode.

Release
After beginning in the ending scene of the March 20, 2017 episode of Supergirl, "Duet" aired in the United States on The CW on March 21, 2017. It was simulcast with the US broadcast in Canada on CTV Two. In early March 2017, a promotional poster for the episode was released, with the tagline "Dynamic Duet", a play on words of the phrase "dynamic duo". In Australia, where The Flash and Supergirl both air on Fox8, the crossover was marketed as a two-night event called "DC Musical Crossover". On May 31, 2017, the episode became available for streaming on Netflix in the United States, along with the rest of the third season. The episode, along with the rest of The Flash's third season, was released on Blu-ray and DVD on September 5, 2017, including behind-the-scenes featurettes about the musical episode.

Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 92% approval rating for the episode, based on 12 reviews, with an average rating of 8.23/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "It's called 'Duet.' It's a musical. It's great."

Jesse Schedeen of IGN gave the episode an "amazing" 9.6 out of 10. He felt the premise was "goofy" but did a good job incorporating the existing continuity from both series, such as building "directly on recent romantic tribulations in Barry and Kara's lives." He enjoyed the team-up with Kid Flash, Martian Manhunter and Vibe, and was glad the writers did not "attempt to force in a romantic subplot involving Barry and Kara. As their "Super Friends" number showed, they're better as friends than lovers." The A.V. Club's Scott Von Doviak awarded the episode a "A&minus;", saying there was good chemistry between Gustin and Benoist and that Gustin was able to "reconnect with the character's endearing side." Von Doviak concluded, "It's probably logistically untenable for them to ever be more than 'super friends,' but if this show ever needed the positive energy they generate together, now was certainly the time."


 * http://nerdist.com/the-flash-supergirl-musical-crossover-songs-ranked/
 * http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/herocomplex/la-et-hc-flash-supergirl-musical-20170322-story.html
 * http://www.tvguide.com/news/the-flash-musical-episode-review/
 * http://io9.gizmodo.com/last-nights-flash-supergirl-musical-was-pure-joy-in-tv-1793522185
 * http://mashable.com/2017/03/21/tv-musical-episodes-the-flash-duets-supergirl-buffy-supernatural/#m_zEOilZ0gqb
 * http://observer.com/2017/03/the-flash-review-duet-grant-gustin-melissa-benoist/
 * 3rd after "Once More, with Feeling" and "My Musical": http://www.eonline.com/ca/news/837773/how-does-the-flash-and-supergirl-crossover-fit-in-with-tv-s-best-musical-episodes
 * Songs ranked: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/flash-supergirl-musical-performances-ranked-987869
 * https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2017/03/22/last-nights-flash-musical-crossover-was-so-so-good/#1a185a21d8f8
 * https://www.forbes.com/sites/merrillbarr/2017/03/20/flash-supergirl-musical-crossover-review/#6f56d198afb8
 * 5/5: http://collider.com/the-flash-supergirl-crossover-recap-duet/
 * http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/03/the-flash-musical-recap-duet-best-musical-tv-episode
 * A-: http://ew.com/recap/the-flash-season-3-episode-17/
 * 4/5: http://www.vulture.com/2017/03/the-flash-recap-season-3-episode-17.html
 * http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/dc-flash-supergirl-duet-musical-recap
 * http://uproxx.com/sepinwall/the-flash-supergirl-musical-duet-recap-review/
 * 4.5/5: http://www.nerdhq.com/the-flash-duet-review/
 * 3/4: http://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/duet-flash-supergirl-musical-crossover-review/
 * http://www.denofgeek.com/us/tv/the-flash/263111/the-flash-season-3-episode-17-review-duet

Accolades

 * http://ew.com/tv/2017/12/27/tv-best-musical-moments-of-2017/
 * https://tvline.com/feature/musical-episodes-tv-best-worst-watch-buffy-video-807775/2/