It comes as little surprise that “Duet†nailed it in the musical department, especially considering a large portion of the cast spent time on ultra-popular musical show “Glee.†I was expecting it to be filled to the brim with musical sections, but it took more of the La La Land approach with strong heavy-hitting songs just at the right moments instead of an abundance of songs at every turn.
The Music Meister, a character of which I had no knowledge of previously, is a “villain†that puts his victims in a sort of trance that reflects the current struggle in their lives. In the case for Barry and Kara, it is a love tragedy enveloped in a musical. The musical part is shown to be impactful to them both because Kara grew up watching The Wizard of Oz, whereas Barry spent considerable time with his mother watching Singing in the Rain.
Before diving into the meat of the episode, it would be impossible not to mention the chemistry between Grant Gustin and Melissa Benoist. They are absolutely incredible together and feed off one another elevating each scene they are in together. No other TV actors can have a crossover as seamless as the two of them can. There is just something so real about their relationship on screen that goes unmatched even on their respective shows.
The show mimics a retelling of famed musical, Westside Story. On one side you have Martin Stein and Joe West with daughter Iris, and on the other you have a very stab happy Malcolm Merlyn and his son Mon-el. As you would expect, Mon-El and Iris are in love, but they can’t tell their fathers because they are from rival gangs. That is the entire reasoning for Musical Meister. He is forcing Barry and Kara to playthrough the musical to ascertain what is holding both of them back. Watching either show, that is clearly their current relationships with their significant others.
The resolution was a 100{3a19833c997fa52158a43c449fe089ff048ac0506a335cac10721cfa396ff282} “CW†fix since they each had to go into their partner’s’ “mind state†and then kiss them to bring them back to life. Typical CW, but that was really the only issue, admittedly minor, that I had with the episode in its entirety. It was great seeing the various characters from all CW shows and a joy hearing their musical renditions.
We do get a few sequences on Earth-1 which are relatively inconsequential. We also get to see a peak of Music Meister’s abilities, which are just stealing other’s abilities; but, it is cool nonetheless. The other tiny scene which has a nice impact is Wally’s scene with HR. HR is always that goofy character that provides levity in tense situations, but he is also full of some deep knowledge. It’s actually the glue that holds the team together at times. The look of utter fear in Wally’s eyes is wholly transparent, and HR sees this and explains that he just has to get back on the horse. Things don’t turn out ideally for him in this episode, but the push from HR may be just what Wally needs to return to form.
