Mash Off

Mash Off is the sixth episode of Glee's third season and the fiftieth episode overall. It premiered on November 15, 2011.

The third annual "mash-up competition" takes place in this episode. With Brittany and Santana in The Troubletones with Mercedes, it's big trouble for New Directions. Puck has the hots for Shelby and tells of Quinn's true intentions. Burt and Sue's campaign heats up and when the two Glee Clubs rivalry is taken seriously, Shelby and Will attempts to hold a mash-up competition between the two clubs. But in secret, Finn and Santana plan a Dodgeball competition for the two Glee Clubs.

The episode was directed by Eric Stoltz and written by Michael Hitchcock.

Plot
Puck fantasizes about his substitute teacher, Shelby Corcoran, whom he recently kissed and has since fallen in love with. He sings Hot for Teacher with Mike, Blaine, and Finn. Puck tries to convince Shelby, who adopted the child he fathered with Quinn, to start a relationship with him, but she rejects the idea. Quinn still wants to get Beth back from Shelby and tries to join The Troubletones in an effort to get closer to her. After Puck tells Shelby about Quinn's true intentions, Shelby tells Quinn that she does not want her in Beth's life.

Sue starts a smear campaign against Burt to the clear disapproval of everyone else, especially Kurt. She compares it to his run for class president, saying that he should play it the same way to get ahead in the votes. She convinces him to get a better cause to fight for.

Will and Shelby agree to hold a mash-up competition between the New Directons and The Troubletones by singing You and I/You and I. Santana takes the rivalry very seriously, and taunts and derides her former New Directions teammates—particularly Finn. He challenges Santana and the other Troubletones to a game of dodgeball. The two teams compete in the game, performing a mash-up of Hit Me With Your Best Shot/One Way Or Another by Pat Benatar/Blondie. Finn and Santana are the last two people standing, until Santana throws a ball at Finn's face, catching him off-guard, and The Troubletones win the game. Despite having won, they violently target Rory with dodgeballs, causing his nose to bleed.

After winning the dodgeball game, The Troubletones elects Mercedes as their leader; Mercedes instructs Santana to lay off of Finn, and Santana reluctantly agrees, stating that she will be "so nice that cotton candy melts in [her] mouth". She confronts Finn, apologizing to him in a backhanded fashion, riling him up so that he outs her in the middle of a crowded hallway, leaving Santana stunned and hurt.

Sue's campaign against Burt continues, and Burt becomes enraged. He knows something has to be done to help him get ahead in the race. The New Directions perform their mash-up first, and it's the Hall and Oates classic I Can't Go For That/You Make My Dreams, complete with 80's costumes.

The nominees for class president debate in front of the senior class. Rick Nelson claims he'll make it so teachers have to listen to students; Brittany promises topless Tuesdays (on her part) as well as outlawing tornadoes; Kurt pledges to ban dodgeball, since it's a direct bullying tactic; Rachel withdraws herself from the race, and urges everyone to vote for Kurt, since he's the only one who's played fair.

Santana is called into Sue's office, explaining that Sue's opponent in her campaign has a niece who attends William McKinley High, and that she overheard her and Finn's conversation. Santana's lesbianism is being used in a smear campaign against Sue from Reggie "the sauce" Salazar. After viewing the campaign ad, Santana runs out of Sue's office in tears, admitting that she hasn't even come out to her parents yet. The episode wraps up with The Troubletones' mashup of Adele's Rumour Has It/Someone Like You At the end of the number, Finn whispers something to Rachel, causing Santana to jump down from the stage, and verbally attack him, accusing him of being the cause of everyone knowing about her being a lesbian. She then ends up slapping Finn in the face, leaving everyone shocked, and the credits start rolling.

Unreleased Songs

 * Oklahoma! from Oklahoma! Sung by young Sue Sylvester

Special Guest Star

 * Idina Menzel as Shelby Corcoran

Guest Stars

 * Mike O'Malley as Burt Hummel
 * Iqbal Theba as Principal Figgins
 * Dot-Marie Jones as Shannon Beiste
 * Damian McGinty as Rory Flanagan
 * Vanessa Lengies as Sugar Motta
 * Lauren Potter as Becky Jackson
 * Eric Etebari as Reggie Salazar

Co-Stars

 * Rock Antony as Rick Nelson
 * Ryan Heinke as Stoner Brett
 * Alex Stamm as Other Kid

Trivia

 * The 300th performance is Rumour Has It/Someone Like You. Source It is also the first song from this season to reach #1 on iTunes. Source
 * Rumour Has It/Someone Like You was also the only song from Season 3 to chart in the UK - charting at #35.
 * This is the first time Quinn sings in Season Three.
 * If you look closely in the Rumour Has It/Someone Like You performance you can see Naya's tattoo of a ribbon on her neck. Source
 * In the beginning of the episode in the choir room, following Hot for Teacher, you can see Lea's green Imagine tattoo on her right wrist.
 * The episode was to contain a flashback to a fifteen-year-old Sue, played by Colby Minifie, singing the title song of the musical Oklahoma! in a scene that would have explained Sue's antipathy to music in the schools. Series co-creator Ian Brennan said "we wanted to show that Sue at one point had Broadway dreams," and Lynch reveals, "Will tells Sue, 'Poor little Susie Sylvester was told she wasn't good, and now she's got to punish the world.' Like a lot of angry people out there, Sue's a wannabe. However, the scene was not included in the episode as broadcast and instead included in the Glee: The Complete Third Season DVD.
 * This is the third season, and the third time that mash-ups have been the main part of the 6th episode of a season. (Season 1 episode 6: they had a mash-up competition; Season 2 episode 6: mash-up competition. Season 3 episode 6: they are doing a mash-up competition). The third annual "mash-up competition" takes place in this episode, with the first being in Vitamin D and the second in Never Been Kissed. (as stated above).
 * This is also the last sixth episode of a season to feature a mash-up competition.
 * Unlike the slap in Prom Queen, the slap between Santana and Finn was real. Naya really did slap Cory. He didn't expect to be slapped by Naya, as it was decided by director Eric Stoltz last-minute. Afterwards, Cory told Naya to slap him again.
 * This episode has the most mash-ups included, with 4.
 * The version of Rumour Has It/Someone Like You uploaded to Glee's YouTube account features a slightly different ending. As Santana and Mercedes finish singing they hold and look off into the audience as the camera pans around them. In the televised version, Santana immediately jumps off the stage and storms over to Finn. This was done to preserve the storyline as the performance was released prior to the episode's release date. Similarly, several shots of Finn whispering to Rachel are also playing.
 * This is first sixth episode of a season in which the New Directions were not confronted by Will about doing something wrong. In Vitamin D, they were confronted for the use of Terri's pills. In Never Been Kissed, they were confronted for using visions of Coach Beiste while making out, and therefore hurting her feelings.
 * It is learned in this episode that Puck can play piano.

Errors

 * Even though Kurt said that Rachel doesn't have a MySpace account, it is stated she has one in Pilot. However, she could have deleted it since then.

Quotes
"Vote Hummel for McKinley, vote for Kurt."

"I always thought of Beth as an accident, but she's no accident."