In
New York City,
Rachel Berry (
Lea Michele) and
Kurt Hummel (
Chris Colfer) rent a small apartment and move in together. At the New York Academy of Dramatic Arts (NYADA), Rachel continues to be pressured by her dance instructor, Cassandra July (
Kate Hudson), who refuses to teach Rachel
tango because she thinks she lacks sex appeal. Kurt plays Rachel a video of Cassandra which reveals that ten years earlier, she used to be a promising star on Broadway but wrecked her first performance so dramatically due to pressure that no one wanted to hire her again. Meanwhile, in
Lima, Ohio,
Brittany Pierce (
Heather Morris) once again finds her true identity as she performs
Britney Spears's "
Hold It Against Me" during cheerleading practice before being interrupted by coach
Sue Sylvester (
Jane Lynch), who kicks her off the Cheerios due to her bad grades and replaces her with
Kitty Wilde (
Becca Tobin). This, in addition to the busy schedule of her girlfriend,
Santana Lopez (
Naya Rivera), who is attending
University of Louisville, causes Brittany to become depressed. Hoping to cheer her up, guidance counselor
Emma Pillsbury (
Jayma Mays) convinces glee club director
Will Schuester (
Matthew Morrison) to have New Directions perform Britney Spears' songs. Subsequently,
Artie Abrams (
Kevin McHale) and
Blaine Anderson (
Darren Criss) perform a mash-up of "
Boys" and
Justin Bieber's "
Boyfriend", for Brittany, and she is once more inspired by Spears. New member
Marley Rose (
Melissa Benoist) confides to
Wade "Unique" Adams (
Alex Newell) that she is interested in troublemaker
Jake Puckerman (
Jacob Artist), leading to a performance of "
Womanizer", during which Jake invites Marley to "hang out". At the bleachers, Marley meets up with Jake and they perform a mash-up of "
(You Drive Me) Crazy" and
Aerosmith's "
Crazy", as they share a romantic moment. Jake later hears two students mocking Marley and her mother (
Trisha Rae Stahl) and confronts them, leading to a fight. Will interrupts the altercation and sends Jake to the choir room, where he's surprised to find his half-brother
Noah "Puck" Puckerman (
Mark Salling), who now lives in
Los Angeles. Puck introduces himself to Jake and convinces him to join New Directions, so that the experience can help Jake just as it helped him. In New York City, Rachel enlists the help of her friend, NYADA upperclassman
Brody Weston (
Dean Geyer), to prove to Cassandra that she can be sexy by performing a sultry rendition of "
Oops!... I Did It Again"; however, the number fails to impress Cassandra. Rachel accuses her of picking on her students because they may have a future in show business, while Cassandra wrecked her future by becoming a "YouTube joke." Infuriated, Cassandra kicks Rachel out of her class. Brody later comforts Rachel and tries to kiss her, but she refuses, as she is still in love with
Finn Hudson (
Cory Monteith). Brody agrees to respect Rachel's relationship, but admits he has feelings for her. Rachel apologizes to Cassandra and Cassandra allows her to come back to class. Cassandra then explains that show business is a world with harsh realities and that although she did not realize that ten years earlier, she knows it now and she wants Rachel to know that as well and that is why she's hard on Rachel and the other students. In Lima,
Tina Cohen-Chang (
Jenna Ushkowitz) performs an acoustic version of "
3" with
Sam Evans (
Chord Overstreet) and
Joe Hart (
Samuel Larsen). Brittany attempts to shave her head and is stopped by Will, after which she walks into the hallway, only to be provoked by
Jacob Ben Israel (
Josh Sussman), who she beats up with an umbrella in front of the student body. To cheer Brittany up, New Directions members suggest she should lead the school assembly. Brittany objects that her voice is not up to par, and suggests they
lip sync, an idea they rebuke at first, but she manages to convince them. New Directions performs "
Gimme More" at the school assembly, but the performance is a disaster due to Brittany's lack of motivation, leading the student body to discover that Brittany was lip-synching to the song. They are booed off of the stage and reprimanded by Will in the choir room. Brittany resigns from the club and marches out of the room. Sam later invites Brittany to meet him at the auditorium, where she admits she staged her breakdown in order to have a more effective comeback, and tells him that she misses Santana. Sam tells Brittany that he will be her friend. Brittany later asks Sue to reinstate her on the Cheerios, and shows some marginal improvements on her grades. Sue agrees on the condition that Brittany's grades continue to improve so she can graduate. The following day, Jake tells Marley he is going to join New Directions, and she learns that he is now dating Kitty. Jake joins New Directions, and an upset Marley performs "
Everytime" in the choir room. As this plays, Brittany pines alone in her bedroom for Santana who is offline on
iChat, and Rachel paints over a drawing of Finn's name that she had made on her apartment's wall. ==Production==