A new football coach, Shannon Beiste (Dot-Marie Jones), arrives at McKinley High, and school blogger Jacob Ben Israel (Josh Sussman) provides updates on the glee club's summer break.

Lea Michele's rendition of "What I Did for Love" from A Chorus Line was described by Robert Bianco of USA Today as putting "every amateur musical performance on every TV talent show this year to shame",[1] though both Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times and Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V.

Zyrus's performances were well received by American and Filipino critics, and Alicia Keys expressed approval of the Glee cast cover of "Empire State of Mind."

It received generally favorable reviews from critics, and Entertainment Weekly's Tim Stack and the New York Post's Jarett Wieselman both stated that it had assuaged their fears of the show declining in quality in its second season.

Upon learning that Nationals will be held in New York this year, they decide to perform "Empire State of Mind" in the school courtyard, hoping to pique the interest of their schoolmates.

Club co-captain Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) later encounters Sunshine in the girls' bathroom, and they sing an impromptu duet of "Telephone" by Lady Gaga and Beyoncé.

In the choir room, Sam, Finn, Mike (Harry Shum Jr.), Artie (Kevin McHale), and Puck (Mark Salling) sing Travie McCoy's "Billionaire" together.

Amidst her scheming with Will, Sue also demotes Santana (Naya Rivera) from her position as head cheerleader after learning she has had breast implants, replacing her with Quinn (Dianna Agron).

On January 11, 2010, Fox President Kevin Reilly announced that Glee had been picked up for a second season, and would be holding nationwide, open casting calls to fill three new roles.

[11] Cheyenne Jackson appears as Dustin Goolsby, the new director of rival glee club Vocal Adrenaline, replacing Shelby Corcoran (Idina Menzel).

Jackson was originally considered for the role of Will,[12] and in 2009 was cast in the Glee episode "Acafellas" as Vocal Adrenaline choreographer Dakota Stanley, but he was unable to perform due to illness.

[16] All of the songs performed in the episode except "Every Rose Has Its Thorn", "Getting to Know You" and "The Power" were released as singles, available for download, and "Empire State of Mind" and "Billionaire" are included on the album Glee: The Music, Volume 4.

[21] In contrast, Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times called it a "non-sequitur song" which "seemed shoehorned in by Michele's agent",[22] Erica Futterman of Rolling Stone deemed it touching but unmemorable,[23] and Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V.

[24] VanDerWerff felt that there were "some odd song choices" throughout, particularly Overstreet's introductory number, which she called "adequate", though he noted that it "doesn't do nearly as good a job at introducing his character" as Zyrus' "Listen".

[25] Jacque Wilson of CNN praised both of Zyrus' performances and hoped that he would reappear in the series,[26] while Ricky Lo of The Philippine Star discussed kababayan reception of his role and said that his singing was "drop-dead stunning" and that she "really made Filipinos proud.

[30] Aly Semigran, also writing for MTV, felt "Empire State of Mind" was lacking the gravitas of the original version, but reported that Keys had deemed the Glee cover "amazing".

[23] TV Guide's Matt Roush wrote that "Audition" was "far from [his] favorite episode", disliking the "cruelty and dirty tricks" employed by the characters, though he commented that "the moments that soar remind us why this is a genuine pop-culture phenom".

"[46] In an overall positive review of the episode, Fred Topel of Hollywood News wrote that the opening scenes that addressed fan criticisms were a little too harsh on the show's fictional characters, having gone overboard to the point of offensiveness.

She found the scene with Rachel screaming at Sunshine in the bathroom in broken English to be distasteful, and also highlighted the pairing of Tina and Mike (noting their shared surname, "Chang") and the joke of Jacob assuming they are a couple because they are both Asian.