NBC
The latest episode of Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist is called ‘Zoey’s Extraordinary Silence’, and consists of two main plotlines: Zoey fixing caregiver Howie’s relationship with his deaf daughter Abigail (Sandraw Mae Frank), Zoey trying to resolve her situation with Simon, and two minor (for now): Max getting a promotion opportunity and Emily missing intimacy with David.
The episode starts with a more amusing set of moments, with Mo talking about his history with dating two people at once named Byron and Bryan, right before Zoey silently shovels a bunch of eggs in her mouth. The first song we hear is from Howie singing ‘The Sound of Silence’ by Simon & Garfunkel, which is one of those songs that if sung even remotely accurately is always beautiful. Zak Orth as Howie has a lovely voice (apparently his mother taught piano and his father sung opera … geez. First time I’ve heard him sing that I can think of).
This was the main through-line, as ‘The Sound of Silence’ is one of those songs that has enough depth that you can take many different ideas from it. Here there’s a double meaning because Abigail hasn’t been talking to her father, and of course, she hasn’t been talking out loud at all but speaks all the same. When they eventually go to see Abigail at school, she’s happy about Zoey as a coding queen and wants to help promote STEM in Kenya.
And they share a love of the first coder, Ada Lovelace — one of those great touches I appreciate in this show, because that’s totally a thing coders love to talk about. Their conflict makes perfect sense, Abigail wanting to do something significant while her father is worried about her safety, perhaps too much. This leads to the first ever words-free song on the show where they sing ‘Fight Song’ by Rachel Platten, very affecting with just the acting, sign language, and backing track.
It’s the sort of thing that could easily come across as trite or cheesy, but it really works. But Zoey also helps out her sister-in-law who sings ‘Buttons’ by the Pussycat Dolls — the image of a pregnant lady vamping to that song is awkward enough that it’s no wonder Zoey covers her face. But Amy Lee as Emily kills it — apparently she was on some singing reality show Rising Stars a few years ago. No wonder, then. This little storyline was easily resolved, and it reconnects by her solving her mother-in-law’s intimacy concerns by buying a chairlift.
NBC
That’s an easy one, but the tricky beats are Max and Simon, as per usual. Max puts Zoey in an unfair position, asking what she thinks he should do about the promotion with mysterious robotic executive Ava Price (Renée Elise Goldsberry from Hamilton, so I’m sure she’ll be singing soon enough). What was she even supposed to say? Despite Zoey’s own mistakes, I’m not too happy with Max either.
Simon may be suffering with his emotions, but it’s unfortunately obvious even if he doesn’t completely spell it out. He feels like he owes Jessica because she was there for him when his father committed suicide, but his connection to Zoey is far stronger. At least Zoey was strong enough to cut him off (for now, obviously).
I think that the storyline with Abigail did work pretty well as a ‘fix it of the week’, and the Emily/David one worked well enough as a less serious storyline. I’m a bit wary of more with Simon and Max, but at the very least Zoey continues to be such a great character. Lying on the floor with a broken microwave oven, and jamming to 80s aerobics at the end. Jane Levy is one versatile performer, and no matter what else happens with this show, at least people should be able to appreciate that.
Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist airs Sundays at 9:00 PM on NBC.
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