NBC
The latest episode of Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist is called ‘Zoey’s Extraordinary Distraction’, and I think it’s using the word ‘distraction’ oddly. It seems that it’s used to identify that Zoey is struggling to find alone time with Max to ‘do the nasty’ (Zoey’s multiple ways to describe sex in the episode are a fun recurring joke) but is distracted by other things going on. Or maybe it’s about the final actual sex scene where Max is trying to distract himself so he doesn’t sing out loud?
Either way, I’m not sure the title entirely works, but that aside, it was for the most part a pretty good episode, and a big step up from the more odd-feeling one of the season premiere. We finally get a bit of a side plot with Emily, as her out there sister Jenna (Jee Young Han) is visiting ostensibly to help. I’m glad to see a full performance from Alice Lee as she gyrates through Bell Biv Devoe’s ‘Poison’, which is an example of the show doing ‘literally explaining how I’m feeling’ songs.
Every other song in the episode was the same style as that one, nothing ironic or overly clever, except perhaps for the final number. But the subplot where Maggie is trying to redirect her desire to help to reach out to Jenna is a nice touch, even if it’s another ‘easy fix’ plotline — the episode sets up and seemingly fixes a problem. Although based on Emily’s final notes about Jenna, maybe there’s more to come with them — that would be nice to see.
The episode does have a bit of a rushed feeling to it, with stuff in the office a bit of a mixed bag. The toxic fraternity nature of the ‘brogrammers’ is so inherently problematic, it’s kind of a bit of an eye roll that it’s so easily resolved simply by incorporating female coders into the mix. But the new coders seem a bit interesting, hopefully, but I also feel like we didn’t get enough of Harvey Guillen’s George — I barely have an idea about his personality. And I’m not sure that the addition of the obvious Zuckerburg parody really added anything other than a few silly jokes.
NBC
The other intermingled side plot was the mild conflict between Mo and Max, another ‘raised and fixed in an episode’ situation, but at least we did get some more insight into both of the backstories. Max admitting his father has never expressed pride in him is one thing, and Mo admitting he betrayed an old friend is another sort of vulnerability — but I liked that inclusion, makes things a bit more complicated and interesting.
I still feel that their restaurant idea is a bit silly, but whatever, I’m not a Silicon Valley investor. My favorite moments were probably Zoey’s family gossiping about her love life, that’s more interesting to me than the antics of the office. And although I didn’t entirely buy the Max/Zoey rush to have sex, the final scene with them really did work.
Having Max sing ‘Take Me Out to the Ballgame’ as a metaphor for thinking about baseball was pretty hilarious, and the cutting back and forth between that and Boyz 2 Men’s ‘I’ll Make Love to You’ was well constructed and thoughtfully considered. That leading into the sweet one sided duet of Kelly Clarkson’s first hit ‘A Moment Like This’ (she definitely deserved to win American Idol back in the day) where Zoey can hear Max (with full orchestration) and then the other way around (without backing music). It’s a cute moment, and it’s the first time I really bought into their chemistry.
The episode did reveal some of the formulaic aspects of the show, but there were a lot of positive moments and some interesting new characters introduced. There were a few weak points, but I think it’s theoretically a strong setup for the next episodes of the season.
What did you think of this episode? Start a conversation in the comments section below.
Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist airs Tuesday at 8:00 PM on NBC.
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