NBC
The most recent episode of Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist is called ‘Zoey’s Extraordinary Dreams’ and most people suffer while very few are getting better. The recurring motif in the episode is the image of Zoey trapped in her mind, in her house, a place of shadows and darkness, trapped behind bars reminiscent of jail. In her dream, Zoey sings ‘Nowhere to Run’ by Marthra Reeves & The Vandellas, which is a direct, unironic song like the rest of the songs this episode.
It’s a creepy vibe, and Zoey tries to figure out how to stop them through multiple tactics, none of which work. Trying to move out runs into her mom feeling stuck and lost (singing Lewis Capaldi’s ‘Someone You Loved’), but at least they finally are all being honest at the end about it. The scene where Maggie and Zoey realize Zoey should move out showcases a truly heartbreaking performance from Jane Levy and her silent acting.
Simon gives Zoey some empathy and advice, admitting he had the same dreams — but although he mentions his own therapist, he doesn’t suggest the same to Zoey. And she needs a professional, really.
Her other tactic is to offload responsibilities at work, mostly useless stuff like the food bar and softball jerseys. The fact that these are screwed up so much is annoying, because although it’s sort of funny to have the jerseys be problematic and George to have an egg bar, that ends when they play softball inside the office. And break office glass.
Yes, it’s a bit too much for Zoey to yell at the gang, despite her stress, but they are so incompetent, it’s stretching credulity. I’m beginning to simply dislike the ‘brogrammers’, and the new female coders have no personalities as of yet. George is just hapless, and that’s also pretty derivative — it feels like they’re spinning wheels at work.
NBC
The programmers sing ‘It’s a Hard-Knock Life for Us’ in response with decent choreography, but it sure feels like they’re under-reacting how stupidly they acted. At least on the home front side, I like what Emily’s sister Jenna is adding to the mix. Jee Young Han is pretty delightful in the role, and we get to see her sing with ‘I’m Only One Call Away’ by Charlie Puth.
So she’s really helping Maggie out. That juxtaposed with Emily and David’s annoyance with her is a decent setup for later — it’s a good subplot in the season. And Mo and Max’s little restaurant subplot is pretty pointless so far. But everything romantic with Max frustrates me — the dude keeps falling into the unlikable trap they wrote him with before. Although Zoey is being frustrating too, she does have more of an excuse.
Finally, after Max sings ‘Say Something’ by A Great Big World about giving up on them, Zoey fully opens up and talks about her struggles. And finally, there’s another truly honest moment between them and they put things on ‘pause’. I’d say they rushed into it, both in the show and written in the show, but at least it’s giving them more potential for something next.
Thankfully, Zoey’s problems aren’t simply solved at the end of the episode, which is a bit atypical — I feel like that’s the sort of long term thing the show often struggles with. None of the songs were particularly great, but there were some fun moments, and ‘Nowhere to Run’ is now very creepy to me. It’s a mixed episode, but I think there’s some good potential to come.
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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