NBC
The most recent episode of Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist is called ‘Zoey’s Extraordinary Girls’ Night’, which isn’t really thematically about a ‘girls’ night’ but it is the centerpiece of a few of the storylines. The actual underlying theme is explicitly said by the preacher in the church scene, that it is our responsibility to support each other and not rely on fate/religion/supernatural magic powers to figure it out for us.
The silliest storyline is Maggie off with her fellow widow and friend Deb (Bernadette Peters returning) as they play fake personas at a casino. The show clearly seems to find their intentionally terrible acting funny, but it’s more cringey to me than anything else. The underlying point, supporting each other through difficult times, is still a good one, even if Maggie’s ‘Savannah from Savannah’ is very hacky writing.
Deb’s lone singing contribution is Sia’s ‘Cheap Thrills’ which has the relevant lyric ‘I don’t need dollar bills to have fun tonight’ as a sort of ‘I’m just interested in having fun’ song, although the interconnected piece is Emily using the interruption to continue to deflect from her issues. Similarly there’s another ‘supporting each other’ subplot with Mo/Simon/Max hanging out and discussing their relationship issues and concerns.
Again they make it explicit, saying that a good relationship is worth putting yourself out there for, and it ends with nice moments from Mo and Max. The trio sings ‘Tearin’ Up My Heart’ by NSYNC, a classic missing partner pain, so we know that they have stuff to work out. Max admits to Rose that he wants to continue their not-so-casual thing before she heads back to New York, and Mo sings (the rare diegetic song) Whitney Houston’s ‘I Look to You’ to Perry’s congregation, another way of reaching out and showing vulnerability.
This is a good connection to Emily’s storyline, where she hasn’t wanted to admit that she’s been suffering from postpartum depression and express her own vulnerability. Her reasons make sense, including not wanting to put more stress on David who is still processing his own grief, but that doesn’t mean she wants to admit she needs help either. Zoey goes through a few different plans to try to get Emily to open up, including going out dancing — although this leads to Emily singing another heartbreaking song, this time ‘Gasoline’ by Halsey, which has the critical line ‘low on self-esteem, so you run on gasoline.’
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Zoe’s willingness to express her own vulnerability and discomfort ultimately does the right thing for Emily, as she finally admits to David that she needs help. But there are a few hints of the other shoe about to drop, starting when Simon asks Max and Mo if it seems like Zoey has a supernatural capability to read people’s minds. The fact that Zoey still hasn’t told him is certainly an issue, but the big ‘wake up’ moment is when she hears the preacher talk about supporting each other and being able to ‘carry each other’s burdens’.
So the final moment is Zoey with a therapist (Oscar Nunez from The Office) acknowledging that perhaps the conceit of the show, the ‘fix a person week with a magical power’ is actually damaging for her. I feel that the show definitely has its work cut out to support that assertion, which is the sort of thing that could upend the entire world of the show’s universe. But I like the audacity of it.
Ultimately the episode was pretty good — Maggie’s storyline wasn’t so interesting, although there were some fun visual and audio transitions between the storylines, but everything else worked pretty well. I really hope they take time to focus on this new problem and don’t forget about Emily either, because she’s one of the best characters in the show — one of the most ‘real’ of a cast that often seems overly exaggerated. But it’s a good start to get there.
What did you think of this episode? Start a conversation in the comments section below.
Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist airs Sundays at 9:00 PM on NBC.
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