NBC
The most recent episode of Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist is called ‘Zoey’s Extraordinary Double Date’, which centers mainly around Zoey performing self-sabotage as she once again takes too much on herself. The very first song of the episode is a joint one from the various therapy patients singing relatively recent song ‘Overwhelmed’ by Royal & the Serpent, which is a pretty obvious song for them — Zoey probably would be singing the same thing if she was self-aware.
The therapist offers trying to bring in an element of control, since Zoey is unable to control hearing the songs — the only issue is that (and perhaps this is due to how things are portrayed) we have seen Zoey struggle with control issues many times already. So the ultimate outcome, Zoey over correcting to be too controlling of things she really cannot control, is immediately obvious from the start, which lends more the feeling of ‘this is clearly going to end poorly’ versus ‘maybe it won’t’. Sometimes it’s hard to tell with this show whether or not it realizes Zoey’s issues with control.
The least interesting storylines (the office) are somewhat resolved as Leif’s idea of the ‘drone phone’ is selected over Tobin and Mackenzie’s terrible ‘megaphone’ and ‘microphone’ ideas. Again, it’s hard to say if the show realizes that these were always bad ideas (the sort of Silicon Valley lack of self-awareness) or meant to be cool. So sure, there’s something here where Tobin and Mackenzie make out, which is almost nothing in terms of interest, and then Tobin and Leif share a nerdy moment of vulnerability together, which is at least a different angle.
But so far it’s not really going anywhere interesting, which is typical for that storyline. The other less interesting storyline is Maggie winning huge at a casino using her former boss Roger’s payment. It seems again more a setup for something later, although her and Deb singing Gwen Stefani’s ‘Rich Girl’ was cute, I suppose. The actual relevant stuff was elsewhere.
Zoey has the over-correcting idea to have a perfect day for Simon, which means things like doing activities she hates (like the Bay to Breakers race) and being very awkward in general. It’s never a bad time when a bunch of people sing Queen’s ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’, although in this case it’s the key lyric ‘I’m having a good time’ that expresses all the racers’ idea of thinking it fun.
NBC
Because she has to hurt herself, Zoey takes on more emotional labor when trying to help Perry and Mo, and ultimately helps lead to the relationship ending (maybe). Perry first sings a slower, more haunting cover of ‘Unwell’ by Matchbox Twenty, and this leads to the conflict Zoey tries to fix — the meeting of his ex Brad with Mo. But this ends up having Perry realize that despite everything and how he feels about Mo, he struggles with the way people perceive him, and Mo’s alternative lifestyle is something that makes him uncomfortable. Hard to know if they can recover from that.
Zoey’s stress is affected when Max gets the opportunity to spread his terrible restaurant idea to New York by Rose, making his feelings clear with Billy Joel’s ‘New York State of Mind’. But Zoey makes it worse by pushing Max on his verbal prevarication, which makes everyone uncomfortable on their ‘double date’. It’s no real surprise that Simon is jealous with his rendition of ‘Suspicious Minds’ by Elvis Presley.
Perhaps even Zoey isn’t sure if it’s lingering romantic feelings or simply ones of abandonment as she tears up to Max reprising ‘New York State of Mind’ — it’s not that hard to make that song sound sad, after all. I feel that although I’m not interested in redoing the love triangle storyline, the potential conflict about Zoey’s struggles with abandonment and control are more interesting — it’s always tricky to include a therapist on a show though, because it can feel irresponsible if they aren’t saying the right thing.
Overall, the episode was a bit rushed and a bit overstuffed (those extra storylines felt more like check marks to be done than organically incorporated), but I think it’s not a bad direction, even if I’d rather see more from Alice and David again. A lot of songs this episode too, with some interesting cover arrangements — more alternate takes on that, I think that will help the issue going forward.
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.
Share this post
