So. Bollywood. That happened. Smash taught us another valuable TV lesson this week: just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should. .
Now. THE SHORT VERSION: Rebecca continues to use her star power to misbehave all over the place. pissing off Derek and recruiting the stage manager (hey, who's played by Ann Harada, famous for Avenue Q!) to make her smoothies (kale...?). Derek explodes. Oh, also, Rebecca takes a liking to Karen, and the two go out on the town, and Rebecca recognizes her amazing voice during a performance of Snow Patrol's "Run." Ellis then gets relegated to Smoothie duty. And we're a week away from the first performance in Boston and the show's still a mess. Julia and Tom are hard at work on a number about Marilyn’s mother, “Second Hand Baby Grand,” and they want Karen to sing it as a part of some kind of wonky flashback in which chorus members play past incarnations of Marilyn, mostly to avoid the fact that Rebecca can’t really sing. Eileen and Nick go to a show together and meet Eileen’s ex-husband and his very young arm candy, and then Nick and Eileen finally sleep together. .
Julia’s kid also runs away, which leads to more pointless family drama. Oh, and Ellis and Ivy team up to get Karen kicked out of the new number, which Ivy sings instead, and everyone cries, and then Rebecca suggests Marilyn should sing it. Oh, and it’s revealed Rebecca has a peanut allergy. That’s going to come in handy later. .
And then there’s the Bollywood number, brought on by Dev and Karen dining with Rebecca at an Indian restaurant, that bursts into a fight between Rebecca and Dev, as Karen fantasizes a full-cast supercolorful dance number that means nothing and does nothing. .
WHAT WAS GOOD: “Second Hand Baby Grand” is a gorgeous number, and Megan Hilty kills it. Ellis was tolerable this week. And “1001 Nights,” the Bollywood number, looked good, but….
WHAT WASN’T: It was completely unnecessary, and took up five minutes of time in ways that didn’t advance the plot or bring us any closer to resolution or juicy tidbits with any of these characters. Sure, it was fun to see everyone singing and dancing in Indian regalia. But it felt like Glee, and that’s a problem. Just because you have some money to do something and a producer goes “Wouldn’t it be cool if…”—it doesn’t mean you should. And last night, this show did.
NEXT WEEK: We’re in Boston for Tech Rehearsal, Michael Swift returns, and someone eats a peanut. Uh oh. See you in seven!
