So, last night's Smash dealt with that age-old pop culture theme of "being naughty." It was a little one-sided, though. I'll get to that in a bit.
THE SHORT VERSION: Ivy's insecurities at having the role of Marilyn and her relationship with Derek become a little more visible, with her lashing out at Karen and giving her the valuable (if bitchy) advice that she needs to know what she brings to the party. It's not all in her head, though, as Derek's more than detached from her performances in rehearsal, and uses Karen as an example of how Marilyn would sing "Happy Birthday" in front of everyone, humiliating Ivy. Meanwhile, Karen takes Ivy's advice to heart, and attends a government party with Dev, where she uses her acting and sexpot skills to cozy on up to a political hopeful and get some info for Dev's benefit.
Leo, Julia's manequinesque son, is arrested for doing pot in Central Park (...really?), and Tom interrupts his date with the handsome lawyer to come to the rescue. Julia is mortified that it will destabilize the adoption, and an impromptu visit from old flame Michael Swift reveals all sorts of youthful (pot-smoking) shenanigans to her kid. There's also more money hijinx between Eileen and her husband, and we're 12 days away from the first public showcase of the musical and the book isn't finished, which is Julia's job...however, as the episode's end shows, she's a little busy making out with Swift on a Brooklyn street, while her shocked teenage son watches. Uh...aaaaaaaaand Scene!
WHAT WAS AWESOME THIS EPISODE: Megan Hilty is ridiculously talented. I just need to say that. The rehearsal parts of this episode felt natural and fun, and we got to see a full number be built and rehearsed before blowing up into an amazing "finished" production sequence in the imaginations of the creative team. And that's worth its own section: The song, "Let's Be Bad," is tremendous. It's the first time we get a juicy nugget of how "Marilyn: The Musical" is going to work, with a late-in-show number of a drug-addicted and addled Marilyn trying desperately to cling onto fame and stardom, while struggling with her own wishes, her perception as a dumb blonde, and a need to be pulled in a million directions by her fans and handlers. It's a dark, twisted, heartbreaking and AWESOMELY FUN number that feels like the best work of Kander and Ebb or Sondheim; it's layered, sophisticated, terrifying, beautiful, hot, and classy as hell, all at once. And Hilty sells it from the bottom of her soul. This number finally made me yearn to see the final product; it's not going to just be a collection of cute Marilyn-esque anecdotes and caricatures, but something with some depth and perspective. It got me excited all over again for the musical theater parts of Smash.
I was also thrilled to see a different, softer side of Tom in how he's definitely Leo's favorite "uncle." This show works best when it's combining its gigantic cast of characters in new and interesting ways, and this pairing was fun and sweet. Tom's spur-of-the-moment musical about Leo's pot smoking was also supremely cute. I sort of hate Leo in this show, but I love Tom and Leo together. Does that make sense?
Honorable mention: Karen's singing of James Brown's "It's a Man's World" as she gets ready for the party was steamy and a little bit dark. Good for Karen; she needs a ribbon of darkness in amidst all of that Iowa sweetness to become interesting. Tonight's episode started to move her in that direction this week. However...
WHAT BOTHERED ME: Okay, so we've got these three young, successful women in our cast in Ivy, Julia, and Karen. And this week's episode is all about how they're pretty much whores. Ivy's entire self-worth is built around her boyfriend/boss accepting her, Julia is all about cheating on her husband, and Karen learns that her sex is sort of her primary value. It makes the feminist in me want to throw a shoe at the television. Maybe next week I'll feel better about this, but in this episode, "Let's Be Bad" pretty much means "Women Are Sort of Slutty." It's not a sentiment I agree with, and I'd be able to overlook it if Smash didn't go three-for-three this week.
THE FINAL WORD: This was the end of our first act (episode 5 out of 15), and there's a lot of juicy stuff in play. That said, a lot more needs to happen to round these characters out. But man, if we keep getting musical numbers like "Let's Be Bad" in the midst of all this, any and all minor flaws can be forgotten. That was one of the best numbers I've seen committed to film, anywhere, bar none.
When Smash is great, it's truly spectacular. I'm looking forward to more of that, and less of the questionable moments, in weeks to come. See you in seven!
