Smash: Bombshell

I loved this season finale. I'm so glad the show went out on a high note (pun intended), and didn't fizzle and die. There were some misses, but the majority of the episode was a hit.

The music under the title is the beginning of the overture this time instead of the tuning of the orchestra. Nice touch.

Why did Ellis start caring so much about Ivy? Was it because she would actually talk to him?

Ellis confesses to what we knew already: he put the peanuts in Rebecca's shake. I'm so glad Eileen fired the eavesdropping twit, but she should have had him arrested. Rebecca could have died. It wasn't just a simple allergic reaction. Peanut allergies can be deadly. This is serious. Fictionally serious.

It would be nice not to see Ellis next season, but we know he will be back because he said, "you haven't heard the last of this." In TV talk that means we haven't heard the last of this.

I feel bad for the actor who plays Ellis. The writers gave him no redeeming qualities, no reason for anyone to ever want to see his character again. It's fun to play the villain, but a good villain should be written with multi-facets. Ellis had one facet. Annoying.

The blackout was so contrived just when Julia and Micahel are in the same proximity of each other. And then Frank is standing there in the audience. Again, so contrived.

So, Michael's wife left him, taking their son. Are we supposed to feel sorry for him? Because I don't.

Why would Derek choose Karen to play the lead when Ivy knows the show so well? It's not consistent with his actions in the past when their Joe DiMaggio left the show and he wanted Michael back in spite of Julia's concerns. They brought Michael back because he knew the show. Now the show opens tonight, tonight Derek! And you're putting in a green performer? Why? Oh, that's right, because you're having fantasies about her. Why are we supposed to like Karen so much?

Karen's quick-change brought back memories. I've had a few of those, and it usually takes a while to get them worked out. Poor Karen has to work it all out in a matter of hours. Tip: Put the dress over her head.

I love the staging of the "I Never Met a Wolf who Didn't Like to Howl" number. The choreography was so much fun. I'm so glad there wasn't too much cutting away of the camera so we could enjoy it.

If all of Rebecca's costumes were too big on Karen, why does this dress fit perfectly.

How did Dev get into a closed rehearsal?

Loved seeing Linda, the stage manager, having a bigger role.

How many times can they manipulate us into rooting for Karen. I hate that Ivy does something that we would expect Ellis to do. It's all so heavy handed.

I love how Eileen says, "Oh, wonderful," when she sees Jerry in the theatre. Her delivery of those two words is great.

Oh writers, no you didn't. You didn't make Julia pregnant.

Ivy wouldn't run out on the show like Karen did, but she would sabotage. How did Ivy become this horrible person?

Derek has a little Phantom of the Opera going on. We should just call him Erik, and we'll call Dev "Raoul;" and Ivy is Carlotta. Or is Ellis Carlotta?

I'm so sick of them trying to get all of the parallelisms with Marilyn. Just because you're in a show about a real person doesn't mean that everything about your life has to mirror the real person. Trying to make everything parallel to Marilyn - It's like saying that if you're playing John Wilkes Booth or Lee Harvey Oswald in Assassins, and really understand the character that you have to attempt to kill a President. Okay, that's a little overboard, but you get the picture.

It's great to see Bernadette Peters again.

It's funny that Tom and Julia were finishing the last song in the theatre lobby, and they had to rush past the patrons to get backstage. However, I love that they grab programs as they run into the theatre.

When did Karen get the chance to learn the song and memorize it? I know it heightens the drama, but it does nothing for realism. In spite of that, I loved the last song, "Don't Forget Me." There are some songs from musicals that give me chills, and this song became of them. Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman certainly know how to write songs for the musical theatre. I think this is one their best. Some of the lyrics were pretty corny (When you sing happy birthday to someone you love / Or say diamonds you wish we're all free.), but the feeling was perfect, and it was a perfect way to end the musical.

I've never been that enamoured with Marilyn Monroe, and I'm still not, but her life made for some good musical numbers for Smash.

I've never heard of an audience at a stage musical applaud in the middle of a song, unless they were waiting for an encore. Anyone? Granted, I've never been at a preview of a new show on its way to Broadway. Well, not one in Boston. It's just strange, too much like a singing competition like American Idol or The Voice.

It broke my heart to see Dev watching Karen as she sang. He was an idiot to sleep with Ivy, but he seems truly devastated, unlike Michael. I've liked Dev from the first episode, and I've been so unhappy with his plot line.

I was very impressed with Katharine McPhee's performance through the whole episode. Not just as Marilyn, but as Karen. This was a big acting bit for her.

So, what do you think will happen next season? Bombshell will be on its way to Broadway. But I'm ready for a new musical next season. I want new numbers and new songs. And a new subject. If they do have the whole season about Bombshell going to Broadway, then they could cut songs ("lost in Boston") to make room for new songs. I say the first to go should be "Mr and Mrs Smith."

Sidenote: Megan Hilty (Ivy) just played Lorelei in Gentlemen Prefer Blonds (Marilyn Monroe played the role in the movie). She got great reviews. She is a star.

Quotes:

Leigh: You already know [the part].
Ivy: I can't think about that right now.
Leigh: You don't need to, everyone else is.

Eileen: Yes, it's a grand old theatre story. The movie star goes out and the understudy goes in.

Ellis: I didn't get Rebecca Duvall out of the way so you could ignore me once again. You heard me. Rebecca Duvall, nice enough person for a movie star but she wasn't going to get us to Broadway, and none of you would admit it.

Julia: I'm not running away from you, I'm running away from myself. (It's smarter to run away from Michael, Julia, because, uh, you can't run away from yourself.)

Ivy: If it was going to be a nobody, why not me?

Linda: Yes, Derek we're all under a lot of pressure, but according to equity there are still breaks.

Karen: Will you stop talking about Marilyn. This is me. This is my life.

Eileen: I've chosen not to use our daughter as a weapon, Jerry.

Julia: There's nothing gospel about Marilyn.

Bobby: She took the wig off. In this production that's paramount to "I quit."

Derek: I do understand love. (What is that supposed to mean? How enigmatic can you get?)