And speaking of soap opera. I feel like Smash has just become one. I guess that's what happens when the showrunner is was once the showrunner for Gossip Girl. The show doesn't have to be a soap opera simply because it's a prime time "drama." It could be so much more. Correction: It could have been so much more.
Observations:
Jimmy is singing to himself. Literally.
I'm liking Scott less and less. He's making "his career" hang on one show, and that show hangs on Julia. So, if Julia can't get Tom to allow her to do Gatsby, then Scott's career is over and it's Julia's fault - again. Manipulative much?
I'm not really sure I like this plot line. I think that the show is trying to too hard to make Hit List like Rent. Now, the show will transfer to Broadway, not on its own merit, but simply because its book writer died. I don't like it.
It's ironic that it's Jesse L. Martin (Scott), who was in the original production of Rent, that's talking about doing the show to honor Kyle.
I'm so surprised that no one is actually crying. There has to be one character in this cast who actually cries over a friend's death. I don't know if it was the director's choice not to have anyone cry, but it's very unrealistic to me. Even I'm not crying, and I am a cryer! Maybe that's another reason why this plot bugs me. Usually you have a death in a story to make people feel something. I don't feel anything.
I don't like the flashbacks. They're just so forced, and their purpose if not to show us things about Kyle we never knew, it's to foreshadow something else that will happen in the plot. He liked the gesture of the lights being dimmed on Broadway when a theater person dies. So, we'll get some lights dimmed for Kyle.
In a flashback, Kyle mentions to Tom that he doesn't like how some random musical number we've never heard yet in Bombshell ends, so Tom changes the scene - after his death. It would have been more interesting if it were a scene we were familiar with already and we saw in a previous episode that Tom changed the scene suddenly (right after Kyle mentioned it), but we didn't know why. And now we finally discover why he changed it.
I am so glad that Tom got a solo, and we get to hear again how great Christian Borle's
Why is everyone saying they're sorry for Julia's loss? She worked with Kyle for a few days on the script for Hit List, and now suddenly Kyle is like family to Julia? What? It's especially funny coming from Tom, who was a little close to Kyle than Julia.
So, the show was canceled, but the entire cast is still hanging around in the green room? Is that because they all want to "be there for each other"? Or is it because it's more convenient that they didn't have to have a scene where the stage manager is calling everyone to come back to the theatre to do the show when Derek decides to do it?
So, they're just going to do a concert version of the show, not a full production. This is paralleling Rent even more. According to wikipedia: "Due to Larson's death the day before the first preview performance, the cast agreed that they would premiere the show by simply singing it through, all the while sitting at three prop tables lined up on stage. But by the time the show got it its high energy "La Vie Boheme," the cast could no longer contain themselves and did the rest of the show as it was meant to be, minus costumes, to the crowd and the Larson family's approval."
Karen finally finds Jimmy, and suddenly it's not about Kyle's death anymore. It's about, wait for it... Karen. No surprise there.
And there's a poster for Rent. Coincidence? I think not.
I do like how the lighting of the flashbacks is a bit "rosier" that the scenes in the present. It's a nice touch.
I would have directed Jimmy's entrance so differently. I would have had Sam start singing "The Love I Meant to Say," and then had Jimmy come in and take it over. Then I would have just had Jimmy stand toward the audience and sing it, not moving into the boring staging of it. I don't think that actually doing the blocking of "The Love I Meant to Say" made it anymore poignant. I didn't really like watching Karen walking toward him. I think this would have been a good place to have flashbacks of Kyle interspersed. However, the song was beautiful, and Jeremy Jordan sang it beautifully.
Surprise! Hit List is moving to Broadway. I'm shocked! *wink*
Jimmy tells Karen that he doesn't want to do something with her that night or tomorrow because he has a lot to deal with. And Karen's asks if he's mad at her. His best friend just died, Karen! It's not all about you! I don't understand these writers and their fascination with Karen. I. Just. Don't. Get. It.
Okay, I do think it's a sweet gesture that Eileen (or Tom) had the lights of Bombshell dimmed in Kyle's honor. However, we knew something like that was going to happen from the beginning of the show since we saw Kyle tell Julia about it. Maybe if that scene had been in a previous episode, not just a flashback in this one, it would have been more poignant. I don't know. Again, I just think this episode was full of too many "
Quotes:
Scott: So, what do we do about tonight's performance.
Derek: We cancel. Obviously.
Scott: Are you sure?
Derek: Uh, yea. I think "The show must go on" isn't apropos at this particular moment, Scott.
Tom: Is that is for today's installment of "Tom the Monster"?
Eileen: I don't appreciate these little stunts of yours.
Jerry: I went into the wrong business. I should have been a psychic.
Jerry: And here I thought the ice between us was melting.
[Eileen throws a drink in his face]
Eileen: No. It's as cold as ever.
Derek: I'm good at caring so much.
Scott: We're a phenomenon. People are going to remember this night forever.
Derek: There's a lot of people out there who want to hear what you have to say. And more that that, they want to hear what Kyle had to say. And you guys... you're the only ones who have the power to tell them. So... do him proud.
Jimmy: How can you be so sure?
Kyle: I'm not. I just pretend that I am.
Kyle: Are you sure she has to die? Musicals usually have happy endings.
Jimmy: Not the ones you like.
Kyle: You're right. So... she must die. So your character can learn something.
Ivy: The show was amazing.
Derek: Thank you. Technically, it wasn't all me.
Ivy: Wow! That may be the first time you've said something like that. How does it feel?
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