Craig Reviews Smash: Chemistry

*SPOILER WARNING*


Well, this was a fairly strange episode, in that it somehow managed to make me hate practically every single character, and yet I came out on the other side liking the series even more. This is another less Marilyn-centric episode, along the lines of episode 3 which I really did not enjoy. Fortunately this episode fares a lot better because, for the most part, all of the drama and silly decisions this week are a bit more believable. That’s not to say it’s perfect, as Julia and Michael’s whole thing remains a thorn in my side, but for the most part it’s an improvement.

 After a ‘previously on Smash’ bumper that rather randomly throws in that awkward introduction between Sam and Tom from last week, practically proving that they are totally going to be getting down and dirty soon, we discover that Ivy’s losing her voice. This alone was enough to make me like this episode, as it’s definitely about time that Ivy got knocked down a few pegs, but it actually proves to be a catalyst for much bigger things in the episode, particularly between Ivy and Derek. Though at the beginning of the episode Ivy is, rather irritatingly, still all loved up despite him having made it quite clear that he’s a bastard for a good few episodes now. I have to wonder if she’s been getting hit on the head in between episodes or something, since she seems to have a big old “What are we doing?!” tantrum every week, and then conveniently forgets about it the week after. Fortunately this week’s tantrum seems to have been the final straw, but more on that later. We also get a bit of musical drama early on when Tom and Julia have a falling out with a particularly nasty Derek over the lack of material for the show. Of course sneaky Ellis is in the room (when isn't he?), and goes running to Eileen to tell her that the situation is dire. Eileen is about the only likeable character on the show this week, she thinks she’s young people and that’s adorable, but the fact that she’s seemingly teaming up with Ellis leaves me questioning her judgement. And why does nobody tell the guy to stick to his own damn job?

After a few dodgy attempts at singing ‘Let Me Be Your Star’ while pretending nothing’s wrong, Ivy is sent to a doctor and Karen conveniently overhears a conversation about whether the ‘other Marilyn’ can fill in while she’s hiding behind a piano. Ivy is given drugs that come with a long list of unpleasant side-effects, and Derek pressures her into taking them. And, of course, because she’s so in love with this man who is consistently awful to her, she does just that. There’s also a sub-plot throughout the episode following Eileen’s hunt for a new place to live. I guess it’s there to show her struggle for independence, but it doesn’t really fit in the episode well, and feels a bit boring when there’s all this drama going on around it. Karen’s hand-me-down gig is also not the strongest part of the episode, but it does seem to be going somewhere at least, and it did make me dislike Karen for the first time, which in a weird way served the show well. The gig, at a bar mitzvah, was originally meant for Ivy but ends up in Karen’s lap. She’s completely unprofessional throughout the whole event, turning up late, standing at the edge of the stage checking her phone constantly to see if she might get a chance of Marilyn, and mumbling her way through ‘Hava Nagila’. It’s the first time that the series has really shown Karen in a bad light, and it helped back up that decision to not give her the role of Marilyn in the first place. She eventually finds out she won’t be needed as Marilyn after all, Ivy apparently recovering from her hallucinations and panic attacks rather quickly. It’s a shame then that Karen apparently impressed someone at that bar mitzvah despite being terrible, and it looks like Ivy will come to regret giving that gig away.

Hallucinated Karen gets to play Marilyn at least.

And then we get to Julia and Michael. After spending the entire episode avoiding Michael, who is really pushing too hard, Julia eventually gives in and sleeps with him. What I hate about this story-line is that Julia came off as a really intelligent character in the first two episodes; she had a loving family and was completely dedicated to adopting a child. Now a pretty face from her past has shown up and that’s all been thrown away, it’s just hard to believe in to be honest. Michael too seems to be completely ignoring the fact that he has a wife and child, and it’s just very difficult to like the two characters. Tom’s love life gets weird in this episode too, when it’s apparently a big deal that the guy he’s seeing may or may not have only been out to his mother for a year. I really did not grasp this at all, and I’m a gay man myself. It’s eventually explained that he’s been out for a long time but his mother only recently accepted it, but I don’t really understand why it should matter when the guy came out anyway. Tom’s been nit-picking in this relationship ever since he started seeing the guy, so maybe this is all just set up for Tom getting with Sam, but it seemed slightly irrelevant to me.

Musically this is one of the weaker episodes so far, though it was a good one for us Brits at least, with Jessie J and Florence + The Machine getting represented by Ivy and Karen respectively. We get one original song, ‘History Is Made At Night’, but it’s one that we’ve heard snippets of before and outside of a fairly catchy chorus it doesn’t have as much impact as some of the other original songs. After the performance though, things get interesting as Ivy finally snaps after yet more criticism from Derek, and really lets him have it in front of everyone. This was a much needed development and I hope it means she’ll no longer be chasing him around like a lost puppy because that was getting really old. All in all this was a good episode. It didn’t quite hit great, but it’s reassuring to know that the show can handle itself when it’s focusing on the private lives of the cast rather than the musical, and after so much is left hanging at the end of the episode I’m definitely looking forward to seeing where thing’s will go next. Who knows, maybe next week someone will finally tell Ellis to stop skulking around in the background of every room that an important discussion happens in.