This episode needed to do a lot to
correct last week’s inexplicable missteps, but thankfully it managed it,
delivering on almost every front and making for the most enjoyable episode
since the pilot. We’re thrown straight back into Marilyn: The Musical as we
join Karen on her first day on the workshop as part of the ensemble, and Eileen
is facing some financial issues thanks to her husband. Bet she wishes she’d
stopped after the first Manhattan to the face now! Meanwhile Ivy is enjoying
her star status a little too much as she lords it over Karen. For someone who
spent 10 years in the ensemble she comes off as extremely ungracious in this
episode, in fact one might even go so far as to say she’s suddenly become a
full-on mega-bitch. But it’s not just Ivy who has it in for Karen this week, as
she is shunned by practically everyone in the workshop and is repeatedly pushed
out of performances altogether. It’s an easy storyline but it’s relatable,
we’ve all been an outsider before, and while the episode plays out the way
these stories always do, it does so with a lot more style than most others.
The claws come out!
When Karen is kicked off one
performance too many she vents and ends up making a few friends, which of
course means it’s time for a makeover and some lessons on how to do the
ensemble right. Yes, it’s basically every high school movie ever, but this time
it has Adele AND Nick Jonas. OK, so Adele simply provides the music for the
tutorials in being a backing dancer, but ‘Rumour Has It’ really is a great
song, and it makes the scenes that much more enjoyable. Nick on the other hand
has a full-on part as an all-grown up and now very rich actor who was
discovered by Tom and/or Derek as a child. Anjelica Huston shines once again as
she tries to get this kid to invest in Marilyn, initially by trying to sell him
a piece of artwork that she can’t get rid of any other way due to
technicalities involving that pesky husband. It’s interesting to see Eileen in
this situation, practically begging to keep the musical alive, and yet somehow
remaining on top. She’s a great character and it was good to see a little more
of her in this episode, her brief conversation with Ivy towards the end of the
episode was particularly touching. This all leads to an impromptu performance
of ‘I Never Met A Wolf Who Didn’t Love To Howl’ in attempt to drum up some of
rich kid’s riches. The song itself is good, if not great, but the performance
was so much fun, and unlike the ‘impromptu’ performance seen last week it felt
completely right.
Derek and Ivy’s strange
relationship comes to a head when Ivy spots Derek flirting with another woman
straight after the performance. It was great to finally have this situation
dealt with head-on, and while nothing was really resolved it feels like both
characters know a bit more about what it is they’re doing now, for better or
worse, and it seems pretty clear that there’s not really any love involved. 'Rumour Has It' returning again at the very end felt a little unnecessary, though not
completely unwelcome. This episode succeeded because, by the show’s standards
so far at least, it kept things simple. There was no major new drama waiting to
burst, just a musical waiting to get made, and when the show really focuses on
that main plotline it’s as great as that pilot episode promised it could be.
Well, that’s four episodes down,
and I’m still optimistic about where this show might end up going. It has
cracks for sure, but it’s an awful lot of fun. I’ll be watching episode 5 over
the weekend so you can expect a review of the next episode early next week!
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