What I’m Watching: Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist

Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist: Season 1, Episode 8 “Zoey's Extraordinary Glitch” (B)

One of the benefits of having a show where someone has unexplained powers is that they can, all of a sudden, start working differently. I was thinking recently that it’s a shame that the talented Jane Levy, who plays Zoey, doesn’t get to sing and perform with anyone else, and this episode went ahead and resolved that in a big way. It makes some sense, I guess, that when Zoey is the one who sings, she’s actually singing in real life without the big ensemble she’s picturing in her head. The music selection was certainly clever, with “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” as a particularly humorous choice, and what she sang to the two men she’s interested in definitely upended those relationships. Max seemed most hurt by it since he knew it was what she was really feeling since she couldn’t hide the truth, and Simon responding by kissing her was definitely not what I expected to happen. This glitch that Zoey experienced had a clear root, and it’s absolutely devastating that Mitch now has only a short time left to live when it seemed that he was both able to better communicate and that he was getting the care that he – and his family – desperately needed from the eccentric Howie. Zoey running from that was not like her at all, and sitting down next to him and singing “How Do I Live” was a poignant and heartbreaking way to channel what she was really feeling. Her powers may now return to normal, but life won’t.