Zoey’s Extraordinary Best Friend starts rough, but finds it’s footing through some strong character growth for Zoey and Max.
The show has a lot of elements to juggle through its combination of musical, family and workplace elements. Two episodes in and Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist is succeeding with the music and familial storytelling, but still has some work to do on the Sprqpoint front.
The 2nd episode delves deeper into Zoey’s musical power, gives Max (Skylar Astin) a chance to shine and continues to create touching family moments for the Clarke family.
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Keep reading for the in-depth review of the episode.
Zoey’s Extraordinary Growth
Jane Levy is just tremendous as the sometimes selfish, often awkward, always endearing Zoey Clarke. As good as Levy was in the pilot, she’s even better in this episode. The character development for Zoey in this episode is terrific.
I have some issues with the episode’s cold open that features a dream sequence that uses “I’ve Got The Music In Me” by Kiki Dee. However, Levy takes on the singing for the first time and absolutely crushes the song.
On the musical front, Early in the episode, Zoey and Mo (Alex Newell) are trying to come up with ways to avoid Zoey hearing their “heart songs” (Zoey’s term). During a mid-day coffee meetup with Mo, Zoey discovers that noise-canceling headphones don’t help since the music is in her head. Also, Zoey can talk to Mo while a song is going on. By episodes end, Zoey decides that she doesn’t want to avoid hearing the songs and will just keep using her power for now.
Her first day as the engineering manager isn’t great. She tries to take an overbearing approach to the team. During a great conversation with Simon (John Clarence Stewart), she gets some important leadership advice that he learned from his Dad. Basically, she needs to show her employees that she cares about them. Her immediate response is to tell Simon that she doesn’t care about the guys on the team.
The Roundabout: I thought this went a bit too far. Luckily, Zoey’s response after saying she doesn’t care is to cover her mouth in embarrassment. Still, it doesn’t ring as true based on the events in the pilot, where she struggled to put herself above fellow employees.
Zoey does rise to the occasion. Earlier in the episode, she gave each employee a journal. She uses this 2nd meeting in the episode to read from the journal what her initial impressions were of the whole team, an employee who left to work for Google, a fired employee, Lief (Michael Thomas Grant), Tobin (Kapil Talwalkar) and Max. The genuine nature Levy provides Zoey in this scene really helps prove that she’s the right person for this job.
The Roundabout: The small detail I really enjoyed was how a flustered Zoey had to flip through her journal to get to the current employees. It showed that this wasn’t a performance, but how she actually felt about each member of her team when Zoey first met Lief, Tobin and Max.
Max is Zoey’s Extraordinary Best Friend
Astin gets a lot more to do as Zoey’s extraordinary best friend Max. Following the pilot’s cliffhanger ending, Max further clarifies his inner feelings during Zoey’s first meeting as the engineering manager. Astin delivers an amusing rendition of “Sucker” by The Jonas Brothers. Max’s happy demeanor during the song even has Zoey fanning herself to cool down.
After ending the meeting, Max talks to Zoey about winning the restaurant lottery. He offers to take Zoey to the restaurant and ask her if it’s a date. Zoey asks if it’s a date and Max without hesitation says no.
A freaked out Zoey meats Mo at the coffee shop. During their coffee shop excursion, a beautiful rendition of Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” takes place. While the song features the voices of a few caffeinated patron, the standout is guest star Stephanie Styles as Autumn.
Zoey’s response to this song is to setup Max with Autumn. She takes Autumn to Sprqpoint and introduces her to Max, which he accepts after Zoey says she can’t go.
The Roundabout: I really like this response from Max. Yes, he likes Zoey, but he’s single and he’s not going to just pine after the woman he likes.
Max does confront Zoey about setting him up with Autumn. He asks whether Zoey’s new power is the reason she won’t go to dinner with him in reference to her new status as his boss. Zoey reacts poorly and explains that she thinks it’s inappropriate for them to go to fancy dinners given the new circumstances.
Roundabout: The uncomfortable conversation is a strong character moment for Max. He confronts her respectfully. When she says it’s inappropriate, he thinks it’s taking things over-the-top, but he does accept her decision.
Further cementing his decency, after his date with Autumn, he stops by the Clarke residence to drop off some butterscotch pudding. He’s surprised to Zoey there, after she pulled an all-nighter. Max remembered that Mitch couldn’t swallow solid foods. Zoey for her part apologizes for how she handled the work situation. Max takes the high road saying “that makes two of us.”
We also learn more about Max’s family. Essentially, he’s not very close with his father and that Mitch was always great about letting Max crash family gatherings. The conversation ends with Zoey asking Max if he wants to see Mitch to which Max responds with “Can I?” He then visits with Mitch and it’s heartwarming.
Roundabout: This is the best scene in the episode. Levy and Astin knock this scene out of the park. She’s so appreciative of Max’s thoughtfulness and Max’s ability to put aside his ego by saying that makes two of us says a lot about Max’s character.
Mitch The Moondancer
The family drama was lighter than in the pilot.
Zoey’s at a doctor appointment with the rest of her family to check on the prognosis of Mitch’s PSP (progressive supranuclear palsy). While waiting for the appointment, we get some nice back-and-forth between Zoey and her brother, David as well as some more background on David. He’s married and his wife is pregnant.
During the appointment with Dr. Hamara (Hiro Kanagawa), they talk about Mitch moving his hand slightly which we saw near the end of the last episode. Dr. Hamara gives some good news that the pills are working a bit, but stops short of providing false hope that the medicine is a cure and tells the Clarke family they should enjoy the increased hand movements.
Back at home, Mitch’s hand movement has improved enough that he can use a Taboo buzzer to answer “yes” or “no” questions. Zoey sees the improvement through a video call with her brother. He presses the Taboo buzzer once for yes and twice for no. Of course, when Zoey asks if her Dad wants Zoey to come over later, he presses the buzzer once.
Roundabout: Just a great scene that was less about the words and more about the facial and hand reactions from Levy, Andrew Leeds and Peter Gallagher.
For Mom, the Taboo buzzer is an aggravation. She can’t seem to figure out what Mitch is trying to say. Zoey enters the house and right on cue, we get another great Gallagher musical moment. He does a fun rendition of “Moondance” by Van Morrison.
Roundabout: Special shoutout to Mandy Moore’s choreography during this section that features Gallagher dancing around the house and Maggie.
Zoey isn’t able to help much right after the musical interlude. She consults with Mo and concludes she has to her mom about her parents’ sex life.
She talks to her Mom and finds her parents’ sex life is fine. Eventually, Zoey takes a direct approach and asks if her Mom is familiar with the song Moondance. Turns out that Mitch took Maggie on a date to a Van Morrison concert. During “Moondance,” Mitch kissed Maggie and told her he loved her.
Roundabout: From frustration to her lovely recounting of the date, Mary Steenburgen has such a great presence in these scenes.
Final Thoughts Zoey’s Extraordinary Best Friend
Best Friend is a strong follow up that’s bogged down a bit by having to recap some of the events covered in the pilot. The episodes cold open felt tonally off to the rest of the episode especially the ending of the dream sequence, which seems to show Zoey being destroyed by a falling piano.
The strong conclusion indicates that the show is heading in a confident direction. Steenburgen and Lauren Graham haven’t had a musical number yet, so that’s another positive development to look forward to in the future.
What did you think of Zoey’s Extraordinary Best Friend?
The Review
Zoey's Best Friend
PROS
- Jane Levy is doing a tremendous job adding complexity to Zoey.
- Skylar Astin capably steps into the spotlight.
- The soundtrack is just tremendous. Mandy Moore's choreography deserves special recognition.
CONS
- While Jane Levy's performance was great, I didn't like the "I've Got The Music In Me" dream sequence.
- Inconsistent character traits from Zoey.
- With the exception of Max, the rest of Sprqpoint just isn't that compelling.
