Zoey’s Extraordinary Employee Review: ‘Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist’ Bounces Back by Focusing on Happiness

You ever have that moment where you make the conscious decision to be happy. Isn’t it interesting how that happiness is almost immediately tested? Zoey’s Extraordinary Employee tackles happiness in the most balanced episode of the season. Robert Sudduth did a great job writing this episode.

Zoey has to handle laying off 10 percent of her staff at work, which makes the SPRQPoint scenes feel essential. Max and Mo are learning each other’s ownership approach. Emily and David’s story is actually quite moving and the best story in the episode. While this doesn’t quite hit the emotional heights of Mitch singing “True Colors” to Zoey, but sure comes close with Emily’s heart-song. Just as good as the heart-song is the fantastic conversation between Emily and David that’s paid off with the heart-song near the end of the episode.

Every storyline in this episode strikes the right chord with the exception of the final scene. Whether the final scene works is entirely dependent on how the next episode handles the setup.

Maggie is asked out by the landscape client from the previous episode. He has the guts to compare his divorce to Mitch’s death. I didn’t like that line at all as it immediately points out his narcissism. I’d rather the first suiter for Maggie actually have good intentions and spend more time developing the potential relationship.

With the non-spoiler details out of the way, let’s dive into the heart-songs, SPRQPoint and family drama in Zoey’s Extraordinary Employee.

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The Balance in Zoey’s Extraordinary Employee

Yes, Max and Zoey did in fact break up as hinted at in the last scene of Zoey’s Extraordinary Dreams.

After Mo remains upbeat in spite of her cocktails receiving bad reviews, Zoey decides to be happy. Her newfound optimism is tested the next day at work when Leif tells Zoey she has to fire 10 percent of the employees on the 4th floor. With the exception of George, Zoey is able to accomplish this difficult decision. I don’t understand how Jane Levy pulls off the balancing act this episode requires.

After Zoey future endeavors the employees she doesn’t interact with often, she decides to use a measure the productivity of her staff in order to determine which coder to fire. George is by far the least productive employee. The first attempt to fire George doesn’t go well. Zoey tries to use the same approach as the other terminations, but George is simply not grasping the reality of the situation. Zoey stumbles by firing, then accidentally rehires George in the same scene. Eventually, Zoey does let George go near the end of the episode.

The David and Emily story is just fantastic throughout Zoey’s Extraordinary Employee. Early in the episode, David talks to Emily about quitting his job. They have an outstanding conversation about the financial toll that would have on their new family. Emily doesn’t put the kibosh on the whole idea. She just suggests that they don’t make another life-altering decision so soon after having a baby. Then near the episode, Emily in wanting David to be happy sings her heart-song and supports her husband quitting his job. They will just have to wait a little longer to get a house.

Simon’s interview as the company spokesperson goes well. Alvina August makes the most out of this guest appearance as reporter Tatiana Morris. Hopefully, she will be in future episodes as she and Stewart have great chemistry. Simon’s also on hand to help Zoey after she finally lets George go. His advice on happiness is sound and exactly what Zoey needed to hear.

Max and Mo’s partnership is still in the icebreaking phase. From Max’s perspective, Mo is focusing on superfluous things like cleanses, throwing parties and karaoke as opposed to the tough task of running a business. Since Max and Zoey’s breakup, Max has been so focused on the financial hardships that he’s neglecting the socializing you need to do to run a restaurant. After the party, Mo gives Max a phone number for the reporter that interviewed Simon and Max apologizes. Mo lets him know that he cares just as much about the business as Max does, but Mo has a different process and Max needs to respect it. Just a great scene for Alex Newell.

I also quite enjoyed the dynamic between Mary Steenburgen and Jee Young Han in this episode. Throughout this episode, Jenna offers Maggie support and attempt.to warn Maggie that this client of theirs, Roger, is clearly flirting with her. Maggie denies it, but Jenna is proven correct later in the episode. Roger asks Maggie out and is rebuffed with Maggie saying that her husband just died, which leads to the aforementioned line from Roger that he lost his wife in a divorce as an attempt to compare his situation with the death of Maggie’s husband. I wish Roger wasn’t written as a jerk, but an actual decent guy.

The Songs in Zoey’s Extraordinary Employee

There are five heart-songs, one karaoke duet and a garage band performance in this episode. The award for best heart-song performance goes to Alice Lee as Emily and her rendition of “I’ll Stand By You.” Here’s a quick breakdown of the songs and the scenes surrounding each musical sequence.

“I Want to Break Free” by Queen

David has his first case in court since the birth of his son. During the hearing, he breaks into this classic Queen song in a desire to break free from a career he doesn’t enjoy. A delightful performance from Andrew Leeds with an added boost by Mandy Moore’s choreography.

“Juice” by Lizzo

Simon aces his first interview with a reporter as SPRQPoint’s new spokesperson. Overjoyed, Simons breaks into this joyous Lizzo hit. John Clarence Stewart’s performance is a lot of fun and his quads have to be killing him after those dance moves.

“Opposites Attract” by Paula Abdul

After some urging, Simon joins Mo on the karaoke stage for a fun duet. These two have different approaches as business partners. Simon is focused on the financial and Mo’s attention is on the aesthetics and socializing with customers.

“Stronger” by Britney Spears

After Zoey fires George, he launches into this rendition of this Britney Spears hit. Honestly, this is the best episode of Harvey Guillén’s run, but I’m not too disappointed that he’s gone.

“I’ll Stand by You” by The Pretenders

Emily sings this song near the end of the episode as a sign of support for her husband. It’s beautiful and is the first scene this season to approach the emotional heights of last season’s finale. Alice Lee crushes this rendition of a song all about standing in solidarity with another.

“Sex and Candy” by Marcy Playground

Throughout the episode, David, Emily and Maggie have been unable to keep the baby asleep due to a garage band practicing next door. Zoey offers to talk to the neighbor and this post-grunge cover song is being practiced.

Final Thoughts on Zoey’s Extraordinary Employee

Zoey’s Extraordinary Employee is easily the best of episode of the season so far. With the exception of Roger’s character, every storyline and character beat worked. The heart-songs all hit the emotional chords they were aiming for, while also taking the time to provide a graceful exit from a problematic character in George.