Episode Report Card Sara Brady: C | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Technical Difficulties
By Sara Brady | Season 1 | Episode 13 | Aired on 04.30.2012
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.So, how do you all feel about those Tony nominations? I know, Bombshell was totally robbed! It's this year's Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark! Anyway, when the show goes to Boston to prepare for previews, we enter the harrowing time known throughout the performing world as "tech," when they have to combine the songs and blocking with all the technical aspects of the show, like lights and sets and sound cues and costumes and makeup. It's generally a horrorshow. Derek is preoccupied and worried, which leads him to distractedly tell Ivy he loves her.
But he can't love her that much, because he's finally discovered a way to get Rebecca to do what he wants her to do, and that way is with his tongue. Yes, Derek and Rebecca are suddenly knocking the boots, with no warning or foreshadowing, and it's so hideously abrupt that I wonder if a scene that might have explained it, or at least led into it a little more smoothly, got cut out. Ivy is also shocked.
Speaking of cheating, with Karen gone, Dev drowns his sorrows with RJ, and then they make out a little, which sends Dev into a tailspin of guilt and lust. He hauls ass up to Boston and asks Karen to marry him, because that's the best way to start a marriage, with someone else's spit still in your mouth. Karen doesn't accept or decline, just flails ineffectually while squawking "It's tech!" as if that explains anything to anyone. Later, Dev and Ivy run into each other at the bar and despite the fact that they've never met, each knows who the other is and they decide to exact some naked revenge.
Replacement DiMaggio gets a new job just before previews are supposed to begin, and the obvious answer is to rehire Michael Swift. Which of course makes Julia go into a shrieking, arm-flapping snit, because her lack of restraint should obviously prevent the show from having a capable leading man who knows the role and can fill in at the last minute. She spends the entire episode stomping her feet and whining to Tom on the phone before finally giving in when Eileen tells her to shut up and deal. Her way of dealing is bringing Shrek and Leo with her to Boston, like the world's most tedious security blankets.
And since Sam is a Beantown native, he brings Tom home to meet his family, who appear to be lovely, accepting people who embrace Tom as one of their own. So much so that Tom takes Sam's dad's side when he repeats his reservations about Tom's choice of dancing as a career, which gives Sam a sad. But then Sam says something mature and wonderful and Tom melts and they make out a bunch. It's very sweet and at least there's one couple on this show that seems to like and respect each other.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously on Smash: Karen and Rebecca became besties, which made Derek and Dev mental. Julia had an affair with Not Adam Pascal, which made Shrek all ogre-y. Ivy was jealous and scheming, and the whole company did a super culturally insensitive Bollywood dance number.
This week we open with one of my favorite show tunes: It's Tom and Sam singing "Another Openin', Another Show" from Kiss Me Kate while everyone packs for the tryout in Boston. (And congratulations to Christian Borle on his Tony nomination!) Tom and Sam are devastatingly adorable, and I'm not just saying that because they've put me in mind of Cole Porter, which leads me to De-Lovely, which makes me hope they'll cast John Barrowman to play Tony Curtis in Bombshell. Ooh, or Clark Gable in the stirring eleven o'clock number about the disaster that was The Misfits. Come on, how awesome would that be?
As Rebecca departs in her limo, Karen meets the dancers at Grand Central, which oh my god, SHOW, is not where you go to take a train to Boston! Anyway. Up in Chowder City, crew members are loading in costumes and sets and lights. Karen takes it upon herself to stand center stage and pretend things are all about her. As the song ends, the lights go out, and Derek swears charmingly. Ah, the theater.
Rebecca stands center stage in the empty theater and, we hope, ponders how viciously she'll be embarrassed when the show opens. Derek comes in and she flees like a cockroach when you turn the lights on. He has brought his tiny scale model of the theater with him, which is kind of like Michael Kors bringing Barbie dolls to work with him, no? [Note: What is this, a theater for ants?! -- Rachel.] Ivy brings Derek coffee and asks if he's still trying to work out "that transition." He says yes, and that he's been staring at it so long he can't figure it out, but Ivy has an easy fix -- just change around some choreography. Derek sees that her solution is elegant and also solves another problem, and says, "That's not bad," which from him is like skywriting "OMG IVY IS A GENIUS WHO FAR SURPASSES MOMADETTE PETERS." Ivy demurely replies, "I am a woman of many talents," to which Derek says, "And that is why I love you." And the viewing audience at my house falls on the floor and writhes with jealousy. Ivy looks stunned. Dude! Lock that hot piece down now, while he's confused and overwhelmed with work!