Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist Review: Zoey’s Extraordinary Trip (Season 2 Episode 5)
Thanks to the influence of her neighbor, Aiden, Zoey is on a quest to be rebellious and care a little less on Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist Season 2 Episode 5, “Zoey’s Extraordinary Trip.” The problem, of course, is that’s not who she is at all.
Regardless of how much rebelling Zoey will or will not do in the future, Aiden’s arrival is timely, and Zoey has plenty to learn from him.
He’s a fun-loving guy with no plans and no real concern for consequences. He’s a free spirit — something Zoey can’t relate to at all. After hearing his heart song — a performance of “Unwritten” that actually gave me chills — she declares she needs a little of what he has.
And she’s right. Taking a day off of work and focusing on herself is a great idea for Zoey, and even when she decides to take drugs, it doesn’t cause the kind of havoc you’d expect when the company is forced to deal with major problems while she’s away.
This could have easily turned into a sitcom-level comedy, with Zoey spending much of the episode trying to work while high. Instead, Danny Michael Davis finds her and joins her and Aiden on their trip.
There’s the temporary conflict of Danny Michael Davis nearly selling his shares and letting the company go under, but that’s more about his character than the kinds of comedy that could have been all too predictable.
Instead, her trip is just the beginning of a learning experience as Zoey tries to figure out who she is now, and that’s much more intriguing storytelling. It’s also a treat any time we get to see Zoey perform her own heart songs, and this episode offers up a great one that’s incredibly fun to watch.
Later, as she interacts with her friends and family, she realizes that not caring at all isn’t the right move. Finding some balance in between, though, could be a great thing for her. It’s the fact that she does care so much, though, that makes her who she is.
Meanwhile, the catastrophe happening back at SPRQ Point is one that’s personal for Simon, especially since the CEO asks him to be the one to speak to the press and smooth things over. It turns out that the Chirp is having problems recognizing the faces of people of color.
That makes sense, because so few people of color actually work at SPRQ Point, as Simon points out. So should he quit because of what he’s being asked to do? Or stay so he can have a seat at the table?
It’s not easy for him, and it’s that much more difficult that Zoey isn’t available to him to talk about it.
Instead, he calls on Mo and Tatiana for advice. It’s seamless, perfect storytelling because Zoey being out of the picture is what drives Simon to get advice from two women who would understand the issue personally.
Perhaps he’d have done that anyway, but he does try to talk with Zoey and she’s too high to realize he wants to talk with her about more than just an error with the Chirp. It also works well because that bond between Simon and Mo had already been created in Zoey’s absence earlier.
Simon doesn’t quit. But he also doesn’t smooth things over in the way Danny Michael Davis wanted.
Instead, we see him beginning to speak about the real, underlying problem that caused the error in the first place: the environment in which it was created. He’s taking a stand with unknown consequences, and it sounds like we’ll see what that fallout could be in the next episode.
Other thoughts:
- It’s so hard to watch the way Roger treats Maggie after being rejected by her. It’s worse to see Maggie and Jenna fight. I was really enjoying that relationship.
- The mural in the baby’s room turned out beautifully. What a sweet moment.
- I don’t understand the hesitation on Max and Mo’s business idea. It sounds pretty smart to me.
- Max’s heart song on this episode is another one that gave me chills. What a gorgeous rendition of “Numb,” and with so much meaning attached.
What did you think of this episode of Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on NBC.
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Ashley Bissette Sumerel
Ashley Bissette Sumerel is a television and film critic living in Wilmington, North Carolina. She is editor-in-chief of Tell-Tale TV as well as Eulalie Magazine. Ashley has also written for outlets such as Rolling Stone, Paste Magazine, and Insider. Ashley has been a member of the Critics Choice Association since 2017 and is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic. In addition to her work as an editor and critic, Ashley teaches Entertainment Journalism, Composition, and Literature at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.
8 comments
We love watching this show with our young daughter until they decided to throw drug use in there, because everyone knows every time people use drugs it’s just a great time! Why not show them using heroin? Oh yeah, heroin is one of the “bad” drugs. Really disappointed.
I agree with L Richie. I too have enjoyed Zoey up to this point. But the casual “oh well, why not” attitude portrayed by Zoey was a stomach-turning, shocking and thorough betrayal. Doesn’t matter if it was a dream sequence or alternate reality. NBC’s willingness to portray this character as so easily and casually abandoning her anti-drug morals is despicable and sends the worst message to its impressionable viewers. The advertisers sponsoring this show should be made aware of this apparent “drugs are no big deal” attitude of NBC.
Whether or not she learns a lesson the pill-popping of any drug is WRONG. We must not promote drugs. So wrong! Shame on writers and producers. Where were the health experts’ input when writing this episode?
I do not know why they feel they should contribute to the moral decay of society by glamorizing and making light of drug use. This show has been so good and we too have watched this with our high school daughter. That episode was shut off when we saw that and deleted form our playlist. A show that has done a great job with several other topics in a positive way had a disgraceful MISS! No remorse, no consequences just “everybody does it” attitude of acceptance. Well, everybody DOES NOT do it and NBC should recoil and apologize for promoting drug use!!
Completely agree.. The city has so many homeless people where drugs have ruined their lives and it was just no big deal.
Not watching any more.
Drugs are never ok
Ava was black and in a position of power.
Had to get her to leave just to make a story about race?
I have been having health issues for a while and only saw Season 2, Episode 5 last night. Wow!!! As the parent of two children who both struggled with drug abuse issues (FOR YEARS!!!), for Zoey to “so casually” agree to take an “extended release pill” of what, she doesn’t know nor does she know how she will react to it or the fact that it will be affecting her for the next 8 HOURS!!!. My son admitted after his last rehab stint that it only took a friend asking if he wanted a “hit” of his marijuana cigarette for my son to say “Sure!!!!” Which then started many years of drug abuse (including Coke, LSD, Meth and other drugs) and only stopped after his daughter was born 3 years ago. He’s now 36 years old and started with the drug use when he was 17, so you can see how many years of his life were spent dealing with this!!! Anyway, I thought this was a complete “cop-out” as it could have “very easily” been depicted as a “bad” trip. What about these people that DIE the very first time they try a drug. A more “realistic” take on this would have been all 3 of them passed out on the floor and maybe Aiden never wakes up!!! Anyway, I’ve NEVER, EVER been SO upset with a TV episode than I was with this episode. There could have been so many different ways this could have been handled to show the “hazards” of drug use without taking anything away from the rest of the show.
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