Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist Review: Zoey’s Extraordinary Mystery (Season 2 Episode 9)
An episode that starts off feeling a little too silly winds up being searingly emotional and important.
On Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist Season 2 Episode 9, “Zoey’s Extraordinary Mystery,” Zoey’s powers begin to glitch, this time swapping heart songs among her friends and family.
The first of those songs winds up being the key. It’s Max singing “Anyone,” a heartfelt, deeply sad heart song that indicates he’s struggling on a real emotional level. Only that doesn’t fit with Max’s current state at all. He’s quite happy, and the song that’s really in his heart turns out to be extremely on the nose when it comes to his feelings for Roseanna.
But we’ll get to that in a moment. What Zoey believes is that her powers are glitching because of her visit with a medium. It makes sense, after all, that an encounter with a medium could be the direct cause.
The song swapping does provide some fun opportunities for characters to break away from what’s normal for a bit. Mo sings a country song, Zoey’s mom gets to embody a rival among the SPRQ point developers with a funny rendition of “Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better,” and Simon actually gets to roll around on the floor singing “What Does the Fox Say.”
Simon singing that song is a real treat, albeit a bit surreal. It’s easy to see that John Clarence Stewart is having fun with it, and let’s face it, without the song swapping, there’d just be no reason for Simon to offer such a performance.
Zoey realizes her task is to match the swapped songs in order to find out who’s heart song is that woeful ballad we heard from Max. Mo gets involved with an impressive “murder board” to organize their thoughts, and it’s generally all just fun to watch.
The fox song winds up being related to Perry and his son. The stuffed animal Perry has to leave Mo to urgently find for him is, indeed, a stuffed fox.
Zoey learns the reason why it’s so important, but it’s going to take Mo longer to come around, apparently. I do hope that’s soon, because while I’m interested in seeing this relationship play out and in Mo experiencing some character development in this way, I don’t love the idea of seeing this kind of conflict go on for too much longer.
Perry’s son, in turn, sings a love song that’s meant for Zoey from Simon. Incidentally, those two are doing well in their new relationship so far, though Zoey’s yet to tell him about her powers. And maybe she won’t. Maybe she shouldn’t?
Her friendship with Max has remained through all of this, and he even offers advice in that department. I have to say, I really enjoy that dynamic. They were friends first, and the fact that she’s able to maintain these complex relationships is not only positive, but it’s reflective of how real-life relationships like that can work sometimes.
By the end, and with a little help from the medium from early in the episode, Zoey realizes she’s responsible for her own glitching. She missed a cue from her sister-in-law and has been putting her off, all while Emily had been in desperate need of help.
When Zoey gets to Emily, she winds a woman who seems quite nearly dead inside. She’s overwhelmed, lonely, and deeply depressed as she tries to care for her new baby.
First, she sings Max’s original heart song (“Roseanna”) which provides a small bit of comedy before she sings her own song — “Anyone.” She sings it as she holds back tears, and her pain seeps from the screen. It is a heartbreaking, visceral performance that knocks the wind right out of you.
It’s moving, and forgive me for being a broken record, but it’s the kind of thing that just wouldn’t work on the same level without the musical element. It’s another perfect example of why this show’s concept works as well as it does.
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 Sundays at 9/8c 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.