Smash: Taking Charge

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

For being called, "The Coup," I thought that this episode could have done a much better job at fulfilling that title. At least there was plenty of ambition this time, though. Eileen and Jerry's daughter takes action in trying to make peace between her parents. Dev steps up and tries to solidify his career by taking down someone else. Eileen and Derek try to do something different with the Marilyn musical. Julia and Frank want to end their son's criminal record by any means necessary. Ellis decides to just stop working for Tom and switch to being Eileen's assistant, because he thinks that will get him more later down the road. All of these characters have ideas for how to improve things... yet so little actually changes, it's rather depressing. There was an odd uplifting moment, however - when Frank singing to Julia while playing Guitar Hero. The strange part about that? How many adults over thirty have video game systems in their bedrooms? 

Smash "The Coup" (S01E08): Jerry put an extra $3M in his daughter's trust fund, causing Katie comes to New York (from India, where she's out "changing the world") to act as a mediator for her parents. [how did she know Eileen's new address?] It doesn't go too well, so she just redecorates her mother's new place. She's not sticking around, though... the little do-gooder is off to Alaska to count wild salmon. [it's cute when rich people have kids who do non-profit stuff, but the last thing this show needs is another cliche.]

Dev learns that there's some inappropriate photos of his rival floating around. [and, in an attempt to act current, they throw in an "Anthony Weiner" remark. really??] He has a conscience at first, but after he loses an assignment to someone else, he decides to expose the evidence... but it doesn't work. [I didn't understand why he kept it a secret from Karen, though... she knows he's going to turn sleazy at some point, doesn't she?]

Julia talks to Michael to let him know that they're letting him go from the show, and he says that he would have quit anyway - he's been stupid; his family is everything. [nice of him to finally realize that. I guess we're to assume Julia didn't need to say the same?] Leo goes to court for allegedly walking on receded grass, as all of the other charges were dropped. Frank wants to pay a fine and move on, but the lawyer says they need to get it dropped so that Leo's record is expunged. In the courtroom, Julia flies off the handle when the judge makes a remark about "rich kids getting away with murder." We don't see what happens next, but they leave the building with the whole matter behind them. [...so what was the point of having Julia be upset?]

Craig Blankenhorn/NBC

Derek tells Karen that "they" are talking to a new songwriter about a new approach to the Marilyn show - and he wants Karen to sing the song that he and Eileen will pitch to Julia and Tom. Karen isn't comfortable with this "arrangement," but winds up doing it anyway. [I don't mind Karen having values here and there, but she's so fickle about when they should come into play...] Ellis starts piecing together the situation when he answers Derek's call to Eileen (he works for her now, by the way... not Tom), and he wastes no time letting Ivy know. [what was with that bowling scene? Both the dancing and the pins (with sticks?) were weird.] A couple of days later, Eileen, Katie, Julia, and Tom (with Ellis and Ivy secretly following) go to Brooklyn to see Derek and Karen's new number. While the song is very different from the others, Julia and Tom are more shocked that Eileen and Derek have been working on this rather than answering their calls. [yep!] Katie tells Eileen to stop acting like Jerry, so Eileen apologizes to everyone, only to upset Derek in the process. Ellis reveals himself and talks for Eileen, saying that she wants to schedule a meeting for the next day, when everyone has a chance to cool down. While this solidifies him as a golden boy to the producer, it seems odd to everyone else that he takes this action. [I can't even enjoy disliking Ellis... that's how much I hate him.] Meanwhile, Ivy approaches Karen and tells her that she stabbed Tom and Julia in the back by taking part in this re-write. [Derek didn't ask Ivy to help, so she's upset. blah blah blah. By this point, Karen should know to ignore Ivy.] And, Tom finally confronts Derek about what went down eleven years ago, which results in Derek saying that Tom's songs are too nice for the story of Marilyn Monroe. [meh. We never heard enough of them to get a feel for it, I don't think.] At the meeting the next day, Eileen says they're going to find more potential Marilyn actresses, so Tom breaks the news to Ivy, offering her the same ol' ensemble job again. [and yet, I bet something will happen to bring Ivy back to the forefront...]