Smash - Recap: Dim All the Lights

Recap and review of Smash - Season 2 Episode 14 - The Phenomenon:

Smash has never done grief. A drama doesn't always go to that well immediately, so it's not entirely surprising that the show didn't go there in the first season. They teased, in the season one finale, that Ivy (Megan Hilty) might commit suicide, but I don't think anyone really bought that tease. "The Phenomenon", then, represents the show's first foray into somber territory, as Kyle (Andy Mientus) succumbed to his injuries after being struck by a car at the end of last week's episode. I thought, for the most part, the series took a mature approach to the subject of grief. Yeah, we still had the rote business of Jimmy (Jeremy Jordan) blaming himself for Kyle's death, and yes, there's also the unfortunate parallels to Jonathan Larson's death prior to Rent's Broadway opening, a plot point of questionable taste, as it somewhat trivializes a very real event by turning it into plot fodder. It's as if the show knows this, as a flashback has Kyle declaring that they must kill off Karen's character in Hit List in order to teach Jimmy's character a lesson. And, in effect, that's the function Kyle's death serves in the narrative for Jimmy himself. I've always felt that a pre-planned character death (i.e., not the result of an actor deciding to leave the show) should serve a higher purpose in the story than simply an instructive one. So I should probably have hated how the decision to kill Kyle works out in "The Phenomenon", but I actually really came around on how the show portrayed the effect of Kyle's death, not only on Jimmy and the other people who knew Kyle, but also on the business end of things. Ultimately, I ended up on the positive side of the divide between believing Kyle's death was too much of a stunt, and believing that it could actually leave to a more substantive story than we've gotten.

Credit: NBC

The episode briefly depicts the calm before the storm, as Jimmy wakes from his hangover and sings Radiohead's "High and Dry", while finding his way over to Karen's (Katharine McPhee), only to discover that she spent the night with Derek (Jack Davenport). Nothing happened beyond a brief makeout session, but Jimmy is still hurt. I'd be lying if I didn't pretend that the Karen-Derek hookup was kind of worth the wait, given how long they've been teasing "CartWills". That said, the non-Kyle elements of the plot don't last very long, whether it's Julia (Debra Messing) and Scott (Jesse L. Martin) going over Hit List business, or Eileen (Anjelica Huston) and Agnes (Daphne Rubin-Vega) reviewing their Tony campaign. When Tom (Christian Borle) tries to get a hold of Kyle, his call is returned by the police, who break the news to him. A devastated Tom then waits outside the theater for Karen and Derek, at which point he relays the tragic developments. The entire cast of Hit List, and many of the people working on Bombshell, are made a complete wreck by the news. None more than Jimmy, who is the last to find out, hearing from Ana (Krysta Rodriguez) when he stops by the theater to pick up his things. Jimmy first laughs the news off, thinking it's a joke of some kind. But when it becomes apparent that his best friend really has passed away, he takes off without a word.

Credit: NBC

Much of the episode is a rumination on each person's grief, and in that sense, "The Phenomenon" plays as an episode-long tribute to Kyle, featuring flashbacks that illustrate what he meant to these people. We see Kyle working in the middle of the night at Tom's apartment, leading to some flirty banter that ends in Tom serenading Kyle with Billy Joel's "Vienna". Julia also remembers storyboarding sessions with Kyle that illustrate just how much talent he had, though we rarely had the chance to see it. Meanwhile, Karen remembers the night of Bombshell's opening, where he stuck up for Jimmy and talked about how much Karen means to his friend. And then there's Jimmy, who recalls the writing of Hit List's second act, including the inclusion of a new song, "The Love I Meant to Say". I can't help feeling Kyle's death, though impactful, might have been more weighty if we'd gotten this level of development from him earlier. However, these flashbacks still help give us a more vivid sense of his impact on the lives of the people in his life.

Credit: NBC

Kyle's death also causes a huge surge in ticket sales for Hit List, as Scott draws Julia's ire by lying about having canceled the show. His career is riding on Hit List's success, and while it's easy to understand why Julia might see Scott as a bad guy for capitalizing on the creator's death, I can understand why he decided to go forward with the show, though I'm not sure he necessarily had to lie about it. Ultimately, this is what the cast members needed, even if it might seem exploitative in the moment. Derek decides to hold a concert version of the show, with the cast simply sitting in chairs onstage for a read-through and performance of the show, sans sets and props. Karen finds Jimmy at his and Kyle's favorite meeting place, and tries to convince him to come do the show. Jimmy is busy beating himself up over Kyle's death, and though Karen tries to offer words of sympathy, he doesn't want to hear it from her, asking Karen why she thinks he'd ever need her help. Karen then confesses that the reason nothing happened with Derek the previous night is because she's in love with Jimmy. She wishes she weren't, but she is. Karen leaves to go join the cast, and though Jimmy doesn't get there until Karen is about to launch into "Broadway, Here I Come" (which itself is about death), he does get there. And it's in this moment that the show is at its most poignant, as Jimmy performs "The Love I Meant to Say" for his late friend. It's an undoubtedly cheesy song, but I'll be damned if it didn't have me choking back a tear or two at the line "Sorry, that's the word I want to sing to you/The other word is stay", as Jeremy Jordan's voice breaks and his eyes fill with tears. Damn you, Smash. You got me.

Credit: Will Hart/NBC

Though Eileen was unable to get all of Broadway to dim its lights in Kyle's honor, they give him a send-off of their own by dimming the lights to their own theater and having a toast in his memory. Much like Jonathan Larson, Kyle just barely missed out on Broadway, as Eileen's ex-husband, Jerry (Michael Cristofer), was in the audience for the Hit List showing, and has decided to finance its transition to Broadway himself. The Tony race is officially on, though there's other drama afoot, as Ivy puts Derek in the 'friend zone' once and for all. Derek has come to the realization that he has feelings for Ivy, and says that nothing happened with Karen because of how he feels about her. Ivy, however, just can't be more than a friend for him right now. She says that it's not about Karen, it's about Derek himself. Ivy tells him that he's the kind of guy who's always going to have a "Karen" in his life, and that it just wouldn't work out between them. Derek is dejected, but we don't really deal with the fallout due to the pressing matter of everyone's grief. The Karen/Jimmy dynamic also doesn't get a resolution this week, as Jimmy remains standoffish with Karen for reasons he won't explain. He simply congratulates her on getting to Broadway, and then leaves before the toast in Kyle's memory. Though it could be seen as Jimmy having difficulty processing Karen's declaration to him, it's just as easy to see this as a byproduct of grief, of a guy who's not entirely ready to say goodbye just yet. If nothing else, he's sworn off of drinking, so I suppose that's a start in his eventual turnaround.

Credit: NBC

"The Phenomenon" is a pretty solid episode all-around (and that's without even getting to our brief look at "At Your Feet", Leigh Conroy's latest Bombshell number with a young Norma Jean. Bernadette Peters remains a force of nature, even in small doses). Though Kyle's death will likely have echoes as the season nears its end, I hope Smash is able to overcome the dour (though necessary) sobriety of this episode and return to the business at hand next week.