Smash - Series Finale Recap: The Final Curtain
Credit: Will Hart/NBC
Recap and review of Smash - Series Finale - The Nominations/The Tonys:
I've never been subtle about my love for Smash, warts and all. Yet, out of the thirty-four episodes that have aired, I can only count between maybe 5-10 installments that functioned the way the series was probably meant to function when it was originally pitched: as a love letter to live theater. "The Nominations" and "The Tonys", which, together, make up the two-hour series finale, are two such episodes. It's not exactly the series at its most riveting, but it's the series at its most genuine, in the sense that the show finally feels like it's delivering on the initial promise it showed back in January of 2012. As a fan, I think I was every bit as bummed out about seeing the show we could have gotten but didn't get as I was about losing the show we had. There's a vibrancy to live theater that's invariably difficult to communicate anywhere else but in a theater setting, so Smash was always at a disadvantage, yet I felt season two did a much better job than season one in illustrating what can be compelling about the stage: whether it's the behind-the-scenes processes (the writing, the blocking, the choreography, and the "Eureka!" moments that bring the thesis of a show into clear relief) or the developments that happen under the spotlight (the fun of a big, bawdy musical number; the acting choices and the artistic changes made in the spur of the moment, galvanized by a sudden bolt of creative lightning), I just felt like this series felt more like a show that was about the theater, every bit as much as it was about the people within that unique context. While the season (and this finale, and the series as a whole, really) had plenty of problems, there weren't many other shows on TV that handled showbusiness like this. So while I do wish we'd have gotten a show more deeply entrenched in the organism of theater, I'm happy with the show we got, and will miss it all the same. "The Nominations" / "The Tonys" was, in many ways, the best possible end for the series, bringing the various character journeys to a close while still keeping the promise of the future alive within that world.
Credit: NBC
As the resident "awards season guy" on the site, I'm big on the entire process of awards campaigning and what goes into scoring nominations and securing wins, so to say "The Nominations" was right up my alley would be an understatement. To see all of this awards season stuff dramatized was a weirdly visceral thrill, even if it resulted in some weirdly atonal moments. Tom (Christian Borle) spends much of that episode in a subplot that resembles a slapstick comedy, as he tries to woo handsome Tony Awards voting committee member, Patrick Dillon. Meanwhile, Julia (Debra Messing) navigates the minefield of awards campaigning, as she tries to remain relatively gracious while accepting her Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Book of a Musical, honoring Kyle's memory while not trying to seem as if she's taking credit for his work. Jimmy (Jeremy Jordan), doesn't appreciate the press assuming that Julia wrote most of Hit List, and this is all tied together with the continuation of Ana's (Krysta Rodriguez) campaign against Derek (Jack Davenport) for giving her part to Daisy (Mara Davi). Got all that? This is without even mentioning Ivy's (Megan Hilty) continued struggle to tell Derek about her pregnancy, or Karen's (Katharine McPhee) singular determination to give Daisy the cold shoulder, in a show of solidarity with her friend, Ana.
Credit: NBC
Ultimately, the episode is a complete mess, yet it's to the episode's advantage that so much of it is a frenetically-paced mish-mash of plotlines, as it keeps the narrative moving and really illustrates how awards season can often reduce people to a frazzled, incoherent jumble of nerves. There were elements that annoyed me, such as all the obstacles getting in the way of Ivy just telling Derek about her pregnancy, or Julia catching hell from Frank (Brian d'Arcy James) for hiring Eileen's (Anjelica Huston) lawyer for their divorce proceedings, but the things I liked far outweighed the things I didn't. Christian Borle is great at physical comedy and slapstick humor, so that made the entire quirky business with Patrick Dillon entertaining, while also contributing to Tom's overall quest for the Tony, as he gains Patrick's seal of approval after the voter actually sees Bombshell. There's also a wonderful moment where Tom and Derek are co-winners of the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Director of a Musical, and Tom mentions that he wouldn't be here without Derek, essentially giving him credit for his ascendancy as a director. And on the subject of Derek, his journey is one of the best elements of the episode. Ivy overhears Ana telling Derek that she's taking a role with a touring production, and thus won't be pursuing the lawsuit against him, though she states that she regrets it because exposing him to the world is the only way he'll ever stop doing the terrible things he does. As if seeing the kind of person Derek really is, Ivy decides not to tell Derek about her pregnancy and, instead, decides to cut ties with him altogether, telling him that he's never done the right thing in his life. Not once. So, of course, when Derek is interviewed by the press following his Outer Critics Circle Award win, he decides to come clean and admit that he promised Daisy the part of The Diva if she'd sleep with him. He essentially tanks his own career as a last grasp at redemption. Jack Davenport has been the stealth MVP of the series, continually remaining the most compellingly ambiguous character of the series, and his performance in "The Nominations" is some of his best of the entire run.
Naturally, "The Nominations" concludes with the actual Tony nominations, and I just loved the different scenes of each of the characters watching the announcements, whether on TV or over the internet. Both Ivy and her mother, Leigh Conroy (Bernadette Peters), are nominated for Featured Actress in a Musical (Leigh for Bombshell and Ivy for Liaisons) against Daisy Parker for Hit List, while Jimmy is pitted against Tom/Julia in the Best Score category, in addition to Julia squaring off against Kyle in the Best Book of a Musical competition. Tom also squares off against Derek (who scores double-nominations for Best Choreography) in the Best Director race. In addition, Bombshell faces off against Hit List in Best Musical, but then, that's not really what the show has been building to since season one. Ivy vs. Karen has always been the central rivalry, and it's brought back to the fore here. I had to admit I was infuriated when they teased that Ivy was completely snubbed from the category. But nope, they just accidentally skipped over her name. And so it's Karen vs. Ivy for Best Actress in a Musical. And with that template, we dive head-long into the final hour of Smash.
Credit: NBC
Given that it takes place at an awards show, "The Tonys" naturally has an aura of wrapping things up, since awards shows tend to serve as retrospectives of the year that's passed. So the feeling that things were coming to an end would have been there regardless of whether or not this was the end of the series, since the Tony Awards functions as the final, neat little ribbon on these characters' journeys. Though, once again, there was stuff I didn't exactly love (such as Julia making peace with Frank, and Eileen getting back together with Nick -- perfectly fine moments, sure, but nothing that really forwarded stories about which we were inclined to care), I found the entire thing to be quite resonant, from an emotional standpoint. Watching Jimmy go to pieces when Kyle's name was announced as the winner for Best Book was beautiful, as was Jimmy's tearful speech thanking the theater community for giving Kyle something to love for the brief time he was here. Also great: Tom and Julia getting so deep into their conversation about the inevitably of their loss that they don't notice their names being called as winners of Best Score. And while Daisy winning for Featured Actress in a Musical left a sour taste, we at least have Derek, who wins Best Choreography (although he accepts his award to virtually no applause). He thanks the Academy for judging the work and not the man, and this kicks off the continuation of the redemptive arc for Derek that plays out over these two episodes. He spends much of the first ten minutes of the episode drunk in his apartment, having to be convinced to attend the Tonys by Ivy, who confesses her love for him. He reciprocates in his acceptance speech, and then takes away Daisy's solo number and instead allows the Hit List cast (with Ana) to perform an acapella, body percussion rendition of "Broadway Here I Come" that ranks among my favorite numbers of the season. At last, Derek has proven to Ivy that he's changed -- or, at least, that he's willing to make the effort to overcome his past. It's not a total redemption, but he's well on his way.
Credit: NBC
Then we get the big moment: Best Actress in a Musical. I was worried they'd have Karen win, when we've seen nothing to suggest that she actually does any considerable acting in Hit List beyond getting killed, but nope. Ivy wins and not only thanks her mother for giving her a life in theater, she also thanks the audience for contributing to the magic of live theater. It's probably the most authentic moment in the entire two-hour finale, as it felt like Megan Hilty expressing her own love for the stage, a quality with which she's always imbued her portrayal of Ivy Lynn. Just a wonderful moment, all around. It's then capped off by Bombshell winning Best Musical, and I suddenly found myself feeling kind of bad for Karen, in that she's pretty much the only principle character without a Tony (when that's basically the last thing I'd have predicted to happen when this series started; also, I guess Jimmy's Tony is really Kyle's, and Ana wasn't even nominated, so I figured they could all go be sad together, if they wanted). However, Karen gets an encouraging speech from Eileen about having time on her side, and it's a lovely little moment between two characters that haven't really interacted directly all that much over the course of the series. Strangely, we never learn who won Best Director, after spending so much time in "The Nominations" with Tom fretting over his chances, and the possibility that a snub will prevent him from ever directing again. Either way, his career prospects are on the upswing, as Patrick Dillon approaches Tom and Julia about adapting an existing story into a movie musical. Tom also makes his move on Patrick, in what's a pretty decent end for Tom, given that his lovers seem to either end up dead or hating him.
Credit: NBC
At the afterparty, Jimmy confesses not only his love to Karen, but also his checkered past. Turns out he left a girl to die after she overdosed at one of his drug-fueled gatherings five years ago. And so, fearing that the girl had died, Jimmy fled and changed his name. Jimmy spends much of "The Tonys" shrouded in mystery, as he sells the apartment he shared with Kyle, and gives an acceptance speech to Julia to accept on Kyle's behalf if he should win the Tony, since Jimmy isn't planning on being around. Julia refuses to accept the speech, telling Jimmy that he must confront his past and overcome it. Little do we know, at the time, that this is exactly what he's doing. Jimmy has been settling up because he's about to begin a 6-18 month prison sentence after having turned himself into the police. However, when confessing this to Karen, he reveals that the girl didn't die after all. She's fine. This is why he's only going to jail for a matter of months, since the only charge against him is for possession and distribution of a controlled substance. He can finally be free of his past now, and can finally be the person Karen believes he can be. And while Karen is obviously distressed to be hearing all this, she's also strangely enchanted by Jimmy's earnest nature. And so Jimmy turns himself over to begin his sentence, giving Karen one last kiss.
Credit: NBC
The final number, with Karen and Ivy performing a song titled "Big Finish" on a stage with the word "SMASH" spelled out in the signature red letters, is more of a celebration of the series than a funeral for it. Of course, I immediately thought to the closing number of the film version of Chicago, but I suppose that's neither here nor there. It's a fun little number, providing the series with one last musical segment to round out its storylines: Ivy tells Derek about the baby, and he accepts his responsibility and (presumably) commits to a real relationship with Ivy, having reformed his ways; Karen and Ana stand in their empty apartment, wistfully looking at Kyle's Tony; Tom is similarly enchanted with his Tony, watching the medallion that spins in the center, and grinning like any happy, Tony-winning goof would; and Julia gets back together with Michael Swift (Will Chase), because sure? I liked that the series decided to go the celebratory route as opposed to painting a mournful, bittersweet picture with the final number. It was a perfectly fitting close.
Smash is an unfortunate case in that it was, in some ways, doomed from the start. From the overwhelming hype to the unsteady foundation. The show, under creator Theresa Rebeck, wasn't exactly a paragon of stability, and Joshua Safran inherited a mess that he wasn't really fit to salvage, given what Rebeck had done to it. With that said, Smash routinely remained a favorite of mine, so I'm sad to see it go. Yet not all shows get a clean break, so I'm glad that the series was given the opportunity to provide a satisfying end. If nothing else, I'd love to see some of the music survive the show ("Never Give All the Heart," in particular, is just one of those timelessly lovely tunes), but even if this is the absolute last anyone ever hears of Smash, I doubt it'll be the last we hear of its stars -- many of whom deserve long careers beyond this show. Maybe Smash may not have been the perfect launching platform for them, but I'm glad to have been introduced to Megan Hilty, Jeremy Jordan, Andy Mientus, Christian Borle, Krysta Rodriguez and Leslie Odom, Jr. (among others). If the show gives any of these people the platform for greater success, than I'd say the show will have at least some semblance of a legacy, even if it isn't entirely remembered eternally like the Marilyn Monroes of the world.
