ZOEY’S EXTRAORDINARY PLAYLIST Team on the Love Triangle Reveals, What Comes Next

[Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Sunday, March 29 episode of ZOEY’S EXTRAORDINARY PLAYLIST.]

With Zoey (Jane Levy) spiraling after getting bad health news about her father, she was horrified to find her powers glitching—she sang all of her feelings to the people in her life.

Of course, that meant virtually every secret she had was exposed, whether it was singing “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” to Joan (Lauren Graham) and Leif (Michael Thomas Grant) or Billy Joel’s “Pressure” during a big work presentation—or singing two different love songs to the men in her life.

“One thing is her needing to comprehend and understand why she sang those songs, what the songs mean,” creator Austin Winsberg says of the longer-term fallout. “The other thing is dealing with the emotional [ramifications] of what those songs [brought about]. Zoey is a character who is that emotionally expressive or that emotionally in tune. It’s why she needed this power, so that she could learn more about people and I think it helps her learn more about herself.”

“After seven episodes of playing Zoey’s neurotic-covering-anxious [behavior], it was really an amazing exercise,” Levy adds. “And then on top of that, I got to do slapstick Jim Carrey comedy, and dance and sing.”

As Zoey was going through her Very Bad Day, she leaned extensively on Max (Skylar Austin), who just learned the truth about the heartsongs in the previous hour.

“There was a little bit of doubt in his head in episode 7 of, ’Is this really happening? What does this really mean?” Winsberg says. “’What is she really going through?’ The whole glitching in this episode and really seeing that rather than just hearing about it, it reinforces that she’s telling the truth and certainly gets him on her side, saying, ‘Okay, this is actually happening.’ And this allowed us to go deeper into what he thinks that song means. His takeaway from hearing a song from Zoey is very different from Simon’s take on hearing a song from Zoey. So it was important to differentiate that.”

Indeed, as Max pointed out, Zoey’s song to him (“I’m Yours”) was a love song, whereas her song (“I Want You to Want Me”)to her admitted crush, Simon (John Clarence Stewart), was much more about physical attraction.

“We get different things out of different relationships in life,” Winsberg notes. “And I think that when you’re looking for a romantic partner, different people bring about different aspects of what you’re looking for. And I think that it’s very clear, especially from this episode, that there’s a very physical, sexual connection between Zoey and Simon. There’s also, maybe, a deeper, more heartfelt connection between her and Max. That doesn’t necessarily mean that one is better than the other; I think it’s just two different kinds of romantic love, physicality, affection.”

“I think that’s part of what she’s going to be dealing with going forward: Is Max my forever person? Am I ready for my forever person? Do the songs mean what I think they mean? If I want, Simon is my is my lust or sexual desire for Simon stronger, at this moment in time, stronger than my romantic love for Max?” Winsberg continues. “There’s always the guy that you should be with versus the guy that you want. I think all those things are stuff that we’re playing within the songs and also exploring going forward.”

Despite the admissions, Zoey has a lot on her plate beyond the men in her life. “In my opinion, Zoey’s like, ‘Guys, I’m dealing with my dad dying. This is the scariest, most traumatic, painful thing I could ever imagine happening to me. And it’s happening. And so, yes, I have a crush on [Max]. And yes, I want to have sex with [Simon], but leave me alone!’” Levy says with a laugh. “Why do I have to make any sort of decisions about where I stand? I didn’t mean to tell you my secrets. I told them to you. There. Can we move on? But of course we can’t; love is complicated. And the heart wants what the heart wants.”

“And also, when you’re going through something painful, you should be able to have affection and love and intimacy,” she continues. “And so moving forward, you will see that with both the characters and they connect for different reasons. And I actually really, I really like the way that Austin wrote each individual love story.”

And though Simon is currently engaged, with Max actively pursuing Zoey, that doesn’t mean the triangle will be over any time soon, Winsberg teases.”The challenge with any love triangle is figuring out ways to dimensionalize and complicate it,” he says. “Right now, she’s got two potentially worthy rivals for her attention, even though Simon is taken. And it’s about figuring out who is the right guy for her and why. And I don’t think that’s something that is going to be wrapped in a bow in the next episode or two.”

More immediately, Zoey will turn her attention to her father and family. “She will no longer avoid her father in the way that she did in episode 8,” Levy says. “She does start hanging out there a little bit more often, but you will see some other stages of grief in the coming episodes. You might see some anger. And this was sort of denial in this episode. There’s a lot more with her family life.”

And as for that heartbreaking take on “How Do I Live”? “It was an interesting exercise,” Levy admits. “To sing and cry at the same time…you’re not often asked to do that as an actor.”

In the next episode, “she does something because her father wants her to,” Winsberg teases. “And then going forward in the next few episodes after that, it’s all about how do I make the most of the time that we have left, while also dealing with things that come along the way and different emotions that catch her by surprise when she realizes that her time with her dad is limited.”

As for the malfunctioning powers, the experience “sends her into a bit of a depression in the next episode…she feels like she’s broken,” Winsberg says. “This sort of leans more on the power being a curse than a blessing, which is I think something that plays out next couple episodes.”

And though they can’t do an episode like this every week—though, Winsberg joked Levy created a “challenge” for him so he can find new ways to justify Zoey singing going forward—the scribe praised the work the team was able to do for the hour.

“Jane is not a professional singer-dancer, never had formal training, [and] had like three days to learn all of this,” he marvels. ”I just think that Jane does everything in this episode: the musical stuff, the comedy stuff, the physical comedy, the drama. She needs some special attention for this episode, because she put herself out there in such a major way. And I thought it’s such an amazing job in the episode.

“And then Mandy Moore, our choreographer, too,” he continues. “Two or three of my favorite numbers for the entire season are in this episode…Jon Turteltaub, who directed it, did an amazing job. He’s also a friend, and he really brought this tone and vibe—because it also really stands alone as its own thing. He brought everything I wanted.”

ZOEY’S EXTRAORDINARY PLAYLIST, Sundays, 9/8c, NBC

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