Television: Smash, "Musical Chairs"

So Derek has ankled Bombshell and is now helming Hit List. Having a bit of trouble adjusting to the much smaller scale though. You know, getting his own coffee and all.

Meanwhile, Tom is so enjoying directing Bombshell. But no one else is enjoying him directing it. Jerry again asks what the viewer is wondering: "What the hell am I watching?"

(Is this car ad part of the show?)

In a weird sort of pseudo-breakup and reconciliation, Tom courts Karen in director-to-star fashion. But let's face it: like all relationships, directors and stars have natural matches. Tom's is Ivy and Karen's is Derek. DerekVision (TM) doesn't work without Karen to spark it; she is his muse. And Tom and Ivy understand one another instinctively, while for him and Karen communication is an effort. Goes to show that the best theater shows (or movies, or TV shows) hinge on having the right chemistry between people.

Jerry is working to get Derek back as director of Bombshell while Eileen, Julia, and Meryl Streep's daughter work to get rid of Jerry.

Still, with so many pieces moving over the board, the end result continues to feel foreordained. There's really only one correct answer to this puzzle.

Liaisons is so boring, Terry and Ivy decide to spike it. This clearly gives Terry the wherewithal to go wherever he needed to go to motivate himself into putting on a decent show. Though he falls and injures himself after.

Seeing Tom and Ivy chatting after the show brings Karen the realization that everyone watching this show has known for two or three episodes at least: Ivy should be Tom's Marilyn and she [Karen] should move on to Hit List.

In short: Tom & Ivy = Broadway, Derek & Karen = more rock 'n' roll.

And Eileen & Co. confront Jerry with all his perfidies and twist him into submission.

One supposes the writers and showrunner knew odds were even that Smash would end this season. So here is a tidy package; the show might end with this very episode and be done.

But it's not quite done. There's a rumor NBC may move it to Saturdays—the place shows go to die. I'll be watching until the end, and I'll miss it when it's gone. In a viewing schedule heavy with drama, I find Smash to be my lift. It's also a drama, and I do watch comedies like Modern Family, but Smash fills a spot that no other show does. It is a strange and rare animal. Uneven, to be sure, but there's nothing else quite like it on television. And once it's extinct, it seems unlikely there will be more of this breed any time soon.