Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist: Leap of Faith

Last time: Zoey found herself dragged in the middle of her boss Joan’s marriage. Charlie didn’t seem very interested in his wife and was very self-absorbed. And though it jeopardized their watch’s launch, Zoey finally gave Joan the confidence to give Charlie the old heave-ho.


After Maggie was disappointed over her husband’s first word once they figured out how to help him communicate with them, Zoey heard her sing a song that reveals she’s barely holding on. Zoey convinced her brother to spend some time helping their parents. He went to the store with her to get more lemonade and when they discovered a sorority had bought out the store’s entire supply, Maggie got into a fight with them. It led David to realize his mother wasn’t doing as well as thought and he agreed with Zoey to work out a schedule so she had more time to herself. Mitch signed onto the plan as well and Maggie agreed to accept their help.


Mo was hired to DJ at the launch party and finally got to meet both Max and Simon. He scoped out Zoey’s romantic interests and decided that he was Team Max, even if he was dating Autumn. By the end, he decided he was Team Simon, even if he was engaged.


USA Today has announced that Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist had the most votes to save it! While the numbers don't look good based on traditional viewing, it's clear Zoey has a strong digital presence. Hopefully we can get a second season of this amazing show! 

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it SPOILERS!


Mo fixes something for Zoey before she heads out to work. They chat about about her relationship with Simon as the two are helping each other build their memojis on their phones. Mo thinks it’s a bit too intimate for friends, especially when one is engaged. Zoey insists it’s all innocent.


When they get downstairs, Mo slides something under one of the apartment doors and Zoey asks if anyone lives there. Mo says the tenant is Bonnie but she suffers from agoraphobia so she doesn’t leave her apartment. He slides her mail under the door for her and reads some things to her, saying it’s practice for when he records his memoir. Zoey says she can’t imagine being so afraid to go outside and Mo agrees. He says he’s a Leo and can’t help but be fierce while Zoey says she’s a Capricorn but doesn’t know what that means for her.

She then hears music as a forlorn Mo returns to the lobby, singing “The Great Pretender.” Zoey listens as she realizes that Mo may not be as fierce or confident as he wants to be. When he finishes, she reveals that he sang to her and what he sang. Mo refuses to believe it and says that her powers must be broken.


Zoey goes into work and asks Simon to think about something that’s bothering him while she tries to guess what it is. They have a staring contest for a few seconds before he breaks down and admits that he and Jessica are having issues with the florist for their engagement party. Zoey says her mother does landscaping and might be able to recommend a few people. She offers to connect with Maggie for him and Simon thanks her.


As Maggie makes a smoothie for Mitch, she tells Zoey that she’d be willing to talk with Simon and Jessica. She asks her daughter to give them her phone number before hanging up so she can deal with David, who is squabbling with Emily about an envelope. Apparently it has the sex of their child inside and she wants to know while he wants to be surprised. Maggie is on Emily’s side – it makes planning easier to know if you know – while Mitch passes. David says that’s not a surprise because he loves to have big moments in life. In the end, he and Emily come to a deal – they will wait to learn the sex if he massages her feet every night. He agrees, hoping it will lead to some sexytimes. She says it will not.


With that settled, Maggie says she’ll go find something to do with the free time Zoey and David think she needs. She just doesn’t know what she wants to do just yet.


Back at SPRQ Point, Zoey goes through the Bread Bar when she spots Joan watching her with a weird look in her eye. Zoey asks if she’s doing well and Joan says she is. She confirms that she is ending her marriage to Charlie and says that she’s taken several steps to improve her life – she swan a half mile in the bay that morning, she cut out carbs and she’s flying in her herbalist from Asia. Everything is going well and she thanks Zoey for giving her the push she needed to finally make that change in her life.

As Joan heads back into her office, Zoey hears opera music playing. Max swans in with coffee, happily delivering cups to his coworkers as he belts the operatic piece. When he arrives at Zoey, she asks if he had sex. Max confirms that he and Autumn did make their first “love” the night before. Really, Max? It just sounds so awkward to put it like that. Especially when he gets going on about their plans for more “loves.” Zoey thankfully shuts it down though she notes that her “woman’s intuition” (aka musical powers) are working. So something is definitely up with Mo.

(He definitely got some)

David spends the day with his dad and it’s clear Mitch is not a fan of crossword puzzles as he types out that he’s bored. So David asks him if he has any fatherly advice for him and that they have all the time for Mitch to type it out. Mitch, though, advises him to watch David’s wedding video. David pops it in, commenting about a noodle incident involving Zoey and Emily’s veil.



They watch the video and we come to Mitch’s speech. As he tries to impart some wisdom to newlyweds David and Emily, present-day Mitch starts to cry. David turns off the video and apologizes to his father, who won’t stop crying.

(No, not crying Peter Gallagher!)

That evening, Zoey returns home and hears music coming from Bonnie’s apartment. She’s singing “Margaritaville” and Zoey knocks, ending the song. She introduces herself and tells Bonnie she can pick up on people’s vibes, sensing Bonnie may be in the mood for some tequila and limes. Bonnie doesn’t respond but Zoey then hears “The Great Pretender” again and sees a heavily covered up Mo leaving. She decides to follow him.


And enters a church. She sits down as a choir practices for a concert for sick children that Sunday. A soloist steps forward and she realizes it’s Mo – dressed male in very drab clothing. It surprises her just as much as her presence surprises him.

(Uh oh)

Outside the church, Zoey and Mo have a talk. She asks him why he’s so dressed down and he says she wouldn’t understand. He tells her that church is important to him and she invaded something that was private to him. Mo tells her that he doesn’t care what she thinks she heard him sing, he doesn’t want her help and wants her to leave him alone.


Zoey goes to visit her parents and is surprised to see Simon and Jessica there. Jessica thanks her for introducing them to Maggie, who is going to do the flowers for their engagement party. Zoey gets pretty weird with them and even Maggie notices.


After seeing Jessica and Simon out, Maggie asks Zoey if she shouldn’t have taken the job. Zoey insists that it’s fine, that she’s happy her mother found something to do. She then asks about faith, saying she got into fight with Mo and he rightly called out that she doesn’t understand things about faith. Maggie understands, saying she and Mitch decided not to raise David and Zoey as any particular religion and let them choose for themselves. She gives Zoey some books to help her understand different faiths as a start.


Zoey returns home and hears Bonnie singing “Kokomo” by the Beach Boys. I have to say, Bonnie’s songs spoke to me when I first watched this at the beginning of March because it was still winter and tropical getaways sounded really good. But she’s now just my entire quarantine mood.

Anyway, Zoey attempts to have another conversation with Bonnie before heading upstairs. She finds someone sliding something under Mo’s door and threatens them with pepper spray. But it’s Mo’s pastor. He’s concerned as no one has seen Mo since choir practice. Zoey reveals that he’s not really talking to her either. Pastor Steve asks her if she knows what’s going on and Zoey is a bit uncomfortable, knowing it’s not really her place. She tries to see how much Pastor Steve knows about Mo and he confirms that he knows Mo is gender fluid and that he is okay with it. He asks her to give Mo the letter he was trying to slip under the door and to tell Mo that a bunch of sick children are counting on him.


The next day, Zoey gets Mo to open up by using the sick children angle. Zoey admits she is out of her depth when it comes to faith but she’s been trying to learn, even quoting the Bible. She stirs her tea and Mo identifies the sound she’s making as F sharp before revealing he has perfect pitch. The choir master in one of his childhood churches realized it and encouraged him to sing and she was the only other person besides his mother who made him feel special. But the other members of the choir disapproved of his gender-fluidity and told him he was not right with God. So he and his mother switched churches but it kept happening. So he decided to always present as male in church but now he realized he was a hypocrite. How could he be living his truth if he had to hide it from a big part of his life? Because even though Pastor Steve was accepting of him, it wasn’t a guarantee that everyone else would.


And this a touching story. Like Zoey is in tears and I got a little choked up listening to it, especially the first time. My recap can’t do justice for Alex Newell’s delivery of this entire scene. From what I understand, this is his real life experience. The writers used it to create a great story for Mo and I think having that personal connection elevates his emotional performance.

(Me too, Zoey. Me too)

Mo is convinced it will take a miracle to get him to figure out what to do so until one shows up, he says it’s going to stay home on Sundays.


When she gets to the office, Zoey asks Max about why he studied his Jewish faith. He said it was because of the action he got with girls at bar mitzvahs. She decides he’s not going to be much help to her as music starts playing.


Joan emerges from her office clutching a photo of her and Charlie as she sings Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball.” Zoey watches as she pushes her way around the office and sings her heart out, wondering if Joan is really as happy as she seems. But when she asks, Joan insists that she is – though she allows that maybe it wasn’t the right time to give up carbs but she’s making do.

Zoey is not so sure.

(Give this woman some carbs)

Zoey finds Pastor Steve at a local bar, which is where he likes to write his sermon and beat the drunks at darts – all proceeds going to the church poor box. He challenges her and she gives $20, tossing some arrows poorly as she explains why Mo is hesitant to come back to church. Pastor Steve recognizes that it is something that Mo will have to work out for himself. Zoey asks for some advice, saying she’s found herself providing guidance to people lately but she doesn’t know if she’s doing more harm than good. He says that she’s looking for proof and says that she shouldn’t look for something big but rather small, like sign posts pointing her in the right direction. She tosses a dart and it hits the bullseye. She takes that a sign even though it falls off.


She returns to her apartment and tries to coax Bonnie out by offering to take her to the roof to look out with Zoey’s telescope, figuring it might be a good start to getting her some place tropical.

Bonnie, of course, doesn’t respond.


Over at David and Emily’s, he still feels bad about making his dad cry for hours. Even though the doctor says it can be caused by Mitch’s condition, David still feels like the worse son ever. Emily tries to comfort him and says that Mitch has to be thinking of all the things he’ll never experience. David realizes that his dad may not get to meet their child. Emily says she has an idea and that they should consider it, even if it does mean she would win.

(Emily triumphant?)

Zoey is surprised when her mother stops by. She says that Simon and Jessica sent her champagne to thank her for saving their engagement party and since Zoey made the recommendation, she wanted to share it with her daughter.


(I may have missed this – but who is watching Mitch?)


As they drink, Maggie reveals she knows that Simon is the coworker Zoey has a crush on. She then tells Zoey that she had an affair with her married Russian professor when she was younger. She said it was exciting at first but then she realized he could never be available to her in the way she wanted so she moved on. Zoey insists that she and Simon are just friends, that he’s the only one who understands what she’s going through with her father. Maggie doesn’t want to see Zoey get hurt the way she was hurt and it certainly gives Zoey something to think about.

(Cheers!)

So what was Emily’s idea? It was a gender reveal party! They have it in the backyard and even get a live band because Mitch loves bands. David says his dad is right about celebrating the big moments and so they are going to make one right now. He and Emily pop a balloon and blue confetti showers down around them – they are having a son! They hug before David realizes his father is crying again and he feels like the worst son ever. Maggie, though, assures David that those are happy tears. Zoey congratulates her brother before asking if she can take the pink cake since they now know it’s a boy. He agrees.


Zoey drops the cake off at Joan’s house and leaves her a note.

When Zoey returns home, she is surprised when Bonnie’s door opens. Bonnie steps out and is Naoko Mori! From Torchwood! Tosh is alive and well and living in San Francisco where she refuses to come out of her apartment while singing songs about going to tropical locations! And she has a pretty good singing voice!

(My reaction too)

Anyway, Bonnie admits that she does want to get over her agoraphobia and leave her apartment. She appreciates Zoey’s offer to use the telescope…but she’s also scared of heights. However, she asks if Zoey will walk with her to put her rent check in Mo’s mailbox. Zoey agrees and then asks if she’s up for a slightly longer walk.

Zoey knocks on Mo’s door but Mo doesn’t want anything to do with her. However, Zoey says a tenant wants to give him a check and presents Bonnie. Mo is flabbergasted that Bonnie is not only real but left her apartment. Bonnie says that she’s trying to leave her apartment more and thanks Mo for all his help before heading back to the security of her apartment.

Mo says that was the miracle he was looking for and says that if Bonnie can find the courage to leave her apartment, he can find the courage to be himself in church. He hurries back into his apartment, saying he only has twenty minutes to get ready.

We end in church where Pastor Steve welcomes everyone to their fundraiser. The camera then pans to the back where we see Mo in his sparkliest dress and best wig. He takes a deep breath before singing “This Little Light of Mine” as he walks up the center aisle. It seems for the most part that the people are accepting of him, especially his choirmates, and we end the episode with a joyous performance of the song.

(Sing it, Mo!)

This is another episode that shows how Zoey lures you in with fun and light stories before WHAM! hitting you with all the feels. Mo’s confession was absolutely heartrending but beautiful. And it shows how there is more to a person than what they choose to show the world. Zoey gets these special glimpses into that because of her ability to hear the heartsongs.

With the exception of the first episode, Zoey hasn’t heard the heartsong of someone who isn’t in one of her circles. She doesn’t even hear Bonnie until Mo introduces her. That does seem to be interesting but I like it. A lot of times, shows take a “person gets powers and has to save the whole world” approach. But this one seems to be starting with Zoey’s immediate connections, which is a nice change. Because often we can start small and then grow out.

Next time: Zoey has to help her brother and his wife.