Like Elizabeth Warren, Ivy has a plan! Julia and an off-screen Frank commit various parenting no-nos. Tony Award winner Christian Borle finally gets a full blown musical number. Tina’s lifelong crush Terrence Mann guest stars! Eileen and Nick’s mature flirtation blossoms into a full blown make-out session. Our love for Wesley Taylor and Ann Harada continues. Derek and Dev are trash. We question whether the show failed to properly credit who played the drama teacher.

Scarf Count: 12

Understudy

Directed by Adam Bernstein

Written by Jerome Hairston

NBC.com Synopsis:

The show has landed star Rebecca Duvall, but Eileen is thrown into a panic.

Pop Culture References:

Angelina Jolie, 30 Rock, Baby Got Back, Beastie Boys, Black Panther Party, Woody Allen, Cate Blanchett, Emma Stone, Louis C.K., Roman Polanski, Jack Nicholson, Harvey Weinstein, Sean Penn, Michael Bloomberg, Westeros (Game of Thrones), Jessie Mueller, Beautiful: The Carol King Musical, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Waitress, Carousel, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Oklahoma, The Rock, Mad Men, The Washington Square News, Kermit the Frog, The Muppets Take Manhattan, Sardi’s, Daryl Zanuck, Jerry Orbach, Joel Grey, Terrence Mann, Cats, The Rocky Horror Show, Beauty and the Beast, Les Misérables, Sense 8, Charlotte d’Amboise, Every Little Step, Mick Jagger, Bernadette of Lourdes, One Republican, Wrestlemania, How I Met Your Mother, Gary, Titus Andronicus, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Christopher Durang

Anjelica Houston interview (TW: sexual assault, IPV) https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vulture.com/amp/2019/05/anjelica-huston-in-conversation.html

Under 5 of the Week: The Drama Teacher (Kristine Nielsen?)

Least Problematic Man of the Week: Leo (Emory Cohen)

What Would Tarana Burke Say?:

Melvin J. Lerner quote from Belief in a Just World: A Fundamental Delusion

https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Belief_in_a_Just_World.html?id=1t3VBQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button

“If we assume then…” Quote is on page 6

Trigger warning that Lerner, a white man, uses racist language in this study including the “er” version of the n-word.

Musical Numbers:

Breakaway written by Matthew Gerrard, Bridget Benenate and Avril Lavigne

Don’t Say Yes Until I Finish Talking written by Marc Shaiman & Scott Wittman

Never Give All the Heart written by Marc Shaiman & Scott Wittman

Smash was created by Theresa Rebeck

Tina is @nice_white_lady

Ruth is @yellow_fairy19

We are @talkinsmash

www.talkinsmash.com