Last week they said Rebecca Duvall had a background with musicals but had been suckered in by the movie train.  This week they said she has no stage experience.  Next week is anyone's guess.

And Dev looked hot tonight.  Almost cared about his plot.

Seemed to me a way to refer to both Les Mis, and Fiddler on the Roof.  So, for me it evoked homely charm.

I enjoyed the songs.  But I got really confused in Ivy's number.  I liked the song and her singing but…this is two cross-edited fantasies?  Can you do that?

It was so nice to see Frank do something tonight.  I could have found his behaviour rash and unreasonable, but Brian D'arcy James sold it so well.  And I can't stand Julia, so I'm happy to see her suffer.  I could be wrong, but I felt like tonight included longer shots in several scenes.  Good actors shine best when…

When it cut to the young kid clapping along I literally groaned and exclaimed "another bar mitzvah moment!" - I had to pause the scene and regain my composure before I could allow it to go on.

And is it Michael's?  *yawn*  Just when we thought we were rid of him.

Well of course this week's episode would feel different - with no workshop to provide a focal point.  I liked seeing the characters in their separate lives.  Just a shame some of the plots were so boring.  Julia's son in court?  Kudos for follow-through, but could it have been more ridiculous?  I just can't enjoy…

Exactly.

I liked this episode too!  I found it more interesting to have the characters in their separate worlds, and no rehearsals to watch.  But I do feel very confused by which characters we are supposed to like.  I like Tom and Ivy when they're together.  I dislike Tom with Julia.  I dislike Ivy with Derek.  I like Karen…

Thank you for raising the topic of Julia's sunglass fetish.  What's with it?  I'd like to think that Debra Messing was having trouble not rolling her eyes during some of the stupider scenes, so decided to cover them up.  But actually, I'm thinking that it's Debra Messing's attempt to give Julia a personality.  But…

I've been thinking that about Ivy's voice too.  It's not a great fit for Miss Monroe.  But then, Monroe would probably not have had the technique to sustain eight shows a week.  So, it's a bind.  I think I can live with concessions that give us greater talent and better voices.

Genius.  IT'S SO OBVIOUS, now you mention it.

You are clever.  Thank you for existing.

Well it is called SMASH.  I guess it's short for Train Smash.

I liked that he cried.  I didn't like that he played with his cell phone the whole scene.  Can we quit the cliches for just one minute?????

I'll tell you what happens with Karen:  Bobby Raskin makes her a star.  It occurs to Eileen and Derek that a star would be good for their show.  She replaces Ivy.  I think this could be interesting, but…

Exactly!!  If the live songs sounded like live songs it would be so much more realistic and interesting and there might be some truth to connect to.  The overproduction acts as blandification.

I wanted to shake along with them.  But it was a bit too embarrassing.

Your summation of this series is bang-on.  So much to hate, yet there are things to love.  For tonight, everything about Ivy's "Who You Are" made me cringe.  Thank you for drawing attention to the unmotivated jump cuts.  Yuck.  And in the hot'n'heavy scene I too was thinking about the actor positioning his arms…