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In January of 2020, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist made its debut on NBC. The show follows Zoey Clarke, a young coder who, while undergoing a brain scan during an earthquake, develops the ability to hear people’s innermost thoughts and feelings through popular songs. Though initially alarmed by her new power, Zoey eventually decides that she has it for a reason and that it is her duty to help the people whose “heart songs” she hears. At the core of the first season is Zoey’s father, Mitch, who is slowly dying from progressive supranuclear palsy. Other plot points, including a love triangle and work struggles, feature prominently, all with a glossy musical overlay.
While the show focuses mainly on Zoey’s family and close friends, it features a broad cast of side characters, many of whom get their own moments in the spotlight. What I consider to be the most extraordinary thing about Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist is that almost every character is given the opportunity to make their voice heard, even and especially those who seem unsympathetic at first. The “heart songs” Zoey and the audience hear give us greater empathy for and perspective into the lives and thoughts of the characters in a way that isn’t feasible for most television shows. The kindness with which Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist treats its characters is desperately needed in today’s stressful and acrimonious world, and we could all benefit from the lessons the show teaches about empathy.
Characters’ Inner Lives
First, readers should have an idea of the world and people around Zoey. Zoey lives in an apartment next to her neighbor and landlord, Mo, a free-spirited DJ at a club who loves music and fashion. Zoey frequently goes home to visit her mother, Maggie, and help care for the ailing Mitch, who can no longer move or speak. Zoey’s brother David and his pregnant wife Emily are also prominent characters. Zoey is the only female coder working at SPRQPoint, a cutting-edge tech company. After being promoted to an under-level management position, she faces challenges leading the other coders and dealing with her sometimes difficult, sometimes warm boss, Joan.
A Learning Curve
At the beginning of the series, Zoey is fairly isolated from those outside her immediate family and her best friend at work, Max. Mo is simply her neighbor and landlord, not her friend at this point, and Joan is just her fearsome, unpredictable boss. While still adjusting to her powers, she hears her new coworker, Simon, whom she has been hoping to meet and get closer to for some time, singing a sad song while working at the office. After confiding in Mo, who helps her to realize that Simon needs someone to reach out to him, Zoey nervously does so. The two bond over their sorrows about their fathers, as Simon’s dad recently died.
Zoey learns some unsettling things from her powers as well, including that her coworkers’ competitiveness may run much deeper than it initially appears. But she comes to fully accept them when her father sings to her. Zoey and her family had previously thought that Mitch was no longer able to understand them or process information, but Zoey’s glimpse into his inner thoughts shows her that this is untrue. She realizes her powers will allow her not only to help others but to see her father move, dance, and speak again. Once the stage is thus set, Zoey’s Extraordinary Kindness begins to truly prove why its take on the world is special.
Mo’s Triumph
Episode four, “Zoey’s Extraordinary Neighbor,” focuses primarily on Mo and provides a fantastic example of the way Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist approaches storytelling and character. Mo is generally an exuberant and carefree person, whom Zoey sometimes envies for his creativity and outlook on life. But when Zoey hears Mo sing about being a “Great Pretender,” she realizes that she hasn’t paid enough attention to what Mo may be struggling with. After following Mo to church and finding out that at church, he presents more typically masculine than he likes to, Zoey tries to help him. After talking with the priest, who wants Mo to feel comfortable being his authentic self, and learning more about Mo’s past experiences, she is unsure how best to help Mo, who is planning to back out of singing at a church fundraiser because he feels like a fraud.
Throughout the same episode, Mo and Zoey have been trying to help a downstairs neighbor, Bonnie, who suffers from agoraphobia and hasn’t been paying her rent bills, and who Zoey knows is struggling from hearing her sing about longing to be in the Caribbean. Zoey’s persistent but gentle words of kindness help Bonnie to step out of her apartment and give her rent check to Mo. Mo sees this as a miracle and an act of great bravery on Bonnie’s part and decides to attend the fundraiser dressed the way he wants to. He arrives in his favorite dress and wig and sings triumphantly and joyfully.
I find the portrayal of Mo’s journey in this episode truly remarkable in its compassion and understanding of all. Mo’s pain is conveyed acutely through both his songs and his dialogue. No individual is vilified, not even Zoey, when Mo is mad at her for following him to church and intervening in his problems because it is always abundantly clear that she is trying to help but doesn’t always know how. The priest, choir, and congregation at Mo’s church turn out to be supportive and happy to see Mo be himself in spite of Mo’s fears. This episode illustrates a common theme in Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist: the idea that nobody is simply a villain.
No True Villains
Even unpleasant characters get their moments to shine, moments that frequently shed light on their own behavior without necessarily excusing it. Every character has a story to tell, and Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist gives them the opportunity to tell their stories.
The Heart Of SPRQPoint
On this note, many of Zoey’s challenges come from the office. She is the only female coder on a floor that is something of a boys’ club, and the only other woman on the floor is her boss, Joan, who is at first another source of stress rather than support. Joan gives Zoey a promotion to engineering manager of her floor, requiring her to be responsible for the other coders and work much more closely with Joan herself. Rather than simply play this for laughs (though it does this as well) or use it as a device to continuously pit Zoey against the others, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist uses her position as an opportunity to explore the less sympathetic characters, which allows both Zoey and the audience to grow in empathy for them. In turn, Zoey’s increased awareness of and consideration for her coworkers’ emotions and situations contributes to their own personal growth.
Joan
Joan is Zoey’s boss, a powerful and wealthy tech mogul whose high demands and snarky demeanor terrify her employees. However, once Zoey gets promoted, she grows closer to Joan and at one point hears her singing “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction,” prompting her to worry about her boss’s well-being. Zoey is initially uncomfortable talking to Joan about her personal problems and tries to ignore the situation, but when she winds up hearing the same song played by bands and even car horns everywhere she goes, she makes an effort. As Mo tells her, “Just because you don’t want to help someone doesn’t mean the universe is going to say ‘thank you, next.'” They end up forming a close bond throughout the season, and Zoey’s coworkers notice a change for the better in Joan, though she still retains her occasionally unnerving personality.
Joan’s development from a prickly boss to a supportive friend highlights what I consider to be one of the main strengths of Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist: its ability to show multiple sides of people and its willingness to devote time to the struggles of side characters who could easily have been reduced to stereotypes. Joan is portrayed honestly and realistically as a human being with flaws and a story to tell, and many other characters are given the same compassionate treatment.
Leif And Tobin
Zoey’s fellow coders, Leif and Tobin, are best friends and tend to cause issues for her. Leif is ambitious and sly, while Tobin often makes sexist “jokes” in front of Zoey. Zoey and Leif sometimes have power struggles, particularly when Leif starts cozying up to Joan. But Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist makes it clear that Leif’s power plays have an impact on Tobin as well. As Leif neglects his friendship with Tobin while climbing to the top at SPRQPoint, Tobin lashes out more than usual at Zoey. But she and the audience also get to hear him sing a distressed song about how he feels he is losing his best friend. While Zoey initially tries to use her knowledge about Tobin to prove the existence of her powers to her friend Max, she starts to truly feel for him and buys him a present to help him rekindle his friendship with Leif.
Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist then gives viewers a sweet scene between Tobin and Leif where they reminisce about when they first met and make up, with plans to advance in SPRQPoint together. The way the show allows two side characters who are generally annoyances to the main character to have a heartfelt moment is unique and powerful.
Another moment in an earlier episode also speaks to this powerful aspect of Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist. When Leif is hurt by harsh, albeit deserved anonymous criticism of his “self-righteous” behavior and “drive to win” in the workplace, Zoey finds him singing “Everybody Hurts.” While the scene is slightly comical, it also makes Zoey and the audience feel for Leif, despite knowing that the criticism that hurt his feelings was accurate. It leads to a moment in which Zoey and Leif discuss the pressure he and his family put on him.
Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist treats these side characters, despite their frequently off-putting behavior, with respect, dignity, and kindness. The moments where they express their feelings, either through song or in dialogue, are genuinely touching. In its portrayal of these characters, the show clearly demonstrates that no one is all good or all bad. No one is a perfect hero or a purely sadistic villain, and everyone has a background and a life outside of what they may present to the public. Like Joan, Leif and Tobin continue to be who they are: competitive and serpentine in Leif’s case, a casually sexist slacker in Tobin’s. But Zoey and the audience have a greater appreciation for them, thanks to the show’s effort to leave space for their stories.
Family Matters
The most poignant uses of Zoey’s powers occur when her father sings to her. Though Mitch is usually unable to move or speak except through a computer, when Zoey sees inside his heart, he dances around the room with spirit and vitality. In this way, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist allows Zoey to communicate with her father in the few months she has left with him. When he sings to her, it is almost always in a comforting, fatherly way. Since the Clarke family is caring for Mitch in his illness, it is very special to see him get the chance to care for his daughter the way he presumably did before he got sick. Zoey also sees him sing to her mother, giving the audience a look into other aspects of his life beyond fatherhood and showing that a strong, loving bond still exists between the married couple.
These moments are always touching, and it is important that Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist depicts the inner world of a person with a severe illness. Mitch’s thoughts and emotions are not limited by his physical ailments; he still loves and cares for his family and enjoys spending time with them and being a source of support for Zoey. In its portrayal of Mitch, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist handles a difficult subject maturely and compassionately, giving all family members, including Zoey’s mother and brother, the time to sing their grief, anger, and struggles out loud.
American Pie
The season finale of Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist involves a deeply sad family event, followed by most of the characters coming together to support the Clarke family. At this gathering, Zoey hears them sing a rendition of “American Pie,” with different characters singing different parts of the song. It’s not uncommon for shows to have a group of characters who started as strangers or adversaries to unite as friends ultimately, but I find it especially noteworthy that Zoey doesn’t force its characters to change in order to do this. Aside from potentially having softer edges, in Joan’s case, or growing in maturity, in Zoey’s case, the characters retain the flaws and conflicts they have always had.
Zoey’s ability to understand and therefore empathize with what her friends, coworkers, and family may be going through is what enables them to become closer, not any dramatic character growth on their part. Moreover, Zoey’s choice to reach out and bond with these characters during their struggles also leads to them lending their support to her in her time of need. In other words, Zoey’s kindness and empathy for others make her own life richer and fuller as well. In this way, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist embodies true kindness. It recognizes that people are flawed and do not make significant changes overnight. Everyone is still deserving of respect, and that everyone is coming from a different place.
Why Zoey Is Truly Extraordinary
These are far from the only examples of Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist taking a look into the minds and hearts of characters who might generally be overlooked or one-note. We see a wide variety of characters, including Mitch’s caretaker and his daughter, Zoey’s sister-in-law, and her crush’s fiancée. By giving each character the opportunity to express their feelings and tell their story, the show makes an important statement about empathy and compassion. Zoey doesn’t have to agree with other characters’ behavior in order to understand where it comes from, and simply being aware of what they are going through is a huge first step in making a difference in their lives and in the lives of others.
Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist also illustrates that kindness is not always easy or straightforward and that it can involve putting yourself out there when you’d really rather not. Zoey feels great awkwardness and reluctance when dealing with characters such as Joan. These feelings speak to the challenges and vulnerability inherent in acts of kindness.
The songs Zoey hears function as a way into characters’ minds, a way that can be comical or tragic, shocking or unnerving. And while the songs provide much of the show’s entertainment value, they also allow the audience to grasp a character’s motivations and feelings in a much more intimate and honest way than any dialogue truly allows for. Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist’s combination of realistic characters and situations with the fantastical element of singing gives viewers a unique experience. In these divisive and challenging times, when we are feeling more disconnected from each other than ever before, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist shows that helping someone else can be as simple as asking about what they are going through and that no matter what persona someone may be projecting, everyone can use a little extra kindness.
