Zoey's Extraordinary Best Friend

**Zoey's Extraordinary Best Friend** is the second episode of NBC's musical dramedy *Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist*. It aired on February 16, 2020.

## Episode Summary

Zoey tries to figure out how to control her new abilities while navigating her best friends' romantic feelings for her. A new medical victory for Mitch gives the family hope.

## Plot

Zoey wakes up and immediately breaks into song and dance, involuntarily performing “I’ve Got The Music In Me.” The musical number takes her through Mo’s apartment, her parents’ house, SPRQ Point, and then outside on the streets of San Francisco. Zoey’s friends and family join the big musical number along the way until a piano and other instruments fall on Zoey, and then she wakes up from her dream.

In the morning, Mo enters Zoey’s apartment and criticizes her for its bland design. He then asks for updates on her power. Zoey tells Mo that she thinks all the programmers at work hate her, Max might be in love with her, she was able to bond with Simon, and she communicated with Mitch. Zoey says she has to figure out how to control her power, so she and Mo plan to meet at The Golden Gate Grind for lunch. Later, Zoey goes to the doctor’s office with her parents and brother. They tell Dr. Hamara that Mitch has been getting a bit better. Dr. Hamara tests Mitch's reflexes and tells the Clarkes that Mitch’s medicine is working, which might slow his disease down for a bit.

When Zoey arrives at work, she is greeted by Joan, who brings her into her office to check in with her. Joan tells Zoey to be strong and then sends her off. Zoey gathers all the coders to give them her first official speech as their manager. She starts reading her speech off flashcards, and Max sometimes interjects to hype her up. Leif makes passive-aggressive remarks throughout the speech. When Zoey hands out journals to the coders, Tobin pokes fun at her. During Zoey’s speech, Max starts singing “Sucker.” Zoey is bewildered by this. When he is done singing, Zoey is visibly flustered.

Sometime after, Max approaches Zoey while she is at the cereal bar. He tells her he won the restaurant lottery to get them into Hand-Picked, a fancy farm-to-table restaurant they had wanted to go to for a while. Zoey appears to be very nervous while talking to Max, who notices and asks her why she’s acting weird. Simon interrupts their conversation, and Zoey introduces the men. Simon remarks that Zoey and Max must be close. Then, Simon tells Zoey he has a project he needs to talk to her about. The marketing team wants to throw a party to publicize the new SPRQ Point Watch. They discuss how to publicize, and Zoey proposes turning it into a massive scavenger hunt, pushing live clues to people’s watches and moving them around the city until they end up at SPRQ Point. Zoey throws a football and inadvertently breaks a humanitarian award Simon had won. Simon remarks that it is nice to be talking to Zoey about something other than their dead and dying dads.

At The Golden Gate Grind, Zoey tells Mo that Max sang "Sucker" to her. Mo tells Zoey she should go to dinner with Max, but Zoey says she does not want to deal with the awkwardness. Zoey wants things to stay the same with Max, so Mo tells her to make an excuse to get out of dinner. Zoey calls the songs she hears people sing their thoughts through "heart songs" for the first time. Mo brings out a pair of noise-canceling headphones and suggests that Zoey might be able to block the heart songs by wearing them. They see a couple making out, and Autumn looks at them forlornly and starts singing “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me).” Zoey asks Mo for the headphones and tries them on, but they do not block out the heart song. Autumn and the coffee shop patrons perform the song and an emotional, expressive dance. Zoey is able to talk to Mo during the heart song. When the song ends, Zoey goes up to the counter and greets Autumn. She asks Autumn what she thinks of Max. Autumn says Max is cute and funny, and Zoey asks how she feels about farm-to-table food, with Autumn responding enthusiastically.

Zoey brings Autumn back to SPRQ Point. Zoey gets Max's attention, but he is confused by Autumn's presence. Zoey tells Max she has a family thing the night they were supposed to go to Hand-Picked but that Autumn would love to go to dinner in her place. Max admits he can’t think of anyone else to take. Zoey leaves Max and Autumn to talk and answers a video call from her brother. David says he found an old buzzer from the game Taboo, and they are able to use it to communicate with Mitch by having him buzz once for "yes" and twice for "no." This marks the first time they’ve been able to communicate with him in months.

Max tries to talk to Zoey as she walks around, checking in on the coders. He asks her to tell him truthfully why she did not want to go to dinner with him and remarks that something feels different between them. Zoey pulls Max aside, and Max asks if this new awkwardness is stemming from Zoey's new power over him as his boss. Zoey insists that it is inappropriate for them to dine together, and they should create some boundaries between them. Max is visibly upset by this and says everyone knows they’re friends and that Zoey is overreacting.

When Zoey arrives at her parents’ house that night, Maggie tells Zoey that Mitch has been trying to tell her something all afternoon, and she has not been able to figure it out. Zoey vents to her dad and starts telling him about her fight with Max, but Mitch starts singing “Moondance” to Maggie. Zoey tells her dad he sang “Moondance” and asks if what he wants to say to Maggie has something to do with the song. Without a clear answer, Zoey says she’ll do more research and get back to Mitch later. One morning, Mo meets Zoey outside and proposes various ideas about Zoey's powers. Zoey asks Mo if he knows the song "Moondance" and what it means. Mo thinks that Mitch wants to have sex with Maggie, and Zoey cringes at the idea of having to talk to her mother about her parents' sex life.

At SPRQ Point, Zoey chews out the coders because they are not getting the scavenger hunt project done properly. Max sarcastically remarks that he is not used to someone always looking over his shoulder. Zoey gets exasperated and says she’ll just do the entire project herself. Late at night, as all the other coders are leaving, Zoey is still working on her project. Zoey asks Max what she’s doing wrong as a boss, and Max says he’s just trying to please her. He says he’ll text Zoey pictures of the food at Hand-Picked, but he makes a few snide remarks, signaling his frustration with Zoey. The next morning, Simon wakes Zoey, who fell asleep at her desk, and tells her everyone is waiting in the conference room to hear her presentation. Someone spills coffee on Zoey, so she changes into an outfit entirely made of SPRQ Point sweats. Joan chastises her for her appearance after the presentation and tells her she can’t take on all the projects by herself.

At night, Zoey talks to her mom, who expresses frustration that she can’t communicate with Mitch. Zoey asks Maggie if she thinks Mitch wants to have sex with her, and Maggie says that their love life is just fine. Zoey asks Maggie if she knows the song "Moondance." Maggie says that when she and Mitch were dating, they went to a Van Morrison concert, and in the middle of “Moondance,” Mitch kissed Maggie and said “I love you” for the first time. They figure out that Mitch was just trying to tell Maggie that he loves her. The doorbell rings, and Zoey is surprised to see Max. Max says he was going to drop off something for Mitch, and he says that he didn't know Zoey would be there. Max has butterscotch pudding from Hand-Picked for Mitch and says he remembers Zoey saying that Mitch could only swallow soft foods. Zoey comments that it is really nice of Max to do that for her father. Max comes in the house and says Mitch has always been nice to him, which is especially meaningful since he doesn’t have the same dynamic with his own dad. Zoey says it was hard not asking Max to help her at work last night, and Max says it was hard to not stay. Max says Hand-Picked picked was nice, and so was Autumn. Zoey apologizes for not handling the work thing well, and so does Max. Zoey asks Max if he wants to see Mitch since it has been a few months. Max says hi to Mitch and starts talking to him.

Another day at SPRQ Point, Zoey comes to Simon's office and asks him how he’s good at managing. Simon says his dad taught him that bringing a personal touch to work would show that he cared about his employees. Later, Zoey reads the coders her first impressions of them that she wrote in her journal during orientation. She says Leif is a big genius and that she is intimidated to be in the same room as him. She mentions that Tobin is a legend in the hacking community. Zoey also mentions that she thinks she and Max will be friends for life, and Max smiles at her. Zoey says she knows not everyone is excited to have her as their boss, but she says she’ll trust them more if they can trust her too. Joan looks on approvingly.

At the Clarke home, Maggie sings part of "Moondance" a capella to Mitch and dances a little, and then cuddles him affectionately. Mitch gives his buzzer a long push. Zoey walks by The Golden Gate Grind and sees Autumn and Max talking together at a table. As she walks away, Max subtly looks back at her. Zoey is in her apartment and Mo walks in without knocking. Mo has different ideas to test Zoey's powers. However, Zoey proposes that she just live with her power for a bit and see what the universe brings. Mo is inspired to paint, and it is clear Zoey and Mo are becoming friends. Zoey sings "I've Got The Music In Me" to herself.

## Cast

### Starring

* **Jane Levy** as Zoey Clarke
* **Skylar Astin** as Max Richman
* **Alex Newell** as Mo
* **John Clarence Stewart** as Simon
* **Peter Gallagher** as Mitch Clarke
* **Mary Steenburgen** as Maggie Clarke

### Guest Starring

* **Michael Thomas Grant** as Leif
* **Kapil Talwalkar** as Tobin
* **Andrew Leeds** as David Clarke
* **Stephanie Styles** as Autumn
* **Hiro Kanagawa** as Dr. Hamara

### Co-Starring

* **Taylor Boschman** as Lonely Customer #1
* **Tessa Tamura** as Lonely Customer #2
* **Nick Modeste** as Lonely Customer #3
* **Charlie Andres Nesbitt** as Kissing Couple Man
* **Louis Lin** as Intern

## Trivia

* Before the episode aired, it was originally entitled "I've Got The Music In Me."
* This is the first episode where Zoey calls the songs she hears "heart songs."

## Gallery

* Pictures
* Videos

1/36

Zoey and Mo Solve the Moondance Mystery - Zoey's Extraordinary PlaylistZoey's Uncomfortable Chat Cut Short by Max - Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist