Zoey's Extraordinary Neighbor

**Zoey's Extraordinary Neighbor** is the fourth episode of NBC's musical dramedy *Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist*. It aired on March 1, 2020.

## Episode Summary

Zoey is forced to address her own faith and why she was given these powers as she attempts to help Mo feel comfortable expressing his true self. David creates a "big moment" for Mitch.

## Plot

In her apartment, Zoey shows Mo a problem with her stove. When Mo asks why Zoey has not shown her this for three months, Zoey remarks that they have not had the best tenant-building manager relationship. Mo reminds Zoey that when she first moved in she called Mo "ma'am" and asked for help with her "shower drapes." As she descends the stairs, Zoey laughs because her and Simon are helping each other make Memojis. Mo is wary of this, but Zoey says it is innocent. Mo delivers mail to one of the apartments, and Zoey is surprised someone even lives there. Mo says the woman who lives there, Bonnie, is agoraphobic, and Zoey says she must be lonely. Mo says he cannot imagine hiding himself from the world, but then he starts singing “The Great Pretender” as he goes about his building manager tasks. When the song is over, Zoey tells Mo he just sang a sad-sounding song to her. Mo brushes this off and tells Zoey her power must not be working properly.

At SPRQ Point, Zoey enters Simon's office and asks him to feel something strongly inside in an attempt to make sure her power is still working. Simon says he is annoyed at the florist for his and Jessica's engagement party, who bailed on them. Zoey suggests that he call her mom since she is a landscape architect. Simon thanks her and Zoey says she will text him Maggie's information.

While on the phone with Zoey and making a smoothie for Mitch, Maggie says Simon can call her. Meanwhile, David and Emily are fighting over whether or not to look at the baby's gender results. Emily and Maggie want to open then, but David says it is more exciting to wait. Emily remarks that this is impractical. They ask Mitch his opinion but wants to stay out of it. Emily tells David she will wait if he gives her foot and shoulder rubs. Maggie asks David if he is sure he is okay with her leaving the house during the day to have some "me-time," and David reassures her that it is.

Zoey is browsing the bread bar when she sees Joan and asks her how she is feeling. Joan contemptuously says Charlie has been living in his hotel room and that they are dead to each other. Joan then discusses her new healthy life choices and condescendingly thanks Zoey for her meddling before making a jab at the croissant and twist Zoey has on her plate. Suddenly, Zoey sees Max run in with coffee, which he distributes to the coders as he jovially sings "Con Te Partirò." When the song ends, he hands Zoey her coffee, and she asks him if he had sex last night. Max says yes and asks Zoey how she knew, to which Zoey replies that it was women's intuition. Max says that he and Autumn are going to Napa this weekend, and Zoey remarks that a trip like that sounds a big step in their relationship. Max asks if she thinks it's too soon, but Zoey says she's happy for him.

Zoey knocks on Mo's door and says her powers are working just fine and that they should discuss the song from before. Zoey hears “Margaritaville” and realizes that Bonnie is singing. Zoey knocks on Bonnie's door and the music stops. She introduces herself through the door and asks Bonnie if she’s thinking about tequila and limes. Zoey then hears Mo singing "The Great Pretender" again as he covertly leaves the building wearing a hood. Zoey follows Mo to a building, which happens to be his church. Inside the church, the choir begins to warm up, singing "Amazing Grace," and Zoey sees Mo with the choir, presenting as male. Mo makes eye contact with Zoey and looks at her angrily.

Zoey hurriedly walks away from the church, but Mo follows her out and says she had no right to follow him. Zoey says that she heard him singing "The Great Pretender" again and then saw him dressed male, so something must be wrong. Mo claims that the song is an expression of his private feelings. Zoey asks if Mo has to dress like a man at church, but Mo says he can dress how he wants, though he might not feel comfortable being his true self at church. Zoey insists he would not have sung that unless something was bothering him. He asks Zoey if she is religious and Zoey says she isn't, and then he asks her to go and to stop listening to his heart songs.

At the Clarke house, Maggie is showing Simon and Jessica around the backyard when Zoey arrives. Jessica thanks Zoey for saving her and Simon's lives, and Simon explains that they reached out and hired Maggie to landscape their engagement party. Maggie says she thinks it's a good way to spend her "me-time" and that Simon and Jessica are checking out the yard for inspiration. Simon and Jessica kiss as Zoey looks on awkwardly, and Maggie notices Zoey's discomfort. Back inside the house, Maggie says Jessica and Simon are lovely and asks Zoey if she's alright. Zoey says she was just caught off guard, and she tells Maggie that she got into a fight with Mo. Zoey laments that she knows nothing about religion. Maggie says she never wanted to impose religion on Zoey and David, so they could search on their own.

Back at her apartment, Zoey hears Bonnie singing “Kokomo” and knocks on her door. Zoey starts talking to Bonnie through the door and says a tropical escape sounds nice. Zoey asks Bonnie if she wants to get out and go on vacation. Bonnie answers and asks how Zoey is doing this, surprising Zoey. Zoey says she's just very tuned-in and says she's in apartment three if Bonnie ever needs anything.

At the church, the choir starts singing "This Little Light Of Mine" from the chorus. Mo starts singing his part quietly and weakly, his voice fading as he keeps singing. The pianist stops playing and asks Mo if he's okay. Mo says yes and that they should just sing it again. However, Mo still sings weakly the second time around. When he stops singing, Mo says he needs a moment and then walks out of the church.

At SPRQ Point, Zoey asks Max if he goes to temple. He says he has and then jokingly remarks that he got to second base at several bar mitzvahs. Zoey looks over and sees Joan singing "Wrecking Ball" while clutching a framed photograph of her and Charlie. Zoey approaches Joan as she is singing and says she thought Joan hated Charlie and that she was doing well. When the song is over, Zoey asks Joan if everything is okay, but Joan maintains that she’s not missing Charlie at all. Joan changes the subject and talks about switching the bread bar to something else, and then she rushes off.

Back at the Clarke home, David is doing a crossword puzzle when Mitch says he’s bored. David says since he’s going to be a dad soon, he could use some parenting advice. Mitch types out “wedding video,” so David puts the video of his and Emily's wedding on the TV. In the video, Mitch is talking and dancing like he used to, and David fast forwards to Mitch's toast. In his toast, Mitch says you have to celebrate milestones and embrace the good moments. While watching the video, Mitch starts crying, and David tries to comfort him.

As Zoey walks up to her apartment, she sees a man at Mo's door and points her pepper spray at him, believing him to be an intruder. It turns out to be just Pastor Steve, the priest at Mo's church. Pastor Steve tells Zoey he noticed she was at the church last night, and she introduces herself. He says nobody has heard from Mo since he walked out, and Zoey says Mo has been avoiding her too. Pastor Steve explains that he knows Mo is gender fluid and that he's an open-minded minister. Zoey asks why Mo's uncomfortable being himself at church, but Pastor Steve doesn’t know why. He gives Zoey a letter to give to Mo and then leaves.

As Mo is doing his makeup in his apartment, Zoey knocks on his door saying she needs to talk to him. When Mo doesn't answer, Zoey jokingly says her her stove blew up, and she's on fire. Mo still doesn't answer, and he looks at a photo of himself singing as a child.

Emily is making the bed, and she asks David for help. She asks David what's wrong, and he says he just got off the phone with his mom, and Mitch hasn't stopped crying since he saw the wedding video over a day ago. David also says that Dr. Hamara said uncontrollable emotion is a symptom of Mitch's disease, and Emily reassures him that it's not his fault Mitch is crying. Emily asks David to rub her feet and then tells him to stop blaming himself. David and Emily lament how Mitch could miss their kid’s birth, and Emily says she has an idea to make Mitch feel better.

Zoey is at Bonnie's door again, and she tells Bonnie through the door that she priced airfare to some tropical destinations, though she knows Bonnie probably won't go. Zoey recounts how she really wanted to go to outer space when she was little, so her parents bought her a telescope. She says she has a better one now, and her and Bonnie can go up to the roof and look at the beach, bay, and stars as a good first step. Mo drops mail off for Bonnie and then walks away. Zoey says she has a message and gives Mo the letter from Pastor Steve.

In his apartment, Mo says the letter says he'll always have Pastor Steve's support. Zoey says she just wanted to help, and Mo says he understands and that he just got scared because his words were colliding. Mo says he feels like he's living two lives, but Zoey says "Fear not" and that she's been doing research. Mo identifies the note Zoey is making with her spoon and reveals that he has perfect pitch. Mo says the church organist discovered it when he was in second grade, which made Mo feel special. Mo explains how some people at his first church were not accepting and complained to choir director. Mo and his mother moved to another church, but the same thing happened again, and from then on, Mo swore to present male iat church. Zoey mentions Pastor Steve's acceptance, but Mo says the other churchgoers may not be as accepting as him. Mo says it's going to take a miracle to show him the way.

Zoey finds Pastor Steve at a bar, where the church receptionist said he was. Pastor Steve says he likes trying out his new material on the tipsy and playing darts with the drunks. Zoey buys into a game of darts for twenty dollars, and she misses with all three of her darts. Zoey tells Pastor Steve that Mo says he feels like a hypocrite but is also afraid of how people at church will react. Pastor Steve admits that his flock isn't perfect and then hits the bullseye with all three of his darts. Pastor Steve suggests that Zoey take a leap of faith, but she insists on taking immediate action to help Mo. Pastor Steve says she may just see a miracle. Zoey throws her last dart, and it hits the bullseye, but then it falls. Pastor Steve claims his twenty dollars.

Maggie arrives at Zoey's apartment with champagne, a thank you from Simon and Jessica. As they sip the champagne, Maggie tells Zoey about how she worked at a winery in France after having an affair with her married Russian Lit professor, astonishing Zoey. Zoey gets a text from Simon with a running joke, which she smirks at. Maggie asks if Simon is Zoey's office crush. Zoey says he was before she knew he was engaged, and now they talk about dad stuff. Maggie said she bonded with her Russian Lit professor over *Anna Karenina* before it turned into something more, and she was devastated when he wouldn't leave his wife to be with her. She says she doesn't want Zoey to get hurt. Zoey glances at her phone, where Simon has texted her asking why she isn't responding. Zoey says Simon is the only person other than Maggie and David she can talk to about Mitch, and she's worried that if she lets him go she won't feel this way again. Maggie says she felt the same before she met Mitch.

On the day of Emily and David's gender reveal party, Maggie covers Mitch's eyes and wheels him in. David said Mitch always taught him to celebrate milestones, so they decided to create a memory by finding out the gender of their child. David and Emily pop the balloon and blue confetti bursts out, which means they are having a boy. Mitch starts crying again, but Maggie says she thinks they're happy tears. Zoey hugs David and asks if she can take the pink cake, since they won't be needing it anymore. Later, Joan opens her front door to see the pink cake with a note from Zoey. She smiles appreciatively.

Back at the apartment building, Zoey sees Bonnie emerge from her apartment and greets her. Bonnie says she wants to use Zoey's telescope on the roof, but she’s afraid of heights. Bonnie says she’ll go for a walk with Zoey to put the check in Mo's mailbox, but Zoey suggests they go up to Mo's apartment instead. When Mo opens his door, Bonnie says hello, and Mo exclaims that it’s nice to see her. Bonnie hands her check to Mo and then leaves. Mo pulls Zoey into his apartment and asks how she got Bonnie to come out of her room. Zoey says it was all Bonnie, and Mo says that’s a miracle. Mo decided that if Bonnie has enough courage to face her fears, he can, too.

At the church, Pastor Steve declares that all are welcome and loved, and he nods to Mo. Mo, in a sparkly dress, jewelry, and long wig, starts singing "This Little Light Of Mine," and the church and choir clap. Unlike his rehearsals, Mo sings enthusiastically, loudly and powerfully. Zoey looks on happily in the audience.

## Cast

### Starring

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

### Guest Starring

* **Andrew Leeds** as David Clarke
* **India de Beaufort** as Jessica Hamilton
* **Alice Lee** as Emily Kang
* **Dohn Norwood** as Pastor Steve
* **Naoko Mori** as Bonnie
* **Checo Tohomaso** as Choir Director
* **Allen Sawkins** as Disapproving Man
* **Sabrina Shaw** as Disapproving Woman

#### Uncredited

* **Dalias Blake** as Choir Member #15
* **Milaina Chanel** as Chorus Performer

## Gallery

* Pictures
* Videos

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