'Smash' Season 1, Episode 2 Recap - 'The Callback': Marilyn Gets Cast

I was interested to see how the second episode of this series carried itself, after all of that annoying exposition was finally spit out in the pilot. The groundwork had been lain out, and now we can get to the real stuff.

Sure enough, there was less eye-rolling this time around than there was during the pilot episode, with considerably less bullcrap being shoveled down our throats. There were exceptions, of course: Julia's adoption storyline is still totally unmotivated and ridiculously forced. This episode, her husband (played by Brian D'Arcy James, who is a talented actor but is coming across as stiff, awkward and emotionless in this show so far) decides they should back out when they find out that adopting their Chinese baby will take upwards of 6 years. What's worse is that Julia's son pitches a fit about it. Either he's the most conscientious kid to have ever lived, or this is TOTAL BULLS**T.

But on the casting side (read: the side that we care about), things are considerably more interesting. Poor Karen and Ivy are put through the longest callback process in the history of theatre, having to learn an entire dance number, read scenes, and spend more quality "let's talk about acting in a meaningful way" time with Derek.

This leads to Derek generally being a dick to Karen after she shot him down in his apartment, and generally being inappropriate with Ivy. Eventually, Ivy and Derek sleep together, so it looks like she's willing to do what Karen didn't. Of course, Karen has Dev, but he's kind of a dick too when she can't make it to dinner and he screams at her.

Ultimately, it's Ivy who gets the job, and that seems about right: first of all, her Marilyn impression is pretty much spot-on, and second, when Karen goes into her little Marilyn fantasy and we finally see her in the wig and getup, she looks like a stick in a Marilyn wig. A very beautiful stick, but a stick nonetheless. Ivy has the look. Yes, Karen does well with the choreography (and a congratulatory nod to Katharine McPhee, who nailed it), but Megan Hilty has curves, and as superficial as it sounds, that's pretty important as far as Marilyn Monroe is concerned.

So Karen ends up in the ensemble, which is not a bad place to be for a girl who has been working as a waitress. Theoretically, she should be pretty ecstatic.

Once again, "Smash" proved itself to be much more adept at handling the musical numbers than "Glee." The Karen fantasies, like the one we get at the top of the episode, are going to get old soon, but for now they work. What's better is that the show is not afraid to use a little fantasy: Julia talks about the opening number, and we see it played out. Not everything has to be literal and performed in front of a captive audience in a choir room, "Glee."

Notes & Quotes:

- Looks like we're going to be reprising "Let Me Be Your Star" a lot. I have no issue with that.

- Ellis is weird and I'm not sure why he's still here. He'd better end up being important down the line.

- "Ryan has a vampire musical": said to Derek in the restaurant

- Yeah, right, you're getting Scarlett Johansson, guys.