'Smash' Season 1, Episode 5 Recap - 'Let's Be Bad'

Admittedly, I had to try twice to watch "Let's Be Bad." The first time, I got right around to the point where Leo's brush with the law became an actual plot point and not just a reason to interrupt a dinner date, and I turned it off and swore to never watch this show again, because why the hell do I care about Leo?

Then, I had a change of heart and tried again. And you know what? I'm glad I did. Because between all of the Leo bullcrap and the obligatory frustrated Eileen scene and the "yes, Derek is still an asshole" reminder, there was one hell of a musical number in "Let's Be Bad," and one hell of a performance all around by Megan Hilty (Ivy, for those uninterested in cast lists).

The number, which was presented to us as a full-blown scene in the Marilyn production, as if we were watching it in the theater, thankfully came in the middle of the episode and not at the end, or I might have never gotten to it. The song is catchy enough, but it's the performance from Hilty that really sells it: she's surprisingly good at channeling Marilyn, and the sad undertones in the number concerning Marilyn's drug use and the pressures of fame made it a poignant piece.

So that made it almost worth sitting through watching Leo, whom we barely know, get arrested for smoking pot (or, rather, be near someone smoking pot... and why the vaporizer? Is that another attempt at humor? Sometimes I can't tell with this show) and be rescued by Tom and his new lawyer boyfriend, whose relationship is pretty underdeveloped, as most in this show are.

Even the relationship between Karen and Ivy, which should be the main focus of this show, is a little neglected. But we get some delicious moments of tension as Ivy begins to falter in rehearsal, and Derek calls, or rather yells, on Karen to sing happy birthday like Marilyn so that Ivy can get the vibrato right. Is he a jerk, or is he just a very bad director?

Eventually Ivy confronts him and he smooth-talks her into forgiving him (again), and Karen moves on to going to a party with Dev, who continues to be a little bit of a jerk, and flirts semi-condescendingly with a guy gunning for Dev's job.

The episode was very thin on "SHUT THE F*CK UP ELLIS" moments, though there was a scene where Eileen couldn't remember her password and he said "I'm pretty good with computers" and started... what, hacking her account? Clicking the "I forgot my password" link? An unlikely scenario, and one that kinda makes it seem like whoever wrote it knows as much about computers as Eileen does. Anyway, he didn't really do anything to warrant a full "SHUT THE F*CK UP," so let's just call it a "...shut up, Ellis."

And, the final lesson of the evening: don't make out on the street with a guy who isn't your husband in front of your apartment that your son is in, Julia.