Recapping Smash 2.15: 'You're a Marilyn. Not a Norma Jeane.' | Playbill

Film & TV Features Recapping Smash 2.15: 'You're a Marilyn. Not a Norma Jeane.' Tom and Julia bid adieu with a song, Derek is in trouble, and Eileen has a martini.
"I need a face for this drink, Tom." NBC

Catch up on Smash every night with Playbill! It's available to stream with commercials on NBC, and available for purchase on Amazon. Episode 14 recap here.

Look, the thing is... Ana is not great in Hit List. And it wasn't just screwing up her cross—she's strictly amateur hour. Know who is good? Daisy. (She might need Bobby et al to teach her how to not pull focus in ensemble numbers, though, because she totally overshadows Karen.) So Daisy goes in as the Diva, and Ana's back to asymmetrical bobs and wine.

Bombshell is sailing along smoothly, so Tom and Julia put together a revue of their songs—and then the press gets wind that their partnership is over! This is disastrous news for Eileen and Daphne Rubin-Vega, who are desperately gunning for as many Tony Awards as possible in between martinis for Eileen. Meanwhile, Ivy is the subject of a blind item in Musto's Village Voice column (lol at 2013) and so she's trying to clean up her act. So when Tom asks her to sing a song about a depressed, alcoholic stripper, she demurs. "Do you just not want to sing at all?" Tom snaps.

Everyone is handling the pressure well, as you can see.

Julia seems to have simply given up on Bombshell, focusing instead on Hit List. Possibly because she doesn't have to take any of the blame. But truly, she doesn't even bother to arrive on time for the Houston-Levitt night at the Oak Room. Everyone's there! Benanti, Norbert, Alice Ripley. Lindsay Mendez is performing. Even Lin-Manuel Miranda is there, trading jabs with Tom. Backstage, Ivy is questioning whether she should go out and do a striptease or not, and Eileen tells her to go for it because Eileen knows about boozy bad decisions. Besides, she tells Ivy, "You're a Marilyn! Not a Norma Jeane." So Ivy goes out and knocks 'em dead with "Grin and Bare It," one of my favorite songs on Smash.

Good news, Ana fans (fAnas?): She is vindicated when it's revealed that Daisy is blackmailing Derek into giving her The Diva. It's not that she's terrible, it's evil machinations! (Of course, Derek also told her he'd cast her in the Broadway ensemble of Hit List if she proved that she really wanted it.) So we get Mara Davi and Karen sing "I'm Not Sorry," complete with fight choreography and a mullet dress for Karen while Ana lurks in the back of the theatre, watching.

Also remember: Hit List walked so Dear Evan Hansen could run.

At Table 46, Ivy's on top of the world. The revue went well,m David Cromer wants to do a workshop with her, and Sam's there to catch up and get a drink. Until Ana comes over and, like an awkward teen, blurts out that Karen told her Ivy slept with Derek to get the Bombshell workshop. That's all the excuse Ivy needs to break her detente with Karen, walking over and putting her in her place. Then, to add insult to injury, she gets a call telling her she's pregnant! (What the hell time is it at this point, anyway?)

 
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