Filming is about to resume on Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, which means spoilers are starting to come out about season 2. It’s been announced that Andrew Leeds (David), Alice Lee (Emily), Michael Thomas Grant (Leif), and Kapil Talwalkar (Tobin) have been made series regulars in the upcoming season, and the only thing more exciting than this news is the speculation about what this means for the upcoming season.
MORE OF THESE TWO, FOREVER
Jade: It probably isn’t that big of a surprise that actors Andrew Leeds and Alice Lee were upped to series regular status, is it? The second season is supposed to focus on the Clarke family’s grief and healing following Mitch’s death. The show can’t focus on David’s grief if David isn’t on the show enough to see it. In fact, his character may have the most personal arc next season, in that he will be dealing with being a new father when he just lost his own – which is apparently straight out of show runner Austin Winsberg’s own life. But what do you think the show will explore in David and Emily’s stories outside of this? What would you like to see them explore?
Lizzie: First of all, I gotta say how excited I am. How excited WE are. We talked all throughout season 1 about how we wanted more of David and Emily, as a couple, and as individuals, and of course, as you well said, if they were going to do justice to the post-death grief arc that we know they really want to tackle, David needed a bigger role.
For me this is what I’ve both been looking forward to the most, and dreading the most. This is the part of grief that we never see, and I’m both super happy they get to tell this story, and super emotional just thinking about it. At the same time, I hope we also get to delve a bit deeper into, well Emily and David’s relationship. Grief plus parenthood together can put a strain on any couple, and I hope the issues we see aren’t just grief related, but life related as they navigate grief, if that makes any sense?
REDEMPTION FOR LEIF
Jade: That totally makes sense, and I think it’ll be interesting to see Emily navigate this period, as well. For having a smaller role in the first season, I think the show did an excellent job of making it clear how much she truly loves David’s parents, and I have no doubt that she has will have her own grief to process. However, she’s also…let’s just say not always the best at dealing with other people’s emotions in a tactful way. She’s also going to have to navigate her role in their grief, because we saw in the finale that she is, of course, part of the family, but she wasn’t sure whether she should join David in saying goodbye or not. So I think we’re going to get some really meaty stuff from both of them, and I cannot wait.
Let’s talk about Leif, who had an…unexpected arc last season, to say the least. That does leave his story wide open for season two. Supposedly, he will be stepping into a new role. With Joan in charge of the entire company (and hopefully able to appear in several episodes in season 2), does that suggest that Zoey will take over her old role, and Leif will be stepping into Zoey’s? What do you think of that, in light of his romance with Joan last season? Would these promotions make sense to you? What else do you think we’ll see in Leif’s story next year?
Lizzie: It makes sense and yay Zoey, not so sure yay Leif, though. I mean, it’s one of those – if they don’t promote him because he was sleeping with Joan, even though he deserves it, is that just as bad as promoting him for that reason? And I also imagine that decision will probably not be up to Joan, but Zoey. Either way, if Leif is going to have any sort of leadership position, he needs to actually learn how to act like, you know, a human being, so I hope we get to see that growth.
PUT A LITTLE LOVE IN YOUR HEART
Jade: I agree. I’m particularly interested in his story next year because of what happened at the end of last season, with him conspiring with Tobin behind everyone’s backs, which cost Max his job – right after he gained newfound respect for Max and the two even became…friends? Ish? I wonder if he’ll be put in a leadership position and will have to reflect on his prior choices and the cost of his ambition on others. Particularly if his promotion leads to some sort of conflict with Tobin – because managing your friends isn’t always easy, particularly when you’re incredibly ambitious and they are seemingly less so.
I think we are both incredibly excited about seeing more of Tobin in season two. We’ve talked before about how much we’d like to see a romance for him, but there has to be more to his story than that. In the first season, Leif let his own ambition get between his friendship with Tobin (temporarily, at least), but they made up when he said he wanted the two of them to run SPRQPoint together one day. How do you think Leif’s new position – promotion or not – will impact their friendship? What else do you think Tobin has in store next season?
Lizzie: I really want a romance for him because I want him to get a chance to sing a power ballad! But you know what I’d almost want to see even more? I’d love to see his family. What type of family does he come from, what do they think about where he’s at in life? We don’t get enough characters like him on TV, so to bring in his family, even for a little bit, would be a beautiful bit of representation, and they have a chance to do something that resonates with a lot of people, which seems to me right up this show’s alley, you know what I mean?
As for Leif, meh. I still haven’t quite forgiven him for how he treated Tobin. He’s gonna need to do more for me to really like this friendship.
MUSIC, MUSIC, MUSIC!
Jade: Oh, I hadn’t thought of what we might get out of Tobin’s family, but I think that’s an excellent idea. Particularly if his family brings out a side of him that we don’t normally see. A more serious side. We know that he uses humor to cover his pain and fear, so I could see that being a really interesting exploration for his character.
Lastly…yes, I’m going to do this to you. You can’t have a conversation about Zoey’s without discussing music. With the predictions we made above, any thoughts on songs we might see from David, Emily, Leif, or Tobin? Any songs you’d love to hear from them?
Lizzie: I notice how YOU didn’t have any suggestions. But fine, I’ll take a stab at this. The first one that came to mind is a bit overdone, but there’s something about The Fray’s “How To Save a Life” that I think fits that moment they’re all going through, and how much you’d want to change but can’t. Kapil wanted Tobin to sing Norah Jones’ “Don’t Know Why,” so who am I to argue there? I guess I can also go cliche and say Eric Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven,” a classic grief song. But you know what just came to mind? Miranda Lambert’s “Over You.” So I’m just gonna leave that one there and have you google the lyrics so you all cry.
Jade: I can make suggestions if you want! Well…one suggestion. I could see David singing “Dance With My Father.” Would there be a dry eye in the house? No. No, there would not.
Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist is available on streaming on Hulu, through the NBC app and on Peacock.
