[Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, Season 2, Episode 12, "Zoey's Extraordinary Session."]
Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist Season 1 was such an entertaining and heartening success that I couldn’t help but wonder, how are they possibly going to raise the bar and keep the concept fresh in a second season? As we near the release of the Season 2 finale episode, “Zoey’s Extraordinary Goodbye,” it’s a thrill to say that Austin Winsberg and the wizards behind the show found many ways to keep the magic and charm going full force. Not only does Zoey’s Playlist continue to be an especially poignant piece of entertainment, but it’s also taken great care to use its stellar high concept to best serve the characters, ensuring they continue to grow every step of the way.
Skylar Astin’s Max has been through quite a lot this season. He’s gone from jobless to co-owner of a successful new restaurant, and also from finally getting into the beginnings of a relationship with Zoey (Jane Levy) to reconnecting with an old friend (Katie Findlay), sparking a connection with her and committing to move to the east coast together. With every step forward the show takes, we learn more about Max and watch as he faces new challenges. But, Episode 12 proved that we also needed to look back to really put Max as an individual and his relationship with Zoey into perspective.
With the Season 2 finale of Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist airing tonight on NBC at 9/8c, Astin joined us for an extended interview to discuss what happens in this upcoming episode and to look back on Max’s journey getting there. We’ll have the spoiler-filled discussion with Astin on Episode 13, “Zoey’s Extraordinary Goodbye,” for you tomorrow, but right now we’re putting the focus on the previous episodes and that meant touching on that game-changing flashback “Zoey’s Extraordinary Session.”
Even though we’ve now spent almost two full seasons with Max and learn a bit about his past in the process, the events of Episode 12 offered some new details to consider about the character, even for Astin. He explained:
“I think a bit of his false bravado was really informative and his carefree attitude. In the pilot when we meet him, he talks about how he’s not management material and he’s kind of coasting at SPRQ Point and sees himself with a ceiling, but really informing that with his insecurities about his dad, which we of course touch upon in present day and will continue to in the future. So that will inform the character even more so, that this has been something that’s been a part of him forever.”
As for the big reveal of what things were really like for Max and Zoey when they first met as SPRQ Point pre-hires, that dynamic was unexpected and caught Astin by surprise in a good way:
“I always thought if there was an origin story it would be, they met, they clicked, they finished each other’s sentences, they were instantly making fun of other people. But to see that there was this kind of meet-bad, not a meet-cute, I thought that that was really fascinating and that they actually had a bit of a journey to go towards each other. And to cover all that ground in Episode 12 was really a blast. I appreciated not giving a crap about what Zoey had to offer in those first few scenes and really more focused on her lunch and the frisbees and just making fun of her, and I think that that’s not the typical move and I was happy to play along with that. He’s a little bit more immature, a little bit more jovial.”
This right here is only scratching the surface of our conversation with Astin covering the events of Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist Season 2. If you’d like to here more about the heart song Astin found most challenging, get a sense of what the Zoey’s Playlist sets look like, find out if Astin really built that LEGO T-rex and more, check out the video at the top of this article. Also, be sure to come back to Collider tomorrow after the Zoey’s Playlist Season 2 finale airs on NBC. Trust me when I tell you, you’re going to want to hear more from Astin!
Skylar Astin:
- 00:48 - Two truths and a lie.
- 02:45 - Astin pinpoints a high and a low from filming Zoey’s Playlist Season 2.
- 05:02 - Astin runs through the process of filming the heart songs. How much is pre-recorded and how much is captured live on set?
- 07:48 - Which Season 2 heart song posed a unique challenge?
- 10:24 - Did Astin actually build any of that T-Rex LEGO in the flashback episode, “Zoey's Extraordinary Session”?
- 12:15 - The production design details in Maximo’s Astin hopes you catch.
- 14:36 - How the events of Episode 12 add to the character of Max for Astin, and what surprised him most about Max and Zoey’s first encounter.