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Alright everyone! Tonight’s the big night. Will we find out who plays Marilyn or what? We’ve only been waiting since they started promoting this thing a year ago! At this point, they could slap a blonde wig and short dress on “Evil Ellis” and I’d be satisfied. Just GIVE US SOME ANSWERS!

Look for the recap to be posted late tonight.

UPDATE: RECAP BELOW

Here we go people. I’ve got a fresh bag of peanut butter m&m’s ready to go. I’m waiting for some epic conclusion to this overly-dramatic soap opera that will completely blow my mind. Ya know, something entirely out of left field. My dream finale would be finding out it was actually Karen (AKA: “the Cartwright girl”) who spiked Rebecca’s smoothie with a nice scoop of creamy peanut butter. She then sleeps with Derek in order to get back at Dev and Ivy and to ultimately win the roll of Marilyn–thus EXTREMELY pissing off Ivy. We end with Karen knocking it out the park and being the secret villain who ends up on top.

Whew…you guys get all that? I mean, it sounds pretty great, right? Considering the alternative, PREDICTABLE conclusion. (Please don’t ACTUALLY let it be Ellis who “peanut-ized” the smoothie.)

Anyway, I’m rambling…let’s get on with the show! *play*

Oooo…super dramatic opening. Thank the heavens above! A Marilyn has been chosen! Unfortunatley, we’re seeing the opening moments from her point of view, unable to actually see her face. My bet is we’re looking through Karen’s eyes. Not that I think she deserves the role. Love Katharine Mcphee. HATE Karen Cartwright. Ivy destroys it every time she takes on the Marilyn role (in a good way). But that’s not what they’ve (TPTB) set us up for, and as much as I want to think Smash will pull a “switcheroo” on us, I just think Karen’s got this thing. Well, we’ve gone 12 hours back in time, so let’s see if I end up with my foot in my mouth, shall we?

Karen’s continuing the good-girl act. “They’re gonna ask you to play the part,” she mumbles to Ivy. Ugh, you would say that Karen. Grow a pair and fight for this! I mean, correct me if I’m wrong, but that IS the understudy’s sole purpose, right?

Now, Derek, looking at the costumes in hopes of a sudden epiphany in this wh…oh wait, what’s that? Derek does have an epiphany! “Where’s Karen Cartwright? (WOAH! He knows her name!) You’re going on as Marilyn–tonight,” he says. BOOM Ivy… Hold the phone though, things CAN’T fall into place that easily for sweet Karen…

Everyone is dumfounded as to why Derek is choosing Karen. Haha. Especially Ellis, who gets into a confrontation with Eileen over the issue. He’s adamently defending Ivy, saying it’s her part–because you know, her and Ellis have always been the best of friends throughout the season. *rolls eyes* Oh wow, Ellis is really getting out of hand, confessing he put the peanuts in Rebecca’s smoothie. (He also gives us a detailed explanation of how simple it is to grind up peanuts in a blender and put them in a smoothie.) Unfortunately, instead of breathing fire all over Ellis, Eileen utters the somewhat satisfying line, “Why don’t you do a Starbucks run for the creative team? It’s gonna be a long day.” Then, in an amazingly comedic moment, Eileen fires Ellis, to which he replies, “You haven’t heard the last of this…” (For reals. Like a villain being carted away by the police in an episode of Scooby Doo, Where Are You?)

Frank catches Julia consoling Michael Swift, because you know, he confessed everything to his wife, and she took the kid and left him. Frank then storms out of the theater. “Oh NO,” utters Julia. Don’t worry, they meet up with “son who can’t act” just outside the front doors and everyone makes up. Aw, everyone’s happy and eating fish n’ chips. Yum.

We get to see Karen perform the entire number, uuh…sorry, I’m not the song title person. It’s the “woman on the prowl” song, and Karen’s killing it. But still, they do alternating takes of Ivy performing the song earlier in the season and she really kills it. (Once again, in a good way!) So great job Kat, but still no Megan Hilty. Hey, I’m just proud of her for not boring me to death! I haven’t seen Kat show that much expression since “The 20th Century Fox Mambo” number. (Another one she did an incredible job with.)

Uh oh, Ivy finally confronts Derek. “Why wasn’t it me?” she pleads. “If it was gonna be a nobody, why not me?” Derek says he just “sees her (Karen) in his head,” and she has something Ivy doesn’t. Yeah Ivy, you SHOULD be pissed. You’re being robbed. I think it’s time for you to go all Ellis on Karen’s ass. Hmm…what would she be allergic to? Can emotions–specifically excitement–be blended into a smoothie as easily as peanuts? Hello? Ellis?

Now Ivy’s playing dirty. She leaves Dev’s engagement ring on Karen’s makeup counter, so she can explain the Dev affair to her, thus throwing her off completely and ruing her performance. Karen then confronts Dev and gets all teary-eyed. In Karen’s defense, he did sleep with her enemy of all enemies.

Now Eileen’s demanding Karen be replaced, and she won’t be happy until Derek takes care of the situation. He explains to her that he’s an artist and has a vision. He doesn’t do collaborations! If she wants a hit, she’ll sit back, shut up, and thank him afterwards. Wow Derek, who taught you how to speak to your elders? (Sorry Angelica Huston.)

Oh yeah, Tom and Sam are dating…let’s not forget to throw in all the random, side-stories Smash writers.

Tom and Julia are violently working on last minute song/script changes, and Julia is convinced Karen can’t do it. Oh no…no, no no. Julia pukes, and then admits to Tom she hasn’t done that since she was pregnant with Leo. (Really Julia? You haven’t thrown up in the last TWO DECADES?) Disclaimer: if Julia ends up being pregnant–regardless of who the father is–I am officially throwing in the towel with Smash and calling it quits. I’ll raise my white flag. There were many battles Smash writers, but if this “pregnancy subplot” materializes, you will have most-definitely won the war.

Oh look, it’s a Jonas brother. Meh, who cares.

The gang is convinced Karen has cracked, and Derek is “having it out” with Dev. “She’s mine now,” he says to Dev. *roooooolls eyes*

Karen and Derek are sharing an intimate scene now. She actually did “crack” for awhile and went missing. No worries though, Derek found her and played therapist for about a minute as he listened to her cry…about winning the role of Marilyn…*smacks palm to forehead*

At this point, I’m starting to feel like Derek represents the Smash writers, trying to force this “Karen MUST play Marilyn” thing down our throats when it’s not believable. Eileen, Tom, Julia, Ivy, Ellis, and, well…EVERYONE represent us (the viewers at home), repeatedly screaming in their face, “THIS IS NOT BELIEVABLE!”

And now we’re back to the opening scene! I KNEW it was Karen’s view we were seeing!

…

Oh, I’m sorry, was I doing a recap? I was busy being mesmerized by Katharine Mcphee’s awesomeness. Yeah, yeah, I SAID IT. I (along with everyone else) have torn apart her performance a million times this season, but those closing ten minutes were just awesome from her. Regardless of whether Ivy would’ve done a better job, I wasn’t even thinking about it, because Karen was so flawless on that last number. You could really feel the audience rooting for her, and they believed in her performance. Then again, they didn’t get to see Ivy like we did.

Oh yeah, and as Karen’s closing out the show, living out her dream, we cut to scenes of Ivy backstage, downing a bottle of pills–in true soap-opera fashion. (I wonder if her evil-twin step sister will come back next season to avenge Ivy’s death/suicide.)

Anyway, it’s all over, and we’ve reached our epic conclusion. I’m not choosing sides, but I will say this: while I think Ivy deserves the part and would obviously do a better job, I was thouroughly impressed with Karen tonight. Katharine Mcphee finally showed some acting/performance chops and entertained for sure! I quite enjoyed this finale, and while everything turned out mostly how I saw it going, I thought they’d tease this “who’s playing Marilyn” thing out till next season. Thank GOD they didn’t! That being said, we’re left with some questions now. (Which we won’t have answered until about FEBRUARY of NEXT YEAR! AH!) Obviously, they’ve decided to keep the infamous Ellis on board for next season, because remember: “We haven’t heard the last of him.” We’ve still got A LOT of relationship drama with EVERYONE. Ivy drank a bottle of pills. (Don’t worry Team-Ivy peeps. Like Smash would kill their only breakout star (sorta) of the series!) Oh, and Julia had a pretty grim look on her face as Karen closed out the show and Frank grabbed her hand. Seems like we’ll be seeing more of Michael Swift as well. Who’s the baby daddy?!?! *rolls eyes* Oh boy, I guess I’ll tolerate that if it causes “son who can’t act” to flee the country or join the marines or ANYTHING. Do we think Dev will be back? I’m sure he will. But gosh, aren’t we supposed to be going for a major overhaul next season? I guess we’ll have to wait and see how things play out.

What do you guys think about the finale? Happy with the conclusion? How about the season overall? Sound off in the comments! Remember: this is our last discussion post/recap for A LONG TIME!

Looks like now that Smash is over, I’m gonna have to actually start doing “Song of the Week” posts WEEKLY again. Haha. Frankly, I’m surprised MJ puts up with me. :) Man, I might need to go with a Kat song this week now!I know you’re all DYING to find out. Haha. See you then!