Warning: the following contains spoilers for Tuesday Zoey’s extraordinary playlist debut of the season. Proceed at your own risk!
Zoey’s extraordinary playlist showrunner Austin Winsberg knows that some viewers they are not fans of needlessly infinite love triangles. So instead of extracting the puzzle from the heroine holder Max vs. Simon, Tuesday’s second season premiere showed Zoey making a choice between the two handsome men. After watching a recorded video message from her late father, encouraging her family to continue their lives after her death, Zoey finally had a conversation with Max. The past six weeks had given her plenty of time to think, and now it was time to “continue” … kissing Max!
Below, Winsberg explains why Zoey’s decision was a bold choice for the show and what it means for Simon, the guy who lost Zoey’s heart. The EP also talks about bringing Peter Gallagher back as Zoey’s beloved father and shows how Max and Mo’s new venture will impact their friendship. (And to find out if Joan de Lauren Graham will be back, click here.)
TVLINE | Zoey apparently makes a decision when it comes to Max. So what is their relationship status in the future? Are they officially dating now?
It certainly looks like they are going in that direction.
TVLINE | “Seems”, how do appearances deceive?
[Laughs] No. I think they are definitely trying to be together.
TVLINE | What made it the right time to pursue things with Max now?
The message she receives from her father in episode 1, is just this idea of moving on and moving on and having to make decisions in life, that you can’t just stay neutral. I felt that this is also true about our love triangle in general. I felt that we had to make some choices in terms of the love triangle. I just feel that Zoey, herself, feels, “I can’t go on being flexible with these two guys. I need to make the choice. ”And then she makes the choice. And then we will deal with the consequences.
TVLINE | There was a lot of debate in the writers room about being too early in the season for her to make a choice, or which guy should she choose?
When I was preparing the pitch for the season, when we started talking in the living room, [we discussed] how long did we want to go back and forth between “Should it be this guy or should it be that guy?” There were a lot of strong feelings in the room that Zoey is turning 30 this year on the show, and that a lot of that kind of behavior can look very young. Also, just reading the Twitter forums and everything, there is definitely a faction of people out there who don’t like love triangles. [Laughs] I just felt, at one point, what is real, you know? If a person is tying two people for a long period of time, it can be one or both people, eventually, like, “You know what? I don’t want to do this anymore. ”So I just felt it was a bolder choice than to continue living in indecision.
TVLINE | Where is that choice for Simon, who is still carrying a torch, if Jet’s song number is any indication?
Simon has developed a lot and has undergone a lot of therapy. Unfortunately, there was a scene we had to cut, where he talked about it a lot in episode 1. Simon is trying hard – and we heard it from him in episode 3 – to support Zoey in whatever Zoey wants to do. He knows what it’s like to lose someone and understands the challenges that this entails and doesn’t want to pressure you to do something. So, he just wants to be there to support her on her emotional journey. And even though he may not be happy that Max is the one she chose, he is also trying to respect what Zoey wants.
TVLINE | Will he move on, romantically? Can there be a new love interest for him?
This is something that we will definitely explore, moving forward.
TVLINE | I loved the way you managed to incorporate Peter Gallagher into the premiere. Are you finding other opportunities to bring him back occasionally?
Yes. I was very reluctant to go down the Dexter or Six Feet Under route… We already have a magical idea about the show with the musical numbers. I thought of adding another great idea that she could have these conversations with her father all the time, it could have been like too much magic. So it’s just about being creative in the ways we bring you back.
TVLINE | The way you performed the number “Carry On”, with some of the actors half frozen, was really cool.
Thanks. That was definitely complicated for [choreographer] Mandy [Moore] and me to find out. How do we keep everyone on the board? And we also like the symbolic idea that everyone kind of froze in time, in a moment, with what happened to Mitch … That song, “Carry On”, is very thematic of what we went through the entire season of the show, that everyone is imprisoned in different ways, everyone is facing death in different ways. But we all have to find ways to continue, regardless of the tragedy we just went through. Once we broke that frozen idea, it definitely helped us to create that number.
TVLINE | And how will Max and Mo’s new venture work for both of them? Is mixing friendship and business a good idea?
It is one of the main points of the history of this season that we will explore in all episodes. I think you’re right – what is it like to work with friends who have two very different personalities? One has the right brain, the other has the left brain. How does this creative and artistic mind harmonize with someone who is very business oriented, logic oriented? We will see many growing pains between the two as they try to navigate, starting this ambitious restaurant idea together.
Zoey’s playlist fans, what did you think of the season premiere? Rate it below and then click on the comments. And stay tuned to TVLine for even more Zoey’s Spoon!