Smash Episode 2.14 The Phenomenon

It's late at night or early in the morning when Karen and Derek finish off the last of the liquor in her apartment. Exercising unusual restraint, Derek moves to leave, but Karen makes him stay put with a deep kiss. Meanwhile, Jimmy wakes up on the couch at Adam's house to his doppelganger, calling him to task for his actions with the song "High and Dry." Jimmy returns to his apartment, but Kyle's not there, so he crosses town to knock on Karen's window. Jimmy wants to apologize for being a total ass. What does he need to do to be the person Karen loves? That's when Derek pokes his head in to say good-bye to Karen. Spying Derek, Jimmy takes off in a huff.

Early to a meeting at Eileen's office, Tom leaves a message for Kyle, who hasn't returned any calls since their beautiful night together. Julia's late, so the meeting starts without her. Eileen and Agnes want to make battle plans for their Tony campaign, and since "Hit List" won't make it to Broadway, "Bombshell" is officially the show to beat - and Ivy may well be in contention for two Tonys because of her performance in "Liaisons." When Agnes shows them a full-page ad for "Bombshell" in The Times, Eileen picks up the phone in a fury. She didn't place the ad, so it must have been Jerry! When Tom's phone rings, he gets happy, assuming it's Kyle, but his smile quickly fades...

Julia meets with Scott; Tom has made a legal declaration of war in order to dissolve their partnership. He's throwing every title they've ever optioned into turnaround for months, which will delay Julia's plans for "Gatsby." If Tom pulls the plug on "Gatsby," Scott will lose his job; once again, his fate is in Julia's hands. Derek tries to open a conversation about last night, but Karen insists nothing happened. They're surprised to find Tom waiting for them outside the theater with terrible news: Kyle got hit by a car last night - and didn't survive. After learning the news, a devastated Julia flashes back to working on "Hit List" with Kyle, to the moment they decided to use a much-beloved Broadway tradition, dimming the marquee lights to honor the death of a member of the theater community.

Derek gathers the cast of "Hit List" to deliver the bad news. Karen's worried about Jimmy, who won't pick up his phone, and Scott wants to know what to do about tonight's performance. Derek's certain they need to cancel, as is Julia, but clearly Scott wants to go on. Eileen has just decided to take a break on the Tony campaign out of respect for Kyle's death when Julia knocks on her door. She's hoping Eileen will help get Broadway's marquee lights dimmed tonight in honor of Kyle. Eileen's doubtful, but promises to try.

Everyone's stunned when Jimmy stops by the theater to pick up his stuff; clearly he has no idea Kyle's dead. When Blake delivers the news, Jimmy doesn't believe it at first, but when everyone's expressions remain somber, Jimmy turns and runs off; he can't face the realization just yet. When Karen hears Jimmy's in the building, she goes looking for him, but Ana tells Karen he just left and needs to be alone. Karen takes off after him, knowing alone is the last thing Jimmy needs to be right now...

Tom flashes back to a special moment with Kyle. It was late, and Kyle was up writing down an idea, when Tom came to see why he'd left the bed. Tom and Kyle discussed writing processes, and Kyle had a great tip for Tom about using the stage to write memories better than their truthful counterparts. Tom sang "Vienna" to Kyle that night, and now, with Kyle gone, that memory seems all the more poignant. When Julia shows up to discuss dissolving their partnership, Tom offers clarification: he isn't being difficult just for the sake of being difficult. Tom wants to dissolve their partnership so Julia can hold sole rights to "Gatsby." He's helping her out.

Eileen confronts Jerry. "Bombshell" is hers, and she's going to take it all the way to the Tonys without him, so he better stay away. Despite the fact that the "Hit List" performance is canceled, fans are lined up outside the theater, and they all but demand the performance run as scheduled, in his honor. Ivy calls Derek to encourage him to go on with the show; in fact, she's willing to miss her own performance in "Bombshell" to support Derek and "Hit List." Derek gathers the cast and tells them they'll honor Kyle that night by putting on a concert performance, just a piano and singing. The only problem? No one can find Karen or Jimmy...

Karen finds Jimmy sitting on a ledge overlooking the Hudson, a favorite spot of Kyle's. Jimmy blames himself for Kyle's death, since it was his fault Kyle was out and about at that hour of the night. Karen tells Jimmy not to blame himself and once again declares her love for him. She never did anything with Derek; she couldn't bring herself to because she loves Jimmy too much. She wishes she didn't... but she does. Karen walks away, asking Jimmy to return to the theater to perform with her tonight in Kyle's honor.

Julia thinks it's amazing that all the "Hit List" ticketholders showed up despite the cancellation of the performance. But the woman at the box office says they never canceled, because according to Scott, Julia convinced the cast to go on. In his office, a furious Julia accuses Scott of exploiting Kyle's death to save his job. Scott tries to defend himself but Julia doesn't want to listen. She hopes the performance goes well tonight, because that's all Scott has left.

Backstage, Karen begs the cast to wait five more minutes for Jimmy, but they all know he's not coming. They'll have to do the show without him. As Karen begins to sing "The Love I Meant to Say," Jimmy runs onstage to stop her - he's finally arrived, and he wants to join Karen in a full performance, not a concert version. With the rest of the cast in their corner, Jimmy and Karen perform a beautiful tribute to their friend, and the audience eats it up.

Ivy congratulates Derek on a wonderfully touching performance of "Hit List." Derek asks what happened between them; they seemed to be doing so well, and he doesn't know what went wrong. Ivy mentions something about Karen and Derek interrupts her; he slept at Karen's last night on the couch because he feels so strongly for Ivy. But Ivy says it's not about Karen - it's about Derek. He's always going to have a "Karen" in his life - it's just who he is as a person.

Outside the theater, Jerry runs into Eileen and tells her he's taking "Hit List" to Broadway. It's a good thing they're not friends, because now he won't feel bad when he steals the Tony away from her. Elsewhere, Karen wants to spend the night with Jimmy but he'd rather be alone. He has a lot to deal with at the moment. Tom grabs everyone outside the theater and moves them to the other side of the street. They couldn't get all of Broadway to dim their lights in Kyle's honor, but Manhattan Theater Workshop can surely dim their own. As the lights slowly wane, everyone is brought to tears in memory of a life cut tragically short.