Schmigadoon! – Famous as Hell

By: Gladys Luna

The Narrator (Tituss Burgess) gives us a tour through all the town recent news. Miss Codwell (Kristin Chenoweth) and Dooley (Alan Cumming) have already put their spooky plan in action as well as we get a glimpse about the blossoming relationship between Topher (Aaron Tveit) and Jenny (Dove Cameron) that doesn’t seem to have everyone so happy about it. We also have Melissa (Cecily Strong) and Josh (Keegan-Michael Key) who are now at the entrance of the Kratt Klub where the woman should be performing soon. She seems to be nervous and unsure about whether or not she should continue with her work there but Josh encourages to do so letting her know how amazing she is and that he will be there to support her. Melissa enters the place and greets some colleagues on her way in but then she is stopped right in her tracks by Madame Frau (Anne Harada) who complains about her absence for the past few days but also lets her know that Mr. Kratt (Patrick Page) has decided that she will be in charge of the solo performance that used to belong to Jenny. Melissa is not so confident that she could do it and also does not feel comfortable on taking Jenny’s place. However, woman reassures her and says that Jenny is not her so she will rock it on the stage. And, just like that, we jump to a musical number led by Melissa where she sings about never been the chosen one for anything at all by people but now, that has changed. At the end, Josh claps excitedly to his wife but the rest of the audience remains seated and in silence, including Mr. Kratt and his nephew Sergeant Rivera (Jaime Camil). Soon the silence is broken by the sound of everyone’s claps and a standing ovation to what Melissa smiles happily and proud.

Josh leaves the bar and is now on his way to his apartment, enjoying the scenery and whistling when all of a sudden he notices some type of whispering and footsteps near him. At first, he tries to shake away that thought but then the noises grow louder and is there when he realizes that he has been followed by most of Topher’s group including Alex (Alex Gullason), Marisa (Marisa Gold) and Michael (Michael Delleva) who are at the front of the group and looking excited to had found him. Josh appears to be surprised to see them walking around without Topher but they confess that since he met Jenny he doesn’t have much time to spend with anyone else and that seems to disgust them. Josh tells them that usually that’s what happens when you first like someone but he is very confident that it won’t last long then, he notices that Marisa has a bandage wrapped around her foot and asks her about and she confesses that she hurt herself while trying to hug a butterfly. So, Josh assists her immediately and helps her heal something that make everyone start to look up to him and consider him as a possible new leader since they believe that he is not only kind by having helped their friend but also smart and ask him to guide them since they feel so lost now that Topher’s somehow gone. In the beginning, Josh tries not to fall for their words but when they keep insisting on it he ends up accepting them and helping them to reorganize the group. In the meantime, Melissa continues to be very successful with her presentation and now we even see her doing Jenny’s chair musical number and having fans waiting for her outside the club to ask her for an autograph. It seems that fame has struck Josh and Melissa like a lightning but at the same time it appears they are slowly growing apart (will this be their best way to a happy ending?). With all the noise they have caused it doesn’t take long for Jenny and Topher to realize of what is happening and making them believe that the other couple have taken over their places and it appears they are not going to let that happen.

Melissa and Josh meet for lunch at a hot dog stand that the seller (Amitai Marmorstein) gives them for free given that he is a big fan of the woman. As they walk enjoying their meal, they catch up on all of the things they have been doing recently and recounting all of the good deeds they have done that seemed to have brought some happy endings. Josh confesses that he is excited to be helping the group and supporting them while Topher’s gone while Melissa admits that she is very pleased with her work at the club and even says that every time she is on the stage, something happens withing her making her believe that she can do everything she wants. On their way they see Miss Codwell on the street and she greets them cheerfully. Both feel like maybe they have managed to bring Schmicago some happy endings and that maybe now they can finally return home, but then they come to the conclusion that maybe there might still be some work to do and decide to stay a little longer. The couple return to the apartment where Jenny and Topher are waiting for them and waste no time accusing them on having betrayed them. Melissa and Josh apologize for it and try to explain themselves but the other couple have no intentions on listening to their lame excuses and ask them to leave, throwing their backpacks at them.

Melissa and Josh are once again on the street looking for a place to stay and they manage to find themselves a room at Miss Codwell’s orphanage. The woman welcomes them without hesitation and lets them know that soon she will have more space for them. This confession causes some suspicions to the couple who ask her about it but before she can provide any answer, they are interrupted by three kids (Isabel Birch, Kairo Ryan Ellis and Milana Wan) who give Miss Codwell a present as a way to thank her for have fed them so well for the last few days. This gesture seems to warm the woman’s heart but she immediately dismisses the feeling and ask them to leave. Melissa and Josh’s curiosity grows bigger so they decide to pay a visit to Dooley’s butcher shop where they see the man looking bitter and angrier than ever as he is sharpening a good number of knives. Then, they realize that he had acquired a new meat grinder. They try to dig further on the reason why of all of these evident changes but since Dooley is not much of a talker, so he doesn’t give so much away.

Later on, the couple is getting ready to sleep but Josh cannot help to think that something is wrong with Dooley and Miss Codwell. Melissa asks him to leave the subject aside but he convinces her into helping him to investigate. They break into Dooley’s butcher shop right in the middle of the night in an attempt to find the clues that would lead them to discover his plans and then they see a blackboard where the butcher has been keeping track of the orphans’ weight. As much as Melissa wants to think that this has a different purpose, soon they find another blackboard that reveals Dooley’s plan of turning the orphans into sausages. All of a sudden Dooley and Miss Codwell show up at the place door and then leads them to the orphanage where they offer them a cup of tea explaining that they were going to tell them their secret since they were the ones that brought them together in the first place. Josh convinces the butcher that his plan on killing the children is just a projection of all the anger and thirst for vengeance he has for Mr. Kratt and since he hasn’t managed to get him then he is trying to address that anger to someone else but the kids cannot be blamed for such thing. So, he suggests that Melissa can help him get Mr. Kratt where he wants to be and murder him instead (since he considers that the club owner is not so innocent after all) of hurting the children to what Dooley agrees.

Melissa and Josh arrive at the club while Sergeant Rivera and Madame Frau are having a moment singing together about broken promises and “twists.” The couple takes a place at a table while Dooley hides in the closet waiting for Melissa to take Mr. Kratt there just as they had planned it. She calls the other man and teases him saying that she is feeling so lonely and they must put an end to it so she walks to his table trying to make some conversation and then tells him that she has a surprise for him in her dressing room. When they are heading to Melissa’s there, Mr. Kratt takes her by the hand and changes the direction taking her outside and into his car. Josh comes running after her but is stopped by Sergeant Rivera leaving him with nothing to do. In the car Mr. Kratt reveals to Melissa that soon they will be married or Josh will be murdered.