Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist season 2, episode 13: Best moments

Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist Season 2 has had its ups and downs. Thankfully, it went out with a bang and left us desperate for more.

There is something to be said for big, bold decision-making when writing a television series, and “Zoey’s Extraordinary Goodbye” definitely delivered on that front. After the previous 12 episodes started off incredibly strong, then took a weird detour that made the main character annoying at best, the usual excitement going into a season finale was tinged with a little bit of dread.

In the end, these last two installments brought all the pieces of the puzzle together. Would we still go back and trim quite a lot of the love “triangle” out, leaving more room for Zoey’s journey toward opening up and Emily’s battle with postpartum depression? Absolutely.

At the same time, was the resolution really beautiful and good enough to make all the suffering forgivable, if not worth it? Also absolutely. Let’s look at everything (or as much as possible) that really made this story work.

Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist Season 2 finale: Zoey’s choice

We’ve talked a lot about how the setup seemed to indicate Zoey would choose Max in the end, thus making her look incredibly selfish and flaky. Between lying by omission about her ability to hear heart songs and suddenly having feelings for Simon again when she and Max were on “pause,” there seemed no path forward that would do anything other than making all the characters involved look like trash.

We were wrong.

Somehow, Zoey and Simon came to the same conclusion about their relationship at the same time: It just wasn’t meant to be.

More importantly, although Zoey was ready to start the conversation, it was ultimately Simon who said the magic words that broke things off. He also summed up the one thing that sort of (except for the whole lying about how the bond was formed) made the pairing “work” for the short time that it did:

"We both went through some very tough stuff at the same exact time, and maybe we confused our bonding over our shared grief with something else."

In the end, Simon wasn’t a plot device after all. Thank the TV gods for that. Did all of this really need to happen? Probably not.

But we’re just happy beyond words that everyone actually came out of it OK. No Simon getting cast aside unfairly, no Zoey making another rash “decision” that she’d just reverse later…

Just two adults, realizing they had something special that helped them on the path to wherever it was they were going. Well done.

For those of you who were rooting for Zimon, we feel your pain. Having your ship be the one that doesn’t work out is never, ever a good feeling. But we hope you’re at least OK with the how of it.

A father/daughter dance that brought it all full circle

Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist was simultaneously touching and cruel here. This was one of several moments we couldn’t have predicted and are very glad to have been surprised by, but that doesn’t mean we appreciated the punch to the guts.

So, here’s a quote from our Season 1 finale review:

"Perhaps the most heartwarming moment comes in recognizing that death isn’t as final as we’d like to think—that our loved ones never truly leave us. As the Clarke family is watching Mitch pass on, Zoey is treated to a private dance with the image of her father she gets to remember forever—his inner light, not the dying man we’ve seen all season."

The Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist Season 2 finale gave a beautiful callback to this moment—both in giving Zoey another dance with Mitch and in giving us back that lightness between father and daughter. Our loved ones really never leave us.

But it did even more than that: Earlier in the season, Zoey was trapped by her grief and having nightmares. Now, as she was faced with the potential for another big loss, it was back to her dreams.

This time, she wasn’t frantic and lost, just realizing that it was time to fully open up and embrace love—even if it meant letting her walls down and possibly facing a lot of pain. It’s a message, after a year of horror, we could probably all take to heart.

Zoey and Max become true equals

Anyone else never, ever going to hear “I Melt With You” the same way, ever again? Big same.

Max Richman has loved Zoey Clarke since day one. He had it so bad for her, he gave up the SPRQ Point job and asked Danny Michael Davis to hire her instead.

Zoey knows that now…Kind of awkward moment there, finding out? But she needed to know.

His problem has always been how closed off she was, especially when he found out she had an all-access pass to his feelings because of her powers. He…has his own now????

What a wildly brilliant way to end a season of television. Again, with renewals never guaranteed (especially after a rocky season), cliffhangers are a dangerous risk. Here’s hoping this one pays off.

What does it mean for Max to hear heart songs now? Can he only hear them from Zoey? And if Zoey supposedly gained her powers from the MRI of doom, why didn’t Max have to go through something similar?

We have so many questions. And that’s exactly how you want to end a storyline: Tie up all the necessary loose ends, but leave viewers thirsty for more.

Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist has done that—and then some. And, much like with Zimon’s breakup, it sounds like there was a mutual, adult decision between Max and Rose. If we had to go there all this time, this was the best possible outcome for all parties involved.

More praise for the Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist Season 2 finale…

Honestly, we’d love to gush about every single second of “Zoey’s Extraordinary Goodbye.” It really was that good.

While the main story was obviously about Zoey finally confronting her emotions and being a big girl about it, there was also so much beauty here. Maggie is on the mend and looking to the future. (Hilarious of David to warn her about serial killers when he’s Pelant from Bones‘ doppelgänger.)

Mo and Perry seem to be on good terms again, and Alex Newell snatched Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” and said, “I can do that better.”

Tobin and Mackenzie remain our faves.

Simon gets to support a small business run by people of color.

The hits are endless. As always, the choreography for every single heart song gets a shoutout, but that last number was definitely the highlight.

Now, we just hope to get to see Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist tell more of these impactful stories. And please, let them leave the formulaic behind. They never needed it. This finale is obvious proof of that.

Rewatch all your favorite Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist moments on Peacock, and we hope to see you for Season 3!