Recapping Smash 1.12: 'I'm Famous!' | Playbill

Film & TV Features Recapping Smash 1.12: 'I'm Famous!' Julia tries to track down her son, and Karen gets tabloid famous thanks to Rebecca Duvall.
She lost her son and her neck this episode! NBC

Catch up on Smash every night with Playbill at 8 PM Eastern! It's available to stream with commercials on NBC, and available for purchase on Amazon. Episode 11 recap here.

I'm not sure why Rebecca Duvall is so terrifying to everyone, but can someone just tell her they don't want to do her suggestions so they can all move on with their lives? Oh wait, it's a series about the theatre so it's more fun to make everyone extremely catty and backbiting. Which is why Tom and Derek get into a screaming fit about Rebecca Duvall's talents in the studio while the entire company sits in the hallway outside, hearing every word. Got it!

One person who's not afraid of Rebecca Duvall is Karen Cartwright! "You like everyone," Ivy Lynn points out. But Karen demurs—and as a reward, she gets to spend an evening hanging out with Rebecca Duvall! She even gets to sing in front of her! Of course, Rebecca Duvall has heard from her manager, who heard from Ellis, who clearly heard from eavesdropping, that Derek considers Karen her muse. So consider this Rebecca Duvall's recon mission.

That Rebecca Duvall lands on Page 6, captured looking into the camera as Karen kisses her check under the headline "Rebecca's gal pal?" is probably completely coincidental. That Karen ends up with a solo in "Second-Hand White Baby Grand"? That's by design.

Speaking of designs, Rebecca Duvall gives Karen an armload of designer clothes because she can't spend her whole life in yoga gear! They hit the town, which leads to more paparazzi photos, which leads to another fight with Dev because... she gets free clothing from Rebecca Duvall? She has her own life? He's jealous that his career has stalled? At least she's not in charge of smoothies, which is exactly what Eileen does to Ellis.

And then, and then. Rebecca Duvall shows up at an Indian restaurant, where she proceeds to confuse Indian and Thai cuisines, do a racist, stereotypical accent, ignore Dev's knowledge of Indian cooking to get a second opinion from their waiter, and ask Dev how high up he is at the Mayor's office. They promptly get into a fight over Karen and Dev's relationship which bleeds into... the curséd Bollywood number.

I've been torn about this number for eight years because on the one hand, yikes. On the other, Raza Jaffrey is so damn hot! Much wittier people than I have dissected this number over the years, so let's just watch it through our fingers and move on!

Eileen is kissing Nick, Julia is devastated to discover that Leo has disappeared because his parents are such a mess and bullies one of his classmates while wearing sunglasses and a turban, and Ivy Lynn and Ellis conspire to keep Rebecca Duvall and Karen out of rehearsal—which means that Ivy Lynn gets "Second-Hand White Baby Grand." Sometimes you have to do bad things for the greater good, you know?

Except she's so good that Rebecca demands that she get to sing the song. A famous person starring in a Broadway musical who has whims and caprices! What will be next?!

THE STARS
Tony Yazbeck, who is the new Joe DiMaggio!

THE SONGS
"Run," "Second-Hand White Baby Grand," "A Thousand and One Nights"

THE SCARVES
15 (Rebecca Duvall, her manager, her assistant, Julia, Ivy Lynn, Jessica, Bobby, Karen, Tom, Derek, Sam)

 
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