Schmigadoon! season 2, episode 6 recap: Over and Done

At the end of the last episode, of Schmigadoon! the plan to kill Kratt went terribly wrong and ended up with Melissa getting kidnapped so she can marry Kratt against her will. Josh was in a bad spot as well, with the head of the corrupt police holding him at gunpoint.

This forces Melissa to agree to go through with the wedding in order to save Josh’s life. Sargent Rivera is tasked with killing Josh, but Josh tries to stall the killing by telling Rivera parables that try to illuminate how Kratt has treated Rivera badly his whole life and how Rivera is trapped.

The parable strategy doesn’t seem to be working, but in an attempt to stall for time, it deteriorates into Josh recapping the plot of any movie he can think of.

Schmigadoon! season 2, episode 6 recap: Stopping a wedding with murder…

Back at the orphanage, Dooley rages that he missed a chance to kill Kratt. But with Josh being held prisoner by Sargent Rivera, Dooley and Miss Codwell set out to save him, and meanwhile, maybe, get to kill somebody along the way.

At the same time, the tribe of hippies find Topher and Jenny, and convince them to rejoin the tribe to save Josh. The two rescue parties arrive at the same time, which is the first time Dooley and his daughter Jenny have been in the same room.

At first Jenny wants nothing to do with Dooley, but Sargent Rivera, for the first time, defies Kratt’s wishes and admits that Dooley didn’t murder his wife (Jenny’s mother) and he was framed. The pair embrace and Josh is freed.

The whole crew dash off to stop the wedding, but things seem to take a turn when Kratt orders his men to do away with Josh, and the rest of the cast that has taken Josh’s side. Dooley tries to kill Kratt with his butcher knife but slips and only gets Kratt’s coat tail.

Just when it seems that all is lost, Phantom is referenced and a chandelier crashes down onstage. Melissa gets out of the way, but Kratt, who’s pinned in place by Dooley’s knife, is crushed and killed.

Miss Codwell is revealed to be the person who cut the line causing the chandelier to crash, and the whole cast sings about how glad they are that Kratt is dead. With Kratt dead, the whole town begins to improve.

The nightclub is taken over by Madam Frau who finally lets Sargent Rivera perform on stage, which had been his lifelong dream. Jenny and Topher take over the orphanage, while Dooley and Miss Codwell open a successful bakery.

Basically everyone has a happy ending, which means that Melissa and Josh are free to leave. But, as the narrator points out, why would they want to leave?

They left one magical musical town before and ended up being unhappy. Why wouldn’t they stay in Schmicago this time around where they can have a guaranteed happy ending?

Josh and Melissa consider but decide that the real world is where they belong, even knowing how difficult it will be. Upon the decision, the leprechaun appears, saying that they’ve passed the test.

While they had to try and find a happy ending before they could leave, the truth is that there’s no such thing as happy endings. But as the cast sings, each day offers the chance of a new happy beginning.

Hand and hand, Melissa and Josh leave to go back to the real world, as the season comes to a close.

Schmigadoon! season 2, episode 6 recap: A Happy Beginning

The first season of Schmigadoon! was clearly prepared to exist as a single season of television. Musicals have had mixed results over the years when it comes to TV shows, and there’s plenty of competition with a new streaming service seemingly popping up every few months.

So, it’s no surprise that Schmigadoon! season one wrapped up nicely in a way that left no dangling threads, in case that was going to be the end of the show. But then it got a second season.

And while that was great news for fans of the show, it presented an interesting situation. While it would seem obvious that Josh and Melissa would once again return to a musical world, leaving the real one behind, everything had been wrapped up.

Another season of Schmigadoon! would mean that new plots would have to be created and the happy endings from the first season would have to be undone to create new conflict for the show. And in the magical, musical world of Schmigadoon!, happy endings can’t just be undone, without undermining the whole idea of what the world is.

Which is why the move to Schmicago was such a great way to handle the second season. Moving the show into a new town, and a new era of musicals, lets the first season keep the happy ending for the characters from the first season. It also lets the show explore a whole new slew of characters.

The show even takes the opportunity to comment on its own narrative endings for both seasons with the final song of this season. With every chance the second season had to repeat or retread the greatest hits of the first season, it deliberately side stepped in order to explore something new.

The actors get to play with new character types, and also get to have scenes with actors that they barely interacted with in the first season. This really was the best way to help the spirit of the show continue into the second season, while really letting the show explore new territory.

So, what’s next for Schmigadoon!? While a third season hasn’t been announced yet, it seems obvious that the formula that has now been set up offers seemingly endless opportunities for new seasons and new stories.

While the series once again has wrapped up in a way that gives the show a perfect ending, if this is it, the series has already proven once that it can make a new season without betraying the ending of the previous season. So, we can be hopeful for season three.

What did you think of Schmigadoon! season 2 episode 6? Leave your answers in the comments below!

You can stream both seasons of Schmigadoon! on Apple TV+.