Watching Studio60

We’re taking a second look at “Smoky,” the twelfth episode of Sports Night. Following up on the review, here’s a recap of the episode. Still to come: Memorable lines.

As they prepare for the evening’s show, Dan announces to his partner that it’s time: Casey’s ready to start dating again. He needs to start meeting women, and Dan’s going to help him out, whether he likes it or not. There’s still time for him to find someone. Casey, on the other hand, is more concerned about the computer glitches that are creating ridiculous sports records in the Sports Night copy.

After the show, Dana stops by Isaac’s office, all freaked out because he sent a note saying he wanted to see her. He never sends notes. What could it mean? Isaac explains that he wants to start grooming her to take over his job, and she should start coming to monthly executive lunches. Dana will hear nothing of him going anywhere or grooming her for anything; she likes her job, and wants him in his. But Isaac’s worried that the public shaming he gave the boss in the previous episode only appears to have blown over, and Luther Sachs is waiting to fire him until it doesn’t look like he’s doing it over a race-related issue. He tells Dana that he wants the show to go to the person he wants it to go to, and asks her to keep quiet about it.

Yeah, like that’s going to happen. Dana’s barely outside the office before she’s blabbing to Natalie, who immediately starts imagining herself in Dana’s job. There’s about to be a lot of that going around.

Casey doesn’t really have to go looking for women, because one of them has found him: Sally’s in the office, flirting with maximum unsubtlety, putting her foot on his chair under the pretense of discussing old basketball injuries. Dan breaks it up and sends her on her way, and tries to warn Casey to watch out. Casey, however, had no idea he was being flirted with, and tends to disagree with Dan’s assessment that Sally is an alien, a Stepford producer, Satan’s handmaiden.

Meanwhile, Natalie’s trying like crazy to get Jeremy to flirt with her — or rather, to describe to her what’s wrong with the computers in suggestive tech speak in some sort of nerdish version of phone sex. The fact that he’s as clueless about it as Casey was pulls the plug pretty quick.

But not so quick that Sally doesn’t use their dallying as proof of the lack of professionalism on the Sports Night staff, and proof that she and her staff ought to take over when Dana gets bumped up to Isaac’s spot. She makes this argument to Isaac, who wants nothing less than to be lobbied by the woman. He assures her there are no job shifts ahead, though she’s pretty sure she heard there was.

Uninterested in Dan’s desire to fix him up with Yoko Ono, Casey seeks Dana out for some advice about flirting. She knows Sally’s flirting with him, because Sally’s always flirting with him, and suggests that Casey practice some return flirting with her now. He’s spectacularly bad at it, but just when she’s about to split, he comes up with something good: She’s smoky. That stops Dana in her tracks; she doesn’t know what it means, but she likes it. He explains that it means classy, sexy, and Dana’s fully flustered. Natalie notices what’s going on, and when Dana explains later that it was a class in flirting, she asks if Jeremy can join.

Joining in the prospective job shuffling are Kim and Elliot, who now come to Isaac arguing that if Kim gets Natalie’s job, Elliot will either quit or become her manslave, depending on who you’re talking to. That’s it — Isaac calls a meeting to insist that he’s not going anywhere, and berate Dana for betryaing his confidence. Dana explains that she only told Natalie, her second in command. Natalie explains that she only told Jeremy, her boyfriend. And Jeremy? Jeremy explains that he told many, many people.

That having been settled, Dana is free to remain unhinged by Casey’s flattery, allowing him to use any mixed metaphor he wants as long as he can throw around terms like “smoky.” In the control room, Jeremy redeems himself, too, assuring Natalie that she is not only smoky but “a slow drink of whiskey.” That and a little nerdspeak will take him far.

Sports Night, ABC, Smoky, recap