Make love, not... law! Schmicago gives us more burlesque and group nudity, and we're back together trying to decipher the Broadway origins of songs, sets, and even choreography.

Warning: Spoilers for Season 2 of 'Schmigadoon!' ahead.

Previous recaps:

Episode 1

Episode 2

The Naked Truth

While Tituss Burgess greets us with his little musical intro, we can admire the names of Schmicago's establishments. And it's simply a fairy tale. 'Sondheim’s Children’s Playthings', 'Schwartz Happy Family Portraits', 'Herman’s Hummable Tunes' and 'Ebb and Co. Apothecary' – all reference famous composers and lyricists (including my beloved Stephen Sondheim).

While Melissa (Cecily Strong) plans to further investigate the murder of dancer Elsie and learns from lawyer Bobby (Jane Krakowski) that her husband Josh (Keegan-Michael Key) has escaped from prison, Josh wakes up in a hippie commune with a lush mane of hair (a reference, of course, to the musical 'Hair') and agonizes over whether he did the right thing by succumbing to temptation and joining the escape.

Commune leader Topher (Aaron Tveit) decides to perform Josh's initiation ritual – namely, introducing him to the tradition of public nudity. 'Gotta Get Naked' not only references the song 'Good Morning Starshine', but also parodies the entire hippie musical 'Hair', at the end of the first act of which the actors appeared completely naked before the audience.

The Demon Butcher of Quick Street

Meanwhile, Melissa goes to check a lead found in the previous episode, which brings her to the gloomy Quick Street. Here, she first meets the owner of the local orphanage, Miss Coldwell (Kristin Chenoweth), who complains about life, and her number 'Worst Brats in Town' unequivocally hints at the aria from 'Sweeney Todd' 'Worst Pies in London'. So we understand that this character is a composite of Mrs. Lovett from 'Sweeney Todd' and Miss Hannigan from 'Annie'. And how funny it is to hear Kristin doing an exaggerated Cockney accent!

Josh undergoes initiation and learns that the whole commune hates the magnate Kratt (Patrick Page), but doesn't know how to fight his energy monopoly. When Josh tries to do the right thing and return to prison, the hippies read him a rather amusing fable about a sheep without a flock, which clearly mocks the very concept of the musical 'Godspell', which consists of such little fables.

Melissa meets barber Sweeney Todd the local butcher Dooley Blight (Alan Cumming), who tells her (through a witty homage to 'The Barber and His Wife') his story – his wife was once killed by Kratt, who was in love with her, framed Dooley himself, and sent him to prison for many years. The deceased dancer Elsie actually used to secretly visit Dooley to tell him how things were going with her roommate Jenny (Dove Cameron), who is actually Dooley's daughter. Melissa promises to keep the clearly unhinged butcher informed, as he reminds her of an 'old friend' (of course, meaning Mayor Aloysius Menlove from the first season).

What Does a Trial Look Like in Schmicago?

Melissa finds Josh in the commune, clearly having overdone it with the local hallucinogenic bread. He's generally not against leaving the commune, no matter how much Topher tries to persuade him to stay. By the way, the local hippies don't like Melissa – as if Schmicago is taking revenge on her for not liking musicals of this era.

At the trial, we witness a true musical miracle – lawyer Bobby delivers a brilliant defense of her client Josh, performing the endlessly delightful number 'Bells and Whistles'. Here we can see references to Chicago's 'Razzle Dazzle', and to 'Getting Married Today' from Sondheim's 'Company', and to 'A Chorus Line', and even a fleeting nod to Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical 'Starlight Express', in which actors roll around the stage on roller skates (and in which Krakowski herself performed).

The outcome of the trial – the undeniably charming Bobby secures Josh's acquittal. The couple joyfully embrace, believing they've achieved a happy ending and can return home, but that's not the case. Narrator Titus and the magnate Mr. Kratt aren't done with them yet – Kratt tells us he always feels attracted to women who can't reciprocate his feelings, and shows outright interest in Melissa. By the way, his number is a mashup of 'This Jesus Must Die' by the same Webber and 'Johanna (Mea Culpa)' from 'Sweeney Todd' (in early productions, Judge Turpin also engaged in literal self-flagellation, which was later dropped).

So, the murder hasn't been solved yet, and did the heroes really deserve their happy ending so early? We'll find out very soon! In the meantime, we'd be happy to read your comments if we missed any reference (and we definitely missed some, otherwise the article would be three times longer).