Headscratchers / Mozart in the Jungle

• Why was Lizzie so knowledgable about classical music that she would throw a classical music party with metronome bongs and some weird drinking game and then retconned in S2 to not even be a classical musician?
  • Lizzie is a musician, just not a classical one, as witnessed by her stunning Billie Holiday impersonation. You don't need to be a classical musician to know a lot about it.
• If John Hodgeman's character is a fraud, how did he afford that golden oboe?
  • It is implied he may obtain funds through being a grifter. He seems to go after extremely wealthy targets and seems to have enough to maintain the appearance of being from a wealthy family. An alternative is that Hai Lai may be in possession of a stolen instrument if he used a bad check to pay for it.
• How does Hailey even stay afloat when she's paying $400 an hour lessons? How can an oboe chair maintain a client base when she's charging that much?
  • Betty is probably overcharging Hailey given the animosity between them. Even so, she probably can command a premium because the show sets her up as an at least somewhat renowned oboist. Most of her client base is probably people with aspirations of playing at a high level.
• Why did Hailey automatically assume that Sharon's giggles in the office were about her? At the time, it seemed like Betty was the real bitch and actively sabatoged her, so maybe it was some misplaced anger at Betty?
• It's clearly stated that Sharon is Rodrigo's personal assistant during his autograph session. So does he now have two personal assistants? When Hailey trains a new assistant, and that fails, couldn't she just insist that Sharon pick up her slack or for continuity's sake, give the two different titles?
  • Sharon goes to work for Edward Biben, the symphony's business manager. However, the reason for her changing jobs and her explicitly doing so don't seem to be shown onscreen.
• During the Mexico City concert, why didn't Rodrigo just tell the media person that he needed a day on the tour to visit his family.
  • Rodrigo is being Rodrigo, he doesn't care that much about engagements and rules
  • As a Mexican, this actually made sense, we do thing 'al chilazo', something like #YOLO
• Why was Pavel in Mexico City on the tour?
  • In the book the show is inspired by, the writer goes into great detail about how much coordination a tour for an orchestra takes. It makes sense to have someone on hand to coordinate the moving and setting up of the larger instruments and check out venues to see if any adjustments are needed and make sure sound systems and acoustics are good to go.
• What is up with Thomas and Rodrigo's encounter in the pilot? When Thomas attempts to be friendly with Rodrigo a couple episodes after the pilot, Rodrigo exhibits a reverence towards the man that belies the fact that very recently, this was a relationship where one guy was apathetic towards the other and one guy was openly insulting.
  • Both of them had a Heel Realization which informed their understanding they were not so different. While Thomas realized Rodrigo was doing the same thing he did to his predecessor, Rodrigo realized he was treating a master conductor with contempt.