Welcome to Chippendales
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| Image courtesy Hulu |
Robert Siegel (creator)
Kumail Nanjiani, Murray Bartlett, Annaleigh Ashford,
Juliette Lewis (cast)
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| Image courtesy Hulu |
I’ll
confess, I know nothing about Chippendales other than its brand name. Till this
show came along I didn’t even realize it was founded by an Indian immigrant in
Los Angeles (it’s not like India would like to claim him, considering
everything Steve did). This is a ground-up retelling of how Chippendales was
created, so if you followed the story of the real Steve, or already know about
the company, this show may not have many new revelations for you.
Welcome to
Chippendales does not incorporate Steve’s life
story. The pilot episode starts with Steve, then going by his real name Somen,
working at a gas station. He’s a hard worker with no life but plenty of
ambition. He quits his job to start his own enterprise. Except, getting an establishment
off the ground is harder than it looks. He co-opts the help of Paul Snider (an
almost unrecognizable Dan Stevens), a so-called nightclub promoter. But it
takes a while for Steve to find his mojo. What is his club’s USP—the je ne sais
quoi? Well, Steve finally figures it out and launches Chippendales, a male
strip club exclusively catering to women. It’s a hit, but how does he keep people
coming back? How does he increase profits? How, how, how? Welcome to
Chippendales shows us that starting something is just the beginning. Steve
faces an uphill task to keep Chippendales’ doors open, especially when his business
acumen clashes with the ego of his choreographer Nick De Noia (Murray Bartlett),
Steve’s own poor decision-making, and a system rigged against people of colour.
I
thoroughly enjoyed Welcome to Chippendales. I didn’t expect to because
dramas can be overwrought and salacious. And shows about rich people problems are
often so tedious. But this adaptation digs into the interpersonal relations of all
the parties involved, while also dipping into the complexities of running a business,
and the scandalous times that were the 1980s. The show has the 80s vibe and
look down pat, especially with the theme tune and visuals—I didn’t skip the
intro even once, I loved listening to the music by Siddhartha Khosla. The 80s
soundtrack was another delight, it’s my favourite music era, so this show was quite
literally singing my song.
But those are
superficialities. The real joy of the show is just how tense and suspenseful it
is. This isn’t the whodunnit kind of suspense, this is the ‘waiting for the
other shoe to drop’ kind of tension, the kind that comes from real-life
interactions in the working world. The tension is often ratcheted up to the max
and you know something bad is going to happen, but what it will be is so
nerve-wracking. I was at the edge of my seat, heart-racing, afraid of what was
to come. It’s so good.
The
writing is smart and tight, there weren’t many moments that felt inconsequential.
I do wish they had leaned a little more into the racial dynamics of the time
and how it affected Steve. That enters the fray later on in the show but I
think some people need to be hit on the head with it a little more, and I would
have liked to see how Steve overcame those systemic issues. Or perhaps, he didn’t
face them on a systemic level, but a societal one.
I also
think, in an effort to tell the more scandalous aspects of the story, we missed
out on learning about how Steve, after his life goes through a particular
upheaval, is not only able to stay afloat but gets his business to thrive. For
once I think a show could have been a tad longer—two more episodes of the
booming five years in between the incidents of Episodes 7 and 8 would have
shown us Steve’s genius.
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| Image courtesy Hulu |
The real Steve Bannerjee sounds like he was a really horrible person to deal with, but Kumail Nanjiani plays him much more sympathetically. He’s less a tyrant than someone who always has his back against the wall. That’s not to say Steve is likeable; he gets scarier by the episode as greed and power get to his head, but he’s also, often, not in the wrong for losing his cool with Nick. Nick, on the show, is an insecure man trying to relive his glory days and he does what many white men in history have done, taking credit for a person of colour’s work. He is bossy and annoying. Welcome to Chippendales made me feel sorry for Steve for the simple reason that he had to put up with Nick De Noia. I’m still not sure that was the intention, but that’s what I came away feeling. I don’t condone yelling in the workplace, and Steve, on the show, has zero people skills and even worse communication skills, but Nick is always pushing his buttons, so tensions keep rising. Have I mentioned that this show is really stressful? It’s not good for your blood pressure.
Since Welcome
to Chippendales is a show about a male strip joint, there are a few dance
sequences where the dancers get down to their thongs. I can’t say the scenes
felt gratuitous, because these sequences are part of the experience of watching
a Chippendales performance in the series. The male dancers seem to have been
selected for their dancing abilities and their comfort with stripping, but they're not conventionally attractive. Interesting choice. The show
also doesn’t go down the Magic Mike route where a male stripping
platform has more naked women in it. There is very little nudity in the show of
any gender, but yes, the camera isn’t shy about flaunting the talented dancers.
The acting
is spectacular all around. Juliette Lewis, who is the Chippendales designer and
then pretty much runs the show herself, is brilliant as the ditzy, always high,
very clingy Denise. Annaleigh Ashford elevates the role of Steve’s partner and later
wife, Irene, to a whole other level with her poised performance. She could easily
have been one of those over-the-top emotional characters, but she plays Irene
as a formidable person often caught in the whirlwind of her husband’s
ridiculous ideas. Murray Bartlett is smarmy, charming, talented and so
frustrating as Nick. You love to hate this guy. Quentin Plair who plays one of
the dancers has a magnetic presence, and I would have to see more of his role
in the show.
The star,
of course, is Kumail Nanjiani. I still wish they’d found an actor with Bengali
heritage, but I’ll take what we get, considering some of the sham castings that
Hollywood has inflicted on us in the past. Kumail captures that almost-obsequious
nature of some Indians who try too hard, but he’s also frightening when things
aren’t going Steve’s way. Kumail is restrained, even in the emotional scenes,
which adds an edge to his performance. This is a great vehicle for him,
especially for anyone who still thinks of him only as a comedian. Also, kudos to
everyone on the show for pronouncing Bannerjee correctly. ‘Ethnic’ names get
botched all the time, but there wasn’t a single mistake on the show.
I’m floored
by this show. It’s unexpected and enthralling. The ending feels melancholic,
but I’m not sure if everyone will feel that way about it. I thought the ending
was a reminder of human fallibilities, but also the fallibilities of the
justice system. Who really gets punished when someone commits a crime? The ending
is depressing, but Chippendales is still a known brand and the performances
haven’t abated. But the true story behind the brand is horrifying, as we find
out in Welcome to Chippendales.
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