Welcome To Chippendales drops a killer two-episode premiere

What is the role of the “pilot” episode in the era of binge-watching? The question occurred to me as soon as I realized Hulu was releasing two full episodes of its latest limited series, Welcome To Chippendales, and opting to then shift into a weekly release schedule. Pilots are supposed to hook you all while introducing the show’s main players and so, if you’ve watched “An Elegant, Exclusive Atmosphere” and “Four Geniuses” back to back you probably understood why the streamer would want those two hours to be seen that way.

The former is a great pilot with a killer ending (literally), all about the struggles that went into opening the club that become known as Chippendales. The latter, meanwhile, better sets up the key ensemble that will drive, presumably, much of the narrative of this lurid behind-the-scenes look at the history of that famed male stripping empire. The other way to think about it is that episode one introduces us to gas-station-attendant-turned-entrepreneur Steve née Somen Banerjee (Kumail Nanjiani) and Emmy-winning choreographer Nick De Noia (Murray Bartlett), the two men who will end up turning a failed backgammon club into a stripping success (one with money and know-how, the other with talent and verve). Episode two, meanwhile, infuses the series with some much-needed female energy courtesy of wildcard extraordinaire Juliette Lewis as Denise, the flirty costume designer, and Analeigh Ashford as Irene, the flirty accountant, who in their own way become instrumental in helping Steve and Nick elevate what they were curating. And yes, that involves lots of bedazzling and breakaway pants, as well as keen insights into the business of running a bar with great profit margins.

GRADE FOR SEASON 1, EPISODE 2, “Four Geniuses”: B+

---

If I’m making a lot out of the bifurcated nature of this two-episode premiere, it’s because I believe “An Elegant, Exclusive Atmosphere” is a near-perfect pilot episode while its follow-up, especially when watched in quick succession, slightly pales in comparison. After all, watching Somen fumble his way into turning his life around Steve Austin-style into the owner of what will soon become a thriving male stripping business with the aid of a Playmate and her domineering husband is thrilling. Especially as it frames the origin of “Chippendales” (named after the cabinet maker) as a wholly American story.

Steve’s story is one of bootstraps and rugged hard work. He’s an entrepreneur who buys into the “American dream” even as he knowingly co-opts and perpetuates all the ugliness such a fantasy requires. I mean, no one who unironically wants to create an “elegant” environment like those featured in Playboy (Hefner is an icon of his, obviously) and who’s not afraid to manipulate the media to muster up free press for himself is going to be immune from the more unsavory aspects of what it means to run a business like his—in Los Angeles, of all places.

Therein, of course, lies his tragedy. Or, well, I should say that only if you know already where this story is going. So perhaps we should stick with only what writer Robert Siegel and director Matt Shakman present us with in this two-episode premiere, which is basically a how-to on starting a successful business. Namely: find yourself an untapped market (women, who, by the way, get horny), create a niche product (like, say, male strippers), and foment a vibe that can’t easily be replicated (the aforementioned “elegance” Steve is so obsessed with; did you clock his watch?). And yes, as Steve and Paul (Dan Stevens)—and even Nick—remind us, sometimes such endeavors require a level of “fake it ’til you make it” energy. Which, you know, clearly works in this case, especially as good ideas for how to improve on “Destiny II” a.k.a. a backgammon club seem to materialize in the most convenient and unlikely places possible (for instance, from non-drinking accountants and drunken costume designers).

Does this mostly happen in a series of montages that feature A-plus music choices that help move along what would otherwise be, maybe, too slow of a story? Perhaps, but the glittering, disco-infused world Shakman conjures here (those costumes that make you want to drink the nights away! that hazy cinematography that makes everything feel tinged with cigarette smoke! those ridiculous hair pieces and wigs that are supposed to take us back to the late ’70s and early ’80s!) is truly infectious.

I must note that even with the bloody ending of its first episode (R.I.P. Paul and Dorothy), Welcome To Chippendales is quite funny. That’s why it makes sense that its central quartet (Nanjiani, Bartlett, Lewis, and Ashford) would be as adept at comedy as they are at the tragic pathos the series aspires to. You do laugh out loud throughout, even as the themes of craven entrepreneurship make this also double as a dour warning for what it means to want to fill your life with the kind of success that can only be bought, be bribed, or manufactured at your dignity’s expense.

Because I’m going to call it right now: The more we watch the stoic Steve try to become the successful “American businessman” he’s always wanted to be, the more we’ll find that such a dream comes at a high cost. For loneliness and ambition make for dangerous bedfellows. Here’s where Paul’s demise (as a result of his own toxicity and his inability to let his wife be her own person) serves as a warning prologue for what’s to come. Moreover, that this story is rooted in the journey of an immigrant and that of a (mostly closeted) gay man makes the “Chippendales” saga all the more fascinating.

I mean, of course it would take a gay man to dream up such a joyous vision of masculine beauty on display (while out at a WeHo gay bar, no less). But it’s something else to see it also be the brainchild of an ambitious man eager to buy his way into a life of “elegance” that, he must know, will always exclude him. Again, if you know where this story is headed, you’re aware that stiff, square Steve and “give me that tiger energy” Nick are both about to go way in over their heads…even if right now they’re both flying ever closer to the sun and basking in its heat. After all, this is a show about masculine hubris and the ways men (like Paul, like Steve…and even like Nick) can often refuse to let go of the glory they believe is owed them. What could possibly be more American than that?

Stray observations

• I dare anyone who first encountered Dan Stevens as arguably one of the most boring male leads in Downton Abbey way back when to have imagined the eclectic career he’d go on to have. His Paul Snider joins a growing list of skeevy guys he clearly relishes playing and I am just oh-so-sad tragic real-life events (spoiler alert) keep us from enjoying said portrayal past the show’s first episode. Same goes for Nicola Peltz as Dorothy Stratten whose line reading of “I am not gonna fuck Peter Bogdanovich!” will live rent free in my head for months to come.
• I know it’s probably period specific but oof Bartlett’s wig is unfortunate, no?
• With songs by ABBA, the Village People, Blondie and Donna Summer, I am going to need Hulu to curate for us a rocking disco playlist that assembles all the fab needle drops the series is gifting us.
• Only Tony Award winner Analeigh Ashford could make a line like “I’m an accountant” sound like a breathy come on, later turning a talk of ice and profit margins feel like verbal foreplay. She’s long been overdue for a juicy role like this one (I say, fully aware that many watched Masters Of Sex and thought the same back then).
• Love that we got an origin story for breakaway pants.
• Murray Bartlett dancing the tango by himself as Nick choreographs in just shorts? Woof (respectfully).
• Speaking of Nick…we’re all Googling “Unicorn Tales” right about now, yes?
• I also want to shout out the way the show shoots its stripping numbers. I’m not saying Magic Mike walked (strutted, really) so that Welcome To Chippendales could run, but there is a lasciviousness to the way the camera lingers on the club’s many dancers—including Otis, who is so clearly the star whenever he takes the stage. As Dorothy tells Paul, “The male body is beautiful” and the series not only understands that but wants to so obviously celebrate it. (Shoutout to all the Chippendales dancers here, especially in any and every scene where they rehearse with Nick.)
• If we must choose MVPs so early in the series, can my money be on Juliette Lewis, who remains on a streak following Yellowjackets and this year’s Queer As Folk?