Welcome to Chippendales (1×03) Velveeta Review

For our spoiler-free review of the last episode of Welcome to Chippendales, click here.

Nobody said the journey was going to be straightforward as the group saw some tension in this latest episode of Welcome to Chippendales.

As an immigrant from India, Banerjee just didn’t always see things the same way as everyone else did. He preferred control but in Velveeta, he started to see that perhaps slip away as factions developed while the others looked to take advantage of the fact that he was away or at least thought they were doing the right thing without knowing any better. Emotions were running high as far as Banerjee was concerned, being away to attend his father’s funeral back in India while the anxiety of seemingly being out of the loop on what was happening back at the club. That being said, the reunion with his mother wasn’t necessarily easy either as she didn’t support his move to America and not taking over the family business. In the end, it wasn’t about money for which her son had a lot of now. Banerjee wanted his mother to move to Los Angeles and live with him but to her, India was her home.

Back at the club, De Noia was worried about the next routine and continuing to top himself. It wasn’t until a wild night out at the disco with Denise and Irene once the club was closed for the night until he and Denise found the inspiration they needed to develop their next revolutionary new routine. Meanwhile. Irene, who has since married Banerjee, truly let loose and was unlike her usual self with the help of some cocaine with De Noia and Denise. However, the circumstances of that night out were not truly felt until he finally got back. Already heated about his wife using cocaine, he was on a warpath which included putting an end to De Noia and Denise’s new rock opera routine. Empathizing with her husband, Irene tried to talk it out with him but he wasn’t necessarily willing to open up to her about his feelings. Lightening things up, however, was the new easygoing handyman that Irene hired unbeknownst to him named named Ray (Robin de Jesus). Taking his side post-blowup, the two made a fun pairing as he was a real jack-of-all-trades of sorts.

One idea that Banerjee took away from his trip home was to make a calendar therefore he took the dancers as well as several other men to pose for Ray who was also a photographer. Already on edge after having his routine shot down, De Noia was not thrilled about getting to the club and finding his dancers missing and even less thrilled about not being involved with the calendar let alone not being told about it to begin with. So much so, the episode ends with him taking a one-way flight to New York City.

The result of yet another hissy fit, the character has his moments but his moodiness is becoming annoying. Though maybe it’s the writing, Murray Bartlett is paling in comparison as a foil to Kumail Nanjiani. The latter got to dive deep here in a strong way, however, the real MVPs are Annaleigh Ashford for a particular line delivery and Robin de Jesus for his charm alone.

still courtesy of Hulu

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.