Welcome to Chippendales (1×05) Leeches Review

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

Slowly but surely, it’s becoming clear that Banerjee and his insecurity would be the instrument of his own downfall. He is a control freak but as Chippendales expands and keeps growing, that grip is now tenuous at best and he hasn’t been the most graceful dealing with it all as he found himself under the microscope and faced the scrutiny that came with it. Spreading his focus between LA and NYC, it looked to be affecting him both professionally and personally. The only question is whether or not Banerjee will get out of his own head in time to notice what was happening.

When it came to the NYC Chippendales, it was definitely bigger and grander for which Banerjee noticed right away as the star attraction was the elaborate and ambitious Hunkenstein routine that he had originally nixed back in LA, a detail that he had conveniently forgotten. The performance of it here was full of production value in terms of the story and the series and it was also well shot. A wholesome moment where he got to experience snow for for the first time had to be taken too far by De Noia thus not helping his case which only got worse following a string of TV appearances where he seemed to take credit as the creator of Chippendales. Banerjee was incensed as a result. Attempting to reclaim the narrative, he failed during his first TV appearance.

Banerjee and the LA club meanwhile found itself in some legal trouble as a result of his membership card stunt that may have targeted minorities. He made it worse for himself by lying to Irene for which he did not get away with for very long. It was only a matter of time until competitors came out of the woodwork and one appeared to try and take advantage of the friction at the top. Of course, Banerjee did not take that well (and the episode title becomes fitting) but how he went about it may get him and others close to him in trouble in the near future.

At the end of the day, Nanjiani nails the naïve impressionable immigrant which is easy to connect to as a viewer but he also nails that sinister side when things don’t go his way. Over the course of the season so far, things have been leaning more towards the latter. That balance has admittedly kind of fallen apart but he nonetheless remains captivating. Shifting the setting to LA and NYC may be interesting but the characters other than Banerjee and De Noia haven’t really gotten the chance to shine.

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.