While Somen seeks some comfort and normalcy at an Indian restaurant, Nick officially divorces his wife, actress Jennifer O’Neill. He then proceeds to hook up with her divorce lawyer. When Nick suggests they go dancing afterwards, the man brushes him off. It was just a hookup for him.
At home, Nick comforts himself with a glass of wine and a reminder of the taste of fame he once experienced as he watches old clips from his Emmy-winning children’s show.
Nick Chippendales, the former stripper and reality TV star, has been struggling to keep his act fresh. So Somen, the owner of a competing strip club, decides to hire Nick full-time as a dancer. ..
Nick fires the entire team of dancers so he can hire his own. One dancer is a standout in auditions: a struggling Black actor named Otis McCutcheon. Somen likes the fact that Nick hired a Black performer, concluding that customers will love it.
The women in the audience of the performance of Otis Redding’s first album are wild over his performance. They assault him on stage, and nobody bats an eye. Except for Irene, who is more interested in the fact that this isn’t her “kind of place.”
Irene later chats with Somen at the bar. When she impresses him with her calculated ways of saving money, he hires her as their accountant. Irene later chats with Somen at the bar and impresses him with her calculated ways of saving money. He then hires her as their accountant. ..
Nick tells Otis that he won’t be comfortable with women kissing and groping him, but Otis insists that’s the only way he’ll get paid. ..
It turns out Otis’s dreams are bigger than dancing, and he’s able to convince Somen to let him occasionally help out on the business side of the club.
Irene continues to have more good ideas for Chippendales, which is she who suggests the club open up to men after 10 pm. This way, women won’t leave after the performances to find men at other clubs.
With this change implemented, women stay at the club later into the night, while men line up to enter at 10 pm. ..
Somen and Irene bond further at work, and Somen takes her on a date to his favorite Indian restaurant. They share some of the same history, neither having gone into their respective family businesses. They discuss their families and how they are similar. ..
Nick is not happy with the way Somen is using his most popular dancer for non-performance related business.
He’s able to bring on Denise Coughlan as his costume designer, but he’s not able to convince Somen to hire her. The two men seem to want to butt heads only for the sake of their pride.
Irene introduces the four of them as her team, but Somen and Nick only stare at each other, both understanding that they aren’t on the same side. ..
The Episode Review
The murder-suicide in the premiere episode had a lot of importance to this follow-up installment, but it doesn’t seem to play a significant role in the rest of the series. Maybe that’s because making a dramatic series based on true events is always pressure. You have to keep up with implementing all the new events and characters where they showed up in the true story.
The premiere of “The Crown” had promise but fell short in developing conflict between Somen and Nick. Will the show base a feud solely around these two men’s pride? We’ll find out.
The characters and their chemistry are as riveting as ever (especially with the addition of three new characters). I only hope the series keeps up with the tense character dynamics and is able to weave in strong, connecting themes to strengthen the series arc. ..
