‘Vinyl’ Recap: Dirty Dancing
Five episodes into Vinyl‘s initial spin and one thing is clear: This show hates Jethro Tull.
Remmeber a few episodes ago, when Richie Finestra got so incensed by the “Aqualung” impresarios’ flute-laden prog rock that he yanked the record off the turntable and smashed it over his knee? This week, merely presenting our antihero and his A&R right-hand man Julie with a group of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Ian Anderson renaissance-faire goobers was enough to get the Ivy League tryhard Clark (“I graduated from fucking Yale!”) demoted to sandwich gofer. Look, we believe Metallica should have won that Grammy 27 years ago too, but after the second season of Fargo used “Locomotive Breath” to score an amazing gang-war montage — this should all be water under the bridge. You’re really gonna listen to “Cross-Eyed Mary” and argue that these dudes were everything wrong with Seventies rock & roll, while Loggins & Messina walk free? Fight the real enemy, folks.
Dubious taste in targets aside, this week’s Vinyl episode — the aptly titled “He in Racist Fire” — kept things moving at a fairly steady clip. While not as exciting visually as the previous two installments, it was buoyed by strong guest stars and its most complex, if unpleasant, investigation of how women and sexuality are utilized as means to an end in Richie’s wild world.
That deep dive took place in the swanky hotel room of Hannibal, the charismatic and razor-sharp funk musician whom American Century Records is desperate to keep on the roster. Since the singer has been stepping out with Richie’s secretary, Cece — who’s also leaking him information regarding douchebag record-industry rival Jackie Jervis — Finestra’s got an idea: a double date that ropes in his wife Devon. “Wear something sexy!” he shouts enthusiastically over the phone, hoping to trot her out as a glamorous incentive to stay with the label. Over dinner, the couple marvels at the superstar’s ability to create anagrams out of anyone’s name within seconds; what he comes up with for both Finestras — “Finest Dove Ran” for Devon, “He in Racist Fire” for Richie — proves remarkably prophetic.
‘Vinyl’ Recap: Dirty Dancing, Page 1 of 2