If you were one of the 764,000 viewers to watch the pilot of Vinyl, welcome back! The new HBO series may have started off slow, but it’s young, fascinating and produced by freakin’ Martin Scorsese! Following the two hour long premiere, Vinyl returned with even more shakeups after the collapse of the Mercer Theater at the end of last week’s episode.
Our “hero,” Richie Finestra (Bobby Cannavale), emerged from the rubble pretty much unscathed, but perhaps mentally damaged (or revitalized?). Whatever you wanna call it, something has changed, as Finestra has gone from a sad sack ready to sell away his life’s work to a manic depressive performing coke-fueled karate in the middle of a public movie theater. I mean, we all love Bruce Lee films and everything, but c’mon.
Meanwhile, Zak Yankovich (Ray Romano) and the rest of his American Century Records partners are stalling a pair of German investors before the scheduled final contract signing. They can’t proceed with the deal until Richie puts a pen to the paper, but of course he’s busy hiyah-ing to Enter the Dragon somewhere in the city. Zak decides to call Richie’s wife, Devon (Olivia Wilde), but he’s not there either. She tells Zak that Richie’s gone on a bender, which is pretty evident by the shattered television with a guitar sticking out of it.
It’s not looking good, and things are starting to get pretty awkward with the Germans when voila! Richie finally shows up high and still bleeding from the Mercer collapse the night before. Time to get down to that contract right? NOPE. Turns out Richie has had a “vision” and has decided not to sell American Century to those “Nazi pricks.” His partners, who were already planning vacations and extravagant bat mitzvahs for their daughters, protest. Richie ain’t having none of it though, as he uppercuts two of them Bruce Lee-style and demands an A&R meeting for the rest of the office.
Vinyl utilizes its time jumping capabilities once again and plops us back in the 60s at Andy Warhol’s Silver Factory. This is Devon’s flashback, which recounts the time that she first met Richie. There’s this new band with a strange sound called The Velvet Underground playing. As Lou Reed croons “Venus in Furs,” Devon and Richie exchange pleasantries before getting down to business. They end up having sex in the bathroom against the sink. And that, kids, is how Richie met your mother.
We jump again back to the present as Richie tells all of his A&R staff that they’re all fired unless they can find fresh artists within two weeks. Everyone is really bummed about this except for Jamie Vine (Juno Temple), who is looking to earn a promotion from secretary to talent scout. Recall that she discovered fledgling punk band Nasty Bits in the pilot, and she’s looking to showcase them in front of Richie. It takes a bit of convincing, but Richie agrees to give her and the Nasty Bits a shot.
Elsewhere, in the wake of American Century’s aborted sale, Zak is struggling to come to terms with this life curveball. In addition to having a banged up face via Richie, Zak has no idea how he’s going to pay for his daughter’s bat mitzvah and is in the midst of a pretty crappy marriage. He briefly contemplates overdosing in his garage, but changes his mind at the last second. Poor guy. but at least he lives on to fight another day.
And despite Richie’s renewed vigor for American Century, he still has a handful of personal problems as well. An NYPD detective shows up to his apartment asking questions about a recent homicide. Richie thinks he’s busted for his accidental murder of Buck Rogers, but it turns out to be completely unrelated. Still, the narrow escape is enough to bring him to tears on his wife Devon’s lap.
The conclusion of the episode ends with two promising acts - the Nasty Bits perform for Jamie and A&R head Julie (Max Casella). Julie thinks they suck, but he’s willing to give them a chance if they learn a Kinks song and play it for Richie. Speaking of Richie, he’s doing some scouting of his own as he shows up to an old friend’s apartment - Lester Grimes. He was Richie’s first client but also his first betrayal. Could him and the Nasty Bits end up on American Century’s revamped roster? Find out next week!
