My Review of Welcpme To Chippendales: "Velveeta"

 

Written by Rajiv Joseph

Directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton

Steve's Mother: "Some people are not meant to be rich."

Now the above quote was definitely the kind of thing no one would ever want to hear and boy, did this episode certainly have a few things to say. Notably being that Steve's mother wasn't exactly beaming with pride at her son's accomplishments for a start. 

In fact she was lonely resentful f Steve abandoning the family printing business for his own ambitions and very dismissive and ashamed of him running a nightclub. Which made the funeral of Steve's father even more awkward than it already was. Then there was everything else that transpired in this episode. 

Steve really didn't like the fact that Irene (whom he was now married to) went out dancing with Nick and Denise and he certainly didn't like that she indulged in some cocaine on the side as well. In fact he was pretty horrible towards her and it did look like he was about to leave her at one point in the episode.

However he did seem to considerably perk up when handyman/photographer Ray (Robin de Jesus) appealed to his vanity and together, the two of them came up with the painfully obvious idea of doing a calendar for the Chippendales. To be fair, this would've been the sort of thing that Nick and Denise could've been on board had Steve actually bothered to tell them about it.

Instead Steve had purposely gone behind their back and seemed to take a rather petty delight in rubbing Nick's face in it, forcing the latter to head back to New York. Unlike Steve who went overboard with his hatred for Nick and Denise's Hunkenstein idea, I actually think Nick had a right to be mad here. Then again, there's five episodes to go, so we're not rid of Nick just yet.

- Nick compared himself to Sissyphus to Irene when he originally didn't know how he was go to top his bellboy idea at the start of the episode. Irene seemed surprised that he was gay.

- The title came from the brand of cheese that Steve's mother normally liked but rejected here.

- Standout music: Funky Town by Lipps Inc.

- Chronology: Two years since the events of the previous episode.

Velveeta continued with the male flesh on display, both Nick and Denise getting some action as well as both Denise and Irene trying to play peacemaker between a warning Steve and Nick. Not quite as the first two episodes but still a solid episode.

Rating: 7 out of 10