“Welcome to American Century…”
By Matt Fowler
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
Vinyl still has a steep climb ahead, with regards to becoming a must-watch series, but “The Racket” was a bit of a crowd-pleaser in its own right. The gimmick of having one afternoon of converging meetings, artists, and pop-ins (and fire) made for a fun little ride.
Fictional R&B artist Hannibal (Daniel J. Watts) came to visit the office so that Richie could smooth talk him a bit, assuage his fears, and get him to ignore other suitors. All the while, Zak and Devon continued to feel slighted by the madman/label man. Zak, forced to go to lunch so that Richie could schmooze with Hannibal by himself, and Devon, naturally, left at home. Both stories sort of played for laughs though. There wasn’t a lot of heaviness here. Sure, Zak and Devon both have serious gripes, but some of the weight was gone.
Granted, Devon was seriously considering leaving Richie, but she was ignored at almost every turn. Her meeting with a divorce lawyer turned into a chastising (from a woman who didn’t buy that Devon really wanted to leave) and then later, on the phone, Richie hung up on her mid-divorce sentence. So there was mild humor here, despite the dour topic.
The moment when The Nasty Bits returned to sign with Lester an their new manager was hugely satisfying. Especially after we heard, in last week’s episode, Alice Cooper talk about how Richie basically no-showed a meeting that was very important to them. And here he was again, ignoring the “fresh new sound” he sound desperately wanted. So that was a mighty find turnaround for Lester. Talking to the Bits about contracts and how the label will screw them and then returning to the office as their advocate.
Plus, Lester fought for them to record on their own. With no label interference. Probably the best idea anyone on the show’s had so far. One that Richie should have thought of given his “ear.” So this really did feel like the artist’s revenge. Not just from a feud dating back a decade or more, but for everyone on the show currently getting screwed out of money by their own record company.
“The Racket” used more humor than usual to lean into its darker themes while also – you know – sticking it to Richie a little bit. It’s much easier to accept him as a cad and a villain than as a protagonist and so when Lester turned the tables on him, it felt really good. The side story stuff involving Skip and the Donny Osmond records, and some of Zak’s issues, seemed to fill up belt space, but the idea of one chaotic day at the office was good.
