Vinyl Season 1 Episode 3 Recap

Vinyl (2016-)

Created by:  Mick Jagger, Terence Winter, Rich Cohen, Martin Scorsese
Starring:   Bobby Cannavale, Olivia Wilde, Ray Romano, Juno Temple, James Jagger

Vinyl  is getting better, but it's still cashing in on promises it hasn't fulfilled. It's using tripe to amplify the drama and it's completely unnecessary. This episode felt the leanest, but there's still some fat to trim away. It still hasn't moved into must watch television, but if it keeps improving it might get there. Check out my Vinyl season 1 recaps.

Plot: 
Richie Finestra (Bobby Cannavale) is a New York record executive in 1973, endeavoring to sign the biggest and best talent.

Review: Episode 3 Whispered Secrets
I like the theme song other than it's two or three times longer than it should be. It's not dissimilar from the show.

The show is really playing up Richie's drama with his wife. It's not a mistake, but the show is just going a bit too far into her resulting issues. Richie still hasn't told her he isn't selling the company. He tries to avoid her, but that can't last forever. I get the show wants to show us how Richie's action affect others, but it feel forced. She tries to raise money for a fundraiser when Richie won't cut a check. She goes to her friend Andy Warhol to get him to sign a painting. He sees through her charade but signs anyway.

The other annoying plot point that I assume will play a larger and larger role is the murder from the first episode. This show is not a cop drama or cat and mouse game. The murder was unnecessary in the first episode and now it serves as drama. It was done to create drama later and now they are capitalizing. Richie is having flashbacks about it, of course. Corso is pushing for Richie to review his girlfriend's demo tape. Corso mentions the murder as blackmail. Did someone think the script was weak and need an adrenaline shot? Is this going to be a plot point that snakes around the entire season? The show should focus on music.

Richie went to Lester Grimes and wants to release his old records. Lester tells him to walk.This is what I want to see, Richie chasing talent. As much as we've seen Lester, I'm guessing his story is just getting started. He lost out and could have been big in the music industry, but Lester might just discover a new genre of music.

 One of Richie's scouts is pushing Vince, the front man of Alice Cooper to go solo. This later did happen, as Vince went solo and adapted the band's name for his solo career. Will the show explore this? It seems odd to include this if they aren't going to. Then again this is what I expected, cameos of artists from that era. Alice Cooper was leading the scout on. Richie spurned them a few years ago.

If ACR is a partnership why does Richie all all the shots? Richie is pushing his ideas on his partners and they just take it.  Is it easier to moan and complain than fight? Are they just making the best of a bad situation?

Jamie is still working with one of the developers to transform The Nasty Bits. When Richie walks out on the band, Jamie takes the blame for softening them when it was the developer that did it, and gets them to play something original. Richie likes the original sound.

Corso calls Richie to tell him the body has been found. It's such needless drama.  This episode did a good job of getting into what the show should do, but it also had a few unnecessary plot points. It's not lean enough and the murder plot point is just annoying.