Tensions reach a breaking point in the penultimate episode of Welcome to Chippendales, titled “Paper is Paper.” Steve has become fiercely protective of his club, unwilling to share credit for its success with Nick. That’s where we find both men at the start of the 7th episode of Hulu’s dramatization of true events.
(Jessica Brooks/Hulu)
The Chippendales tour continues to go well, as evidenced by a montage of performances over a moving map of the country. Nick De Noia (Murray Bartlett) has gotten pretty wild with his conquests, sleeping with Bradford Barton (Andrew Rannells) and a string of random men, but we also see that his friendship with Denise (Juliette Lewis) hasn’t been strictly platonic. Bradford seems annoyed by Denise’s constant presence in their room as they play a game of Monopoly with real money. Denise is essentially managing the tour and while trying to confirm dates with a venue, she is told that they’re already booked by the theater’s manager (Van Epperson). She asks who booked it. “I forget his name, he had an accent,” the man says. Cut to Nick on his large 1984 cell phone yelling at Steve. “The tour is mine, you signed over the rights, remember?”, Nick cries out. Somen “Steve” Banerjee (Kumail Nanjiani) reminds him that the contract was written on a napkin. “Well, paper is paper,” Nick snaps back, telling Steve to expect a call from his lawyer.
As the tour bus loads up for its next stop, Bradford hangs back. He tells Nick that he’s returning to New York City and that he’d like Nick to join him. He’s tired of having Denise as a constant third wheel in their relationship and asks Nick to choose him. Nick decides to get on the bus and Bradford playfully says “You disappoint me terribly,” but as Nick departs, we see that his eyes are tearing up.
Lawyer Cheryl Levine (Jen Cohn) meets with Steve and Irene (Annaleigh Ashford) to read the restraining order that Nick filed against them. She confirms that it’s legal and there’s no way to fight it. Steve goes to his liquor cart and pours himself a drink as Irene gives Cheryl a check, asking her to wait a week to cash it. Alone, she tells Steve that Nick knew what he was doing when he wrote the contract on the napkin. “He duped you,” she says, clearly angry with her husband but playing it off passive-aggressively, ironically saying that none of this was Steve’s fault. Steve opens a drawer and pulls out some pills. When Irene asks about them, he doesn’t say what they are.
That night, Steve wakes up and finds that he’s alone in bed. He goes downstairs and finds Irene crunching numbers in the living room. “I think we have to sell the house,” she says, bringing up that the lawsuits and calendar misprint have ruined them financially. Steve snaps when she mentions that the only profitable components of the business are the New York club and the tour, both of which are Nick’s. “I am capable, Irene,” Steve yells at her, asking his wife to trust him.
Steve takes drugs in his office and then goes outside, seeing the line of women waiting to get in. Steve argues with his doorman Butch (Matthew Downs), who held the line to not break fire codes. Steve tells him to let them all in and personally stands there, collecting the $10 entrance fee from each woman. As the dancers perform a bellhop routine, the club gets overcrowded, women get pushed around by each other, and someone gets hurt. Cut to real firemen entering the club, with the Fire Marshal (Clint Carmichael) using a megaphone to tell everyone to evacuate. In the chaos, we see Steve stuff a briefcase full of cash and walk out with the patrons.
Cheryl meets with Steve and Irene to share that the club’s fire permit has been revoked and the club may be closed forever. Steve says he wants to fight it, but Cheryl says it’s in the city’s hands now. “It’s over, Steve,” Irene says. “What?”, he asks. “The club.” Cut to Steve standing on the dance floor, watching the neon Chippendales sign turn off for the last time. He looks across the floor at Ray (Robin de Jesús), who stands at the bar. They don’t say anything, but Ray nods his head nervously.
(Jessica Brooks/Hulu)
While the marquee goes dark at the original Chippendales, Denise directs a man on a ladder (David Storrs) who puts up the announcement of the tour stop. Nick steps out of the theater, complimenting the way she leads the whole tour and saying that he could take a day off and everything would run smoothly with her running things. “So, I’m going to go back to New York,” he concludes. Denise gets upset, reminding him that they had a deal. He tells her that he loves Bradford. “But we’re the couple,” she says in confusion. “We’re not, not really,” Nick clarifies. “You’re going to pick him over me?”, she asks, confused that he was previously married to a woman. Nick shares that he was in love with his ex-wife, he’s not in love with Denise. She is hurt.
(Jessica Brooks/Hulu)
From his New York office, Nick tries to call Denise on the phone in her hotel room. She doesn’t answer. Bradford enters the office with a map of Europe and starts to talk through the international tour they’re planning, but Nick asks him to come closer. Sitting on his lap, Bradford and Nick kiss, but Bradford breaks it off needing to use the restroom. And that’s when it happens. A stranger (Joseph Raymond Lucero) enters the building, goes directly to the office where Nick sits alone. Bradford hears gunshots while washing his hands in the bathroom. We see the stranger exit the building as Bradford goes back to the office, first noticing blood splatters on the glass partition. He finds Nick’s body on the floor, blood all over the walls behind him. Bradford tries to resuscitate his dead boyfriend, crying for someone to come help.
(Erin Simkin/Hulu)
Steve arrives home to find Irene crying, and she tells him that Nick was shot and killed. “What?”, Steve asks overly enthusiastic, feigning surprise before asking “Did anyone see the murder happen?” Irene got the call from Bobby the bartender and doesn’t have answers to Steve’s questions about a witness. “Sounds like just a random robbery,” Steve says, “New York is such a terribly violent place.” Steve makes a statement that he never wished harm on Nick. Irene’s tears of sorrow seem to turn into tears of suspicion and fear.
Steve wakes up the next morning to the faint sound of someone yelling his name outside. He goes to the window and sees Denise on the other side of the gate at the end of his driveway screaming for him, calling him a murderer, and vowing to put him in jail. He rushes outside and begs her to keep quiet, fearing that the neighbors will hear. Irene is awoken by the noise and rushes out. “You have blood on your hands, Irene,” Denise says, stating that Steve had Nick killed. Irene rushes back inside, telling Steve that they need to call the cops to come and get Denise, who seems drunk. “DO NOT CALL THE POLICE!”, Steve commands. Irene backs away from the phone, stunned by his response, and saying she’s going to check on their daughter, but she stops and turns around. “I noticed there was $15,000 missing from the safe,” Irene declares. “What did you do with that money?” Steve doesn’t answer, so she repeats the question. When Steve doesn’t answer again, she knows the truth. Irene sobs, rushing to the bedroom, packing a bag, and fighting off Steve who tries to restrain her, pleading his unbelievable innocence. “I’m sorry,” he pleads with Irene as she picks up their daughter Julia (Makena McGee). “For what, Steve?” Steve doesn’t answer, so she leaves with their child.
(Erin Simkin/Hulu)
Steve is brought in for questioning by an FBI agent named Scott (Evan Jonigkeit), who instantly comments on the fact that Steve’s birth name is Somen (pronounced “Sho-men”), the irony being that his business shows men. Scott asks Steve how long he and Nick were business partners. “We were not partners, I was his boss,” Steve clarifies. Scott asks about disagreements between the two of them and Steve characterizes them as typical of any work relationship. Scott looks at a colleague on the other side of his desk (Joe Tapper), the two seemingly already having knowledge of the situation that Steve isn’t offering up. Steve asks why the FBI is involved anyway, curious why this isn’t a simple matter for New York City police. Scott tells him that because Chippendales crosses state lines, it’s considered interstate commerce. “I did not realize that’s how it works,” he says before asking if he’s a suspect. Scott’s partner drops a big stack of folders on the desk, which makes a loud thud. Steve becomes agitated as Nick insinuates that he was jealous that Nick ran the more profitable segments of the company, mentioning Steve’s personal lawsuits and his club being shut down by the city. “What does this have to do with Nick’s murder?”, Steve asks. “It just seems like there’s a pattern here,” Scott says, “A certain disregard for the law.” Steve goes off on a tangent about American society being hostile to outsiders, keeping men like him at the bottom, making fun of his name. “You’ve made it so difficult for me,” he concludes, saying he clawed his way from the bottom to the top. We see Steve leave the office, puking in the bushes just outside the front door. Scott and his partner watch, concluding that Steve is guilty and they simply need evidence to prove it.
Alone in his home, Steve goes to his office, opens a drawer, and pulls out a plastic bag. It contains a Chips Ahoy package, but when Steve slides the plastic tray out, it doesn’t contain rows of cookies. It’s a gun. Steve stares at it.
What happens next? We’ll find out on January 3rd when Hulu releases the eighth and final episode in the Welcome to Chippendales saga, titled “Switzerland.”
In a bucolic Swiss village, Steve’s sins finally catch up with him. As he stares down the consequences of his actions, he makes a final, fateful choice.