Recap: Vinyl 1.3, "Whispered Secrets"

Feb 28, 2016 by Alex Castle

“People change themselves, or they don’t. Willingness is the key.” – Lester Grimes

There is nothing more frustrating than when you follow the rules and check all the boxes and do exactly what you’re supposed to do, and it turns out it’s still not enough. It’s a problem that multiple characters in “Whispered Secrets,” Vinyl’s third episode, confront and react to with varying results.

With American Century hemorrhaging cash in the wake of the scuttled PolyGram deal, Richie instructs the staff to cut 70% of the roster, sign some exciting new acts, and put out a quick-buck Christmas album in the interim. At a dinner honoring his old mentor Maury Gold, Richie learns – through a few broadsides by Ken Marino’s super-smarmy emcee – that the word is out... Read More

Recap: Vinyl 1.2, "Yesterday Once More"

Feb 21, 2016 by Alex Castle

The biggest surprise in “Yesterday Once More,” Vinyl’s second episode, is that the collapse of the Mercer Arts Building that ended the pilot turns out not to have been a product of Richie Finestra’s cocaine-induced (and PTSD-from-just-murdering-a-guy-induced) psychosis – it really happened, and Richie stumbles back to the American Century offices covered in dust and rubble and covered in bumps and bruises – though not before riding out the rest of his bender at a Bruce Lee movie.

If you want to get technical about it, the building that housed the Mercer Arts Center really did cave in in 1973. But it happened at 5pm: the New York Dolls were not on stage, 300 people were evacuated before it fell, and the four people who did not get out... Read More