Money is tight, but everyone still wants to pursue music. Shaolin decided he needed that money from Fat Annie. While he got mad at Zeke for saying he was just selling ass last episode, that's exactly what he was doing, selling ass. When we see him, he's stripping as Annie throws money at him and compliments him saying "Somebody had to teach you how to do that kind of power fucking."
Then Cadillac walks in the room and is informed that Shaolin is joining the family. They tensely agree to work together. Mainly because Cadillac loves his momma and doesn't want to upset her, but Shao is dirty fucking his momma on the floor of the stash house. Cadillac says he has a job for Shao, just get rid of the car from the dead DJ at Les Inferno and he'll get paid.
Then we switch to Mylene who has been staying with the Kiplings, as their parents head on vacation. Mylene's father doesn't want her to be in his house because she ain't nothing but a good for nothing whore, harlot, skeezer, skank etc. The crazy thing is, unlike her friends the most she's done is kiss Zeke once. That doesn't exactly make someone a hussie.
Zeke is having breakfast and his uncle comes in, still in this dusty robe. Zeke asks him for some work and he refuses. Zeke's aunt then asks "What happened to all that 'I'm gonna make a man out of you' and 'you need to see what a real man does for a living'" and Zeke's uncle can only respond with "I do say that a lot don't I." So he takes Zeke to work with him, making repairs at Les Inferno. Cadillac comes in and sees Zeke's uncle slacking off and fires them. Then he recognizes Zeke and asks about "the fine little honey with the big titties" hoping to get Mylene's phone number. So, they didn't even get paid.
Zeke meets with the Kiplings and all together they've got a total of $51. They head to the pawnshop hoping to get another turntable on credit. But they can't get any credit from the semi racist pawnshop owner who tells them "boys that look like you come in here all the time looking for two record players on credit and I don't know why and I don't care. But, boys like you never pay on time." Then he brings up how one guy tried to pay for his stuff with a bootleg cassette tape of Grandmaster Flash. They buy the tape for $10 with the idea of throwing a party and raising money to get in. They're going to charge extra for Dizzee's secret punch to which he responds bluntly with "Sorry but I took my last tab of lysergic acid diethylamide this morning." Seriously I love this kid, if it wasn't for Shao he'd be my favorite. Everyone rejected that idea anyway, wanting just rum and kool-aid to which he responds disappointed "Oh, that punch. Okay"
So the party is going good, except Grandmaster Flash's goon squad comes in. They bulldoze Ra-Ra at the door and take all of the money. Then they come in and fuck up the sound system, knock Zeke out and fuck up the whole barber shop all while they hold a gun to Ra-Ra's head. They try to say they're Flash's boys but get reminded that Flash pays these guys to make sure nobody is bootlegging their shit.
We then get to know Jackie a little more, he's Mylene's producer. Jackie has a drug addiction and he's running through the money Fuerte gave him by buying drugs. He meets with Cadillac who is doing cocaine and playing video games. He then buys some cocaine, about fifteen thousand dollars worth. I had to spell it out so you understood how fucked up he is. He gets the song "Disco Biscuit" from Cadillac as well hoping to make it a hit with Mylene.
Shaolin shows up and makes amends with Zeke. This is the first significant interaction between Shaolin and Mylene, it's pretty funny. Mylene wants Zeke to go to the studio and help record her demo and Shaolin wants him to "put bros before hoes." At one point he calls Zeke, Books and Mylene just responds with "who is books," only for Shaolin to smile at his own cleverness and say "That's his street name, Books, because he smart as fuck." Mylene storms off and the boys ride around in the car, having a great day before they ditch it. They strip it of the record player and other electronics before heading to the trunk to get the speakers. Only to find a dead body. At this point they realize that Cadillac set them up and they can either ditch the car and body or turn themselves in as accomplices. They push the car off the dock and look at the city. Then the blackout hits New York.
Meanwhile Mylene is in the studio with Jackie and he's getting higher and higher on the cocaine. Mylene and the engineer both think the song "Disco Biscuit" is stupid. When Mylene finds out it's about qualuuds she really doesn't want to sing it. When Jackie finally realizes it's stupid he starts destroying the studio in a tearful rage promising he was great once before and he's going to be great again and he'll write his greatest song ever for Mylene, then the blackout hits them.
During the blackout they rob Les Inferno for their sound system because fuck Cadillac for tricking them into hiding a body. Mylene's mother meets with Fuerte who has some money for her because the family isn't doing well and Ramon (Mylene's dad and his brother) just won't admit it and take the money. The two talk and she tells him to grow up and start his own family, stop sleeping with young whores and find a woman. He tells her "I have a woman, I'm just waiting for her to come around and I may dance with those girls, but every night I go home and I sleep alone." The two dance in the moonlight before sharing a kiss.
Meanwhile Zeke write lyrics in the dark and Mylene tries to figure out why he's upset. They go onto the roof and he tells her everything as they look at the city riot in the blackout.
This episode is a bit different than the others because it focuses more on the adults than the teenagers we've been following. Jackie knows he's a drug addict but feels he can't be creative without the drugs anymore. Zeke's uncle really is a self made handyman, but he works for some shady people and doesn't always get paid. Fuerte and Mrs. Cruz have had some secret romance in the past. Honestly not a lot of major things happened but it did lay out some things I think will be important later in the series.
You can hear Darrell on the CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts. He also plays classic arcade games on The Cabinet
