Flesh and Bone Episode Two: Cannon Fodder

Episode two of crazysauce ballet drama opens with Claire’s broken phone on the sidewalk. Cut to a shot of her brother (the one that was previously jerking off while talking to her) trying to reach her and getting a message that the number has been disconnected. He’s in Claire’s room and sees a NYC poster and AHA! He’s figured out where she is.

Meanwhile Claire is trying unsuccessfully to wash the lipstick stain out of Laurent’s tie. She sees some lipstick on the bathroom sink, tries it on, and kisses the mirror. Mia comes in the bathroom, is a total bitch about it, and throws the lipstick away. When Claire leaves the apartment, Romeo asks her if she really wanted to throw her phone away, and she realizes that he heard her conversation with her brother. Claire stops at Canal Street and buys Laurent a new tie.

Bryan, Claire’s brother, is on a bus headed to NYC. An older man sits next to him and won’t stop talking, clearly annoying Bryan.

Back at The American Ballet Company, Paul is talking to his partner Jessica about the choreographer he wants to hire to create a ballet for Claire. Jessica convinces him to hire Toni Cannava, an edgy young choreographer, to develop the ballet. Jessica makes a comment about “No offense to Jeffrey…” revealing that Jeffrey used to run the company with Paul, but has since died.

As the ballerinas are getting ready in the dressing room, one of the company staff drops off a box for her. It’s a pair of Louboutin shoes from Laurent. The other dances mock her. She is supposed to wear the shoes to dinner with Laurent that night, a dinner she’s clearly uncertain about.

Kiira stops by Paul’s office to complain about the fact that Claire is getting a lead in a new ballet. Paul says that Kiira will star in Rubies, and the new ballet will be “edgy-modern” and not a good fit for her. He implies that she’s aging and should go out with her best foot forward (ha!). Kiira fights him on this. She suggests Claire perform the new ballet on the second night, to which Paul replies, “tell me about your injury.” He tells her she’s not up to dancing two ballets, especially with a healing injury.

During practice Claire is excelling, much to the ire of the other dancers, while Daphne struggles.

Cut back to the bus. Bryan is looking at a picture of Claire. The old man asks if she’s “his girl,” and he says yes. The old man talks about how when he was in the military (like Bryan was) he thought his girlfriend wouldn’t wait for him, but she did. He tells Bryan to “marry that gal the first chance you get.” Bryan tries to ignore him.

Kiira, still miffed from her meeting  with Paul, goes to the apartment of a sculptor who is also her dealer. She complains to him about how Paul is enamored with a new dancer and she feels like her life is falling apart. She says she can barely walk, let alone out dance “blood-thirsty bitches” half her age. She does a line of cocaine and asks her dealer for an extra gram.

Ooooh and another shot of Claire’s gross missing toenail which is all bloody. Claire dips her finger into the blood, paints it on her lips, and kisses the mirror. Mia rants to the piano player, Pasha, about how much she hates Claire. She asks him to rub her shoulders because she has a pinched nerve. Pasha tells her to accept reality, that she won’t be a star. He wanted to be Beethoven, but is going blind. Mia says that she just needs to step up her game.

Then there’s a great cut scene where three of the dancers longingly watch Monica, the pregnant office employee, eating a burger. Claire walks by on her way to Paul’s office. She’s upset because she’s going to be a principal dancer but is still under contract with the corps. She asks Paul if her dinner with Laurent is just a business dinner. She’s clearly asking if she’s expected to sleep with him. Paul says that “nothing has been explicitly stated.” He reminds her that she’s about to star in a ballet created specifically for her.

Bryan is at a rest stop while the bus idles outside. The old man is still with him, still talking to him about proposing to Claire. Bryan loses his temper and beats the old man up, leaving him in the bathroom.

Claire is back at her apartment. The mattress she ordered has arrived and Romeo helps her carry it up the stairs. In return she loans him The Velveteen Rabbit, a book she tells him is precious to her. On her way to dinner with Laurent, Claire is stopped by Romeo. He hands her a pill and tells her that she can take it so she “can be there, but you don’t have to be there.” Claire takes the pill with wine during dinner and gets completely shitfaced. Laurent is horrified. He still slips her his room key.

Laurent clearly expects her to have sex with him and undresses her. Claire seems numb, then terrified by this. She puts her finger down her throat and vomits before Laurent penetrates her. He’s disgusted and leaves. Claire wakes up the next morning alone, sleeping in her vomit. She goes into the shower and cries.

RHG:

THE BANANAS ARE DARK. Seriously, you use your own blood as lipstick, and I’mma judge you. Hard. Lots of side eye.

I guess Pittsburgh is Midwestern enough that saying, “So… this dinner, am I ACTUALLY expected to fuck this dude, or is it just strongly encouraged?” goes against the grain. (NB from Sarah: Yes, yes it is.)  The silent nekkid pissing contest in the bathroom between Claire and Mia (“Look at how hot I am” “Look at these shoes, bitch”) was kind of masterful.

I feel like we’re still in set-up mode, which is not great on the second episode of a 8 episode run, so…. I need more things to start happening. People who are into this show know the tropes- the brilliant new ingenue, the aging star, the workhorse corps dancer who worries she’ll never progress, the predatory asshole of a director, hell, even the ballet mistress with her tiny dog is (should be) familiar. If you’re using these tropes and only have 8 episodes to tell your story, understand that we get the shorthand and make shit happen!

Sasha, please don’t say words; you’re not go at it. Just dance and take your shirt off sometimes. ALSO SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE FANS, YOU KNOW WHO’S DANCING THERE IN THE BACKGROUND? ALEX FREAKIN’ WONG THAT’S WHO.

He’s so pretty.

Elyse:

This show is kind of exhausting. Aside from Romeo, the homeless guy who lives under the stairs, Claire has no allies. All dudes want to bone her–or in Paul’s case–farm her out for the boning. Even Ross is into her (apparently because she’s a virgin? ew). The women all hate her except Daphne.

There were some funny parts in this episode. The dancers watching with open-mouth longing while Monica eats a burger. Paul just realizing Monica is pregnant.

I like the whole bit with Kiira. Her fears about aging, about failing to compete, about her body breaking down. The scene where she talks to Paul is fascinating because it’s all double-speak.

Things I want:

MOAR DANCING. Seriously. I want lots of dancing.

Less Bryan. I realize this is obviously going to be a big arc for the show, but can he just get hit by a bus and die now?

More of Romeo’s book. Seriously, I’d read the shit out of that.

Are you still watching? How are you liking it?