Étoile 1.5 – The Rat
Jul. 23rd, 2025 08:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessThe direction of this was a bit tricksy, in a cutting from one person sitting down to another sitting down sort of way, and it’s not a compliment that I noted it. The script was better, with more absurdities.
New season, in ballet terms, and now that the gala was done, the New York company was gearing up for The Nutcracker, which, in an unexpected twist for management, Cheyenne loved and respected. To the point that she was going to dance in all 57 performances (phew!) because of the other ballerina’s disparaging attitudes towards the ballet. When Gael pled with Jack, because he’d have to dance it 57 times too, Jack, still angry about the sex on his couch, told him to work on his communication skills with Cheyenne. Communication was a theme in this episode, (Jack had tried, but failed to dissuade Cheyenne from dancing so much, and was just trying to win what small battles he could.) Cheyenne would admit to still trying to work out how to communicate to Americans.
The other big way that time was passing was that Jack was facing his 45th birthday, and it turned out that that was a cursed year for the men of his family. So he was pretty neurotic about that (and we got to see his sons, filming a birthday greeting while musing on exactly how screwed up his family was.) Genevieve got to see most of this up close, because she was in the States for a whirlwind visit, joining Jack for a fundraiser that they got kicked out of for being too loud, then deciding to have sex with him, which he wasn’t expecting then, but seems to have been a recurring thing.
She was worried about her job, but a week on, Madame Culture Minister hadn’t sacked her after she’d all but egged her on to. Jack wanted Genevieve to come back to New York to attend his party after giving a speech in Chicago. They made for a fairly charming double-act.
In Paris, Tobias was troubled by a rat in his apartment, (because Parisian rats are different to New Yorker rats, he argued), Gabin was back from a week’s suspension after punching Matthieu, Raphael was telling everyone he was Genevieve – until Mishi came to him with issues with Cheyenne’s mother, who wouldn’t give her a key, and suddenly was having a man over on Monday. Raphael didn’t even try dealing with Bruna. As Mishi was still getting stick in the company for being a nepo baby, she wanted to connect with her landlady, so Bruna made her follow her on an idiosyncratic journey around Paris, which ended with them fishing on the Seine, and Mishi meeting some fisherman’s cute boy/Gamin.
Tobias couldn’t sleep at his flat, and so was trying to sleep in the theatre, when Gabin wanted him to listen to him. Ultimately, Gabin went to deal with the rat and promised to do so in future, meaning that Tobias looked at him like he was his hero, so their psychosexual professional relationship continues.
Cheyenne was giving a director lip about his wanting her to add another move in a way that would inspire Susu to copy her and demand that she auditioned twice for Clara. Cheyenne approved of her mentee. Cheyenne also did an impersonation of a performing dolphin for Jack, and it was both terrible and funny. He’d wanted her to come to his birthday party and glad handle some guests, which she did, but she was very pointed about ‘THESE are your friends!?’ They did seem to be mostly older than him. She also brought Gael as her plus one, and he danced with Jack’s mother AKA Kelly Bishop, which was a lovely meta moment.
Genevieve turned up, in a very nice dress, as did Shamblee, claiming he’d been kidnapped (again), by amateurs, which was why he hadn’t been around for the past week, which had been worrying Jack and Genevieve. He wants to get back at Cheyenne. I back her, frankly.
This led to Jack clumsily putting it out there that Genevieve turning up meant something, and suggesting they try taking their relationship, sorry, ‘thing’, to another level. This threw Genevieve, so he felt awkward, but it seemed to stick with her, although she had a good point in that they were based on different continents (doing the same job) and only saw each other five times a year.
I was amused that David Haig’s character, Nicolas (thanks, IMDb) was really sad because he hadn’t realised he’d been at Jack’s party, where I think I realised for the first time that he’s a retired dancer.
So, will Jack die this year? (I suspect not, although I do wonder if there’ll be a second series.) Will Cheyenne (and Gael) dance The Nutcracker fifty-seven times? Will Susu get to play Clara? (If so, it won’t be 57 times, because of child labour laws, you’d think.)
New season, in ballet terms, and now that the gala was done, the New York company was gearing up for The Nutcracker, which, in an unexpected twist for management, Cheyenne loved and respected. To the point that she was going to dance in all 57 performances (phew!) because of the other ballerina’s disparaging attitudes towards the ballet. When Gael pled with Jack, because he’d have to dance it 57 times too, Jack, still angry about the sex on his couch, told him to work on his communication skills with Cheyenne. Communication was a theme in this episode, (Jack had tried, but failed to dissuade Cheyenne from dancing so much, and was just trying to win what small battles he could.) Cheyenne would admit to still trying to work out how to communicate to Americans.
The other big way that time was passing was that Jack was facing his 45th birthday, and it turned out that that was a cursed year for the men of his family. So he was pretty neurotic about that (and we got to see his sons, filming a birthday greeting while musing on exactly how screwed up his family was.) Genevieve got to see most of this up close, because she was in the States for a whirlwind visit, joining Jack for a fundraiser that they got kicked out of for being too loud, then deciding to have sex with him, which he wasn’t expecting then, but seems to have been a recurring thing.
She was worried about her job, but a week on, Madame Culture Minister hadn’t sacked her after she’d all but egged her on to. Jack wanted Genevieve to come back to New York to attend his party after giving a speech in Chicago. They made for a fairly charming double-act.
In Paris, Tobias was troubled by a rat in his apartment, (because Parisian rats are different to New Yorker rats, he argued), Gabin was back from a week’s suspension after punching Matthieu, Raphael was telling everyone he was Genevieve – until Mishi came to him with issues with Cheyenne’s mother, who wouldn’t give her a key, and suddenly was having a man over on Monday. Raphael didn’t even try dealing with Bruna. As Mishi was still getting stick in the company for being a nepo baby, she wanted to connect with her landlady, so Bruna made her follow her on an idiosyncratic journey around Paris, which ended with them fishing on the Seine, and Mishi meeting some fisherman’s cute boy/Gamin.
Tobias couldn’t sleep at his flat, and so was trying to sleep in the theatre, when Gabin wanted him to listen to him. Ultimately, Gabin went to deal with the rat and promised to do so in future, meaning that Tobias looked at him like he was his hero, so their psychosexual professional relationship continues.
Cheyenne was giving a director lip about his wanting her to add another move in a way that would inspire Susu to copy her and demand that she auditioned twice for Clara. Cheyenne approved of her mentee. Cheyenne also did an impersonation of a performing dolphin for Jack, and it was both terrible and funny. He’d wanted her to come to his birthday party and glad handle some guests, which she did, but she was very pointed about ‘THESE are your friends!?’ They did seem to be mostly older than him. She also brought Gael as her plus one, and he danced with Jack’s mother AKA Kelly Bishop, which was a lovely meta moment.
Genevieve turned up, in a very nice dress, as did Shamblee, claiming he’d been kidnapped (again), by amateurs, which was why he hadn’t been around for the past week, which had been worrying Jack and Genevieve. He wants to get back at Cheyenne. I back her, frankly.
This led to Jack clumsily putting it out there that Genevieve turning up meant something, and suggesting they try taking their relationship, sorry, ‘thing’, to another level. This threw Genevieve, so he felt awkward, but it seemed to stick with her, although she had a good point in that they were based on different continents (doing the same job) and only saw each other five times a year.
I was amused that David Haig’s character, Nicolas (thanks, IMDb) was really sad because he hadn’t realised he’d been at Jack’s party, where I think I realised for the first time that he’s a retired dancer.
So, will Jack die this year? (I suspect not, although I do wonder if there’ll be a second series.) Will Cheyenne (and Gael) dance The Nutcracker fifty-seven times? Will Susu get to play Clara? (If so, it won’t be 57 times, because of child labour laws, you’d think.)
