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Review: The Playboy Club, S1, E2 – “The Scarlet Bunny” (Secrets, secrets and more secrets!)

  • By

  • September 27, 2011

  • 8 mins to read

Air Date: Monday, September 26, 2011, 10/9 c on NBC

Rating: ★★★★★

With another fabulous musical performance by Carol-Lynne (Laura Benati), “The Scarlet Bunny” opens with all the bunnies, except Janie (Jenna Dewan Tatum), excited over the chance to pose for Playboy Magazine. Not only will one of them get to be on the cover, the lucky girl will also be awarded $2,000. Back then, that was a lot of money. So tell me, why doesn’t Janie want to participate? Strange, don’t you think?

Maureen (Amber Heard) reading the newspaper. She's not just a pretty face.

While The Playboy Club isn’t trying to emulate Mad Men (as I noted in last week’s review), it is similar to the various nighttime soaps of eras past. But that’s ok as far as I’m concerned. I loved Peyton Place, a 1960s soap, Dynasty in the 1980s and more recently, Melrose Place (the original) in the 1990s. “Soap opera stories run concurrently, intersect and lead into further developments. An individual episode of a soap opera will generally switch between several different concurrent story threads that may at times interconnect and affect one another or may run entirely independent of each other.” (www.wikipedia.org) I’d say The Playboy Club fits the criteria perfectly.

“The Scarlet Bunny” revolves around the girls submitting photos and competing for the magazine shoot. This plotline runs concurrently and intersects with Janie’s (Jenna Dewan Tatum) story and the secret she’s been keeping, Alice’s (Leah Renee Cudmore) secrets (notice the plural form), Carol-Lynne and Maureen’s (Amber Heard) relationship, Carol-Lynne and Nick’s (Eddie Cibrian) relationship, and more. If that doesn’t qualify as a soap, I don’t know what would. As with last week’s episode, “The Scarlet Bunny” is fun, entertaining and has great music. I am definitely a fan.

Observations and thoughts:

Janie’s married!  And in hiding from a “really crazy guy. He has no idea where I am, but he has a subscription to Playboy.” No wonder she doesn’t want to participate in the magazine contest – she can’t afford to have her face plastered all over the country. I am anxiously awaiting the appearance of Janie’s husband – I smell trouble on the horizon!

Alice (Leah Renee Cudmore) taking Maureen's pictures to submit for the magazine contest. Isn't it cute that she's crushing on Maureen?

Then there’s Alice—we already know she’s a lesbian, but she’s keeping yet another secret. Neither her parents nor her husband Sean’s (Sean Maher) know she’s a Playboy Bunny. This new secret is brought to light when Alice requests the night off because her in-laws are coming to dinner. It’s a little predictable that her father-in-law produces a key to the Playboy Club and wants to take everyone there after dinner. At least Sean gains his father’s approval—for once—when he pounces on the perfect opportunity to ingratiate himself to Nick in his quest to help run Nick’s campaign for State’s Attorney. I love this kind of character development. There is obviously more than meets the eye with Sean. Also, while they don’t have a conventional relationship, I like what Alice and Sean have going for them. They seem to care for each other more than some married people I know. It’s not easy to keep up that kind of façade though. Sooner rather than later, both of Alice’s secrets will come to light and I can’t wait to see the results when that happens.

Bunny Brenda (Naturi Naughton) undergoes some character development this week too. She’s more than just a black woman wanting to be the first “chocolate centerfold.”  We see a nice relationship between her and Maureen unfolding when Brenda confesses she wants to be someone and own something nice someday—real estate on the right side of town. A black woman owning real estate in the 1960s was absolutely unheard of, so this revelation instantly invests me in her story.

The relationship between Carol-Lynne and Maureen is quite intriguing. One minute Carol-Lynne is all nicey-nice to Maureen and the next she’s threatening her. I love how the writers tie in the title of the episode to Maureen’s new costume; but more importantly, to what Carol-Lynne thinks of Maureen. How coincidental is it that the costume is red – as in blood red? And “the scarlet bunny?” Why not just paint the letter W (for whore) on her chest? After all, I get the distinct feeling that’s what Carol-Lynne thinks she is. And to tell the truth, I think Maureen will do just about anything to get ahead.

Pearl (Jenifer Lewis), the Club's seamstress, doesn't buy the bloody nose story.

I’m so happy Nick and Carol-Lynne have rekindled their romantic relationship. So I don’t understand why Nick continues to have private conversations with Maureen. Just saying…

Needless to say, Brenda, Maureen and Janie are three of the top five chosen to participate in the magazine contest. Even less surprising is Maureen’s win once Janie turns it down. How ironic the reason Hef chooses her is for her honesty. That’s a laugh. I wonder if it’s a coincidence that her character seems to resemble Marilyn Monroe a bit more with each episode. Last week, she was dressed like Marilyn in that famous skirt-blowing scene from The Seven Year Itch, and this week she wants her father to see her and know she’s “somebody”—similar to a story about her childhood and upbringing in a cover story for the May 1952 edition of True Experiences magazine.

Nick (Eddie Cibrian) tells Johnny (Troy Garity) he'll help him find his missing father

Of course, I can’t leave out the Bianchi family and the political storyline. Johnny Bianci (Troy Garity) wants Nick’s help in finding out what happened to his father. These two have a kind of love/hate thing going on which is fascinating. As it turns out, Nick used to be a “fixer” for the Family, but broke from them years ago. That doesn’t stop Nick from asking for a cute little red convertible sitting outside Johnny’s office, which he turns around and gives to Mayor Daly (guest star Art LaFleur) as a bribe ‘gift’ for his wife.

Favorite lines:

Johnny to Maureen: “You…are a thing of beauty.”

Maureen: “Actually, I’m not a thing.”

***

Carol-Lynne on why she and Hef are doing the magazine campaign: “To show the world that a bunny is a smart, independent girl focused not on what men want, but on what she wants.”

***

Mayor Daly, after Nick hands him a box of chocolates and asks for his support in the upcoming race: “Actually, I had something a little richer in mind. Nothing’s free in Chicago, son.”

How prophetic that Maureen slips Bruno’s Playboy Club into a jar of vanishing cream. There’s no way it’s going to vanish so why doesn’t she get rid of it. It’s going to come back and bite her in her oh so pretty ass—especially now that Johnny tells one of his henchmen to find out everything there is to know about her.

Tune in to The Playboy Club Mondays at 10/9c on NBC. For more information on the show, go to http://www.nbc.com/the-playboy-club.

LIKE The Playboy Club on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/NBCThePlayboyClub. Follow the show on Twitter @NBCPlayboyClub.

All photos © 2011 NBC Universal Media. All rights reserved.

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Linda

Love TV, movies, and books--mostly mysteries, with a good love story thrown in every now and then. I have four adopted dogs who I adore. I love trying new recipes, and enjoy eating what I make. English language perfectionist. Reading in bed, Italian food, warm weather, the beach, all types of games = favs!

Linda

Love TV, movies, and books--mostly mysteries, with a good love story thrown in every now and then. I have four adopted dogs who I adore. I love trying new recipes, and enjoy eating what I make. English language perfectionist. Reading in bed, Italian food, warm weather, the beach, all types of games = favs!