Welcome to our coverage of Katy Keene! The CW’s newest series is a glitzy, warm, escapist spinoff of Riverdale and with any luck, it’ll be the next big thing on the network. Episode 2 doesn’t pack quite the same punch as the the series’s debut but it’s still plenty of fun.
1. The Fairytale Gets a Little More Grounded
With Katy Keene’s second episode comes something necessary to any halfway decent story: tension and stakes. Where in the pilot, everything seemed to work out with even the small losses characters experienced clearly leaving better things on the horizon, the show’s second showing doesn’t tell quite as convenient a story. Don’t get me wrong- this is still comfort tv at its finest and the worst case scenario for a Katy Keene character is probably a cakewalk compared to a character on its sister series, Riverdale. Still, though, the episode puts its characters into some tough positions and even the magical solutions that they find have some caveats to them. It’s a good development, though it does lead to a more uneven episode that the premiere. Instead of being whisked from charming setting and character to the next with fluffy mini-arcs piecing everything together, we find ourselves at the beginnings of a few threads that will presumably last through the season. Some are certainly better than others but its all light fun and I refuse to be jaded when I watch Katy Keene.
2. Proposal, Interrupted
Last episode ended with Katy’s hunky boyfriend, KO, proposing to her in the middle of the sidewalk. This week, we open on a little montage of the couple’s relationship and a voiceover about KO’s qualities as a boyfriend. He’s loving and giving and his family became Katy’s after her mom died. But she just can’t bring herself to say yes. Katy is saved by the bell when a man (who we soon learn is called the Alphabet City Bandit) steals the ring during her pregnant pause. When she’s talking to her friends about the predicament, they ask if Katy loves KO and she doesn’t have a straight answer; she’s been with him since high school and it’s tough to tell if she’s committed to him or the routine of being with him at this point. Her professional life doesn’t help either. When she walks into Lacy’s, Katy is greeted by the doorman asking her about what she’s going to say to KO Francoise is having Katy work on a bridal display for the Lacy’s window and gets called in by Gloria for emergency help finding an engagement ring for Prince Eroll, who requested her by name. Surrounded by marriage on all sides, Katy speaks to both of her professional mentors about what to do and they give solid advice. Gloria says that Katy needs to be honest about her hesitation to jump into marriage, even if it’ll hurt KO. Francoise gives the wise addendum that there is a way to say no to the proposal without saying no their relationship. Ultimately, the pair decides to just move in together. It’s a happy middle that satisfies the need to be more committed and Katy’s very real fear of jumping into the rest of their lives. The whole storyline is dumb fun about two very young people who have been in a relationship for a long time doing what very young people in long term relationships do- be kinda dumb. Of course they should’ve just moved in together in the first place! But KO is a meathead and Katy wants to live in a fairytale; the bumps in their relationship have to consist of silly missteps like these.
3. Welcome to Chubby’s
Josie gets a rude awakening about the cost of living in New York early in the episode when she gives Jorge her share of the rent only to learn that it’s $1000 per person, not $1000 overall. On the search for a second job (the first is at some fake version of Dunkin’ Donuts), Josie stumbles across Chubby’s Record Shop, which conveniently has a Help Wanted sign in the window. She gets a job after talking to the eponymous Chubby (played by notably gaunt Tony Award winner André De Shields) and things are pretty good! She organizes the records, finds an old piano and signs “You Can’t Hurry Love” by the Supremes while Chubby looks on. Trouble comes when Chubby’s landlord suddenly jacks the rent up, leaving good old Chubs without the money to run for more than a couple more weeks. Hope comes in the form of Alex Cabot, though; he wants to work with Josie more and his money is able to save a store that’s apparently a New York institution. Ashleigh Murray deserves a lot of praise for her performance as Josie- the way that she plays the character feels so natural and lived-in and it’s always a pleasure to see her on screen.
Continued below4. Jorge and Pepper Make Bad Decisions
The week’s weakest links come in the form of Jorge and Pepper’s storylines which mostly show two people with horrible judgment. In the pilot, Pepper mostly floated around being fancy and fun. This episode, the veil drops a little bit more as she tries to secure the funding for the Pepper Plant, her own version of Andy Warhol’s warehouse, where all of the best artists will come together and make beautiful things. She gets one fancy white man to invest, buys a giant, decrepit, floor of a building, and swiftly sees everything fall apart. The investor is arrested for drug possession (something we should’ve seen coming when he offered to give her coke at lunch) and after her big buy, Pepper’s broke and can’t stay at the hotel she’s been living in. She’s a very fun character to watch, even in a relatively dumb storyline, though. Here’s to a strong upswing in this story. Jorge, meanwhile, turns lemons into lemonade, then back into lemons this week. After his outburst at the casting call last week, Jorge finds out that he’s being blackballed on Broadway. It’s a sad reality but he gets a sliver of hope with an audition for Jefferson, a hit historical Musical. At his audition, he dresses in a more masculine way and gives what I guess is supposed to be a good performance and better yet, he gets the part- in the touring cast, at least. Still, though, that’s a pathway to bigger and better things! He has to take it! But then in an incredibly stupid move, he doesn’t. While he’s at the bar for his goodbye drag performance, Jorge’s fellow queens tell him that he won’t have anywhere to do drag in the midwest which makes him sad and also isn’t true and doesn’t make sense. Then, while he gives a truly stellar performance of “Million Reasons” by Lady Gaga, he looks at Katy and runs off stage. Jorge is just too sad to leave his friend behind and he’ll wait until the next opportunity comes, which is awfully hopeful for someone whose storyline is propelled by the fact that this is the first real opportunity he’s ever gotten. It’s a bit infuriating to see things play out this way, but hey, 2.5 out of 4 storylines landing well isn’t too bad for a show with 2 episodes out.
5. Happily Ever After?
Even with the happy endings that everyone gets (except for Pepper, that is) there are some final twists. Jorge’s was his judgement being absolutely awful. For Josie, things sour quite a bit when Xandra, Alex’s sister shows up, nefariously announcing that she’s technically in charge of Chubby’s now. Katy’s comes in the form of voiceover after she and KO agree to move in together when she makes it clear that things aren’t going to be quite so smooth as one would hope when it comes to our favorite couple. As far as narrative wrinkles go, these are all relatively slight. Ultimately, good things are happening to everyone in the cast. But it’s still good that the writers know that bumps are important even as this remains escapist, easy viewing.
