Diksha Sundriyal
Hulu’s ‘Welcome to Chippendales‘ comes to an end as the FBI closes in on Steve Banerjee. Taking a time leap of five years, we jump right to the day when the law finally caught up with the Chippendales owner. In a short time, the episode presents Steve’s mental state, giving us an insight into the thought process that led to his unfateful ending. The show takes things a step further with its final scene, where a different side of Steve and his life is presented to the audience, making us wonder what could have been had Steve lived his life a little differently. If you are wondering what that ending means, then we’ve got you covered. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Welcome to Chippendales Episode 8 Recap
It’s been five years since Nick’s murder and the Chippendales business has soared. Steve meets Ray in Switzerland after his failed attempt to kill three ex-Chippendales employees. Steve is extremely paranoid and he wonders if the FBI is on his tail. He believes everyone around him is trying to get him, and this suspicion extends to Ray who is acting a little too weird than usual. As the two get to talking, Ray brings up the matter of Nick’s death and the other crimes that Steve made him do over the years, but Steve is smart enough not to directly admit to anything. Slowly, however, Ray wears him down and Steve ends up saying the things that prove that he was behind all of it.
In a flashback, we find the man who shot Nick De Noia getting arrested by the cops while dealing drugs. The cops ask him to give them some information in exchange for a lesser sentence and he spills everything. This leads the FBI to Ray, who denies everything at first, but then agrees to help them with getting Steve arrested. The opportunity arrives when Steve asks Ray to go to London and kill three strip dancers who now work at Adonis, another male strip dancing club that Steve feels is ripping him off. When Ray fails to finish the job, a meeting is set up where the FBI bug the room to record Steve’s confession.
Welcome to Chippendales Finale Ending: Why did Steve Banerjee Kill Himself?
Steve Banerjee started his business alone, and by the end of it as well, he is left alone. Though Chippendales makes a lot of progress in the five years after Nick’s death, Steve finds himself alone when taking up the responsibilities and running the entire thing. Yet, he is not ready to accept that he is the one responsible for driving away all the people who helped make Chippendales the name it is now. He refuses to accept any guilt for the things that he did, especially when it comes to Nick’s murder, but we do see him feel bad about the effect that his actions had on Irene.
Apart from Chippendales, Irene was the only person that Steve actually cared about. He saw the rest of the people as his employees. They were beneath him and had to follow his every order. Irene, however, was his partner and he saw her as such, except for the times when he decided to go do his own thing, consequentially leaving his business in a much worse state. At the end, when Steve is caught, Chippendales and Irene are the only two things on his mind and it is this thought that drives him to kill himself in prison.
The fact that Chippendales’ legal status was much bigger than Steve had imagined was revealed to him in the previous episode when the FBI told him that the murder of Nick De Noia, a Chippendales employee, fell under federal jurisdiction. In the next five years, Chippendales grows even bigger, spanning countries and continents. So, once again, when the matter of legalities comes, Steve discovers that the success of his business is the very thing making things all the worse for him.
Because he had been caught on tape confessing to Nick’s murder, Steve knew that there was barely anything that any lawyer, no matter how high profile or how good, could do. He knows that he is going to jail for life. The only thing that he is relieved about is that Chippendales will go to Irene. This was discussed in their divorce settlement, where Steve declared that should anything happen to him, all of his properties and assets should go to his wife. However, he didn’t count the situation where he might be in jail.
Steve is caught for murder, arson, and a couple of other charges. The seriousness of his crimes extends to his business which is declared a criminal enterprise by the government. This means that the moment Steve is sentenced, all of his properties and assets will be ceased and the government will be free to do with it as they please. Meanwhile, Steve thought that the law would follow his divorce settlement and that everything that he had worked so hard to build would go to his wife, securing her future as well as that of their children.
When it becomes clear that Irene will not get one penny of his business once he goes to jail, Steve feels guilty about putting her in such a situation in the first place. If it wasn’t for his actions, things would still be good for Chippendales and Irene would still be with him. She had worked just as hard as Steve to make Chippendales a success and now, because of him, all of that was to be taken away from her. A single mother with two children and a husband convicted of murder and other crimes would make life very difficult for Irene. Steve didn’t want to make things any worse by putting her in a financial crisis.
Haunted by the ghost of Nick, Steve is forced to look at his options. Just like he did every time before, he thinks that he can still find a way out of this and make things better. But by now, he has learned his lesson. All of the times that he set out to make things better, he only made them worse. This time, there is nothing he can do, except remove himself from the situation. The whole clause of the seizure of his property depends on his sentencing. If he is not sentenced, the government won’t be able to move forward with their plans, in absence of which, Irene will inherit everything as was planned by Steve. So, to save his business and leave all of it for his family and not the government, Steve kills himself the day before his sentencing.
Read More: Is Chippendales Still Around? Who Owns Chippendales Now?
