The episode starts out by introducing us to most of the main cast. Some of them left fairly good impressions while others really didn't make much of a mark on me. I'll do a quick overview of them all based on when they appear in the show. The show takes place in a resort town called Whistler Village, dost of which is owned by Joey Gibbons, who also owns the startup company that our subjects work for. Most of them are concierges, tasked with making sure the guests to the town have the time of their lives with once in a lifetime events they couldn't experience anywhere else.
The cast is a very interesting bunch, especially for the debut season of a show. We have:
Jim - This guy is kinda cute. He is very much a jock -- but in snow. He has a pretty good sense of humor about him, but I'm not sure if all those lights are on upstairs just yet. He is one of the concierges for the season.
Charlotte - She is definitely an airhead. She seems to not be able to retain a lot of information at one time. Because of this I think it's a good thing that she is not a concierge, but their assistant. She is pretty though.
Bobby - Another openly gay TV personality! Yay! He is a bit more flamboyant than I was hoping, but he's funny and very personable. If I were on vacation, this is the guy I'd want handling everything. He knows how to make a good compliment and works for his money.
Kendra - My first impression of her was that I absolutely loved her, but as the episode went on that love started to waiver. She's self-separating herself from the group, and I don't know how well that will end up for her. She is also a concierge.
Elise - She is the manager that practically nobody likes. She's from the city and not into winter activities at all. She doesn't seem to be a good fit for the company, but she is likely to have her job solidified due to all the drama she causes.
After introducing themselves and having Elise step off on the wrong foot by hard core interrogating everyone, they made their way to discuss about their first client. Her name is Kiki and she's practically a Real Housewife of Canada. Bobby and Charlotte are put in charge of making sure their stay in Whistler Village is amazing, so they met with her. Charlotte fumbled from the get-go by getting the clients' names mixed up, but luckily Bobby was there to save the day.
The vibe of the work room is very strange. Unlike other shows of this type such as Below Deck, everyone here seems to be working on a self-focused capacity. From the looks of it, when a new client is announced, they all toss around ideas, and whoever has the best one is put in charge of that client. This happened with their second client of the episode. But before the bidding war could begin, Elise announced they had another concierge joining them.
Lindsey - She's pretty much the female Jim. They amp up the fact that she jumps out of helicopters to snowboard. She seems pretty cool, but coming in mid episode left me feeling like I didn't get to know her as much.
Anyway, after discussing the second client, Rob, Kendra got the job by proposing they let them have dinner over an extended peak to peak gondola ride. This is where I started to fall out of love with Kendra. Not only was she purposely separating herself from everyone but Elise, she also was dumb enough to tell the ladies accompanying Rob that they could wear heels. Of course when it came time for the ride, everything went to hell. She didn't ask if anyone was afraid of heights (and they were), the shoes thing came back up (and was pinned on her), and she didn't ask about special dietary needs (which they had). She tried to push off the blame, but completely botching her first outing was not the best way to go about it.
Kiki's vacation was a bit more high maintenance, so Jim and Lindsey stepped in to help out by taking them dog sledding. This was a fun segment because these ladies were hilarious. Not only did they love the outing, at the end of the trail, they had a buff naked man waiting for them with nothing on but an apron covering his junk to serve them food and drinks. Jim is doing very well on this job so far, and I'm really liking him on the show as a character, too.
One of the things I like about this show is that we get to see them off work, too. While the first episode didn't have a lot of that in it, we did get a small glimpse of what could potentially be some of the best moments on the show. The house that all the concierges (plus Charlotte) live in is gorgeous and apparently stocked with lots of food and liquor. What more could you want?
Here we found out a lot about the cast mates such as Charlotte being distracted due to leaving her boyfriend back at home and Jim having a pretty crappy dating life. What was interesting to see was that Lindsey felt more at home being by herself, but really started to open up around her new coworkers. It was also revealed that pretty much everyone couldn't stand Elise. It's easy to see why, but we'll cover that shortly.
The most successful of all the concierges this episode had to be Bobby. He was willing to do whatever the ladies wanted, even if it was stripping down to his boxer briefs and serving them drinks all day long. He has some nice tats (even if he isn't really my type), and he does take care of himself, so it wasn't a pain in any sense to watch him walk around as such. Regardless of sex appeal, however, it was clear that he was dedicated to his job, and he was going to make sure the company succeeded no matter what.
Now what can I say about Elise? I like her, but not really for the right reasons. To be honest, she's going to be the bitch of the season. There's no doubt about that. She is the main villain that the concierges will always be battling with, but I can't help but love her. She is confident, fashionable, and good looking. She makes for great TV.
Take for example when she was reading the concierges about their attire. She kind of had a point that they need to be looking professional so that the clients know that they are a real business they are dealing with. On the flip side, I can see the concierges' point of view, too, as that it's a really relaxed and laid back town and that's just how people dress there. At the end of the day I'd probably favor Elise's opinion, though, due to the fact that it's a start up business and they need to be sure that it succeeds now, because there won't be a later.
I went in to this show feeling a bit uneasy, as I do with most shows, but i have to say after watching this debut episode, I am excited to see more. The cast is a bit big for a first season, especially since Bravo has a tendency to make the first seasons of it's shows a bit shorter than most, but they are all distinct personalities and nobody will be mixing up any of these people with one another. Everyone is so strong and sure in what they are doing, which will make for some good drama later.
I really hope that this show takes off and gets a second season. I figure the stakes will be a bit smaller for this year, but if things continue will pick up dramatically. We already know somebody's job is one the line. From what I have seen now, unless they mess up majorly, Jim and Bobby (My two current faves) are safe. It will be very interesting to see how the show pans out from here.
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