Considering he’s the title character, it’s surprising how well everyone on Chozen does when Chozen is nowhere to be found. In fact, they thrive when he is gone. Just look at Phantasm, who immediately hit it big once Chozen was out of the way, stuck in prison. “Boy’s Night” sort of posits that maybe everyone would be better off without Chozen, yet the show doesn’t seem to realize that’s what it is saying.
“Boy’s Night” does continue what Chozen successfully did last week—it doesn’t force unnecessary characters into a story that doesn’t need them. The episode is kept simple, with an A and a B story that complement each other quite well. Chozen goes with Hunter to a gay club, while Crisco and Ricky go to a strip club as an attempt to get some important producers to listen to their track, more than Chozen has done for his own career in weeks.
As the most unattractive person in the entire club, Chozen doesn’t fit in. The only reason he gets in is because Hunter is the best-looking person in the vicinity. It doesn’t take long before Chozen gets left in the dust, as Hunter is told by VIP club member Toshi that he came with someone, but he’ll leave with someone better. It’s hard to argue with Toshi on this one, since Chozen has treated Hunter like complete crap since they first met. He’s been little more than a source of sex and taquitos whenever Chozen wants, so he could do better with literally anyone. When Chozen gets kicked out of the club, he meets with a group of rejects and gay stereotypes who decides to overtake the club. When they do and Chozen tries to get Hunter to leave with him, Hunter rightly decides to stay with Toshi and his friends. Way to go Hunter, you deserve better.
At the strip club, Crisco and Ricky are desperately trying to get their song heard by the heads of Stretch Money Records. The DJ refuses to play the song unless one of the strippers want to hear it, so Ricky goes on the hunt for a stripper who will get it played. Meanwhile, Crisco meets a stripper named Cayenne, who he was apparently nice to in high school and didn’t call her by the usual nickname everyone else did, but he doesn’t remember her at all and plays it off. By the end of the night, him and Cayenne are making out—even though Crisco has a girlfriend—until Crisco accidentally calls Cayenne by her nickname: Onion Pussy. This gets them rushed out of the club, even though Ricky has found a dominatrix to play their song. The producers like what they hear, but they won’t help out Ricky since he’s now covered in S&M gear.
The show never comes out and says it, but everyone is sort of better off without Chozen. Hunter deserves someone who doesn’t treat him like human garbage, and Ricky and Crisco shouldn’t be waiting for Chozen to just decide he feels like working on his music career again. There’s really not anyone who needs Chozen around, and the sooner these people realize that, the better. Yet of course without Chozen, everything would probably go much smoother than usual and there wouldn’t be hardly as much conflict.
That being said, Chozen or not, “Boy’s Night” does continue Chozen streak of better-than-usual episodes that don’t overload the show with plots (and, as a result, are actually quite funny). Now if Chozen could just be more integral to everyone, rather than being sort of a problem for everyone, things might actually get really good.
Ross Bonaime is a D.C.-based freelance writer and regular contributor to Paste. You can follow him on Twitter.