MovieChat Forums > Vinyl (2016) Discussion > Richie Finestra is a horrible character

Richie Finestra is a horrible character

posted 9 years ago by burtonh
19 replies | jump to latest

It could have been much better and the show is pretty good when it's Vinyl. The problem is, it tries to be Boardwalk Empire with the mob, murder and coke.

It's just cliche and the Richie character is a mess. He does nothing but snort coke, yell at everybody and gets mixed up with Mobsters.

Why is this guy even successful? They could at least show him working with Artists for more than a few minutes then he goes and a coked up rampage or show him as a genius when it comes to marketing and promotion.

This whole season, the main characters story has been more Boardwalk Empire than Vinyl.

[–] Daisydee521 9 years ago

I agree. Perhaps this is why they fired Winter? HBO wanted to go in a different direction and away from Richie.

All he did in this episode was apologize to people for F#cking up. I hope he's put away in jail so next season, they concentrate on the music and the more interesting characters like Lester, Zak, Jaime',etc.

[–] burtonh 9 years ago

Exactly!

The best part of the episode before last is when Lester was teaching the Nasty Bits about guitar chords. Now that story is interrupted by Richie and the Mob.

[–] sonofspam1972 9 years ago

he is probably the worst person on this show and not even that interesting.

[–] burtonh 9 years ago

I agree and he could be very interesting if he was more involved in the Vinyl side of the story intead of the mob, murder and constantly yelling and sniffing coke side of the story.

[–] connorarroyo-1 9 years ago

At least Richie Finestra isn't the murderous psychopath Gyp Rosetti was on Boardwalk Empire, he's more three dimensional. Great acting by Bobby Cannavale, but that was a very tough character.

[–] Urbanmyths 9 years ago

I totally agree. But Vinyl's sins are even worse than that. It's one thing to try to be another Boardwalk Empire. It's another to completely hide from the viewer what was driving Richie to be such a raving coke snorting maniac all season long. As it turns out, Ritchie's catalyst for falling off the wagon and doing all that coke was because he was too ashamed to tell his wife Devon that he had accidentally caused yet another person to get killed. He confesses this to Devon at the end of the last episode. Maybe if we had known this early on there would be some sympathy for Richie, but they just made him look like an out of control addict and now we can't stand the guy. The writers blew the story structure, and that is why Winter has left the building.

[–] pappa-b-bear 9 years ago

Totally disagree. You don't think the mafia was involved in the record industry? Educate yourself. Finestra is a great character. Self destructive train wreck.

[–] eadverts 9 years ago

what you said.

Who took my toast?

[–] burtonh 9 years ago

What??

Of course the mafia was involved with the record industry and nobody said anything differently. That's just an asinine comment.

Richie is a horrible character because most of his issues are built around his mob ties, coke habit and murder and not Vinyl.

This is why Terrence Winter left the show. In interviews, Winter kept bringing up Boardwalk Empire when talking about Vinyl and it's obvious HBO wants to go in a different direction so Winter is no longer running the show.

They want more Vinyl and less Boardwalk Empire and that starts with the horrible Richi Finestra character. I bet, there will be a ton of changes to his character next season and for good reason.

[–] pappa-b-bear 9 years ago

Asinine comment? The point is that Richie's situation is totally plausible and it in no way makes him a terrible character.

[–] lelippi78 9 years ago

The situation is plausible, and Cannavale is usually on point, but there is something that doesn't work about this anti-hero.

[–] peterquennell 9 years ago

Maybe plausible to you, but no fun to watch. Just a bore.

[–] pappa-b-bear 9 years ago

Maybe not fun to watch for you. Very entertaining to me.

[–] Daisydee521 9 years ago

A recent Vulture article pointed out that the Richie character is not very smart.

For someone who refused to sell his company because he felt the "passion" returning, he's not very smart nor a leader. He abandons his company to go on a 3-day bender--that doesn't make any sense. Then gambling $90,000 away. All really dumb moves by someone who is supposedly passionate about his business. I would have liked to have seen someone who is driven, focused and in control of his company even though its financially collapsing. Instead,we get scenes of his coke addiction and *beep* up. The murder of Buck Rogers seemed sadly tacked on. It would have been more interesting to see him actually work on saving his company.

[–] pappa-b-bear 9 years ago

Disagree. It's all very plausible.

[–] rzaxlash 9 years ago

He is pretty despicable. Awful to everybody around him. Terrible father, awful husband, and basically just a huge child. It's a sign to me when he screws up, makes some kind of halfassed apology, and as soon as the other person confronts him about it, he blows up and lashes out again, as if his insincere apology should give him carte blanche to do whatever he wants. With all that said, I enjoyed season 1 quite a bit and Cannavale did a good job as the character. It's a bit of a tired story and character that we have seen before, but it was an entertaining season. Far from perfect. 8/10.

[–] Daisydee521 9 years ago

Richie is someone who built a successful record company but you wouldn't know it from most of the season. The only sign of the successful businessman he's supposed to be was in the finale where he took charge of Kip and his band.

This is the guy he should be next season. And a toned down Cannavale.

[–] pappa-b-bear 9 years ago

The series starts when he relapses into cocaine and goes into a spiral. It doesn't show the Richie that built the company. It does have places where he takes charge and handles situations. The scene where he snaps kip out of his OD and handles the woman situation shows him doing what needs to be done to handle a work situation.

[–] burtonh 8 years ago

I knew it. A very bad character.