Track 2: Rotten – As this episode of Pistol begins, Jordan (Maisie Williams) rides her bike with a provocative shirt on that attracts attention. When she gets on the train, she is offered a free upgrade because she is making the other passengers uncomfortable. She eventually agrees to move. She reaches SEX with Chrissie (Sydney Chandler) and they find Steve Jones (Toby Wallace) sleeping outside the store. Jordan says it was cool that he walked off stage before he sung. They didn’t know what was happening because the band just kept playing. Steve is surprised she came like this from home, but she says being seen is a political act. Once she walks away, Steve tells Chrissie he can’t understand her half of the time although she has guts. Chrissie says opposed to some before asking why he didn’t sing.

She reminds him that being seen is part of it. Steve wonders whether Viv and Malcolm are going to give him another chance. She warns him to hurry because they’ve been looking for another singer. When he visits Vivienne (Talulah Riley), she says they’ve been looking for him. Steve pleads for another shot and promises not to screw it up this time. As Malcolm (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) arrives, he asks what the other man’s child is doing here. Viv asks him not to be a prick since the boy hasn’t stayed in months. Malcolm tells Steve to turn around and face the wall. He asks his real son to go get daddy’s sword before saying one must die so another may rise. He explains he tried to find out what would tick America off the most with the New York Dolls so he dressed them up as Chinese Communists.

They looked devastating. It was a testament to the brilliance of his idea that they broke up one month later. Before departing, Sylvian Sylvian entrusted something sacred into his safekeeping. He puts a guitar around Steve who wants to know what is going on here. Malcolm believes he is too damaged to be upfront. As for Wally (Dylan Llewellyn), he’ll have to be sacked. They hope Steve can play the guitar. Viv has found their new singer at the shop and his name is John. Malcolm thought about giving him clothes if he auditioned for them. Viv says he wears his clothes in an interesting way while Malcolm says he has very interesting teeth too. When they meet with John Lydon (Anson Boon), he reveals he only sings out of tune. Malcolm instructs him to sing along and pretend he is on stage or Steve Jones is going to beat the bloody daylights out of him.

John doesn’t think so. When he hears Alice Cooper, he says his mom loves him. Steve confronts him when he doesn’t begin singing. John begins blurting out his version of I’m Eighteen. He goes on a rant about being eighteen and hating it among other things. After he finishes, he asks where his shoes are. Malcolm wants a rehearsal first, but John says no. Steve doesn’t think this is going to work while Paul (Jacob Slater) thought it was interesting. As John tries to leave, Malcolm asks if any of these imbeciles realize what is going on here. He says Steve is one of the greatest guitarists in England and John is an untutored genius that could change the world with the right guidance. John begins laughing and calling Malcolm a tosser which he doesn’t deny. He claims he is going to toss this country on its self-important backside.

John and Paul agree to one rehearsal. Steve agrees. While John shows up to the rehearsal, Steve doesn’t and he doesn’t think John will either. Glen (Christian Lees) doesn’t think it is right. Steve argues Malcolm doesn’t care because he has found a dozen others. However, Malcolm storms in and complains about them missing rehearsals. He reveals that John and his mates came to his shop wanting to kick his head in because they didn’t show. He demands Steve apologize to John tomorrow and get him to come to a rehearsal or he’ll reconsider his managerial position. Steve meets with him the next day and claims it was a misunderstanding. John doesn’t want to rehearse at that place because it was a crap hole. He has already told Malcolm and he also wants to change the band’s name to the Sex Pistols.

Later, Steve goes to SEX where he tells Chrissie about Malcolm giving him the guitar. She learns about Wally being sacked too. Chrissie isn’t happy because Malcolm has been promising to put her in a band for months. She claims American and British music share steaming piles of sexism, but Malcolm says that has nothing to do with it. His vision for the Sex Pistols is one of dirt, danger, and desire. He believes she is far too accomplished for them. Malcolm wants her to meet with a man named Mick Jones because he is a young, interesting guitarist looking for a collaborator. Steve has sorted things with John, but they have nowhere to rehearse with Wally gone. Malcolm takes him to Denmark Street which he describes as London’s answer to Tin Pan Alley. He has taken out a 12-month lease on a place there.

He believes this is the perfect hideout so he doesn’t care how much it costs. Steve thanks him and calls it brilliant. John will be coming by on Friday for rehearsals. They discuss Steve’s guitar skills before Malcolm gives him the keys and asks him not to let him down. Steve says he won’t. Once Malcolm leaves, Steve tries to play his guitar only to find out that he isn’t very good. Steve runs into Jordan who says he is the singer who walks off stage before he has sang. He says he is now the guitarist who can’t play. Steve gets some speed or Black Beauty diet pills from Jordan. She invites him to come club with them, but Steve can’t because he has something going on. Steve practices constantly while using pills to stay up. Glen and Paul show up on Friday for the rehearsal and he is still going. Steve has been learning guitar since Monday. Glen argues you don’t learn the guitar in four days.

Steve says it is five. Glen contemplates quitting the band until he hears Steve play. Later, they don’t think John is going to show up. Eventually, he does and overhears them talking about auditioning him for Malcolm before giving him the boot. Glen tries to shake his hand once they’re introduced, but John isn’t having it. John goes inside to look at the place. He claims the lead singer from Badfinger hung himself here a week ago. He still thinks it is nice. When they suggest rehearsing, John says he can’t sing. The others say they can’t play although Glen thinks he is okay. They make fun of Glen when he offers to play Maggie May. Malcolm interrupts moments after Steve and John argue. He also admits that the lead singer of Badfinger hung himself here and that is why he got it half price. Malcolm knows Steve has been living there because he visited with more speed.

He gives Steve another bottle of Black Beauties. John complains that he doesn’t even get bus fare, but Steve gets amphetamines and free rent. When they begin arguing, Malcolm encourages them to tear into each other like the seditionary sewer rats they are. He wants to hear the fury of the forgotten generation. Malcolm calls them a generation with no future and no other aim but to destroy. John criticizes Steve for only knowing two chords, but he isn’t eager to sing. They end up rehearsing together and restarting. Jordan interrupts when she brings her friends and starts a party. Steve talks to Helen of Troy (Francesca Mills) who surprises him with her painting skills. Jordan tells Steve that Chrissie hasn’t been around much so she might have a fella on the side.

She joins them later and tells Steve how she is getting along with the other Jones. He takes her upstairs where he shows her his guitar that he calls Excalibur. Steve admits he couldn’t learn anything at school because he couldn’t concentrate. When they called him a moron, it only got worse. He always understood music. Now, he has a chance that he doesn’t want to mess up. Steve asks whether she’d teach him properly, but Chrissie has no interest in being his teacher. He asks for sex on a scale of 1 to 100 and gets a 98. Malcolm joins Steve to tell him a new movement is born tonight. John continues riding lyrics on the bus ride home. One day, another John (Louis Partridge) shows up at SEX because Viv told him he could be in the band, but Malcolm says no.

Malcolm and Viv discuss it in another room. She asks what happens if Steve crumbles again. Malcolm believes the new John would be a good replacement. Steve and John argue about the lyrics Steve wrote with John saying it sounds like they were written by a moron. When John learns that Malcolm is 29, he makes up lyrics about that and his mom dying. Steve wants to keep the original lyrics about noise and speed. John says some of it is okay if he could read it. He asks Steve if he even went to school only for Steve to say not really. John says he’ll work it out. He leaves for the bog after Steve says they should call him Johnny Rotten on account of his teeth. John says it is brilliant and he loves it. He listens to them talking bad about him from the door. Later, he talks to the other John about getting rid of one of the others to she can join.

John needs a mate because they’re mean most of the time. The other John says his mom calls him Sime. John has only just noticed his teeth which makes him look like his hamster. When he calls his hamster Sid, John thinks they should call him Sid. When the hamster bites him, Sid says he is really vicious. John has an idea. Later, Malcolm watches a music video with the others and says it has become a mind-numbing sedative for the masses. It is another means of control. Malcolm has managed to secure their first gig supporting Bazooka Joe at the Saint Martin Art College. Glen says he got the gig since he is a student there. Malcolm clarifies that the point is they’re going to launch their mission of destruction tomorrow night. That night, Steve wakes up Paul to say they need to be loud tomorrow because the main band always turns down the volume of the supporting band.

Sylvia Cook (Dorothy Atkinson) walks in and says hello. She reminds Steve that he can use the front door. Despite Paul having to work tomorrow, Steve drags him out of bed to get an amp. They take it back as Steve says they’re going to be bigger than the Stones. Paul says there are many bands saying that. He tells Steve to get some sleep but hears him playing as he leaves. Once they arrive at the school, Rotten complains about the hippies and says Glen fits right in here. A stranger asks Steve about the abstract expressionism lecture this evening since it is on the billboard nearby. Steve can’t read it so he curses him and calls him a hippie. Johnny says Steve plays guitar very badly and doesn’t like to read. He encourages everyone to come see them play since they’re awful.

When Bazooka Joe see the amp, they argue that the Pistols aren’t going to be using it. Steve tells them to just leave it after a brief argument. Chrissie gets blown off by Mick. Jordan and the others arrive at the college for the performance. Steve begins freaking out once again. Sid tells Viv and Malcolm about his new name. In the back, Rotten tries to convince the others to get rid of Glen, but they don’t cooperate. Steve runs outside and vomits. Chrissie tells him he can’t do another runner. She reveals she came to London because she thought America was over only to find that England is asleep. It needs a little kick in the arse and she suspects he and Rotten might be the ones to do it. She tells him to go screw the music. He goes back inside where he plugs up his amp.

When the Bazooka Joe member approaches, he threatens to destroy him if he touches the plug. Then, he tells the others that they’re going to kick the country awake if it kills them. Once they get themselves hyped, they hit the stage. It is November 6, 1975, when they perform at Saint Martins College. While they perform, Nick Kent (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) says they’re terrible. Chrissie says they’re great. When the Bazooka Joe band unplugs the amp, Sid gets into a fight with them. While they fight, Jordan carries the television to the window and throws it out.

 

Pistol Review

Pistol is turning into a show that people are going to love or hate. It is easy to see why viewers would fall into either side of the debate. On one hand, the visuals are fun, the music is great, and the acting is decent. On the other hand, Pistol only seems to skim the surface and could easily be described as over-the-top. The performances are exciting and the soundtrack has been excellent as expected. It is easy to imagine that this barely touched on many of the topics in Lonely Boy.

Of course, this is only the second episode so there is still plenty of time to delve into these subjects. The second episode scores a 6.5 out of 10. Recaps of Pistol can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our work at this link.