Wecrashed – Season 1 Episode 5 “Hustle Harder” Recap & Review

Hustle Harder

Episode 5 of WeCrashed starts in 2017 with Adam heading to Chase Bank, looking to open a new credit card. He wants the credit limit increased to 50 million, encouraging the teller to Google who he is in order to get this approved.

So naturally, Adam is referred to the big boss at JP Morgan. He’s a “UHNWI” – Ultra High Net Worth Individual – but despite his business doing well, Adam as an individual is a different proposition. However, Jamie decides to step up as his personal banker, with the limit even increased to 100 million too.

With numerous locations across the globe, Adam has serious logistic problems. From rat infestations and strange staircases, everything looks set to blow up in a big way. At least under the hood. On the surface, Adam makes it onto the Time 100 list as the façade of the company continues to look like the ideal place to work.

The frat-boy culture at WeWork continues to dominate the workplace, with Adam prancing about in a werewolf mask and ignoring his competitors who want to work with him now. Rebekah meanwhile, continues to neglect her child as she and Adam eventually head to the Time100 Gala that night.

As we’ve established already, WeWork’s finances are a mess. After a disappointing conference, Miguel warns that Masa may be having second thoughts. He may have realized that the 1.8 billion in revenue… is now being stacked up against 1.9 billion in losses. “We spend to grow,” Adam says in response, but it’s clear that everything is starting to sour.

When Adam receives a call from Jamie regarding Tokyo, he’s forced to hop across the globe on his private jet to try and sort this mess out.

Adam has his head in the clouds, and it takes Miguel pointing out that Masa is expecting a ridiculous ROI that WeWork just cannot sustain to get though to him. So off they go, to Softbank Headquarters where Masa sits with Miguel and Adam, showing off his new robot. Hey, that looks an awful lot like Paulie’s robot from Rocky IV!

However, Masa is not there to talk finances. Instead, he encourages Adam to be crazier and aim higher in order to win this fight in the end.

Back at WeWork, Elishia shows up to start her job but Rebekah is overshadowed – which seems to be a recurring theme here. In fact, she even decides to try and change the company’s motto, something away from: “Elevating the world’s subconscious.” According to her, this is way too abstract.

For Rebekah though, she’s worried that the soul of the company is being ripped out and she warns as much to Adam that night. Because of this, Rebekah decides to rip the rug up from under Elishia, pointing out she doesn’t understand the business and forcing her out the door. However, Elishia’s words cut deeply. Drying her tears to prevent her make-up running, Rebekah decides to take the limelight instead. She shows up at the photoshoot, much to the surprise and confusion of all involved.

Adam wants to continue down the path of flamboyance, deciding to double up on what Masa wants and intending to take over the coworking space in its entirety, even offering up a year’s worth of free membership. The bankers though, are understandably concerned.

The Episode Review

I said last episode that this show should have been a movie and if there’s ever an episode that perfectly exemplifies why – it’s this one. While this isn’t a complete waste of time, beyond Adam’s flamboyance and jet-setting lifestyle, and Rebekah’s continued jealousy and worry about being pushed aside, there’s absolutely nothing going on here.

The entire 49 minute chapter is so preoccupied with its flashy visuals and jet setting, showing off how the rich live, that there’s no room left for the things that matter. You know, like story and character development.

This show is starting to drag its heels and given we have 3 more episodes of this to go – each of which clocking in at an hour or so – Wecrashed is turning into a bit of a chore. Hopefully things pick up next week.