In Clipped episode 1, "White Party," Doc Rivers (Laurence Fishburne) arrives in Los Angeles to find the Clippers in a bigger state of disarray than he imagined. After meeting with owner Donald Sterling (Ed O’Neill), Doc concludes that much of the chaos surrounding the team stems from the owner. Unlike many of the execs around Donald, Doc isn’t afraid to call Sterling out on his antics. Doc also has to contend with the fact that his star players, Chris Paul (J. Alphonse Nicholson) and Blake Griffin (Austin Scott) can’t stand each other.
Then there’s the infamous V. Stiviano (Cleopatra Coleman). She’s managed to work her way into Donald’s life, much to the dismay of his wife Shelly (Jacki Weaver).
Here’s what happened in Clipped episode 1.
Who is V. Stiviano?
News is breaking about the leaked audio of Donald making disparaging and offensive remarks. Many people affiliated with the Clippers organization are outraged, while V paints a picture via a voiceover of why she leaked the recordings. She references the disrespect that she received and notes the thing about disrespecting a "nobody" like her is she is listening.
Flashing back to 2013, V arrives at the annual Sterling White Party in a red Ferrari in short shorts and a tank top; Shelly begrudgingly takes notice. Shelly and her friends also look on as V attempts to start the Electric Slide at the party. Before V leaves, Shelly goes up to V as she climbs into her car.
Shelly not so subtly dresses down V and describes the importance of the Clipper organization and its employees maintaining a certain image. V in turn hints about all that she does for Donald as his assistant, which leaves Shelly puzzled. Donald then walks up and his wife whispers to him, inquiring how V can afford a luxury car. He offers a flimsy explanation before also applauding V as a great employee who helps him keep track of things by recording their conversations. The audio recordings trouble Shelly.
The next day, V runs Donald around town. While he is in a building handling business, she speaks on the phone with her sister Lucy about picking up her two boys. Lucy is doubtful she has time to do that and mail off paperwork so the kids can get into a better school, but V presses her to get it all done while she convinces Donald to buy her duplex for them all to live in.
When Donald walks back outside and up to V, she’s ready to go see the duplex in question and for him to purchase it. He notes he doesn’t have time today, greatly disappointing her. However, she wouldn’t remain disappointed for long as he buys her the property a few scenes later.
Doc and Donald don’t get along
When Donald meets Doc in his offices he notes that Doc used to be one of his players back in the day. The new Clippers’ coach quickly pivots the conversation to wanting to acquire JJ Redick (Charlie McElveen). Clippers president Andy Roeser (Kelly AuCoin) says they can’t afford JJ after acquiring Chris Paul, but Doc says they can’t afford to keep losing on the court. Donald okays the acquisition.
Later on a phone call between Andy, Donald and Doc, Donald changes his mind and says he doesn’t want to pick up JJ because "he’s white." Because no paperwork was signed, Donald wants to pull the plug on the deal even though Doc and the Clippers made a verbal commitment to JJ. That leaves Doc fuming, who hangs up the call. Moments later, Andy calls back and says they’ll add JJ to the roster.
At the aforementioned White Party, Doc takes note of Donald parading Blake around to party guests like a prized peacock. Bothered by the sight, Doc interrupts Donald and later speaks to Blake one-on-one about his comfort with that type of behavior. Blake says he just lets his mind drift away when stuff like that happens.
Fast forward to the Clippers enjoying a winning season. During one game in particular, Donald walks hand-in-hand with V onto the court on a night when Shelly is absent. V twirls around and is given much attention, but Doc isn’t pleased.
After the game, the players are in the locker room celebrating a win and changing clothes, when Donald walks in with an entourage, including V. The players look incredibly uncomfortable as they are being forced into pictures and asked odd questions. Doc then comes into the locker room seeing the commotion and is furious. The coach says he’s never seen anything like this before and effectively kicks Donald and his guests out.
Did Blake Griffin and Chris Paul get along?
Again at the White Party, during the conversation between Doc and Blake, Doc asks if there is any tension on the team that he should know about. Right away, Blake pinpoints Chris and says none of the players can stand the sound of his voice. When Doc speaks to the staff about it, they confirm that Blake and Chris don’t like each other.
Trying to get to the bottom of their issues, Doc speaks to Chris and Blake individually. Chris believes Blake is selfish and only thinks about himself, while Blake resents Chris walking onto the team and automatically thinking he’s the leader. Doc tells both men to essentially put their egos to the side, and emphasizes that Blake shouldn’t feel threatened by Chris, and Chris should be friendlier to the players if he wants to lead.
Advantage, Shelly
Shelly spends the majority of the episode having V thrown in her face. During one occasion when she’s at a store to return a sweater Donald had given her for Christmas, she runs into Donald and V shopping. Things quickly turn ugly as the women trade insults with Shelly calling V a "thief" and V telling Shelly she’ll soon be the new Mrs. Donald Sterling.
The words deeply impact Shelly, who winds up going to dinner to think about the comments. While dining, her friends show up in "Team Shelly" shirts to lift her spirits. Shelly reveals that while Donald has had assistants before and alludes to him having indiscretions with them, Donald is not using discretion with V. After hiring a forensic accountant, she found out Donald bought V the duplex.
By the episode’s end, however, Shelly has the last laugh (for now). She has V served with legal documents outlining a lawsuit. Shelly is suing V "as a married woman seeking to protect and recover community property in her individual capacity." Shelly cites the duplex as part of that property. The suit leaves V feeling absolutely gutted.
Episodes of Clipped continue to debut on Hulu on Tuesdays in the US, and on Disney Plus in the UK.
