Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Bling Empire’ Season 2 On Netflix, With Even More Partying And Petty Fights Among L.A.’s Super Rich Asian-Americans

Debuting in January 2021, Bling Empire pretty much hit every dopamine receptor for fans of Bravo-style reality TV. There’s money, with families who have just gotten rich or have been wealthy for centuries. There’s petty fights, mostly between two of the more outlandish personalities on the show. And there’s lots and lots of parties. Season 2 promises more of the same, plus a few new cast members to stir things up.

BLING EMPIRE SEASON 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Scenes of Los Angeles. We open at Kevin Kreider’s apartment.

The Gist: Without skipping much of a beat from Bling Empire’s first season, we see the group in a bit of a transition phase, mostly thanks to the notoriety gained from 2021’s first season. Kevin has a new apartment, which is of course microscopic compared to where his friends live, but it’s home. Kelly Mi Li and Kane Lim visit and one of the first things they notice are the stains on the sheets on his bed (which is a mattress on the floor).

Kelly has finally broken up with Andrew, after getting back together. Kim Lee has just scored her first big American DJ gig, and an awkward flirt-hug with Kevin when she gets the news leads him to “shoot his shot” over some bubble tea a few days later. Cherie Chan is still waiting for her fiancé Jessey Lee to pick a wedding date, after asking him to marry her at the end of season 1.

Christine Chiu is in Paris at that city’s Fashion Week, but packs up her husband and son when her new friend Mimi Morris invites her to a birthday party for herself that she’s throwing. Of course, everyone else is at that party, including Christine’s frenemy Anna Shay, and it looks like a surprising détente has developed between them. But when Anna invites Christine to her sprawling new mansion, the tensions flare again when Christine expresses concern for people who have less than her family does during the pandemic. Anna just thinks it’s phony and “pathetic” and Christine shouldn’t be ashamed of her family wealth.

We’re also introduced to Dorothy Wang, who goes herb shopping with Christine in Chinatown. Finally, Jaime Xie hears a rumor about Jessey Lee from a new friend of hers, Leah Qin.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Bling Empire Season 1, Selling Sunset, and just about every Bravo reality series that has aired since 2006.

Our Take: If you liked the ostentatiousness of Bling Empire‘s first season, then the second one won’t disappoint, especially with the addition of new cast members like Mimi Morris. She makes just about everyone except for maybe Anna look like paupers, and we get her way-too-old-to-be-dressing-like-that husband Don, CEO of Morris Group International, along for the ride.

We know a little bit less about the other new cast members, Dorothy Wang and Leah Qin, but at least our introduction to Leah comes with a massive bomb-drop of a rumor about Jessey and Cherie. There had been rumors that the couple had bowed out of Season 2, but now it seems that they will participate, but given the rumor Leah dropped we’re not sure how long that’ll be.

The second year of any reality show has that feel of comfort, where you know the players and their personalities, and you also know who are going to have the petty conflicts. For Bling Empire, that is always going to lie with Anna and Christine. “It’s fun to me, watching two people compete over stupid material things,” says Kane in a side interview, and we tend to agree. And it’s taken to the Nth degree with Anna and Christine.

But the animus seems to be deep-seated for Anna, as she really resents Christine’s new-rich posturing and lip service towards the less fortunate. We’re not sure Anna is on the best moral ground here, but we also know she’s enjoying her money a hell of a lot more than Christine is.

Sex and Skin: None, aside from some shirtless shots of Kevin. Or are we thinking of last season?

Parting Shot: Leah drops the bomb about Jessey, that he’s still married to his first wife.

Sleeper Star: We so want the herb shop owner, who got a degree in economics but looks like he took over a family business, to not be so awkward around Christine and Dorothy, but he is so painfully awkward we felt bad for him.

Most Pilot-y Line: Kevin wants Kane and Kelly to take off their shoes in his new apartment. “This is an Asian household,” he says. “But you’re white on the inside,” Kane tells Kevin, who has been struggling with his identity for years. How tasteful.

Our Call: STREAM IT. It’s not like Bling Empire takes a dramatic format turn in Season 2. It’s more of the same opulence, over-the-top parties and petty fights from Season 1, which is why it was so popular.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.