At the end of Etoile Cheyenne is left feeling lonely, and for the first time in the entire show, we see her show some sort of emotion. Etoile on Prime is a TV show that tells the story of ballet and the art of dance. In the show, the biggest ballet companies of New York and Paris decide to swap dancers as a marketing tactic to fill seats in theaters that are on the verge of shutting down. Jack McMillan runs the New York company and initially thinks this is a terrible idea, but when he’s able to get the world’s best ballet dancer, Cheyenne Toussaint, in this exchange, he’s ready to do it, even if it means losing the best choreographer he’s ever had. Genevieve is his counterpart on the Paris side of things, and she’s proposing this idea after a businessman named Crispin Shamblee agrees to sponsor the whole thing, helping both companies with his funds and mentorship. Ironically, Cheyenne is an environmentalist, and in her free time, she spends her time ambushing boats owned by people like Shamblee to prevent them from causing marine damage. Now, this whole exchange happens because a girl named Mishi needs to be brought back to Paris after Gen threw her out. But will this entire experiment turn out to be a big, chaotic mess? Or will it help the companies just as Gen was hoping? Let’s find out in Etoile.
Does Mishi Find Happiness In Paris?
Mishi is a 19-year-old nepo-baby with zero social skills and no idea what the world’s like. When she’s brought back to her home country, her parents make a huge show of her coming back and make it seem like her return means the world to them. But, in truth, all they care about is their public image. This is what happens with prominent public figures: they only ever care about perception. After living with her family for a bit, Mishi tells Gen that she can’t live with her parents anymore and that she loved being in NY because it gave her freedom and peace. Gen comes up with the idea of putting Mishi in Cheyenne’s mom, Bruna’s house. At first, this seems like a terrible idea, but the two women who are nothing alike start to warm up to each other. It is when Mishi goes with Bruna on her morning walk and meets a young boy that she finally looks happy being back. Of course, she’s also been dancing better since she moved out of her parents’ house.
But Mishi doesn’t know how to talk to boys; she doesn’t even know what Brooklyn looks like, despite having lived in New York for two years. So, when she hangs out with people her own age who know nothing about ballet, she starts to feel insecure and runs away from the boy she likes. It’s Bruna and Cheyenne who help her by telling the boy to win her over and go see the ballet. Mishi learns a lot more from living with Bruna than she ever did with her mom and dad. She even made a huge mess of herself during her mom’s book launch, and I guess that was enough to make her mom realize how much she’s neglected her daughter. To be fair, I didn’t think this would change much between them, because when you’re a busy person, you tend to remain that way, but since Mishi’s found her place now, her mom and she will probably end up fixing things eventually. Mishi dreams of becoming the next Cheyenne, and I think if we get another season of Etoile, we’ll get to see her go on that journey.
What Happens To Tobias’ Show?
One of the main characters of Etoile is not a “star dancer” but a star choreographer like no other. What Gen really wanted to get out of bringing Tobias to Paris was a fresh voice. Tobias isn’t just different as a choreographer, he’s got his own way of doing things. He throws many tantrums, and he makes loads of people mad, but he always wants to give the best show ever. Throughout the show, Tobias and one of the dancers in Paris, Gabin, have a developing friendship that feels like a push and pull. But when Gabin gets arrested for being violent with some cops, Tobias becomes super disappointed with him. Tobias doesn’t voice it, but he clearly likes Gabin romantically. Yes, the feelings are reciprocated, but until Tobias has his perfect dance, he’d never act on such feelings. In the middle of the show, Paris sees Tobias’ first piece, and it’s too New York for them. It’s different, it’s loud, and it’s too unclassical, and this makes all the critics mad. This puts Tobias in a shell, but Gabin somehow manages to bring him out of it. Gen tells Tobias that all she wants is for his work to be seen; she thinks it was brilliant, and the reason that she did this swap was to show Paris what art can be.
In Etoile’s finale, Gen fights for Gabin and gives him one last chance at the theater because she understands that he’s passionate about dance. Hopefully, he will stick to being a dancer and maybe go to the boxing ring if he ever wants to release his anger again. Gabin learns the dance, and it’s time for the new performance. But, when the performance goes on stage, Tobias hates it so much that he halts the production midway, gets on stage, and starts choreographing a new routine. All with a massive audience seated in the theater.
I suppose it’s Tobias’ passion that opens the eyes of the people in the theater who are so amused by his musings and his anger for one wrong ankle or wrist. They start to live stream his shenanigans, and soon enough, there’s a massive audience in front of the theater. Now, instead of advertising a fashion brand on the big screen that covers the front of the theater, it livestreams what’s happening inside. Ironically, this whole situation becomes the exact marketing genius that Gen and Jack have been looking for this whole time, seeing the process, seeing the reasoning behind every move, and seeing it all come together into a perfect amalgamation of movements.
In the end, just before they’re about to put on the show, Tobias talks to the audience about how Paris has changed him and how he used to be the guy who never feared anything, but Paris made him feel fear. Tobias tells his audience that it’s good to feel fear, especially when it comes to your work, because it means you care about it. He walks off the stage, and at that moment, we know it’s going to be a brilliant performance. Gabin is the “Etoile” of this show, and it is magnificent. It’s a blend of the traditional with a contemporary twist, bringing the old and the new together beautifully. At the end of the performance, Tobias is so thrilled by Gabin’s incredible pirouettes (presumably the whole show) that he ends up running up to him on stage and giving him a kiss. Of course, he’s forgotten where he is in the passion of things, but it’s all good, because everybody is happy, and he’s going to get rave reviews.
Why Does Jack Offer Cheyenne The Art Director Job?
When Cheyenne comes to NY, she brings in her favorite dance partner (possible love interest), a now-farmer named Gael. He’s the man who broke up Jack’s sister’s marriage (probably for good reason by the sound of it), so Jack hates him. But he lets him stay on for Cheyenne’s sake. The company is doing the Nutcracker, and all the women are annoyed by how many times they’ve done it, so Cheyenne steps up and says she’ll do all 57 consecutive shows. This would mean Gael would also have to do 57 shows. But when Cheyenne ends up slipping on stage during one of the performances, she completely loses her mind over it. She tells Gael that he’s not strong enough for her and then just picks up and leaves.
For a dancer like Cheyenne, there’s nothing worse than a slip-up on stage. Dance is her form of expression, yes, but it’s her entire life too. She can’t help but feel this means it’s the end of her career as a dancer, well, the end of her life as a dancer, because it means she’s not fully there; she’s not fully feeling it. Cheyenne goes back to see her mom at this time. What she needs is answers, but nobody else has them except for her. I suppose the bells ringing are a sign to Cheyenne that she’s done for, but she’s still got one last dance left in her yet. At this moment, Jack calls Cheyenne, telling her that Nicholas, the art director, isn’t waking up, and Shamblee, the businessman, gave him the idea that she should replace him. The thing is, this is actually a fantastic idea because Cheyenne is a brilliant dancer, but she’s also great at speeches; she can see the best dancers from miles away, and she’s got all the skills to know what works best. At first, Cheyenne thinks it’s ridiculous, and so does Jack because she’s in the prime of her career, but Cheyenne realizes that this is an opportunity to secure her future. How many dancers get to go from being Etoiles to art directors? Well, not many.
Cheyenne decides to take up the job and tells Gen before telling Jack. Gen becomes absolutely furious and immediately calls Jack to withdraw the offer, but it’s already too late. Of course, Gen’s career is saved because of Tobias’ fantastic stunt by the end, but what about Cheyenne? Does she get to keep the job or not?
Does Nicholas die?
In Etoile’s ending, Cheyenne learns that Nicholas has woken up after she’s back in New York for a new production. It’s a performance called “I Married Myself” and directly speaks about how Cheyenne feels at the moment. She spent her whole life devoted to dance, and now everyone who was around her, who worked with her, is ready to leave her just like that. Being an artist is a lonely job; it takes away everything from you, and when you’re ready to let it go, you have nothing to fall back on. For Cheyenne, becoming the art director would’ve given her something else to care about, but knowing Nicholas has woken up makes her realize how volatile her existence really is. Her performance is exhilarating and feels caged at the same time. It makes us realize that she’s trapped in this loop of loneliness, which has eaten away at her for too long. We see her channel her energy into Susu because she sees a mirror in her. We see her let go of love with Gael because it’s not what the show requires.
In the end, Cheyenne walks away from the performance without bowing down and throws away her ballet shoes. She finally feels unseen, and none of the applause matters because nobody truly cares about her. I suppose Jack and Cheyenne are similar in many ways; they’re both alone, they’re too passionate, and they think they’re hollow on the inside because they’ve got no room for anything but their art. The show ends with them kissing, which seems to be a repeat of something that happened 5 years earlier.
What Can We Expect From Season 2?
While nothing is confirmed at the time of writing this, the ending of Etoile definitely leaves room for another season. Now, we’ll get to see a love triangle between Cheyenne, Jack, and Gen for sure. On the other hand, we might get to see more of Susu as she grows into a beautiful ballerina. Mishi is becoming the next star in Paris, and Gabin is putting his troubled past behind him thanks to Tobias. Also, we can’t forget about Shamblee, because this show doesn’t really have an antagonist, but this man has all the makings of one. I mean, we did see him be a prick to Cheyenne, and he can just pull the plugs anytime since he’s renamed the ballet theater to his own name.
