Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Bling Empire’ On Netflix, A Reality Series Following A Group Of “Crazy Rich” Asian-Americans

Bling Empire is a reality series that follows around a group of Asians and Asian-Americans around Los Angeles that are among the richest of the rich in a city where a hell of a lot of people have money. Some of the people are self-made, while others are part of families who have generational wealth. But, like most reality series of this ilk, the people in it are so rich, they seem to have all the time in the world to take on grudges over things that seem pretty trivial. Read on for more…

BLING EMPIRE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Scenes of Los Angeles, and a young man saying, “When I saw Crazy Rich Asians, I thought it was a nice fantasy.”

The Gist: Taking the viewers’ point of view is Kevin Kreider, a model who moved from Philadelphia, where he was one of the few Asians he knew (his family adopted him from Korea when he was little). One of the first people he met in L.A. is Kane Lim, whose family has a number of business interests, among those massive real estate in Singapore. While the community of wealthy Asians in L.A. is a tight-knit one, the outgoing Kane seems to tie all of the people on the show together.

We then meet Christine Chiu, whose husband, Andrew, is a plastic surgeon whose lineage goes back to the emperor of the Song Dynasty. Seemingly down-to-earth given her situation, she shows her colors when she takes over Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills to throw a Lunar New Year party, or when she takes Kane to shop for Ducati motorcycles, citing that she needs one to get out of town fast in case of an emergency.

Kelly Mi Li has lived the luxurious life, until her husband was arrested for a cybercrime scandal. She has rebuilt her life and wealth via her own business, and she’s currently living with actor Andrew Gray. They seem to be in love, but Andrew soon shows that when he’s hurt he lashes out in unhealthy ways. Kevin is not a fan, but mainly because he thinks Kelly can do better… namely with him.

The first time we see Anna Shay, she’s bashing holes in her closet with a sledgehammer. The Japanese-Russian daughter of a billionaire defense contractor, she knows how to have fun with her wealth. For instance, she and Kelly jet to Paris for Kelly’s birthday, just to go shopping. This is also where we see Andrew’s first meltdown, over being left behind in the hotel to sleep off his jet lag. Kane calls her the “queen of Beverly Hills,” but Christine is trying hard to take over that spot. Anna is starting to resent Christine’s name dropping and other new-rich posturing; when Christine shows up to Anna’s dinner party wearing a necklace Anna also owns, Anna retaliates by sticking the Chius at the end of the long dinner table, away from her friends.

We also meet Kim Lee, a famous DJ in East Asia, whose mother seems to be as invested in Kim’s career as she is. We also meet Jamie Xie, a rich kid who has a fashion career, and when Kevin says the rent for his modest room is $1000, she scoffs, “That’s less than a pair of shoes!”

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? House Of Ho, but with a lot more bling and a lot more silly, Real Housewives-style rivalries and disputes.

Our Take: The formula that makes Bling Empire work is a familiar one to anyone who’s a fan of any of Bravo’s reality shows, or some recent Netflix ones like Selling Sunset. Show lots of ostentatious wealth, lots of semi-manufactured conversations between cast members, and generate disputes between those cast members over seemingly trivial, superficial matters.

So what any of these shows come down to is the personalities that are in the cast. And Bling Empire has a good mix, from the off-kilter but fun Anna Shay, to the striving new-rich Christine to the life-of-the-party Kane.

But what we find to be the most intriguing addition to the formula is Kevin, our eyes into this world. Yes, he’s handsome and has killer abs. But he’s also a working model who comes from and is of modest means, and the fact that he’s on this ride with Kane and all of his friends gives the viewer the rare opportunity to have someone in the group make similar observations that we would about how insane the lives of these wealthy people are.

Your enjoyment of Bling Empire is really going to depend on how much you enjoy watching people get into conflict over things like a necklace. The cast is a bit bloated, and we wonder if, during a seven-episode first season, all of them are going to get enough screen time to make their presence worthwhile. And, with Kelly and Andrew’s explosive relationship front and center in the first episode, we wonder if this is going to be the requisite relationship meltdown that every one of these reality shows needs to make itself seem less frivolous.

Sex and Skin: Besides seeing Kevin’s abs, there isn’t much in the way of skin.

Parting Shot: About the necklace incident, Kane says, “Oh my god, this is like World War III but more fun!’

Sleeper Star: We like Kim Lee’s mom, who wants Kim to show more skin during a visit with Kane where he take some glam shots of her for her Instagram feed.

Most Pilot-y Line: The one thing we wonder about Kevin is if he’ll lose perspective as he continues to live the good life on other people’s dimes.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Bling Empire mostly follows the tried-and-true reality formula, but with just enough new wrinkles to get fans of that genre excited to binge its first season in one or two sittings.

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.

Stream Bling Empire On Netflix