One of the many interesting developments through Fresh Off the Boat‘s first season is how the show’s story has shifted from a story about a Chinese-American family trying to keep their heads above water in a weird town to a full-out goofy comedy about assimilation, cultural identity, and two parents trying to raise their children with values in a world quickly becoming devoid of them. “So Chineez” eloquently puts a bow on these ideas by introducing another into the fray: instead of continuing with its thread of “Huang family barely scrapes by” for comedy, the season finale shows the Huang family trying to assimilate once again – only this time, it’s adjusting to becoming upper middle-class Americans, something “So Chineez” digs into with fervor, delivering a terrific season finale as a result.
“So Chineez” also benefits from the show’s slight shift towards focusing on the parents a little bit more. By nature, their stories are going to be a little more rewarding than the short-lasting peaks and valleys of a child’s life. Eddie is still a great vehicle for comedy, but he works better when his character is working in conjuction with the story of his parents. In this episode, his insistence on studying Jamaica catalyzes Jessica’s story, which itself is a first-act twist on the original premise. How all three come together is genius: Jessica pushes Louis to join the local country club, then realizes that she and her family are becoming more and more American by the minute, snapping the moment she looks down and sees a tray of mac and cheese (with Bacon Bits on it, of course) she’s about to feed her family.
Predictably, she goes into full Crazy Jessica mode, which has never been something the show’s treated with cruelty, or mocked her for. Instead, her frustrations manifest themselves as her attempts to make sure her children don’t forget who they are and what their values are; when she notices she’s losing them herself (she won’t even put up the A’s the boys get in class anymore!), the story turns internal, and Jessica begins to challenge her own identity. She moved to America with Louis to build a better life for their kids, not taking into consideration how much America would change them as people – and needs to: without assimilating, they wouldn’t have blooming onions, Melrose Place, or any hip-hop CDs to give Eddie when he won’t show up.
Some might say that makes for an unexciting conflict, but anything is exciting with Jessica’s wild imagination, and the framing of the story, right around Eddie’s school project (by the way, those Switzerland kids were a riot: “Let’s not get involved”) and Louis’s golden ticket to the upper echelon of Orlando businessmen, sets the stage for a hilarious episode. It’s one that opens with a classic montage (has anyone talked about how great this show is at montages? Because it’s fantastic, even when it’s not making dope ’90s rap references), and never lets its foot off the gas pedal, thematically or comedically; “So Chineez” is a fine season finale for that ambition.
Fresh Off the Boat‘s grown quite a bit in a short time, slightly shifting its attention toward the adults in the family (though the kids remain great, especially the eternally funny combination of Evan and Emery), and instead of telling a story about a goofy family that can’t get anything right, it’s telling a story about a goofy family trying not to screw it up. I think that small shift in philosophy has been important for the show, allowing it to move away from the predictable beats of a “pick themselves up by the bootstraps” family story for something that fits right in with the fiscal boom and excess of the mid-1990s, finding humor in the time period. It’s also realized that the lead performances are the show’s true heart: Jessica Huang is one of the best mother characters on TV in recent memory, and Louis is easily one of the most endearing (his fantasy about shaking hands with business men in towels nearly had me crying: Randall Park’s smile is just too damn funny), their performances able to balance the absurdity of the comedy, without turning their characters into caricatures. “So Chineez” proudly flaunts that balance, bouncing back and forth between its middle-school world (a secondary cast that Fresh Off the Boat has filled out very well in a short amount of time) and adult comedy effortlessly, never losing sight of either’s story and building up to a hilarious, meaningful finale. Here’s hoping this show doesn’t go the Selfie route, and we have more Fresh Off the Boat to talk about in 2016.
[Photo credit: John Fleenor/ABC]
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