Hello, dear FotB fans and welcome to our new weekly get together. The season premiere written and directed by Nahnatchka Khan was one of the show's best outings so far, in my humble opinion at least. The premiere was very nicely paced, gave all the characters some quality screen time and made very well use of the Taiwan set up the Huangs found themselves in.
I'm a tidbit disappointed the show didn't stick around Taiwan a bit longer, but many shows while trying to go big jump over the cliff and crash. Luckily it wasn't the case here, they've played it safe and it payed off. My personal MVP of this episode, and many other before, Evan Huang.
Ian Chen was hilarious in all his scenes. From his overpacking stuff for the trip to adoring the all year school system going on in Taiwan. Evan is a fighter and ready for every situation he finds himself. The writers certainly know how to exploit his quirks and incorporate into very funny scenes.
Still, the slap scene in the Taiwanese school was a bit too much but I liked how Evan saved it with his plea for someone to call the American Embassy.
And while it seemed like Evan had the time of his life, Jessica struggled quite a bit. The return to Taiwan was nothing like our favorite overachiever mom imagined. Jessica's struggle was really sweet to watch, though. The writers found a good balance between showing the issues Jessica had and making the scenes funny enough to held my attention. The scene where she bought Eddie the bad fake shoes was just hilarious. Her frozen face when she realized the mistake she made was just phenomenal. In an episode filled with great lines, I have to point out the one after Evan got missing for a second.
There are no pedophiles in Taiwan. People are too busy getting things done to have time for any hobbies.
Eventually, Jessica realized she shouldn't fight the love for her American life. After sharing her struggles with Louis she confessed she was missing her Orlando.
Louis meanwhile spent his time in Taiwan being jealous of Gene, played by guest star Ken Jeong. Gene's life seemed perfect, with the perfect wedding location, fiance and apartment and it poked Louis in all the wrong places. Eventually, after talking it out with Jessica, Louis let go of his jealousy and reconciled with Gene for the 2nd time in under 30 minutes.
In a great episode filled with many great Ghost references, Louis delivered the best on during his talk with Jessica.
We are Ghost. We are Patrick Swayze and Ghost. Stuck between two worlds, part of both, belonging to neither.
And I can only agree with Jessica it is the best movie.
Emery hadn't a really significant role in this episode. Him being a mosquito magnet served as a good set up for some nice jokes and one major scream. Eddie struggled with being apart from Alison and all the scenes involving him searching for a Fax were winners. I mean FAXING! Who is faxing these days? Especially to girls, nice throwback writers. Eddie did stress for nothing cause Alison was really understanding. But there was a shock in store for Eddie upon returning to the states, SHAQ IS LEAVING ORLANDO. *Dum Dum Dum*
Other tidbits:
- Big Auntie and her family were a nice addition to the story.
- I was glad they quickly wrapped up Jessica hunting Gene for those 200 dollars.
- The scene where Louis and Gene reconnect for the first time while Louis screams how much money he spent on coming to Taiwan was neat. Especially the finish with the headphones.
- Sad they didn't involve Louis' Mom more into the story.
What did you think of Fresh off the Boat's season premiere? Were you entertained as much as I? Or did the Tai-jokes fall flat for you? After voting, stop by the comment section and let me know what you thought of "Coming from America".
