[7.0/10] Oh man, I have to admit, I have no idea what to do with this one. On the one hand, it plays on a lot of stereotypes. Sure, some of that is the show, per its M.O., making fun of its main characters for being so backwards and awful, but some of it veers into pretty uncomfortable territory. The whole episode hinging on the fact that Charlie’s paramour looks like an adult but is actually twelve years old doesn’t really work for me for that reason, and “Mr. Kim” and the other restaurant employees are off-putting for similar reasons.
But man, when the episode isn’t delving into that sort of unpleasant material, it’s really funny in the sort of non-story-focused, just hanging out and being funny moments. All the episode’s conversations about Mac’s “duster” and who can pull it off are funny in that bar conversation sort of way. Charlie and Dennis remarking on how the rival beer must be “enriched” and their stupid efforts to get into the locked room are hilarious. And Dee is amazing here, between her drunken “blah blah blah” response to Mac asking why she’s drunk, to her sort of resigned “mmhmm” response to Charlie’s girlfriend asking if she is the “whore” from the note they asked her to translate.
The American Idol parody feels a little dated now, but otherwise the nuts and bolts comedy of the episode really works when it’s not a party to the racist stuff. Heck, even the slow motion sequence where Frank dives in to take the hosing is funny in its ridiculousness. There’s some really good stuff here, it’s just wrapped in a package of retrograde orientalism that makes it really hard to deal with.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2017-08-15T16:07:32Z
[7.0/10] Oh man, I have to admit, I have no idea what to do with this one. On the one hand, it plays on a lot of stereotypes. Sure, some of that is the show, per its M.O., making fun of its main characters for being so backwards and awful, but some of it veers into pretty uncomfortable territory. The whole episode hinging on the fact that Charlie’s paramour looks like an adult but is actually twelve years old doesn’t really work for me for that reason, and “Mr. Kim” and the other restaurant employees are off-putting for similar reasons.
But man, when the episode isn’t delving into that sort of unpleasant material, it’s really funny in the sort of non-story-focused, just hanging out and being funny moments. All the episode’s conversations about Mac’s “duster” and who can pull it off are funny in that bar conversation sort of way. Charlie and Dennis remarking on how the rival beer must be “enriched” and their stupid efforts to get into the locked room are hilarious. And Dee is amazing here, between her drunken “blah blah blah” response to Mac asking why she’s drunk, to her sort of resigned “mmhmm” response to Charlie’s girlfriend asking if she is the “whore” from the note they asked her to translate.
The American Idol parody feels a little dated now, but otherwise the nuts and bolts comedy of the episode really works when it’s not a party to the racist stuff. Heck, even the slow motion sequence where Frank dives in to take the hosing is funny in its ridiculousness. There’s some really good stuff here, it’s just wrapped in a package of retrograde orientalism that makes it really hard to deal with.