Interior Chinatown

[Drunk Monk]

[Greg]

I am ready for this. And since all the episodes drop at once, I can watch the whole run before I cancel my Disney+ subscription.

[Drunk Monk]

Watched the first 2
Good roles for Jimmy & Ronny. It’s a weird vision of Chinatown. And the Kung Fu angle is robust. About halfway thru I got confused as to what this was supposed to be. Then when the credits rolled, I remembered this is Waititi.
By e2, I just got an ear by the quirkiness. It’s not lol funny but it’s got some funny scenarios. There’s some dreadfully overdone pratfalls but the work. It’s got a really odd rhythm - the meta TV take is weird, but enjoyable. Ronny keeps it real. Jimmy’s part is a bit stilted but he’s making it work ok. 
I’m in.

[Drunk Monk]

By e2, I just got an ear by the quirkiness. 

Not sure what I meant by that. Spelchuk has it's way with me as I'm posting whilst falling asleep, as is my habit here...

[Drunk Monk]

2 more eps in
Willis’ (Jimmy) story kinda slowed but his power drink fueled hallucination was ok. Fatty’s (Ronny) story got funny. 
Enter the Kung Fu Guy.
Joe’s (Tzi) story echoes something Ive seen too much of - hits too close to home but that’s just me.
And Lee’s (Chloe) story went this way:


Still enjoying the show, mostly for Ronny & those quirky Taika moments. The buzz about it makes it seem a lot deeper than it is. Maybe so but that’s not the attraction, not what makes it work.

[Drunk Monk]

Another 2 eps in and it's starting to drift. 

The glitching is weird. The whole premise is kinda weird. I like it conceptually - the notion of background Asian characters on a police procedural show having their own storyline - but these two eps feel a little like filler to make it a season of 10. 

And there's a Eugene. And he's cool. Yay. 

I hope to finish this over the weekend.

[Greg]

Maybe over Thanksgiving while The Queen is away......

[Drunk Monk]

Finished the penultimate ep. It’s gone off the rails but more in an incoherent way than a fun way. Taika is the executive producer and it almost feels as if he had some good ideas on how to interpret the book but didn’t follow through and the showrunners struggled to make sense of it. 

We’ll see if they can stick the landing. I’ve already seen an article headline that explains the ending, which isn’t promising. Or maybe it is.

I do like Ronny’s Chinese Suffering sauce because it’s a great play on chili crisp (one of my pet peeves).

Alright - time for the finale.

[Drunk Monk]

The explanation was somewhat satisfactory - it’s kinda Truman Show which was stated from the beginning. I wish they had brought out the tie to Chinese hell, but the jab at Hulu reminded me of some of Marvel’s D+ navel gazing. 

Ultimately, I liked what it reached for; it just got longwinded in the middle. It could’ve worked better with 2/3rds of the eps. The AmerAsian angle was its strongest suite - I wasn’t raised in Chinatown but some of my cousins and friends were, so a few ideas resonated. Jimmy, Ronny & Chloe were good in some very unique roles. 

D00M recommended? Perhaps. I’d say if you’re curious, give it a few eps. If not, simply don’t bother.

[Greg]

Caught the first episode. Very Meta. Ronny Chieng is very good at playing Ronny Chieng, which I appreciate. This is quite the departure for Jimmy Yang. Although, the only thing I've seen him in is Crazy Rich Asians.

I don't know if the gag is sustainable but it is an interesting way to approach the story.

[Greg]

Ep 02 I appreciate their reference to the Wilhelm scream.