‘Fresh off the Boat’ Episode Review: “The Day After Thanksgiving”

Fresh Off the Boat, Season 4, Episode 7: “The Day After Thanksgiving”
Original airdate November 14, 2017.

Synopsis:  Grandma: still taking an ESL course.  Louis: invites the ESL teacher to Thanksgiving dinner.  Jessica: agrees to host Thanksgiving dinner so she and Honey can use Grandma’s chair on Black Friday.  Eddie and Emery: take Evan to his first R-rated movie (I Know What You Did Last Summer).  Evan: gets spooked and takes a little trip to the dark side.  Barney: is cut up during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade much to Evan’s horror.

Thumbs up:  I love it when there are multiple scenes with just the three boys. Their acting and chemistry are really enjoyable, and this is Ian Chen’s best acting yet.

I’m going to avoid speaking very much about George Takei for a while, but I’ll say that it’s good to see him in another episode, in the way it was good to see Margaret Cho in those episodes of Dr. Ken and Sullivan & Son.  There’s something of a debt to be acknowledged.

Honey’s drunken phone message is funny.  And there’s some good arguing with Jessica and Louis.  And Louis rocks a pretty nice aloha shirt (we do not call them Hawaiian shirts in Hawaii).  I mean classy nice, the kind you’d see men wearing in downtown Honolulu instead of suits, ties, and jackets.

Thumbs down:  The professor stuff is a bit over the top, which I know is intentional, but it’s so over the top I had difficulty watching it.  I like the rationale behind the Jessica-Grandma stuff, but it feels abrupt and forced, although that might be worth it for the “I only keep an eye on my enemies” line, which made me laugh.

FOB moment:  Grandma is still taking an ESL class.

Soundtrack flashback:  “I Love You” by Barney (1988 ish?), sung by Evan.

Final grade, this episode: Eh.  It’s aight.  I looked it up and the Barney mishap actually happened on Thanksgiving 1997, the year in which this episode is set.  Other balloons suffered similar or worse.  B-minus.