After six seasons (that’s 116 episodes), Fresh Off the Boat calls it Friday evening with a two-part series finale. The season’s fourteenth episode, “Family Van,” airs at 8:00 on ABC.
When the trusty Huang family van takes a turn for the worst, Jessica and Louis each process the loss in their own way. Meanwhile, the boys take advantage of the opportunity for some bonding time and sneak off on a road trip to find their Washington, D.C., time capsule.
…with the final installment, “Commencement,” directed by Randall Park, following immediately.
Jessica grapples with her vision of the future as the boys are each realizing what their own goals are.
It feels like I’m losing a loved one, although because I haven’t watched the show since season 5, episode 5, I guess it’s not exactly a sister or cousin I’m losing — it’s more like that spouse of a cousin I was once very close to but lost touch with when the couple moved far away.
It’s not that I lost interest. I swear. The move to Friday nights in season 5 was brutal on me. There just wasn’t room in my life for appointment TV on Fridays, and getting episode reviews up by 11:00 Saturday mornings was slaughtering me — that’s 9:00 a.m. here, Saturday morning! — and despite appearances, I didn’t just toss these reviews together in fifteen minutes.
So here we are, about to lose a series whose importance really cannot be overstated. Perhaps the novelty of an Asian American family at the center of a network sitcom wasn’t as fascinating midway through the fifth season as midway through the first, and maybe that’s a good sign.
We would love to get to a place where such a thing isn’t a big deal anymore and we don’t feel the urgency to support representation in primetime just because it’s the only representation we have. However, we’re not there yet, and while I’d wager everyone feels it was time for the Huangs to make way for another family’s story (and I don’t mean the Connors’ story!), the realization doesn’t make losing Jessica and Eddie any less sad.
I’m sad. There’s talk about a spinoff (Magic Motor Inn, featuring the Indian family from season 6, episode 13), but nothing’s set, and it won’t be the same anyway.
I’ll be watching, almost surely with a tear in my eye, and I hope you will too. Meet me back here Saturday morning for my final FOtB episode review, and let me know how you feel.
- Excited
- Fascinated
- Amused
- Disgusted
- Sad
- Angry
