‘Dr. Ken’ Episode Review: “Ken’s New Intern”

Dr. Ken, Season 2, Episode 12: “Ken’s New Intern”
Original airdate January 6, 2017.

Doctor, Doctor Help Me Please
Ken’s new intern is very affectionate, and although Allison at first claims she isn’t at all jealous, she becomes strangely competitive even though she knows she has nothing to worry about.  The Welltopia gang learns during a weird karaoke session that Damona sang the vocals on the 1990 C+C Music Factory hit, “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)” but the woman in the video was lip-syncing to her voice, and she never received credit for her work.  Molly admits to her grandfather that her first date with Jae, which D. K. arranged, went really well, but she hasn’t heard at all from him since.  D. K. and Dave agree to go to Jae’s grandfather’s barber shop to see if they can learn anything about Jae’s feelings for Molly.

I Know You’ll Understand
The supporting roles in this episode (Clark, Pat, Damona’s boyfriend, and Dave) are all well done, especially Pat’s, which I almost can’t believe I’m saying.  In an otherwise over-the-top week, Allison has one really good moment, when she’s first confronted by Damona about whether or not she’s jealous.  D. K. has a moment near the end when one is reminded that Old Korean Man Strength is not something to test, which is pretty funny if you’ve ever actually tested Old Korean Man Strength.  I may have had unpleasant flashbacks.  Molly’s really good in this one and probably gets the game ball, the only consistently good non-supporting performance.

There’s a Timed Device Inside of Me 
Damona, Ken, Ken’s intern, D. K., and Allison are just way too big, loud, and annoying.  Krista Marie Yu has the performance of the week, but Jonathan Slavin delivers the line that best summarizes it all: “Okay, so this is starting to get weird.”  There’s actually a sing-off.  And a spit-take.  And a joke that exists mostly for product placement.

I’m a Self-Destructing Man 
It turns out that the Damona story is true, about someone else.  The C+C Music Factory song was sung by Martha Wash of the Weather Girls, but her part was lip-synced in the music video by Zelma Davis, who performed vocals on other songs from the album.  That’s Zelma Davis and Robert Clivillés in that casino scene.  None of this is actually very interesting, but I don’t know what else to say about this bizarre 22 minutes of television.  One of the worst episodes in two seasons.  1 JAMA out of 5.