Gettin' My Eps In: Interior Chinatown S1E9, Common Side Effects S1E7-8

Seasons are coming to a close, and I'm feeling pretty satisfied.

Interior Chinatown
Season 1, Episode 9: “Bad Guy”
Written by Eva Anderson and Greg Cabrera
Directed by Anu Valia
Streaming on Hulu

As we near the end of the season for this show, answers are on the verge of being revealed, but the underlying message that is being related is much more interesting. In fact, the revelation that the ending moments of this episode hint at seems kind of silly, but hopefully the creators (specifically, showrunner Charles Yu, who also wrote the novel the series is based on) will make it work. It’s probably best to leave any discussion of that for next episode though.

Instead, let’s focus on how the show is continuing to develop its themes, which revolve around the place of Asian people, both in Hollywood movies and TV shows and in American society at large. That’s been an ongoing concern of this series, with each episode title providing an example of the stereotypical characters Asian people often play (“Kung Fu Guy,” “Tech Guy,” “Delivery Guy,” etc.) and main character Willis Wu (Jimmy O. Yang) being able to slot into these different roles with the white people he interacts with barely noticing. But even as he has seemingly managed to attain success, becoming a main character on Black & White: Impossible Crimes Unit, it seems that he’ll never fully fit in.

Since the last episode, Black & White appears to have reverted back to its previous format, focusing on mystery-of-the-week plots in which the cops investigate crimes in Chinatown. The bombings that were plaguing the city of Port Harbour several episodes ago have returned, and the police are once again pointing the finger at the mysterious gang the Painted Faces, although as he had mentioned in the past, Willis had never heard about this gang from anyone other than the cops, despite being a lifelong resident of Chinatown. And even weirder, the cop who worked with Willis’ brother Jonathan before his disappearance 12 years ago has also reappeared, even though he seemingly died after Jonathan shot him.

The show seems to be repeating previous plots, although that’s not all that it’s recycling. Lana (Chloe Bennett), who is no longer a detective and is now busing tables at the Golden Palace restaurant, starts doing some independent investigations, and she follows her boss, Uncle Wong (Archie Kao) and confronts him about the people he had been apparently smuggling into Chinatown. It turns out that these are people who had died in the various crimes that had happened, but they’ve mysteriously reappeared and need help reintegrating into the community. This is likely to play into the big revelation that’s coming in the finale, but it’s also an indication of how little attention showrunners pay to the generic Asian people who populate the backgrounds of series like this.

That idea may also play into the ongoing plot involving Willis’ mom (Diana Lin) who is trying to get the people in the neighborhood to sign a petition to have improvements made. While she thinks this will be a good thing, since the building where everyone lives is old and in disrepair, but Willis’ friend Audrey (Annie Chang) informs her that once the improvements are made, most of the people will no longer be able to afford to live there. Ideas about gentrification have been simmering for the past few episodes, and they may also reach their culmination in the finale as we learn how little the major corporation that has its fingers in everything cares about the people of Chinatown, just as the real-world profit motives of these types of developers can quickly hollow out communities.

But those are all subplots; the real meat of the episode follows Willis as the police department begins to turn on him. When the reappearance of the long-thought-dead Detective McDonough (Spencer Neville) reminds people that Willis’ brother may have been a murderer, the chief suddenly loses all of his trust in Willis, believing that he doesn’t really fit in with everyone else and had ulterior motives all along. It’s an ugly example of the racism that Asian people and other minorities have to deal with every day. Even when they have spent years existing alongside everyone else, white people can quickly turn on them, deciding that they are more loyal to “their own kind,” which serves as a justification for exclusion, discrimination, and even violence.

Fortunately, some people may recognize this bigotry for what it is and try to do something about it. When Detective Green (Lisa Gilroy) is tasked by the Chief with investigating Willis, she does so somewhat reluctantly, partially because she believes that he’s a good cop and a good person, but also because she’s beginning to realize the nature of the hierarchy she’s a part of. She believes that even if Willis is no longer a detective, she can manage investigations on her own, but the Chief tells her she’s lacking certain qualities for leadership. When she asks if that quality is a penis, she gets quickly dismissed and told that she’ll be fired if she doesn’t figure out what’s going on.

So even though Green does uncover evidence that Willis doesn’t really have the qualifications to be a detective (said evidence consisting of footage from previous episodes of him gaining access to the police station by pretending to be a delivery guy, tech guy, and translator), she’s still reluctant to sign off on the Chief’s plan to take him down. Her desire to find solidarity with someone else who regularly deals with discrimination gains the attention of Russell, the station’s Black janitor, who addresses her by her first name and seems grateful that she’s finally acknowledging some of the background players who may seem less important.

With all of this going on, Willis is somewhat sidelined, although he does do his own independent investigations, managing to track down Detective McDonough, who has not seemed to age at all over the past 12 years. He learns what actually happened back then, but as we’ve seen a few times before in the series, these questions are pushing at the boundaries of the show’s reality, causing glitchy effects and other weirdness. What exactly is going on may or may not be fully revealed next episode, but while there will probably be a crazy twist, I expect some mysteries will remain and hopefully be followed up on in a second season.

As I’ve watched this show, I’ve really enjoyed the meta-ness of it all, but the fact that it’s grounded in real-world concerns that affect its characters is what makes it really work for me. Mysteries about the nature of reality are cool, but moments that actually have something to say about life for the types of people we only rarely get to follow in TV shows and movies are even better. I’m just hoping that Yu and company will be able to wrap everything up in a satisfying manner while still leaving me wanting more. I’ll find out next time!

---

Common Side Effects
Season 1, Episode 7-8: “Blowfish” and “Amelia & Wyatt”
Written by Karey Dornetto and Dan Schofield
Directed by Camille Bozec and Sean Buckelew
Streaming on Max

What makes “adult animation” adult? In many cases, it just means that a cartoon is extra violent, includes plenty of swears, and maybe contains some hints of sex. If you’re going by the kind of thing that has been featured on Adult Swim over the past couple of decades, it’s likely that a good amount of stoner humor will also be included. As enjoyable as it can be to see a medium that has traditionally been targeted toward kids include lots of naughty content, animation that is actually “adult” would ideally feature more complex, thought-provoking ideas, as well as three-dimensional characters who experience development. Fortunately, that’s what Common Side Effects provides.

That’s not to say that the show doesn’t feature R-rated content. One of the episodes I watched this week features a prison stabbing that’s surprisingly gory, and there’s plenty of swearing and other “mature” content. But what I found most striking is the way the show is taking a considered approach to its themes, making viewers think about the implications of the events that are playing out while also examining issues like personal integrity and misplaced idealism. There’s a well-crafted core of dynamic character work and societal concerns underneath the goofy comedy, occasionally trippy visuals, and unexpected plot developments.

With these two episodes, the plot proceeds apace, with Marshall (Dave King) managing to escape from prison with the help of Amelia (Shannon Woodward), a mycologist who had been hired by the feds to analyze the mushrooms involved in the case. She has joined the growing group of characters who are obsessed with the infamous mushroom the show has centered around after it cured her son’s chronic illness.

Meanwhile, Frances (Emily Pendergast) experiences an unexpected tragedy when her mom, who had recently recovered from early-onset dementia after using the mushroom, dies suddenly. She was climbing a tree outside the window of her room in a nursing home to get a look at a bird’s nest, and after a branch broke, she died in the fall. This raises some questions about the effects of the mushroom. Was she acting recklessly because she believed she was invincible after basically coming back from the dead? Does using the mushroom affect people’s personalities in ways that make them focus more on their connection to nature and less on their own self-preservation? We’ve been getting hints of some sort of metaphysical connection between people who had used the mushroom, so we’ll see if there’s further exploration in this direction.

One interesting effect of Frances’ mother’s death is a surprising change in her boss, Rick (Mike Judge). He shows up at the funeral, seeming genuinely affected by Frances’ loss, and he makes a nice gesture by showing that he has set up a charitable foundation in Frances’ mother’s name. For a character who had previously been completely self-centered, this seems like a striking development, as if he has finally realized that there are other people in the world who are worthy of consideration.

Rick has also become personally invested in whether Reutical can take the mushroom and turn it into a drug that may benefit people. While he had previously been looking for something that could generate profits for the company and save his job, he now seems to believe that their new drug could do some good in the world. This finally leads to the expected confrontation with his boss (or at least the board member who pulls the strings at Reutical), Jonas (Danny Houston), who has spent much of the series trying to keep the mushroom from becoming public knowledge. He orders Rick to stop production on the drug and erase all records related to the mushroom, and when Rick protests, he relays a vision of the effect that this “miracle drug” would have on the world.

This is probably the most striking moment of these two episodes, with Rick witnessing what Jonas believes would happen. He says that a cure for all disease would not only lead to the end of the pharmaceutical industry, it would cause the collapse of the health care and insurance industries as well, leading to economic devastation. When Rick argues that maybe that’s something that should happen, Jonas goes further, describing how an easily-accessible cure for injury and disease would cause every conflict to have life-and-death stakes, leading to inevitable war, with the world being controlled by cartels who would seize control of mushroom distribution. It’s a bracingly cynical take on what certain types of people believe would happen if everyone in the world was placed on equal footing, but it’s not necessarily unrealistic. I like that the show is making us think about the implications of its events, and I’m interested to see how far it goes as it continues to examine these issues.

Since there are only two more episodes left in the season, I don’t think the show will go too far in the direction of reshaping society, but it will continue to make its characters question their values and figure out how far they’re willing to go to achieve their desired goals. It looks like Marshall will be confronting others who have seized control of mushroom production and may plan to use it for their own benefit, while Frances and Rick, who have both lost their jobs at Reutical, will need to determine their own roles in this conflict. And my beloved Agents Copano and Harrington, who had been split up by the higher-ups in the government but couldn’t help but get back together to pursue their own independent investigation, will be in the thick of things. I expect that the season will reach an exciting climax and have me salivating for the possibilities of what may come next. Just give me some nice visuals, interesting plot and character developments, and odd humor, and I’ll be happy.