Mikes Film Talk

Fresh Off the Boat: Tight Two shows Louis Huang as a father who cannot deal with his kids without setting up a two minute comedy routine before hand. Jessica manages to rock the episode with lines like “Cooks should have the most kills…They have the element of surprise.”  Constance Wu is turning into a favorite on the series and she ties with Randall Park with consistently getting the laughs in this familial comedy set in the 1990s.

Louis breaks his leg doing “kid n’ play” just after starting the new “To Go” feature at Cattleman’s Ranch. The Huang boys discuss who they would eat if they were trapped on a desert island.  Jessica has to run the restaurant while Louis stays at home with the three youngsters.

While Jessica declares war on the serving staff at the Cattleman’s Ranch, she tells Louis that they are goldfish and then changes it to catfish, “…the garbagemen of the lake,”  Louis sweats spending time with the kids. After an order is called in and no one collects it, Jessica decides a huge phone-in order is a fake and does not write it down.

Louis lets the boys take his cast off and At the hospital where Louis waits to have his leg recast, Jessica brings up the subject of life and death and tries to convince Louis to let her fire employees. The answer is no. Back at Cattleman’s Jessica discovers the T-ball team were real and his team are all messy and a lot of work.

Jessica learns that the staff really do have their backs when the “fake” order turns up with a group of hungry T-ball players.  The non-tip paying slobs leave an incredible mess for Nancy and Mitch to clean up.

Since she started the To Go/Stay In feature, which stiffed the staff on tips, Jessica feels guilty and pays the gratuity  herself.

Louis confesses to the his children that he  is not the supercool fun dad. The boys tell him that he does not need to entertain them, they just like spending time with him. The boys go back into the island question who would eat who when Louis says:

“Guys, your mom would immediately cook and eat us all.”

While Louis (Randall  Park) had the broken leg and the show dealt with his terror at the thought of boring his kids, Jessica ruled as the harsh taskmaster.  Her tendency is to fire everyone, even the backstory on Jessica is funny as Louis recounts that she once even tried to fire a customer.

There were a number of funny scenes in the show, with Louis’ “Bad Lip Reading” of Grandma Huang’s film taking top place but only just.  It was followed closely by Jessica’s gruff “T-Ball burgers,” and her rant about not being able to “rule” without fear.

By the end of the episode, Louis learns that he does not have to do that “tight two” and Jessica learns she does not have to “fire” anyone.

Standout Moments:

Jessica’s attempt to make Louis let her fire Cattleman’s Ranch employees at the hospital.

The goldfish impression.

Jessica again; complaining about the girl in the emergency room, “Oh my stomach.”

Nancy’s pigeon obsession, “It’s like they were born from the flames.”

Louis’s rapid fire comedy routine in the kitchen. “Why did the fish get a bad report card? Because all his grades were under sea/C!”

Grandma Huang moaning about the wheelchair that Louis has;  “Roosevelt.”

Eddie telling Evan that on the island he would eat him as he’s known him the least amount of time.

Constance Wu is becoming a firm favorite with her character’s skewed vision of life. She even manages to get the idea of “good cop/bad cop” wrong, but delightfully so.

Wu even gets the last funny line. At the end, Louis has his second cast removed showing a wrinkles and wasted leg:

Louis: “I had a man’s leg. This is a baby leg. I don’t want a baby’s leg. Where is my leg?”

Jessica: (nose crinkled up) “Doesn’t smell like a baby leg.”

 

Tight Two settles into a familial delivery, amidst a work theme, “lunch to go” and runs with it. As usual the kids  rock with their continued deserted island scenario and the adults deliver some real belly laughs.

Fresh Off the Boat airs Tuesdays on ABC.