There cannot be many who do not remember the Tamagotchi craze of the 1990’s. Fresh Off the Boat “The Taming of Two Dads” may have focused upon Jessica’s jury duty and Louis’ Shakespearean Bromance, but the “Tale of Two Brothers” and their electronic pet was the funniest section of the show.
It was a close call this week. Louis’ bonding with Alison’s dad over a mutual love of all things Shakespeare was amusing. All the more so because of Eddie’s clear discomfort at his father crashing his and Alison’s anniversary date.
The eldest Huang son was uncomfortable sitting through “Romeo and Juliet” anyway, and to have Gary and Louis eating the young couple’s Goobers and talking loudly about the film pretty much ruined the date.
Jessica is mistakenly tapped for jury duty and loses out being the jury foreman; something that annoys her no end. Instead of concentrating on the trial she is part of, Jessica works to become the foreman. (At one point she gives her fellow jurors notes and an orange as a bribe to allow her to be in charge.)
When Jessica finally becomes the foreman she causes a mistrial by announcing she thought the alleged arsonist was guilty from day one. As she talks about his dodgy haircut, the judge declares a mistrial.
Later Honey reveals that as Jessica is not a citizen she could not legally serve on the jury.
Evan and Emery get a tamagotchi (an electronic pet) from their cousin in Taiwan. He sends the pet with a note saying he hopes they have better luck with their tamagotchi than he had with his.
The two younger Huang boys work well together initially but as the pet becomes more demanding their teamwork becomes frayed at the edges. Even with the increased workload they both take pride in their pet and beam like proud parents when the neighbor’s take notice of their tamagotchi.
Meanwhile, Eddie’s girlfriend Alison decides they need a break after seeing how well Louis and her father get along. She tells Eddie that they have become too complacent and Eddie panics.
He gets advice from his father who then tells Gary that they can no longer be friends. He explains that their happiness has placed Eddie and Alison’s relationship in a Montague and Capulet situation. Sadly Alison’s father agrees.
Eddie decides to become more spontaneous and he invites Alison to see the Leonardo DiCaprio version of “Romeo and Juliet” again, this time without the two dads.
Emery and Evan end up killing the tamagotchi. At the funeral, they bury the electronic pet in the front garden as Honey explains to Jessica about the jury duty mistake. At the very end, the tamagotchi beeps from underneath the dirt and both lads decide that they did not hear anything.
While Jessica’s hubris almost steals the show, it really was Emery and Evan and their temperamental tamagotchi that provided the most amusing storyline of the three on offer this week.
Forrest Wheeler and Ian Chen were spot on as the excited “parents” who end up being ruled by their new pet. Constance Wu, as usual, continues to make Jessica Huang the center of the show.
Fresh Off the Boat airs Tuesdays on ABC.
Cast:
- Randall Park – Louis Huang
- Constance Wu – Jessica Huang
- Hudson Yang – Eddie Huang
- Forrest Wheeler – Emery Huang
- Ian Chen – Evan Huang
- Lucille Soong – Grandma Huang
- Ray Wise – Marvin
- Chelsey Crisp – Honey
- Paul Scheer – Mitch
Guest starring Isabella Alexander as Alison and Cory Blevins as Gary Olsen (Alison’s dad.).
Mikes Film Talk 