The best and boldest updates from the source occur whenever the lens is shifted to Jin’s parents, Simon, and Christine. Unhappy with the banality of their lives, Simon has worked in the same position for decades and Christine is an unfulfilled church-going housewife. Now that they’re middle-aged, their desires dwindle, and their respective rut affects their marriage. While they are often C-or-D plots, whenever the first-gen parents are featured, it adds dimension to the overall themes and organically raises the stakes for the entire Wang family.
“American Born Chinese” also works well as a comedy. Whenever the going gets weird, Jin can be as deadpan and defeated as Bob Belcher. Wang and Liu share incredible onscreen chemistry and charisma. They embody their respective characters’ opposing personalities with ease and deliver a good balance of comedy and melodrama. The budding friendship between Jin and Wei-Chen is the series’ beating heart and much like its source, well developed throughout the season.
Only Chinese acting excellence is present. Kids might not know why their parents are squealing in delight when they see the entirety of the “Everything, Everywhere, All at Once” cast—MVP Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan in main roles, Stephanie Hsu, and James Hong as guest star spots—pop up. A variety of other notable Chinese appear in recurring roles like Poppy Liu (“Dead Ringers”), Ronny Chieng (“The Daily Show”), Jimmy O. Yang (“Silicon Valley”), and Rosalie Chiang (“Turning Red”).
As entertaining as “ABC” is, the chilling bite of the source’s commentary about demolishing the barriers of racial stereotypes is present but sometimes feels Disney-fied. It effectively explores Jin’s insecurities and identity struggles amongst his overwhelmingly white surroundings in the first half of the season, but the who pivots from deconstructing Asian stereotypes to presenting a hollow conversation of asking if Asian actors can be the hero for once. This is mostly due to Ke Huy Quan’s Freddy Wong, who up until the season’s backend, isn’t as well connected to the plight of Jin’s arc. Ke Huy Quan is incredible given that he’s essentially playing a mirror of his career, but his Freddy hardly fits into Jin’s main narrative as organically as the series’ other components. And while heroic representation matters, when your series is arriving at a time when racial discrimination towards Asian people is still prevalent, the shallow case for on-screen heroism that the show makes can come across as dated. It doesn’t help that the message itself loses some sight of its source’s significance during the season’s climax, diluting its theme to assimilate for broad entertainment.
Even with its flaws, “American Born Chinese” is a very entertaining contemporary update of groundbreaking source material for the family. Fans of the original might miss its edge, but it compensates in solid storytelling, great wuxia action, and star-making turns for Ben Wang and Jimmy Liu.
Whole season screened for review. Now on Disney+.