Dr. Ken Recap 1.02 – “The Seminar”

Growing up as an Asian-American, I never understood why my parents barely gave me any positive reinforcement, but as I got older and learned more about my parents and my culture, I was able to slowly connect the dots. You see, Vietnamese parents don’t usually praise their children’s achievements because don’t want their kids to stop being humble and striving to do better. Instead, they show their support by providing shelter, food, clothes, college tuition, and everything else to ensure that I could keep achieving. This cultural “clash” with my “American” upbringing was the source of many a conflict with my parents, which is why I was glad to see that last Friday’s episode of Dr. Ken was all about perceptions and misunderstanding (that old sitcom standby), with a slight Asian twist.

Dr. Ken’s parents are in town, which is an event dreaded by the whole family, especially his wife Allison. Ken’s promise to be a buffer between her and his emotionless parents are dashed as his non-reaction to friend and co-worker Clark’s announcement of becoming a registered nurse led to a series of event that accidentally resulted in Ken being forced to attend “Physician Sensitivity Training,” (or “DMV for doctors”). Fortunately, Ken eventually realizes during the seminar how Clark must have felt when he didn’t receive any recognition for his achievement and immediately apologized to his “work husband.”

While everything was going down at the hospital, Allison was facing her own “Korean Mt. Rushmore.” Throughout her marriage with Ken, she always believed that his parents didn’t think she was good enough for their “golden boy, the successful doctor”. However, after she finally confronts them, she learns that they actually do like her and that although Ken might be a doctor, his humility needs some work. In fact, sometimes they actually think that Ken might not be good enough for her.

This episode’s plot had two parallel lines. With Ken and his parents on one side, withholding their emotions, and Clark and Allison on the other, not knowing how to process that. Like with my own experiences, Allison’s American upbringing clashed with Ken’s parent’s Asian point of view, and she was not able to understand her in-laws true feelings toward her. But when everything is put out into the open, Ken’s parents finally understood why their daughter in-law always acts awkward around them, and become more open with her. Ken, once again, showed us that he was capable of learning from his mistakes, and Clark learns that while Ken might not give praises freely, he does, in fact, respect him.

I think we can all agree that relationships are the most important things in life, regardless of our ethnicities. Without proper communication, misunderstandings are bound to rise. If each individual can yield a little to one another, be more patient, and be honest to one another when there is an issue, relationships don’t have to be so hard. “The Seminar” portrayed this perfectly.

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Featured Photo: Nicole Wilder / ABC

Dr. Ken Recap 1.01 – “Pilot”

The series premiere of Dr. Ken opens with a patient disagreeing with Dr. Kendrick Park (Ken Jeong) with his recommendation for a colonoscopy, insisting that “it’s hemorrhoids” based on his own research on WebMD. Dr. Park’s resulting sarcastic mocking causes the patient to angrily storm out of the clinic, setting the stage for ABC’s new family comedy.

Dr. Ken is the second family sitcom this season, and third show overall, featuring an all Asian-American family on American network television. It is filmed in multi-camera with a laugh track as opposed to Fresh Off the Boat’s single camera show, and is in many ways a more traditional family sitcom. Friday night’s premiere offered light-hearted humor, allowing the audience to recognize the show’s intention in portraying its characters as a normal sitcom family.

There were some familiar comedic faces on-screen, such as Tisha Campbell-Martin (Martin, My Wife and Kids, Rita Rocks), and Suzy Nakamura (Go On, The Goldbergs), as well as new ones, both of which are a delight to watch.

The “Pilot” featured a classic sitcom plot of an overprotective father overreacting to a child’s newfound freedom, but the real goal of this episode was to introduce us to the Park family and their relationship dynamics.

Dr. Park, as we met above, is the father of the family. Played with his trademark manic energy, Jeong’s character expressed a wide spectrum of human behavior throughout the pilot. Although initially depicted as an arrogant and narcissistic doctor, he eventually showed that he was capable of remorse, generosity, and humility by the end.

Suzy Nakamura plays Dr. Allison Park, wife of Ken Park and a psychiatrist. She plays the understanding mom who is open to giving her teenage daughter, Molly Park (Krista Marie Yu), more freedom as she is growing up, signified by passing her driver’s test. Her parenting style contrasts with Ken’s although they both eventually meet in the middle as a team, because “it’s got to be us against them!”

Molly spent the episode playing against her father, who, unlike his wife, is terrified now that she has a driver’s license. His overprotectiveness ends up getting him in trouble, as she proves herself to be more responsible than he turns out to be.

Finally, Albert Tsai (Trophy Wife) plays Dave Park, who was seen confidently practicing his mime performance for the school’s talent show, despite how much his dad tells him that it was a terrible idea. His youthful enthusiasm, quirkiness, and confidence is something every young kid should learn and keep throughout their life.

As for the quality of the premiere itself, the comedic lines came off typical and the plot might have been a bit predictable, but it was still entertaining to watch. For one thing, it is one of the few shows representing Asian-Americans that stray away from overt stereotypes. When watching it, it feels like you’re watching characters that you normally see on any other television sitcom, without focusing too much on their ethnicity and culture. It’s rather refreshing!

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Featured Photo: ABC