‘Interior Chinatown’ Review: Jimmy O. Yang Leads Meta Action Adventure Based on Award-Winning Novel
Every TV fan has fantasized about being the main character.
Whether it’s a spy thriller, sci-fi epic, or living in a loft with a bunch of weird roommates, to watch TV is to imagine oneself in it as part of a bigger picture. But as so many minority actors can attest, Hollywood is quick to reality check a person’s dream of being the hero. There are stereotypes and tropes and prescribed roles that moviemakers can’t get enough of, even when they stifle a character and performer’s true potential.
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All of that informs the fresh commentary and characterization of Charles Yu’s “Interior Chinatown,” based on his own novel of the same name. What if the people pushed into the periphery were aware of it, and how can they move organically into the main story?
In “Interior Chinatown,” our main character is not the hero even in his own eyes. Willis Wu (Jimmy O. Yang) feels like a background character in his own life, watching things happen not even around him but several degrees removed. From afar, he wistfully watches the daily law enforcement adventures of detectives Miles Turner (Sullivan Jones) and Sarah Green (Sarah Gilroy), the crime-fighting duo known as “Black and White” and the stars of their own hit crime procedural. When a woman gets abducted outside the restaurant where Willis works, the worlds of main protagonist and generic background actor collide spectacularly, rocking Willis’s world forever.
And so the series ends up being two parallel shows: a meta parody of crime procedurals in which Turner and Green call the shots, speak in clichés, and look extra cool in low angle shots with bluish-white color correction; Willis’s personal odyssey, in which he teams up with officer Lana Lee (Chloe Bennet) and follows a trail that leads to his missing brother and even deeper into family secrets. When they intersect, Willis becomes invisible and unimportant, but the juxtaposition makes “Interior Chinatown” feel like his superhero origin more than anything (Marvel alum Taika Waititi directed the first episode and serves as executive producer).
There’s no exact analog for a show like “Interior Chinatown,” though there are some close ones. “Kevin Can F*** Himself” switched deftly between genres, but that was to reflect characters’ inner vapidity or turmoil, not how they saw themselves. “WandaVision” had the meta element that forced characters and situations to conform to formula, but ended up being part of the wider world of the MCU. NBC’s “Powerless” was a cute show that spotlighted characters who would otherwise not be heroes, and there’s a spiritual bond between that show and this one. Eventually, Willis realizes that his secondary status is his secret strength, and he bonds with people at the same level of alleged significance to get closer to the mystery at the show’s center.
Yang is captivating and likable from his very first frame, making Willis easy to root for no matter where he is in the story. Willis and Fatty (Ronni Chieng) read like characters who have been friends for years, the kind of feat that takes lots of shows actual years to build. Casting directors Mary Vernieu, Michelle Wade Byrd, and casting associate Sydney Shircliff boast hit after hit, from Jones and Gilroy to the legendary Tzi Ma as Willis’s father to Chris Pang as Willis’s missing, sanctified older brother and the show’s token Kung Fu Guy (they call him that, it’s okay!).
Released all at once, “Interior Chinatown” is an ideal binge, with episodes between 30 and 45 minutes, smartly paced action, and effective emotional beats with friends, family, and even a possible romance. Only five episodes were screened for critics, but they ended up exactly where you’d want to be halfway through the season, with the storytelling growing more confident with every installment and the experiment atmosphere growing more immersive. Through Willis’s eyes, we’re reminded never to underestimate a so-called side character, and that even heroes are flawed.
Grade: B
All 10 episodes of “Interior Chinatown” are now streaming on Hulu.
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