S01:E09 A Lady Named Star Search

[AgentRXS]

Quote

Hawaii, 1982: While Ata prepares for her Star Search audition, Rocky takes an unorthodox approach to helping Dewey deal with some bullies. Lia's conflict with rival wrestling promoter Greg Yao has her on edge.

Original Air Date: April 20, 2021

[thuganomics85]

Tony Atlas shoutout!  Definitely remember him and Rocky Johnson being tag partners in the future.  I do love those references!

So, Dwayne's opponent is a descendent of President William Taft, huh?  Didn't really get a sense if he will be a real threat here, although I did love the somewhat fourth-wall breaking moment, where he points out that Dwayne's "short story" was over twenty minutes.  Just as long as a sitcom episode without commercials!

Fun watching Lia go into gangster mode, but I should have known that Yao was working an angle.

Since I'm pretty sure the real Ata never sent on Star Search, I figured something would prevent her from going to the audition though.  I can see why she did it, and I do think that her presence in Dwayne's life is a main reason he became who he is now.

[coconspirator]

After watching most of this season (and knowing this show is meant to be a family comedy) it does appear Rocky Johnson will be whitewashed throughout. Rock’s dad was a pretty sketchy guy, especially in his later years. I can’t expect Rock to address any of that but seeing Rocky Johnson presented as a lovable oaf is jarring. 

[Raja]

I was thinking that pulling the knife could have gone sideways on Rocky very easily. Leaving the FBI after Lia and HPD after Rocky.

Even one on one any of that slightly older surfer gang should have been able to beat down young Dewey 

[AnimeMania]

4 hours ago, Raja said:

Even one on one any of that slightly older surfer gang should have been able to beat down young Dewey 

But would you try it with his father standing right there.

[tennisgurl]

So Dwayne's opponent is a descendent of William Taft huh? Poor Taft, he really wasn't a bad president or anything, but all anyone remembers about him is that he was really overweight. Is that better or worse then being one of the presidents that everyone totally forgets? The Tafts are still around in politics, so it actually makes some sense, but I doubt this guy is going to be much competition. His fourth wall break was funny though, pointing out that this story went on for twenty minutes and was way longer than his allotted debate time. 

Lia is a hard core lady, Yao should watch his back, even if he is working with the feds. Is this why Lia was deported later on? Both because of the shows premise of having multiple timelines and that its based on a true story, we know that Ata wont become a famous singer, so I was waiting to see what happens. I guess this is better than her full on failing or something, she just wanted to stay with Dwayne. 

[snarktini]

On 4/21/2021 at 11:46 PM, coconspirator said:

After watching most of this season (and knowing this show is meant to be a family comedy) it does appear Rocky Johnson will be whitewashed throughout. Rock’s dad was a pretty sketchy guy, especially in his later years. I can’t expect Rock to address any of that but seeing Rocky Johnson presented as a lovable oaf is jarring. 

Dang, I just checked his bio out and if half that's true we're seeing a very sanitized version.

[Ailianna]

How much would a kid know about that though? I'm looking st it as this is how the Rock remembers it, not that its always entirely factual.

[ratgirlagogo]

On 5/11/2021 at 2:31 PM, Ailianna said:

How much would a kid know about that though?

He would have known his parents were divorced and not living together.  I understand why the show isn't going there, but Rocky's sketchy behavior (and his incessant cheating, very common for that wrestling era of course) caused the divorce by all accounts.