S01.E10: Blind Spot

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Jessica's college boyfriend, Oscar Chow, comes to visit. She's a bit miffed that Louis isn't a little more jealous but she's got a blind spot and is completely oblivious to the fact that Oscar is gay. Meanwhile, Eddie goes to great lengths to get out of the school science fair.

[Souris]

This may have been my favorite ep yet. I was laughing all over the place. Scary lurking horror-movie Evan with his germs. The chicken drawn in the steam on the mirror. The Chicken Dance music as the blood cells turned to chickens. Grandma with the football phone. Evan in the plastic clothing bag. The "Gaysian" necklace finally making Jessica see the light about Oscar. The way Constance Wu's voice cracked on her shriek of "The airport????" So many great moments.

 

Emory gems: "She had another suitor -- DEATH." "She was pregnant." "What, I can't have a dark side?"

[bybrandy]

The "She was pregnant killed me" and  the chicken on the mirror.  I agree.  Also loved the "gang" singing Eltonl  I loved it especially because my brother is afraid of everybody on a motorcycle.  And I stopped to ask a guy on  a bike directions once and my brother was all, "we need to get out of here before you are murdered" and I was all, "um.....   huh?"  Followed by, "The bike was teal."   You don't get murdered by nice guys on teal bikes!

[solotrek]

"It doesn't matter if you're gay or straight. The one thing we can all agree on is that I am hot." I love Jessica. Though I do hate the "make the significant other jealous" trope.

 

Evan and Emery were also great. The bit with the horror movie cliches and Evan worked really well.

[fishcakes]

I loved this one so much, probably because my gaydar used to be almost as bad as Jessica's. I knew who was gay in Philadelphia, but would I have known Oscar was gay? Probably not. Also, I almost accidentally dated another woman once. She was a really nice person, and I still feel bad that I was so stupid. Fortunately, I figured it out before things got too awkward. I guess that means I had Louis's blind spot too. The bit with the waitress who had a crush on him was out of left field, but it made me laugh when he gave her the eraser burn in response to her caressing his knee.

 

The chicken drawn in the steam on the mirror. The Chicken Dance music as the blood cells turned to chickens. Grandma with the football phone.

 

These were all so great. I especially love Grandma's crazy little asides to inanimate objects.

[barbedwire]

Eddie trying to get out of doing a science project, believable.  It was just an ok episode.  I like how Honey was saying "And he is NOT jealous?" with the smirk on her face about how jealous her hubby is.

 

Dad giving the waitress the arm burn cuz he doesn't get her signals - LOL!

[Hero]

I think Louis is absolutely adorable

[Blakeston]

I was really surprised to see people on other sites saying that this episode was offensive, and that they didn't find it funny. I thought it was hilarious, and I saw nothing offensive about it.

[solotrek]

I was really surprised to see people on other sites saying that this episode was offensive, and that they didn't find it funny. I thought it was hilarious, and I saw nothing offensive about it.

What are they saying is offensive about it? I assume something about gay stereotypes or something?

Edited April 1, 2015 by solotrek

[Taylorh2]

Fresh Off The Boat, is our family tv night show. My DS, DH and I always sit together and watch this show.

 

Hahahaha.

[Dagny]

I was surprised that Eddie didn't think to turn in Evan's science fair project as his own.

[Blakeston]

What are they saying is offensive about it? I assume something about gay stereotypes or something?

 

Yeah, check out the AV Club's review - http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/fresh-boat-blind-spot-217348 - and the comments people left.

 

I was surprised that Eddie didn't think to turn in Evan's science fair project as his own.

 

He said he wouldn't be able to pass off a really good science fair project as his own.

[solotrek]

Does that reviewer watch Modern Family? I feel like everything that was in this episode would have fit right in there. Why does it need to be complex? Why does a lesson need to be learned? I feel like this is a weird thing to request. It happens once in awhile, but doesn't need to be something that each episode drives towards.

[silverspoons]

Yeah, check out the AV Club's review - http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/fresh-boat-blind-spot-217348 - and the comments people left.

 

 

He said he wouldn't be able to pass off a really good science fair project as his own.

I didn't understand how he could not pass off the volcano on his own? I was actually surprised they had Evan pick a Volcano because it is such a classic project that kids usually do in first grade. Nothing very complex about vinegar and baking soda reacting in a salt dough structure? I realize Evan wanted to talk about Volcanos more in depth but Eddie could have just exploded the volcano and made some jokes. My kids go to a school with no science teacher  until 6th grade, just a once a month Bill Nye video and some of the science fair projects are crazy complex. I'm surprised writer on the show couldn't find a more current project. The Brady bunch volcano project was the 70-80's, today the go to projects are levitation with magnet (representing trains) , hydraulic arms, or other simple machines.

Edited April 1, 2015 by silverspoons

[arc]

I didn't understand how he could not pass off the volcano on his own? I was actually surprised they had Evan pick a Volcano because it is such a classic project that kids usually do in first grade. Nothing very complex about vinegar and baking soda reacting in a salt dough structure?

Emery's project was the volcano.  Evan somehow built a machine that deconstructed soda into its constituent flavorings, clearly beyond Eddie's abilities and probably Emery's too.

 

(Shout-out to someone here, I forget who who said the kids are named in alphabetical order by age, so Eddie's the first/oldest, Emery's middle, and Evan's the last/youngest.)

[silverspoons]

Emery's project was the volcano.  Evan somehow built a machine that deconstructed soda into its constituent flavorings, clearly beyond Eddie's abilities and probably Emery's too.

 

(Shout-out to someone here, I forget who who said the kids are named in alphabetical order by age, so Eddie's the first/oldest, Emery's middle, and Evan's the last/youngest.)

Thanks for clarifying. I guess I got confused because I remembered Emery(not Evan) saying to Eddie something like you will never remember the 17 or 18 layers of the volcano and my daughter said why isn't he bringing the Dr Pepper experiment.

[Black Knight]

The one thing that tripped me up during this episode was, are we really to believe that Jessica was so hands-off with the science projects that Eddie could completely space on there being a science fair until just a couple of days before it? Please. I have no problem believing that she expects the kids to do their own work, but to not even be aware of what they're doing, which in Eddie's case was nothing at all? She would've known and made him pick a project weeks ago.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

The chicken on the bathroom mirror totally cracked me up, as did the chicken song playing as we watched the blood cells turning into little chickens.

 

I really loathe the whole "someone is upset because the significant other doesn't get jealous" bit. Jealousy isn't a sign of love or anything good but tv treats it like something you should strive for in a relationship. I actually can't stand jealousy and have broken up with people over it because to me jealousy is a sign that you don't trust me. You just have to accept that I'm hot and people are going to look but that I'm not going to let anything happen.

 

I did like the twist that Louis wasn't jealous beacuse he knew Oscar was gay. I like that Louis isn't ridiculously possessive or controlling. I hated that Honey thought it was oh so dreamy that her new husband is jealous. Ugh.

[Ms Blue Jay]

Some people like a little bit of jealousy to indicate that your partner thinks you're a catch and is actually worried you might leave.  A bit.

 

I totally understand what you're saying about too much jealousy indicates a lack of trust.

 

But there is some rational jealousy.  I.e. I have a very desirable partner and other people desire him or her strongly.  And unfortunately, I see this desire and attempt to 'steal' partners happen in real life.  You can have jealousy while completely trusting your partner.  I think it's rational to have some distrust of others.

 

That girl who was rubbing Louis's knee at work, for example?

Edited April 2, 2015 by Ms Blue Jay

[Black Knight]

Having read that AV Club review, I find it and some of the comments off base (and exaggerated - for instance, the lesbian bar was not exclusively full of violent butches as the review claimed, and perhaps my memory is off, but I don't recall the gay couple a few episodes ago wearing bright colors or being super-effeminate). I'm bisexual and the episode didn't offend me at all. Meanwhile, they completely missed the very positive modeling that we had with Louis - when he learned that Oscar was in love with him, he didn't go into some kind of gay panic where he no longer felt comfortable being near Oscar.

 

This sort of thing reminds me a little of the sex-talk episode - it was played for laughs, but seriously, how awesome was it to see a parent point out that boys should be educated on date rape and consent?

[Unraveled]

I liked the chicken pox plot. Since this was the 90s, the vaccine didn't really exist as an option. (It was available in the US in 1995, but I think it took a few years for it to be mandatory/widely available.) My brother and I both got the chicken pox at the same time sheerly due to proximity (not really sure who started it though) and had to stay at home for many days.

[Constantinople]

I liked seeing Emery & Evan's dark sides.

I also liked how Eddie became a chicken pox scholar to increase the likelihood of getting infected. A nice example of how people suddenly become very interested in topics that once bored them once it applies to their own lives.

 

This may have been my favorite ep yet. I was laughing all over the place. Scary lurking horror-movie Evan with his germs. The chicken drawn in the steam on the mirror.

 

The chicken on the bathroom mirror totally cracked me up, as did the chicken song playing as we watched the blood cells turning into little chickens.

I also loved the "You're Next" written on the bathroom mirror by the chicken.

 

Emory gems: "She had another suitor -- DEATH."

 

I loved that. I also liked the volcano because not only does it work as a science fair project, it also works as a jumping off point to discuss Roman history and, because DEATH is her suitor, Roman beliefs about death. So Emery may get to use it yet.

Edited April 2, 2015 by Constantinople

[Dagny]

Please. I have no problem believing that she expects the kids to do their own work, but to not even be aware of what they're doing, which in Eddie's case was nothing at all? She would've known and made him pick a project weeks ago.

 

This part really didn't surprise me. It was always expected in our house that all of the kids are responsible for whatever homework or projects we had to do. I think when I was a kid the only real way for the teacher to let the parents know about anything important was to send a ditto home with us. We were the information gate keepers on any homework we had.

[fishcakes]

Having read that AV Club review, I find it and some of the comments off base (and exaggerated - for instance, the lesbian bar was not exclusively full of violent butches as the review claimed, and perhaps my memory is off, but I don't recall the gay couple a few episodes ago wearing bright colors or being super-effeminate).

 

I feel like if any group says that a particularly portrayal or trend is offensive, it's important to take that seriously, but I agree that the claims in that article were exaggerated. Honestly, I didn't even remember that the police officer with the Miata was gay; I thought the point was that he knew about Miatas and knew that the brother-in-law's was purchased used. And this from the article: "what little depth is there vanishes when he spends the majority of the episode prancing around in a pink kimono ..." is hugely overstated. We saw Oscar wearing the pink robe for maybe 3 seconds.

[Black Knight]

This part really didn't surprise me. It was always expected in our house that all of the kids are responsible for whatever homework or projects we had to do. I think when I was a kid the only real way for the teacher to let the parents know about anything important was to send a ditto home with us. We were the information gate keepers on any homework we had.

It's a science fair, though, and an event like that is different than just typical homework. My mother didn't pay attention to my homework either, but she always knew about the science fairs, in part because the school would need to ask for parental help with running the fair, in part because she had to buy whatever materials were needed for my project. And I hear from my friends who are parents of young children now that they get emailed regularly by their kids' teachers about things like science fairs. I find it really unlikely that Jessica wouldn't have known about the science fair.

[slowpoked]

The White Flower Oil quip had me and my husband cracking up. We remembered when our elders thought White Flower was the solution to everything. 

 

I continue to love this show. Not only does it make me nostalgic about the 90s, it also makes me nostalgic about growing up in an Asian family. 

[jacehan]

My favorite bit was Evan terrorizing Emery, including the mirror, but also no one mentioned, Evan muttered the Chicken Dance in a creepy low hum as he crept up on Emery.

[possibilities]

Speaking as a lesbian, I like seeing butch women on TV, and I didn't mind the bar being full of them. I think making a leap that they're all violence-prone is in itself a negative stereotypical assumption.

 

I was super-happy that there was no homophobia in the response to Oscar being attracted to Louis. Likewise, Jessica's treating the gay couple with complete equanimity in the real estate episode, to me said she had no issue with them being a same sex couple at all, and I liked that.

 

I agree that relying on stereotypes to represent all LGBT characters is a problem, but I didn't see that in the portrayals they've had on this show, some of which have been stereotypes (used to highlight how oblivious Jessica is), but others which have not been. Actually, it's one of the things I like most about the show-- that we exist in their world and it's treated as normal, not exceptional at all.

 

Were schools using email in the 1990s?

[joanne3482]

Were schools using email in the 1990s?

 

I entered college in 1992 and we did not.  By 93/94 I think we had it so elementary schools shouldn't have been too far behind. I believe when I student taught in 95/96 the elementary school I was at had it for the teachers. But this would still be before Yahoo! and other search engines and probably not so commonly used at homes because individual homes were still on dial up.  

[Blakeston]

I didn't understand how he could not pass off the volcano on his own? I was actually surprised they had Evan pick a Volcano because it is such a classic project that kids usually do in first grade. Nothing very complex about vinegar and baking soda reacting in a salt dough structure?

 

Didn't they show us that Emery's volcano was actually pretty sophisticated? I seem to recall that he could press a button and make the lava flow backwards, and then forwards again.

 

Just having a button that activates it might make it seem too elaborate to be Eddie's creation.

 

I feel like if any group says that a particularly portrayal or trend is offensive, it's important to take that seriously, but I agree that the claims in that article were exaggerated. Honestly, I didn't even remember that the police officer with the Miata was gay; I thought the point was that he knew about Miatas and knew that the brother-in-law's was purchased used. And this from the article: "what little depth is there vanishes when he spends the majority of the episode prancing around in a pink kimono ..." is hugely overstated. We saw Oscar wearing the pink robe for maybe 3 seconds.

 

Does the writer even identify as gay, though? Most of the feedback about the episode from gays seems to be very positive.

 

Were schools using email in the 1990s?

 

In the '90s, yes - but mostly in the late '90s. A school like Eddie's almost certainly wouldn't have had email for its students in 1995.

 

I went to a high school in a rich area, that prided itself on being technologically advanced. We didn't get email there until 1996 at the earliest.

 

The Simpsons episode "You Only Move Twice" (where Homer goes to work for Hank Scorpio, and they move to a town where everything is high-tech) came out in November 1996. At one point in the episode, we see a sign for the kids' new elementary school, which has the web address http://www.studynet.edu on it.

 

In the commentary for the episode, Matt Groening said that the joke is now lost on people. But at the time it came out, everyone understood that the joke was just the very idea that an elementary school would have an email address.

[possibilities]

I'm just remembering that for sure the Huangs don't have a computer at home (there was an episode where a visitor brought his computer to show Louis), so even if the school has email, the Huangs don't get it. They don't even have a fax, just a dedicated line for a fax they don't have, right? (wink)

[silverspoons]

 

 

Were schools using email in the 1990s?

I started college in 1991 and by 1992 my college had class registration over email. I was very lucky to have a laptop  and dial up modem in my room watching so many people lined up at the computer lab to register for classes. I remember there were no passwords! and you could only really communicate college to college. You could see everyone who was online and what they were doing not only at your own college but at other schools.  I remember working on my computer and random messages would come up from other students at nearby colleges (I went to an all women's college so people were looking for dates and knew they would be getting a women reguardless of the user name they picked). I did some student teaching in 1994 and the school I taught at had email for elementary-high school students (it was a private school).  I went to college in New England. In 1993 I spent some time at a Utah college and there was virtually no internet except if you were a CS major.

 

The part that confused me was when the BIL said he had a webpage. Search engines and internet explorer and the ability for the regular user to have www access was not in the early to mid 90's , maybe not even in the late 90's for most.

[Dagny]

I was super-happy that there was no homophobia in the response to Oscar being attracted to Louis. Likewise, Jessica's treating the gay couple with complete equanimity in the real estate episode, to me said she had no issue with them being a same sex couple at all, and I liked that.

 

Louis was also nonchalant about Jessica going to a lesbian bar to relax. Things just happen around them.

[HighQueenEB]

I started college in 1991 and by 1992 my college had class registration over email. I was very lucky to have a laptop  and dial up modem in my room watching so many people lined up at the computer lab to register for classes. I remember there were no passwords! and you could only really communicate college to college. You could see everyone who was online and what they were doing not only at your own college but at other schools.  I remember working on my computer and random messages would come up from other students at nearby colleges (I went to an all women's college so people were looking for dates and knew they would be getting a women reguardless of the user name they picked). I did some student teaching in 1994 and the school I taught at had email for elementary-high school students (it was a private school).  I went to college in New England. In 1993 I spent some time at a Utah college and there was virtually no internet except if you were a CS major.

 

The part that confused me was when the BIL said he had a webpage. Search engines and internet explorer and the ability for the regular user to have www access was not in the early to mid 90's , maybe not even in the late 90's for most.

I went to a woman's college in Virginia in the early '90s.  We didn't have internet or email for the student body until the beginning of my junior year.  I still recall arriving on campus fall of 1993 with some former classrooms in Main Hall converted to computer labs.  I didn't know anyone off-campus who had email though I know a few of the freshman from other parts of the country had high school classmates with whom they remained in touch with via email.  I know Yahoo's search engines was in its early stages in 1994-95.  I distinctly remember searching and discovering the San Francisco Giants season schedule (being from the Bay Area and in college, of course I had my priorities straight, lol) and an early online fan community while still in college.  Now, by 1996, email was much more widespread as were personal web pages, etc.  My first job out of college was as a receptionist at a friend's photography studio.  He had a computer, with internet access (gotta love those old dial-up modems!) and he was perfectly fine with me spending any downtime reading my email and participating in a few message boards & email list serves.

This episode was definitely one of the best.  I loved the horror flick-like stalking from Evan.  Too funny.  Overall a really solid episode.

Edited April 4, 2015 by HighQueenEB

[Camera One]

I thought it was a little disturbing for the youngest brother to be that evil, to give someone else that disease, though the bathroom mirror part was funny.  

 

This episode was mildly amusing.  I liked that Eddie learned stuff without intending to, and the parents' blind spots were cleverly shown.  

[tennisgurl]

I loved all the evil stalking, and the chicken in the mirror. Emery and Evan can have a dark side!

[mbutterfly]

I entered college in 1992 and we did not.  By 93/94 I think we had it so elementary schools shouldn't have been too far behind. I believe when I student taught in 95/96 the elementary school I was at had it for the teachers. But this would still be before Yahoo! and other search engines and probably not so commonly used at homes because individual homes were still on dial up.  

I was teaching in a high school in the 90s. We used emails within the faculty but not with parents/students.

I thought it was a little disturbing for the youngest brother to be that evil, to give someone else that disease, though the bathroom mirror part was funny.  

 

This episode was mildly amusing.  I liked that Eddie learned stuff without intending to, and the parents' blind spots were cleverly shown.  

Back in the day though kids wouldn't have thought of chicken pox as a serious disease. You pretty much figured everyone would get it. It went through my 3 youngest, one after another for about six weeks one year. 

[SmithW6079]

Stereotypical effeminate gay man? How very "fresh" of them. He was supposed to be auditioning for Aladdin? Maybe 20 years ago. 

[fishcakes]

He was supposed to be auditioning for Aladdin? Maybe 20 years ago.

 

Well, yes. The show is set in 1995.

[SmithW6079]

Well, yes. The show is set in 1995.

I meant the actor. He looked a little long in the tooth to be playing Aladin, who's a young man, not someone in his late 30s.

[TigerLily20]

I loved this episode because my husband (who is Asian) has a broken "lovedar" also (or whatever they called it).  He could never tell in high school when girls where into him, and I may not have went kayaking 6 times but plenty of times would try to hang out with him before he finally realized (and I finally just told him) that I liked him lol.  Married for 11 years and he is still oblivious to when he gets hit on, thankfully I am there now to let him know lol......

[looksee]

I continue to love this show. Not only does it make me nostalgic about the 90s, it also makes me nostalgic about growing up in an Asian family.

Same. We hated it at first because of the Eddie character, but we decided to give it a second chance (cuz I forgot to delete it from the pvr recording) and we're finding this show MUCH more enjoyable when we fast forward through the Eddie scene. No chance they'll send him away to live with the other grandma?

I loved all the evil stalking, and the chicken in the mirror. Emery and Evan can have a dark side!

Evan standing behind Emery with his arm outreached was classic Chinese horror movie scene. Lol LOVED it.

Edited April 16, 2015 by looksee