Master Of None - General Discussion

[Ms Blue Jay]

This episode blew me away, has to be the best one of the 10.  #4 (Indians on TV) is the other amazing one for me.  I care a lot less about the Dev-Rachel relationship. 

 

This episode was so incredibly touching.  I was very moved.  I brought it up to my mom and she said she had similar experiences to Brian's father, except there's no way she would have cried about it :)

[Ms Blue Jay]

A couple of years ago, one of my guy friends that I admire so much because I think he's so smart, (LOL), actually said to me, "I don't know how in our city you could possibly be afraid of anything."  This, to completely dismiss my feelings of being scared on the subway (and after telling him ACTUAL EXPERIENCES I've had of men making me uncomfortable by actually doing things to make me feel that way.)   

 

Now things have changed so much I think he's more 'enlightened' by the subject but I'm too afraid to bring it up just so I can feel like the smarty pants in this scenario.  Anyways, Dev was dismissive of Rachel in that scene because it's incredibly real.  It's incredibly normal that men who usually seem pretty caring and rational in your real life completely dismiss your experiences because they don't know what it's like or how to view things from that lens.  I've dismissed other experiences too, only to be 'shocked awake' by a new way of looking at it, or mulling things over alone and realizing how stupid I was.

 

Every time I hear about a sexual assault by a celebrity in the news there are guys in my life who will doubt the report.  Obviously... I see things from another viewpoint....

Edited November 10, 2015 by Ms Blue Jay

[Ms Blue Jay]

I've never been a big Claire fan, but i loved her in this.  I also really liked her in Igby Goes Down -- similar small role, similar vibe -- a movie I'd recommend to anyone.

[Ms Blue Jay]

Taystee is nowhere near my favourite prisoner, but I thought Danielle Brooks absolutely killed the role as Dev's agent.  I noticed her veering into Sassy territory too so I wanted to know what others thought.  I just thought she was so amazing in the role.... definitely not a stereotype to have a black woman be an agent and direct a man on how to do his career, but her personality sometimes did seem stereotypical.

 

This episode was amazing, 2nd best after Parents for me.

 

I can't believe there are only 10 episodes. I want to see at least 100 more within the next 6 months.

 

Agreed.  This so fits your name, the possibilities.

Edited November 10, 2015 by Ms Blue Jay

[Ms Blue Jay]

Wow, Magda.  That's how I know the actor, that is crazy.  What a chameleon.

[Ms Blue Jay]

Aziz is a good actor; he was great with the emotional stuff in this episode I thought.  I am not surprised because I think he was the funniest person on Parks and Recreation so he's obviously very adept and intelligent on camera.

 

I read some review in Entertainment Weekly that called him the weakest link of Parks.  Like are you serious!?  Did you somehow misspell most amazing?  Anyway, I digress.

[Ms Blue Jay]

This was my favourite, from "The Other Man", when Claire Danes' character lets Dev into her apartment.

 

Dev:  "Am I in a lucid dream right now? Am I like Vanilla Skying myself right now?"

 

I laughed and I laughed.  And I love that movie!

Edited November 10, 2015 by Ms Blue Jay

[Ms Blue Jay]

Obviously more focus on Kevin and for Dev to meet other women!  Apparently Noah Wells is part Mexican and Tunisian but ..... yeah of course I'd love more minority females on the show :)   He could be like the Anti Mindy, the world is his oyster!

Edited November 10, 2015 by Ms Blue Jay

[Ronin Jackson]

I'd also like to see some minority love interests for Dev, but I suppose it's all baby steps. Hell it wasn't that long ago when most Indian or Asian men on American television were either asexual or deviants, so I'm just glad to see an Indian-American character with a healthy libido and relatively normal romantic relationships.

[Ms Blue Jay]

Nah, I don't care if my wishlist is greedy in the least.  We need people to be so much greedier when it comes to minority roles and what they can accomplish onscreen.  More more more more.

 

Mindy Kaling uses that excuse when people ask her in a completely normal tone, "Hey Mindy why do you have 50,000 white male love interests on your show, some of which are ACTUAL BROTHERS to each other in real life -- you won't even find new families to cast from?"  I'm sure she just wants to scream, I'm already Indian and I'm on TV, what more do you want from me?  My answer is MORE.   I still want more than that example to look at onscreen.  And I don't care if it's greedy, that is what I want.  I'm the consumer and I will state my desires.  Tia Carrere was a love interest to Wayne Campbell in 1992.  We can do better in 2015.

Edited November 10, 2015 by Ms Blue Jay

[Ronin Jackson]

I hear ya, and I wasn't trying to imply you were being greedy in the slightest! It's unfortunate we're only now getting around to having non White or Black American characters whose ethnicity doesn't define them and are considered worthy of shouldering a lead role in a series or movie.... but yes there does seem to be this trend where now that that is accomplished, the idealized romantic partner is generally white. That was a thought I had way back when The Joy Luck Club came out, so progress has been slow.

[ToxicUnicorn]

I'm a huge Flight of the Conchords fan, and as I watched Master of None, I sensed moments where Aziz's show was sort of a natural "evolution" of Bret and Jemaine's show.

Have you been watching Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, alrightokay?  I'm watching the pilot now, and it is definitely giving me a Flight of the Conchords vibe.  So far, it's pretty good.

 

If I have two watchable comedies between Master of None and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, I'll be doing well.  The long drought (for me) most recently ruled by Parks and Rec will be over.  (ETA: Much to my surprise, the love interest in the pilot of Crazy Ex is an Asian man.  Perhaps they've finally arrived as leading men on mainstream tv.)

Edited November 11, 2015 by ToxicUnicorn

[alrightokay]

Have you been watching Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, alrightokay?  I'm watching the pilot now, and it is definitely giving me a Flight of the Conchords vibe.  So far, it's pretty good.

 

Yes!  I've been watching Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and definitely see the resemblance to FOTC!  The songs/videos definitely echo those that Bret and Jemaine created; Rebecca's much more competent at her job, though, than the FOTC guys were at theirs!  (While FOTC were much calmer--maybe too calm!)

 

Back to Master of None--the more I think about it, the more I love it.  I can't think of a better word for it, but I keep thinking it's such a generous show.  It allows voices/stories to be heard that usually aren't--not just Asians' and Asian-Americans', but also people from a variety of ages and backgrounds.  Even the jerk-y husband of Claire Danes was allowed to be sympathetic in the end.  I'm also floored that they gave the guy masturbating on the subway a chance to explain himself.  Not that it made what he did okay, but he was given the chance to be human being and not just a "monster."  It's amazing.

[Spicymustard]

I finished Nashville today. I liking this show well enough. I find the content pretty interesting and the show has funny parts to me. It does seem well thought out.

The more episodes I watch, the more I wish there were other characters with bigger roles though. I recently finished parks and rec which had focus on many characters. I guess I enjoy multiple stories and characters.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Aziz on acting, race, and Hollywood (New York Times) - among other things in this article, he contacted Fisher Stevens to discuss his role in Short Circuit Edited November 11, 2015 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I totally agree that Dev not noticing and then kind of defending the director's actions by making what he considered to be plausible excuses was totally believable. That is often what happens when a person of privilege is presented with prejudiced behavior. He doesn't see the prejudice in the behavior because it's not something that he experiences so he thinks that there is some other explanation for why it happened. It's ignorance and lack of awareness and those two feed into giving the director the benefit of the doubt rather than believing what both his girlfriend and one of his best friends are telling him just happened. I think that Dev knows sexism exists but that he sees it in more obvious things, not in these smaller more subtle ways, mostly because he doesn't deal with it.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I liked the realism of Dev and Bryan making an effort to spend time with their parents and then later being annoyed that their parents wanted to have dinner again the next weekend. I'm guilty of that too. I also loved the flashback of Dev's dad giving him a guitar because he wanted one as a kid, only to have Dev totally reject the gift because he was too busy playing video games. My mom made sure I had things that she had always wanted but couldn't afford when she was a kid (dolls, a bike, dance classes, etc).

[ElectricBoogaloo]

One of the things that Aziz mentioned in the NY Times article (linked in the media thread) was how he and the other show creator tried to think of how many times they had seen an Asian man kiss a woman on tv. They could only come up with two examples (Lost and Walking Dead).

 

If there's a second season of this show, I hope they do another episode that deals with minorities in entertainment because one of the things I've noticed when discussions about minorities on tv/in films happen is that the majority of these discussions focus on black and Latino characters but almost never Asian characters. For one brief television season, there were three Asian females who were lead characters on television (Nikita, Elementary, and Gray's Anatomy) but Nikita was canceled and Sandra Oh left GA so now we're back to just Lucy Liu (although I suppose you could add Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to the list). And now we have Ravi on iZombie and Fresh Off the Boat.

 

During his twitter Q&A this weekend, someone asked Aziz if anyone mistook him and the actor playing Bryan for Harold and Kumar while they were filming Master of None and he said that there is a deleted scene in this episode about that but that it has happened!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Awww, I will always have a special place in my heart for Claire because of My So-Called Life.

 

Asian men are usually not allowed to be portrayed as sexy or desirable on American tv so it was nice to see Claire's character pursuing Dev.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Excellent point. After the premier she encouraged him to open up but his issues didn't start with being written off the movie, they started at that wedding. Personally I found it profound, you are in your 30s and suddenly you can't just date someone, there's always a pathway laid out: marriage, kids, blah blah. And that can sometimes feel very unfair. Dev was happy but it seemed life itself was making his choices for him. He wanted to continue dating Rachel without feeling like he's locked in, yet simultaneously if you forced him to choose a life partner right now he would happily choose her. It's just that he felt like his choice was being limited, which anyone would resent. The movie thing simply increased the emotional stakes, on reflection 70% and 80% are really decent odds especially considering that they weren't getting married right now.

 

In the end those odds are still in their favour. It's very hard to find someone that compatible to you and both Rachel and Dev will easily find each other again once their sojourns are over. Essentially they both failed to articulate that they needed to slow things down, that conversation generally gets interpreted to mean 'let's stop altogether', which is a great shame. Now Dev and Rachel will have to take the risk that the other will find someone else. 

I agree. If Dev and Rachel had met right after college, they wouldn't feel that the path was so laid out for them because when you're 23 you don't necessarily expect that the person you're dating is the person you will marry. But when you're a relationship in your 30s, it is a lot more expected just because you're older and you've invested the time into getting to this point in your relationship. The logical series of events is start dating, move in together, get engaged, get married, have kids. Now that they've been living together for a while, the inevitable expectation is to get married. And while they may want to marry each other in the future, it's just the idea that they they're supposed to. People talk about their biological clocks ticking but there's also a invisible clock on relationships, especially when you get older. When you're in your 20s, not every relationship has to lead to marriage and you can say, "Neither of us is looking to get married any time soon," without being criticized because duh, you're only in your 20s. But once you're in your 30s, the expectation is that your relationship is supposed to lead to marriage and if it doesn't, then there is something wrong. I remember one of my friends had a girlfriend who expected to get engaged after they had been dating for a year. I was like whoa, slow down there. Just because you've been dating X amount of time doesn't mean that you have to get married within a certain timeframe. But the reality is that after you've dated more than a few years, people just start asking, "So when are you two getting married?" But my point is that I understand the frustration that led to the fight which led to the breakup. You can love someone and still not want to think that this is your only option.

 

Aziz is a good actor; he was great with the emotional stuff in this episode I thought.  I am not surprised because I think he was the funniest person on Parks and Recreation so he's obviously very adept and intelligent on camera.

 

I read some review in Entertainment Weekly that called him the weakest link of Parks.  Like are you serious!?  Did you somehow misspell most amazing?  Anyway, I digress.

I KNOW! Tommy H was awesome. I loved his crazy adventures with Donna and Jean-Ralphio.

[biakbiak]

I get a little sad seeing Harris Wittels name in the credits. You can definitely see his influence particularly in the character of Arnold.

[ToxicUnicorn]

Beat me to it, ElectricBoogaloo!  I liked that interview in the New York Times a lot.  For one thing, it showed how Aziz understands both sides of the casting minorities dilemma.  (Too often you hear people yelling about only one side, imo.).

[ToxicUnicorn]

I'm just glad to see an Indian-American character with a healthy libido and relatively normal romantic relationships.

I agree - I'm a little shocked at myself at how surprised I was to see this onscreen.  And, on that note, here's a bit of Aziz's recent interview with the New York Times:

When we were looking for an Asian actor for “Master of None,” my fellow creator, Alan Yang, asked me: “How many times have you seen an Asian guy kiss someone in TV or film?” After a long hard think, we came up with two (Steven Yeun on “The Walking Dead” and Daniel Dae Kim on “Lost”).

Full interview here and was also posted on the media thread by ElectricBoogalo:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/15/arts/television/aziz-ansari-on-acting-race-and-hollywood.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=mini-moth&region=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stories-below

 

I have a different opinion about whether there should be minority love interests for the guys.  On the one hand, I think there should be lots of love interests for the guys.  It would make sense, since they're in a big city, for them to consider dating minorities.  At first, I thought, "well, we don't want to show reverse discrimination".  But then - maybe that's an issue worth exploring.  After all, the characters would probably have some thoughts on the matter, if only to explain why they find some women more attractive.

 

However, I was very happy to see Dev with a Caucasian woman in the pilot, mostly because I think that's something that has not been shown enough to be mainstream.  Yes, there have been white guys who have dated minority women (few of those, too, I'd add).  But I can't recall seeing many minority men who have dated white women and that imbalance I think still reflects real life attitudes (which should change).  I've felt bad for years about all the times we see "mixed race" couples portrayed on tv where the mix is because two minorities are put together, instead of either one with a leading actor/actress who is white.

 

Maybe we should have a race thread here?  And a reasonable tone (like in this thread and what I hope is clear in my post) could carry over to it? 

[Ms Blue Jay]

I'd rather see more minority women on television rather than interracial relationships involving more white people.  You can have an interracial relationship with 2 minority races.

 

It is very rare for minority female characters to be complex and multidimensional.  Aziz recognizes this about minority men which is part of the reason he created this particular show.  He also has the Denise character to show a multidimensional black gay female character.

 

I think technically Noel Wells may not be Caucasian (?) I am not sure.  But I think her character was supposed to be considering her grandmother.

 

Yes, there have been white guys who have dated minority women (few of those, too, I'd add).  But I can't recall seeing many minority men who have dated white women and that imbalance I think still reflects real life attitudes (which should change).

 

I am not sure where you're from but I'm going to guess that if you Google any North American statistics on these couples you will find that they are incredibly common.  They were common when I was born which was a long time ago.

 

I've felt bad for years about all the times we see "mixed race" couples portrayed on tv where the mix is because two minorities are put together, instead of either one with a leading actor/actress who is white.

 

It's hard for me to even recall such examples.  Not sure why you feel bad about seeing those onscreen.

 

Interracial relationships I can see onscreen today where one of the partners is white

- Quantico

- Scandal

- How to get away with Murder

- Modern Family

- Mindy Project  (there's probably been about 20 examples)

- Mistresses when it started

- The Neighbours
- Happy Endings before it was cancelled

- New Adventures of Old Christine before it was cancelled

- Everyone Kalinda had sex with on The Good Wife

- Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 6.

etc. 

 

What mixed race couples are you familiar with on television where there are 2 people of differing MINORITY races?  Now that never happens and we could stand to see much more of.   I guess Josh and Valencia on Crazy Ex Girlfriend are one of the rare examples I can think of (Filipino/Latina).  And Ilana and Hannibal Buress on Broad City (Jewish/black).

 

I'm wondering if instead, you are thinking of couples of 2 minority races that are the same race.  Like black-ish or Fresh off the Boat.  FYI, those are not mixed race couples.

 

Between all four of these type of couples, I'm going to argue that you see mostly couples of 2 white people, then interracial couples that must include 1 white person.  Couples of 2 minority races whether the same or different are extremely rare on American television.

Edited November 11, 2015 by Ms Blue Jay

[Ms Blue Jay]

I thought Alan Yang said it happens to HIM and Aziz all the time.  But maybe it's happened to Aziz with both guys.

 

Oh, here's the tweet I was thinking of:

 

Alan Yang ‏@AlanMYang  Nov 8
@kalpenn There was a scene we had to cut where Dev and Brian got called Harold and Kumar. Because that happened to Aziz and Alan many times

Edited November 11, 2015 by Ms Blue Jay

[Ms Blue Jay]

Yes.... you can be the protagonist and be flawed!!  And I thought they showed this in an intelligent way.

[alrightokay]

Aww!  Aziz wrote a wonderful letter to his parents.

[xander874]

I loved this episode and it did seem like we were peering into some private date. It was so realistic and awkward and cute at the same time. And I was worried they'd be done after the plane debacle, so was pleasantly surprised when she agreed to go to dinner.

[Ronin Jackson]

I can see both sides of it... and honestly it's a bit of a double edged sword. For a long time mainstream media was reluctant to depict interracial relationships, particularly with white women, and the emergence of this in mainstream media is sending racists into rage and fear spirals, which is always good to see. On the flip side is a tendency towards idealizing white people as romantic partners.

 

Ultimately to me the goal with minority characters is that they not be boxed in or defined by their ethnicity. They are simply human beings to share dreams and desires and have the same faults as any human being regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, etc. Minority characters can often be boxed in from both ends of the spectrum.... from the white male establishment who views them as stereotypes and by diversity advocates who want them to be positive "representations" of whatever it is that makes them not white straight males. But people can only represent themselves.

 

So I want to view these interracial relationships as simply stories about two people in a relationship. So far Dev has, by my count, been on four dates and hooked up with two women. Three have been white, one asian, and the two "hookups" were white. That's a pretty small sample size and there were too many good things going on diversity wise with the show for me to criticize it, but since this is a wishlist thread, I'd definitely like to see more significant, recurring women of color on the show. And they don't necessarily need to be Dev's romantic interests. I know of course there is Denise, but it kind of goes back to the bit addressed in the "Indians on TV" episode where the white execs were concerned that two Indian people on a show would give the mainstream the impression that it's an Indian show. There can be more than one. And black women have made a little more headway cracking into mainstream entertainment than South Asian or East Asian women. Since Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang clearly have an interest in breaking down some of those barriers, there's definitely room for them to go in further seasons. But the show is young and it's done good work so far.

[ToxicUnicorn]

I'd rather see more minority women on television rather than interracial relationships involving more white people.

 

I don't think of it as an either/or proposition.  My original conclusion was that I think the entire concept of whether race is a consideration in the person you date, and to what extent if it is, is a worthy subject in and of itself.  I think you could have a whole show that explored that one concept.  Not that I'd want a show to be that focused, but I think this show is the first one I've seen which may have the smarts to address that question, and I would find that so much more refreshing than being shown that Aziz is dating more of some kind of person from a minority race without explanation.

 

By the way, I'm not against seeing well-developed female minority characters at all.  (One of my favorite characters of all time is Kima on The Wire, who happens to be a very well developed character who is also black and a lesbian in a relationship you see onscreen.)  Whether these characters are in a relationship or not, they could be interesting, and I'd want to see them because they'rd be interesting people and maybe have a different point of view.  

 

I have only seen one or two episodes of Mindy and Modern Family, so I can't comment on the rest.  In those shows, (I'm guessing you mean Sofia Vergara's character, Ms Blue Jay), the couples are minority women with white men, which I think we've seen much more of on tv than minority men with white women.  I think Master of None gives us a good opportunity to see more of the latter.

 

The only time I can remember minority men with white women are - the pilot here, Sayid and what's her name on Lost, Lieutenant Daniels and Brenda on The Wire, and that's about it.   However, I can't ever remember an Asian man with a white woman before on tv.  Now, maybe I haven't watched enough tv - if so, I'm happy to be wrong.

 

I'm going to guess that if you Google any North American statistics on these couples you will find that they are incredibly common.

 

I know they are more common in REAL life.  I just don't think they're common on tv.

 

What mixed race couples are you familiar with on television where there are 2 people of differing MINORITY races?

 

Give me some time.  I'll try to think of these.  All I know is that I have been aware of many more times where I've seen people of differing minority races as a couple than a minority man with a Caucasian woman.  (And no, I'm not counting two people of the same minority race as a mixed race couple, obvs.) 

 

I have felt bad because I have gotten a distinct sense on some shows that they've tried to pair the minorities together in an attempt not to have the main (white) characters end up dating them.  Again, maybe I'm wrong - but it's definitely the impression I've received and whenever I think that might be the show's intention, it has really bothered me that there could even be that subtext (because there usually is no counter-example offered within the same show.)

[Ms Blue Jay]

However, I can't ever remember an Asian man with a white woman before on tv.

 

Some recent examples

 

1)  Selfie.

2)  The entire premise of Crazy Ex Girlfriend.

3)  Not the same, obviously, but there is an Asian male in this couple:  How to Get Away with Murder has a gay couple involving an Asian man and a white man.

4)  Every single woman that Tom Haverford dated on Parks and Recreation -- though perhaps Lucy was Cuban, Tatiana M from Orphan Black is white I believe.  He was also married to a white Canadian woman.

 

In those shows, (I'm guessing you mean Sofia Vergara's character, Ms Blue Jay), the couples are minority women with white men, which I think we've seen much more of on tv than minority men with white women.

 

Couples where a white woman is paired with a minority male, some examples:

 

1)  Julia Louis Dreyfus and Blair Underwood on NAOC

2)  Blair Underwood and Miranda Hobbes on SATC

3)  The main couple in Happy Endings

4)  Dom and Alyssa Milano on Mistresses Season 1

 

Movies, you have Kumar dating that white girl in all of the Harold and Kumar movies.

Anytime Keanu Reeves is paired with white women, i.e. Something's Gotta Give, Speed, The Lake House, or The Matrix series though maybe they do not intend him to always play an Asian guy.

 

I thought of one example of differing minorities paired together, Romeo Must Die featuring Jet Li and Aaliyah. My friends and I were insanely excited for that movie.  There's also Will Smith and Eva Mendes in Hitch.

 

I don't find it super important to have Asian or minority men be paired up with white female characters, as if this somehow validates them further.  I think that their stories could be just as interesting if room was made for them to be paired of minority races of any kind, and interracial dating can be explored just as interestingly with different races than just always with white.   

 

Mark Paul Gosselaar is half Asian and I know he's married to Vanessa Lachey in that new show they're doing.  I tried to watch the pilot but I really hated it.  I wonder what races they're playing.  Anyways, they're both European and Asian in real life which is kind of cool.  Chrissy Teigen is also half Asian and there will be a show developed based on her relationship with John Legend.

Edited November 11, 2015 by Ms Blue Jay

[biakbiak]

4) Every single woman that Tom Haverford dated on Parks and Recreation.

He and Ann dated and Natalie Morales is Cuban, so half of his love interests were minorities.

But back to the topic of this thread. I am for more episodes with his dad, though since his dad had to use all his vacation to film who knows if his schedule would permit it.

I also would like Brian and Denise storylines.

[panthergirl13]

I just finished the season and then read Tara's recap, and I couldn't disagree more. I *loved* it and I'm a card-carrying old person who has been married three times, so I don't think you have to be a single twenty-something to like this show. 

 

Tom was my least favorite character on Parks and Rec, but I swear I fell in love with Aziz Ansari while watching this series. And the chemistry between Dev and Rachel is incredible. 

 

I, too, usually cannot stomach amateur actors... but for some reason I just found the parents so charming. (I hadn't read about the stunt casting, so when I heard the delivery of the lines I just assumed they were the real parents). 

 

Aside from everything else, the soundtrack is fantastic.

Edited November 12, 2015 by panthergirl13

[alrightokay]

I would also love to see more women of color depicted as viable love interests, but I don't mind that Aziz started with Dev and Rachel.  I don't know that much about Aziz's own life, except that he grew up in South Carolina, but I know that growing up as an Asian kid in the 80's and 90's, I only saw white characters presented as romantic interests in the media.  TV shows, movies, cartoons--everyone was white (with a few black characters/families), and so It's understandable that a child of immigrants, growing up in America and immersed in pop culture, would be attracted to what the American media has, up until recently, shown as "attractive."  So I think it's honest, in a way, that Dev (the character; I don't know anything about the romantic history of Aziz the real person) would be attracted to white women.  And I think the show did a good job portraying the cultural conflicts that come up with this pairing (Dev waited a year to tell his parents about Rachel).  As he works through his own identity, Dev might become more open to women of color in the future, and given how vivid Rachel is, I'm sure Dev's future serious loves will also be interesting, fully fleshed-out characters.

[biakbiak]

Not that it matters but Aziz's girlfriend who in his stand-up talks about changing his views on relationships and shares a few things with Rachel (was dating someone when they first met, is from Texas and random other details I am forgetting) is white. Though she is a chef not a musical pr rep.

[DiabLOL]

Yes!  I've been watching Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and definitely see the resemblance to FOTC!  The songs/videos definitely echo those that Bret and Jemaine created; Rebecca's much more competent at her job, though, than the FOTC guys were at theirs!  (While FOTC were much calmer--maybe too calm!)

 

Back to Master of None--the more I think about it, the more I love it.  I can't think of a better word for it, but I keep thinking it's such a generous show.  It allows voices/stories to be heard that usually aren't--not just Asians' and Asian-Americans', but also people from a variety of ages and backgrounds.  Even the jerk-y husband of Claire Danes was allowed to be sympathetic in the end.  I'm also floored that they gave the guy masturbating on the subway a chance to explain himself.  Not that it made what he did okay, but he was given the chance to be human being and not just a "monster."  It's amazing.

 

YES! That's perfect! It's the generosity which I think is part of his intellectual side. It prevents the intellectual side from drying out the comedic material. 

 

I found myself tiring of the girlfriend plot by the end. I hope she doesn't come back. I'd be fine with watching him casually date other women or not whatever. I find him the most interesting when he's exploring issues like the ones in "Parents" and "Ladies sand Gentlemen".

[knaankos]

wait... Alice was supposed to be the "hot" one? I guess some people really do have quite different taste....

[knaankos]

They have great camaraderie together for sure. They reason for those few awkward moment is because hardly any of their interaction if any of it is outside of the sarcastic jokey framework, once they cut down that schtick things seems to level out a bit.

 

Rachel is adorbs. 

[Zima]

Yeah, this episode hooked me. Being child-free by choice, I definitely related to Dev and his friends. Hanging out with kids is cool for like an hour, but then I need the parents to get them the hell away from me! 

[Zima]

When Brian said that his dad had a pet Water Buffalo named Tin Tin or something, I lost it! My mom had a pet water buffalo too! She fed it and named it and rode it.  This episode had me crying both with laughter and with emotion because I could relate to Aziz and Brian soooo much. 

[Bec]

This thing is off to a good start!

 

You knew Dev was in for it when the mom couldn't ditch those kids fast enough "OMG you're offering to babysit? Haha! Sucker!" was practically in a thought bubble over her head. "Don't call me unless one of them is missing or bleeding. But only if it's, like, a lot of blood." *snerk*

 

God, I remember having to go into a bathroom stall with a kid I was babysitting because she wouldn't go alone. Totally awkward and I'm not even a man. Ah, but it was more innocent times back then. I thought there was going to be a hilarious misunderstanding and Dev was going to get arrested for going in the bathroom with the little girl. Instead it just ended with the grocery store guy giving him a disapproving look. Hee! Though he really should have taken the little boy into the bathroom along with the little girl instead of asking some strangers to watch the boy.

 

I laughed so hard at Dev's reaction to the kids' drawing of him "It's a little racist. But thanks!"

 

I loved the ending, too. "I gotta be honest, your sandwich looks pretty disgusting, kids, I'm gonna eat this other one. Sorry." The mom looked so pissed. Heehee.

 

I would have chosen the good sandwich, too. And I wouldn't even be sorry. Wouldn't put it pass those hell-spawn to make disgusting sandwiches on purpose and make the adults eat them as a prank.

[Bec]

Brian's Dad:  "Did you read the Economist article I emailed you?”

OMG do all Asian parents do this? I thought it was just my mom. Bwahaha!

 

A lot of Asian born immigrants were taught not to complain or to feel sorry for themselves so they don't use their trials and tribulations as guilt trips for their kids (even though maybe they should).

Nuh uh. My parents tell me this kind of stuff every chance they get. My grandma got hauled away to be “re-educated” in the Cultural Revolution and my mom and aunts nearly starved. My dad’s backstory is relatively cushy - he had to go buy noodles for grandpa but grandpa would eat it all himself and the kids wouldn’t get any. And grandma would beat him with chopsticks if he tried to grab more food at dinner time.

 

So I better eat my vegetables was the gist of it.

[Emme]

I don't really like the Denise role. I think it's just bad acting. She always sounds like she's just reading lines off of a card. I do like the idea of a female buddy for De to play off of, but it just doesn't work for me.

Loved seeing Noah Emmerich. He's pretty great on The Americans.

[xander874]

The walking home scenes were absolutely brilliant and that's why this show is so good. I have heard male/female issues discussed a hundred times on shows, but this is the first time I felt that a show has illustrated it in a realistic and not over-handed way. As a man, I don't think about that stuff - it never fazes me to walk alone somewhere - so it was cool to almost "feel" it here. 

[knaankos]

One problem I can see cropping up on this potentially is dialogue trying too hard to be clever. The same thing has happened in Orange is the New Black where soundly every prisoner is coming up with out of the box clever things to say every sentence. I just don't like dialogue getting to the point of unrealistic to where it's very clear that it's written.

[alrightokay]

Not sure if this is the right thread for this, but since there's been a discussion of interracial dating here, here's an article about Master of None's love interests and the lack of minority women.

[Ronin Jackson]

Since this discussion has been dropped in multiple threads as it's a topic that's been addressed directly by the show and it's creators, both on camera and off, perhaps they should be consolidated in this thread. Alrightokay posted a very interesting vulture article in one thread which deals head on with the issues raised in the wish list thread: 

 

http://www.vulture.com/2015/11/master-of-none-and-interracial-dating-on-tv.html

 

This hits the nail on the head regarding the issue I discussed in the wishlist thread about the idealization of white partners, and the issue of preferences on dating sites illustrates it better that I was able to articulate in the thread. As a middle class POC male who has dabbled in online dating in a not very diverse area, I've come to the conclusion that online dating is a lost cause... and it's disheartening to think the primary reason for this is my ethnicity. I came to that conclusion before the date from OKCupid confirmed it. And I'm convinced media plays a major role in shaping this.

 

There's so much progress that needs to be made in Hollywood as far as diversity goes, and Master of None is a potentially ground breaking example of progress being made.... but this goes to show you that there's still places this show can go. I'm glad Alan Yang addressed it as something that future seasons may deal with, though Aziz pointing to the freeloading Asian woman in one episode is a bit of a cop out.

[Ms Blue Jay]

That article echoes a lot of things I was saying in the Master of None Season 2 Wishlist thread.  I mean, it's a wishlist, and I'm comfortable wishing whatever I want.  I love how the article pointed out that the Asian woman that Dev supposedly 'dated' in that one episode was nameless.

 

Said date is a nameless East Asian woman who the show doesn’t take seriously as a romantic partner, speaks about two lines, and only goes out with Dev for the free food

 

The article points out the coupling of Peralta and Santiago on Brooklyn 99 as a coupling with one white person - LOL, do they mean Samberg?    I was going to say that's a great pairing of 2 different minorities, but I guess Andy Samberg is supposed to be playing (Latino?) and not Jewish.  Wikipedia tells me that Peralta is a Spanish surname.  I was thinking it was supposed to be Italian!

Edited November 13, 2015 by Ms Blue Jay

[biakbiak]

Given that Bradley Whitford is Father Peralta, I am pretty sure he is white and Jewish (not that BW is Jewish but he has played it before and they have mentioned that Jake is Jewish.) And Meliss Fumero is Cuban.

Edited November 13, 2015 by biakbiak

[Bec]

*checks imdb* Hey, it is Molly from Hannibal!

 

I had a feeling something bad was going to happen when Dev decided to take her to the concert after she flaked on him for all that time. I thought he was gonna get stood up. Okay, turned out she was just no fun to be around. Serves him right for flaking on that other girl he invited, though. Hee!

 

He should have just taken Brian. Though, Brian kind of deserved to get ditched for teaching Dev that whole "ticket got taken" thing.