S03.E17: The Flush

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

Louis' plans for a guys' weekend with Eddie leads to a disappointment when Eddie invites his buddies over for a sleepover instead; and Eddie has an adverse reaction to alcohol.

[Dagny]

Depending on which website you look at it is 30 to 80% of East Asians that get the flush. One brother and I don't, the other brother does and just doesn't drink.  I had a friend in college that pretty much reacted as if she was allergic with the instant flush and elevated heart rate. I'm glad that Louis got to have his talk with Eddie. This is one topic where rap wouldn't have an answer for him about life. :)

[theatremouse]

Does "the flush" really resemble an allergic reaction to the extent portrayed on the show? Or were they exaggerating the makeup a little for effect? The look in the flashback with Louis and college buddies seemed much less severe than the makeup on Eddie.

[Dagny]

It really depends on the person. Sometimes I get a slight flush in my cheeks.  My friend went beet red.

[peeayebee]

Thanks for the info, Dagny. I figured this was a real thing, but I'd never heard of it.

Other than learning something new, I didn't really like this ep. (And Emory's Jodie Foster impression was terrible.)

[ItCouldBeWorse]

I really disliked the road trip portion of the episode.  Why would Jessica think that driving without license plates would work?  Discard them at the end of the trip if you must.  I also seem to recall that decades ago, states weren't so vigilant about enforcing parking tickets against out-of-state drivers.

Eddie's friends are always great.

Edited March 16, 2017 by ItCouldBeWorse

[seacliffsal]

I am almost over this show as I just can't take Jessica and her need to be right about everything and everyone having to appease her.  I was glad that Honey told her what was up.  Although Jessica appeared to change, her reverting to Mandarin when she was ticketed just proved the boys' point that when things don't go her way she acts out.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

18 minutes ago, seacliffsal said:

I am almost over this show as I just can't take Jessica and her need to be right about everything and everyone having to appease her.  I was glad that Honey told her what was up.

That's 2 weeks in a row that Honey has criticized Jessica, (although last week was to Louis, about her being a poor loser.)  Besides their mutual love for Stephen King, and the fact that Jessica never cared that Honey was "the other woman," what, exactly, does Honey like about Jessica?

[Vickismom]

4 hours ago, theatremouse said:

Does "the flush" really resemble an allergic reaction to the extent portrayed on the show? Or were they exaggerating the makeup a little for effect? The look in the flashback with Louis and college buddies seemed much less severe than the makeup on Eddie.

It really just depends on the person, and if you got the lack of enzyme that breaks down alcohol from one or both of your parents. From what I've read on the subject, some just turn red and not have much other negative effects.  I, on the other hand, apparently got the lack of enzyme from both of my parents and turn beet red, get the elevated heart rate, and start to feel ill very quickly.  I learned quickly that I can't drink alcohol; it's just not worth it. 

[tennisgurl]

I never knew about "the flush", that's really interesting. I always like when the show deals with issues that are unique to Asian people, as well as more universal sitcom antics. The road trip was pretty lame, but I enjoyed Louis trying to bond with Eddie when he found out he and Allison were getting more physical, and bonding over "the flush".

I loved everything with Eddie and his friends trying to drink beer and freaking out about it. "Do they look any better?" It reminded me SO much of me and my friends splitting our first crappy beer when we were 8th graders. We all sat in a circle like that, at one of their houses for a slumber party, and we all took turns taking sips, and pretending we didn't think it was disgusting. We were all convinced we were buzzed, and rambled on about this amazing experience we had all shared together, with our one beer between six of us. We thought we were so cool.

[theatremouse]

I was frustrated by the parking tickets since in at least some of what we were shown, she was conspicuously next to a No Parking sign. So was it part of avoiding upsetting her that nobody pointed it out when she parked? So they let her risk it? More than once? Or did they all not notice? Even if for the first one they didn't notice, wouldn't it make sense to be on the lookout for the next? I mean, I get it was a running gag but it didn't really make sense.

[smash]

1 hour ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Besides their mutual love for Stephen King, and the fact that Jessica never cared that Honey was "the other woman," what, exactly, does Honey like about Jessica?

The fact that Jessica never cared about her past is pretty big, because before Jessica, Honey had no friends in the neighborhood. It's a bonus that they have shared interests to the extent that they could hang out and even talk about random things (ie the billiards episode).

Switching gears, one thing that was inconsistent is that Louis has gotten totally wasted before with no mention of the flush, with Steve in the thanksgiving episode (Louis even wore Steve's pink elephant shorts, lol). This episode did try to explain it with Louis' extensive prevention ritual, but that drinkfest with Steve seemed a little too spontaneous for Louis to step away and do his ritual beforehand.

One more thing, is Jessica's Chinese accent slowly going away? It's not as pronounced as s1, and as criticized and inauthentic it may be, I liked it, even if it's just a hint of it (in s2 and so far in s3). It helps in her comedic delivery as an older generation immigrant mom (despite her being relatively young) as opposed to someone more modern and Americanized.

[TeeVeeStevie]

Nice Teen Wolf parody with the bathroom "transformation" scene.

On another subject, Eddie's relationship with the cute blonde is about as believable as Manny's relationships on Modern Family. It's like the old "fat guy/hot girl" trope being applied to teens now on every show.

[Ikki]

A few of my friends get the flush-- none as bad as Eddie, but enough that they don't drink all that much. As someone who doesn't drink at all, I kind of appreciate that it means they don't get drunk when we go out. Selfish of me, I know.

I agree that the road trip storyline was weaker, but I loved the alcohol story. Poor Trent-- out $60 and can't sing around his sister for a year.

[memememe76]

I experience the Flush too. I get so red. I don't drink either. I have heard that taking pepcid ac helps but I never tried it.

Really enjoyed Eddie's storyline, but yes, Jessica's was lame.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Not only was the Asian drinking face funny and true, but one of his flashbacks had Ali Wong, Ming-Na Wen, and Jeremy Lin!

Louis's face when Eddie told him that Trent paid his sister $60 for one beer was hilarious.

I never would have guessed that Jessica's ideal road trip mix tape was an endless loop of "Ice Cream."

Loved that Emery and Evan were so determined to see that peanut. I'm not the kind of person who will drive two hours out of my way to see the largest ball of twine east of the Mississippi or anything, but I totally get stopping if there's something on the way.

Edited March 18, 2017 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Tiger]

3 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Not only was the Asian drinking face funny and true, but one of his flashbacks had Ali Wong, Ming-Na Wen, and Jeremy Lin!

Louis's face when Eddie told him that Trent paid his sister $60 for one beer was hilarious.

I never would have guessed that Jessica's ideal road trip mix tape was an endless loop of "Ice Cream."

Loved that Emery and Evan were so determined to see that peanut. I'm not the kind of person who will drive two hours out of my way to see the largest ball of twine east of the Mississippi or anything, but I totally get stopping if there's something on the way.

Agent Melinda May was on and I didnt even notice?!? 

I have to agree with most of you that the Louis/Eddie & friends story was fantastic, but the roadtrip was terrible.  I was actually cringing in embarrasment at that Jodie Foster impression; it sounded more like Barbara Walters.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

2 minutes ago, Tiger said:

Agent Melinda May was on and I didnt even notice?!?

She was the one who said she had just paid for $2 of Bob Seger songs on the jukebox so she told Louis and the others that if she passed out, they had to wake her up when "Like a Rock" came on.

[snarktini]

4 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Not only was the Asian drinking face funny and true, but one of his flashbacks had Ali Wong, Ming-Na Wen, and Jeremy Lin!

 

 

46 minutes ago, Tiger said:

Agent Melinda May was on and I didnt even notice?!? 

 

I about fell over when I saw Ming Na and rewound the scene to call my friend over to see --  I wanted corroboration to prove I wasn't imagining it. Agent May as as an 80s drunk chick! The cameo was so random I figured I was supposed to know others in the scene, too, but I didn't. 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

Ali Wong is a regular on American Housewife and Jeremy Lin, whom I didn't recognize, is the first American born NBA basketball player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Ali Wong is also a writer for Fresh Off the Boat. 

[Sparger Springs]

On 3/18/2017 at 8:39 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Not only was the Asian drinking face funny and true, but one of his flashbacks had Ali Wong, Ming-Na Wen, and Jeremy Lin!

Louis's face when Eddie told him that Trent paid his sister $60 for one beer was hilarious.

I never would have guessed that Jessica's ideal road trip mix tape was an endless loop of "Ice Cream."

Loved that Emery and Evan were so determined to see that peanut. I'm not the kind of person who will drive two hours out of my way to see the largest ball of twine east of the Mississippi or anything, but I totally get stopping if there's something on the way.

I was talking to my now 28 year old son.  He told me when he was a freshman in college they would give a 21 year old money to get liquor for them.  He would give $30 or so and his friends would chip in. The guy would go to the store and buy a couple of bottles of the cheapest liquor in the biggest bottle, a gallon of cheap vodka for 10 bucks. He only found out when he was old enough to go to the ABC store.

[HawaiiTVGuy]

On 3/15/2017 at 1:08 PM, ItCouldBeWorse said:

I really disliked the road trip portion of the episode.  Why would Jessica think that driving without license plates would work?  Discard them at the end of the trip if you must.  I also seem to recall that decades ago, states weren't so vigilant about enforcing parking tickets against out-of-state drivers.

Eddie's friends are always great.

In Hawaii it isn't that big a deal but on the mainland, is there some kind of agreement that states will put stoppers on registrations for other state's tickets?

[HawaiiTVGuy]

On 3/15/2017 at 11:59 PM, TeeVeeStevie said:

Nice Teen Wolf parody with the bathroom "transformation" scene.

On another subject, Eddie's relationship with the cute blonde is about as believable as Manny's relationships on Modern Family. It's like the old "fat guy/hot girl" trope being applied to teens now on every show.

Not sure I see the similarities, Manny's relationships all seem to be failures for various reasons which actually seems to be realistic.  Eddie and Alison are actually a healthy relationship and built up over a mutual love for certain things, and while Alison is not unattractive, she doesn't come off as someone who is the generic "Queen Bees" type of girl, so her willingness to date someone like Eddie, self-confident, "trendy" and outgoing is actually very realistic for intermediate/junior high school, no matter what you think about his "attractiveness" level.  And he might not have the most athletic looking body, but I think calling him "fat" is a bit extreme, as portrayed by his own group of friends, kids that age come in many different shapes and sizes.  And considering how friendly Alison's dad was with Louis probably any racial issues with the pairing from her end.

Edited March 30, 2017 by HawaiiTVGuy

[TeeVeeStevie]

On 3/28/2017 at 9:13 PM, HawaiiTVGuy said:

Not sure I see the similarities, Manny's relationships all seem to be failures for various reasons which actually seems to be realistic.  Eddie and Alison are actually a healthy relationship and built up over a mutual love for certain things, and while Alison is not unattractive, she doesn't come off as someone who is the generic "Queen Bees" type of girl, so her willingness to date someone like Eddie, self-confident, "trendy" and outgoing is actually very realistic for intermediate/junior high school, no matter what you think about his "attractiveness" level.  And he might not have the most athletic looking body, but I think calling him "fat" is a bit extreme, as portrayed by his own group of friends, kids that age come in many different shapes and sizes.  And considering how friendly Alison's dad was with Louis probably any racial issues with the pairing from her end.

What I mean is that he's a chubby hip-hop fanatic with geeky friends, and she's like a future homecoming queen. And since you bring up racial issues, AM/WF couples are also extremely rare in the first place. It's just not a realistic relationship from any angle. It's a ridiculous "TV relationship" like the ones on Modern Family where Manny is always paired up with really cute popular girls even though he's a chubby dork. For once I'd like to see these types of characters with someone in their own league, or even with no one at all.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Allison is in band so that doesn't exactly scream future homecoming queen to me. Even at my high school where the band was highly decorated (marched in the Rose Parade every four years, consistently won prestigious tournaments/awards), none of our homecoming court or prom queens ever came out of the band or orchestra.

[HawaiiTVGuy]

10 hours ago, TeeVeeStevie said:

What I mean is that he's a chubby hip-hop fanatic with geeky friends, and she's like a future homecoming queen. And since you bring up racial issues, AM/WF couples are also extremely rare in the first place. It's just not a realistic relationship from any angle. It's a ridiculous "TV relationship" like the ones on Modern Family where Manny is always paired up with really cute popular girls even though he's a chubby dork. For once I'd like to see these types of characters with someone in their own league, or even with no one at all.

I am not sure if Manny is "paired" with them, it is more like he pines over them, but they rarely give him the time of day.  How is that not realistic?  Again, Alison comes off as an attractive yet girl-next-door type.  Not really the homecoming popularity queen type.  You saw her friends in the group dating episode, they were not exactly in the running for taking over the roles of the Plastics.  And at that age, I am not sure if you have a certain belief as to how kids looked in middle school, but IIRC, kids that age are usually just about to go through puberty or in the middle of it, and thus your gym adonis type bodies are not in existence at that age.  And regarding if it was realistic or not, I didn't read the memoir, but did Eddie Huang ever mention having a girlfriend at around that age?

Edited March 31, 2017 by HawaiiTVGuy

[TeeVeeStevie]

I guess the writers have tried to make her seem more down to earth and less like the "unattainable dream girl" but not very believably IMO. We're still in TV fantasy land territory. If only high school had been like it's depicted on all these shows!

Re: Manny, this isn't the place to get into that, but let's just say I'm not the only one to notice him being paired up with hot girls:

http://forums.previously.tv/topic/34368-s07e06-the-more-you-ignore-me/
(Posts by CleoCaesar, Tooch & Latverian Diplomat)

[biakbiak]

13 hours ago, TeeVeeStevie said:

I guess the writers have tried to make her seem more down to earth and less like the "unattainable dream girl" but not very believably IMO. We're still in TV fantasy land territory. If only high school had been like it's depicted on all these shows!

Re: Manny, this isn't the place to get into that, but let's just say I'm not the only one to notice him being paired up with hot girls:

http://forums.previously.tv/topic/34368-s07e06-the-more-you-ignore-me/
(Posts by CleoCaesar, Tooch & Latverian Diplomat)

I really don't see Allison as unttainable/hot to me she's an averagely cute girl.

[Vyk]

On ‎3‎/‎15‎/‎2017 at 5:30 PM, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Besides their mutual love for Stephen King, and the fact that Jessica never cared that Honey was "the other woman," what, exactly, does Honey like about Jessica?

I think the bolded part is the big thing, actually.  Other neighbors still laugh and titter about that behind her back.  Jessica is pretty much the one woman in the neighborhood who doesn't judge her for that.

[biakbiak]

39 minutes ago, Vyk said:

I think the bolded part is the big thing, actually.  Other neighbors still laugh and titter about that behind her back.  Jessica is pretty much the one woman in the neighborhood who doesn't judge her for that.

Do they? We have seen her hangout with a few of them without any shade, most recently on game night.

[Mellowyellow]

I think Honey might find Jessica amusing and fiercely loyal. Plus Honey is really easy going and chilled, the perfect match for a personality like Jessica's. 

She might find Jessica's outrageous behaviour entertaining. 

[dcalley]

On 3/16/2017 at 5:59 AM, TeeVeeStevie said:

Nice Teen Wolf parody with the bathroom "transformation" scene.

I think they might have even used the music from Teen Wolf. If not, it fooled me!

[TigerLily20]

On 3/31/2017 at 4:32 AM, TeeVeeStevie said:

What I mean is that he's a chubby hip-hop fanatic with geeky friends, and she's like a future homecoming queen. And since you bring up racial issues, AM/WF couples are also extremely rare in the first place. It's just not a realistic relationship from any angle. It's a ridiculous "TV relationship" like the ones on Modern Family where Manny is always paired up with really cute popular girls even though he's a chubby dork. For once I'd like to see these types of characters with someone in their own league, or even with no one at all.

I mean no disrespect but as I am sitting here with my Asian husband I'm not quite sure how I feel about that statement, part of me wants to laugh but on another end it makes me quite sad also.  And just so we are clear, yes I am a WF.

[possibilities]

RE why does Honey like Jessica, I think they also bonded over Stephen King or Melrose Place or something else they're both fans of?

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On 4/14/2017 at 2:44 PM, TigerLily20 said:

I mean no disrespect but as I am sitting here with my Asian husband I'm not quite sure how I feel about that statement, part of me wants to laugh but on another end it makes me quite sad also.  And just so we are clear, yes I am a WF.

I know several AM/WF couple who are now married with kids (I also remember several AM/WF couples in high school), so yeah, it's not really unicorn status in my world either. I never actually gave it any thought (how many AM/WF couples I have known) until I saw the previous post and started thinking about the various pairings I've seen in real life. None of the AM/WF relationships I know of garnered any shock or kind of OMGWTFBBQ reactions when they first paired up either. Maybe it's because I live in California though - I have seen just about every racial combination in couples you can imagine.

[TeeVeeStevie]

On 4/14/2017 at 9:44 PM, TigerLily20 said:

I mean no disrespect but as I am sitting here with my Asian husband I'm not quite sure how I feel about that statement, part of me wants to laugh but on another end it makes me quite sad also.  And just so we are clear, yes I am a WF.

What I was calling ridiculous is the way that TV relationships so blatantly ignore reality on so many levels. The statement you're talking about was just one example, and I think it's pretty well-known that non-Asian women don't often date Asian men.

https://theblog.okcupid.com/race-and-attraction-2009-2014-107dcbb4f060?gi=d1370fa47c33

https://mic.com/articles/74135/are-asian-men-undateable#.wCYHHIp8u

[theatremouse]

Part of the premise of the show was how when Eddie moved there, he was basically the only Asian kid in his class. So if he were going to have a girlfriend at all, there's a high probability she would be white, given the established in-show racial makeup of the school he attends. It's part of this particular story and I don't think it intends or needs to reflect overall general statistics about interracial couples or lack thereof among 14 year olds. Part of the point is, besides his one black friend, with whom he initially bonded over being an outsider, they're surrounded by white people.