Interior Chinatown
(Disney+)

Interior Chinatown 🚦 (Episodes 1-5)

Based on Charles Yu’s 2020 novel of the same name, Interior Chinatown is a buddy-cop comedy that follows Willis Wu (played by Jimmy O. Wang), a waiter in Chinatown, who goes from being a self-described “generic Asian guy” to teaming up with a customer (Chloe Bennet) who is privately investigating the disappearance of Willis’s older brother.

The only reason I gave this series a chance was because of Jimmy O. Wang and Ronny Chieng, two of my favourite comedians/comedic actors that never get the chance to flex in roles like they do in this.

Ronny plays Fatty Choi, the best friend and disgruntled waiter who is the perfect encapsulation of the Asian waiter who gives the I would rather be anywhere but here service at a place that makes the best food.

It’s the funniest part of the show, and a rule of thumb I use for any Asian restaurant (Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese—you name it). When a Google review says “the service was awful,” then I know that place is going to be awesome because if the food was bad, then the review would’ve mentioned it, but I digress.

There’s been a number of streaming series released over the last few years with Kung Fu centric stories that have a worthy or unique premise, like Interior Chinatown, that ended up getting cancelled after their first season.

This year there was The Brothers Sun (Netflix), a Taiwanese crime world comedy about two brothers who were separated so that their divorced parents could raise them according to their conflicting values, and the Disney+ series American Born Chinese (2023), which introduces an average Chinese high school kid to the reincarnations of characters from Chinese mythology.

As intriguing as both those shows were in concept, they lacked the gravitas to be more than their simplistic stories could ever allow them to be.

That’s not the case with Interior Chinatown.

Admittedly, the first two episodes felt stylistically at odds with the scatterbrained delivery of the story they were telling, but once that story settles down and finds its footing, it allows the viewer to ingratiate themselves with the characters, this world, and the dreamlike execution that can feel like a trip if you don’t give it your undivided attention.

That dreamlike state comes from the mind of Willis, who is uncovering the complex layers of being cast as a background character in everyone else’s story, forgetting he’s the main character in his own. Watching him break down the metaphorical walls he’s caged himself behind is what makes this series so compelling.

This show is done up like a Law & Order parody if it were carved from your dreams inability to get to the point where you figure out what’s going on.

I'm not sure if this series will need a second season depending on how much they cover with the final five episodes I haven’t seen, but I do know I’ll be reading or watching either way. 

Enjoy!

7.2/10 🍿 🎥

Runtime: 40mins

Episodes: 10

Where: New Episodes Streaming Tuesdays on Disney+

Interior Chinatown Review (2024) The Richmond Reviewer - November 19th, 2024.

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