‘Fresh off the Boat’ Episode Review: “The Car Wash”

Fresh Off the Boat, Season 4, Episode 13 : “The Car Wash”
Original airdate January 16, 2018.

Synopsis:  Jessica’s deeply involved with edits on her novel, A Case of a Knife to the Brain, and Louis worries that he and his wife are growing apart because of it.  Taking Marvin’s advice, Louis plans several surprises in order to keep the spark alive, but Jessica is not very receptive.  Evan gets bumped up to seventh-grade English, where he and his classmate Emery compete to be their teacher’s favorite (it’s Tig Notaro!).  It’s clear that the teacher doesn’t favor either of them, so they raise their teacher’s-pet game, asking Eddie for advice, since he seems to have had a great relationship with her.

Dope:  Eddie and Jessica are each really good in this, as our Nice-Guy Eddie streak continues, and Jessica’s slow, simmering irritation by Louis is fun to read on her face.  I usually like Emery and Evan better when they’re working together, but this is a cute story, playing really well into their characters, and the Eddie twist is funny.  The sprinkler gag at the end of the teaser is stupid but I laughed out loud, and the disapproving looks by the Poe, Dickinson, and Shakespeare posters are kind of hilarious.

Lines I liked:

“Taking on classic literature, family style.”  (Evan)

“I don’t care enough about this to watch it conclude.  I’m gonna see Spice World again.” (Eddie)

“You got flowers on my keyboard!” (Jessica)

“If you’d seen Spice World, you’d realize that life is about trying to find a way to make genuine connections with people.”  (Eddie)

“Aah!  My Keroppi!” (Evan)

“We all heard what Jessica said.  That voice carries!”  (Corporal Bryson)

“Goodbye Yale.  Hello Georgia Tech.”  (Evan)

Wack:  Marvin’s getting to be a pain, and Louis’s over-the-top behavior is wearing thin.  I can’t stand the way the principal and the detention teacher treat “Stripes,” the student they pretty much bully.

FOB moment:
“It’s hard to believe that the Michelin Man is made up of a bunch of these.”

“I never really thought about that, but yeah.  Why is he white, though?  Shouldn’t he be black?”

“Let’s not get into that whole thing.  We’re having a nice time.”

Soundtrack flashback:  “The Lady in Red” by Chris de Burgh (1986).  This was sort of the musician’s introduction to the mainstream, but if you listened to FM rock radio in the early Eighties, you might have heard his “Don’t Pay the Ferryman,” which is a real rocker and sounds like a completely different artist.

Final grade, this episode: Despite Louis’s lunacy, this is an enjoyable episode, the rare pretty-good episode with no Eddie story.  Eddie makes the most of his appearances, though! B.