Fresh Off the Boat, Season 2, Episode 5: “Miracle on Dead Street”
Original airdate October 27, 2015.
Microsynopsis: Louis and the boys are excited about their first Halloween in the suburbs, but Jessica doesn’t share their enthusiasm. Instead, she takes up arms in defense of the investment house she and Honey have renovated, as a group of teenaged boys have sworn to attack it with eggs on Halloween night.
Good: The costumes are adorable, especially Emery and Evan in a Silence of the Lambs combo. The Jessica vs. Teen Boys story goes a little overboard, but it touches on some interesting themes I haven’t seen in a family show, and it plays with certain power dynamics I find fascinating. I still can’t get enough of Jessica and Honey together; their friendship is a bond of alienation that feels bigger and stronger than the neighbors who pushed them to the fringe, and their interactions are great for character development. Oh, and Eddie dresses up as Humpty Hump from Digital Underground, one of my favorite hip-hop acts of all time.
Bad: Just the usual going too far off the edge with some of the gags. The A-Team themes are pretty funny, but they get a little wacky. The teen boys are way over the edge.
FOB moment: “Begging for candy in a disguise, to hide your shame? No thank you.”
Soundtrack flashback: “Mind Playing Tricks on Me” by Geto Boys (1991).
Final grade, this episode: It’s a cute, fun episode, and it’s nice to see Eddie and his friends having nice, wholesome fun together. B.
