8Asians | An Asian American collaborative blog

Dr. Ken, Season 2, Episode 10: “Ken’s Apology”
Original airdate December 10, 2016.

I have done all that I could to see
Ken overlooks something crucial in a patient’s medical history.  He feels terrible about it and wants to apologize to the patient, but Pat informs him very firmly that apologizing means admitting fault, which is against Welltopia’s policies.  If he does so, he will lose his job.  D. K. goes to Dave’s parent-teacher conference.  He accuses the teacher of not challenging Dave enough, and without clearing it with Ken or Allison, applies to have Dave skip a grade.  D. K. also tries to set Molly up with his barber’s son, a boy who’s “Korean and a boy,” and therefore perfect for her.

the evil
I really hate this D. K. story, even though it rings mostly true.  As a career educator, I’ve heard more than my share of stories just like this, and most of it’s pretty believable.  I think I’m just tired of this plot device.  It almost ruined Everybody Loves Raymond, a good show that could have been a lot better with grandparent figures who weren’t so there.  Even the Molly part of this episode isn’t bad, such as it exists.  I think my problem is that D. K. is the least interesting character, yet he’s given far too central a role this season.  I’m tiiiiiiiiiiiiiired of it.

and the good
The Ken story is really well done.  It’s like the writer whose job is to add the wackiness and the writer whose job is to make everything heavy-handed took the week off together.  The seriousness with which Ken, Pat, and Allison treat this mistake is convincing.  Since the three of them aren’t making silly jokes, Damona and Clark, who don’t have a story this week, get to add the comic relief, a dynamic that’s been consistently effective this season.  The resolution at the bowling alley, when the patient offers his hand and Ken instead gives him a hug, is an excellent payoff because it’s so well set up.  It’s sweet, funny, and very serious all at once, nicely dismounting and then sticking the landing in a way Dr. Ken doesn’t often exhibit.

without hiding; you must help me if you can.
Except for D. K., everyone in this episode is great.  Molly and Dave (who has one of the best lines, when he calls Jay “K-Pop”).  Damona, Pat, and Clark.  Allison and Ken.  Don, the patient.  Jay, the Korean boy.    This could have been a top-five episode for this show.  3.5 appointment books out of 5.

Dr. Ken, Season 2, Episode 9: “D. K.’s New Girlfriend”
Original airdate December 2, 2016.

The patient’s immediate condition.
Allison and Ken have problems with D. K.’s not respecting boundaries while living in their house.  When Ken tries to talk about the issue with him, D. K. decides to move in with his girlfriend of three weeks, an arrangement Ken is not comfortable with.  Allison, on a mother-daughter spa day with Molly, confesses that she’s having trouble with her adjustment to Welltopia, and although she likes Clark and Damona, she’s frustrated with their involvment in her personal life.  Ken lets Dave attend a jazz festival with Pat.  When a pretty woman strikes up a conversation, assuming Pat is Dave’s adopted father, Dave plays along so that Pat might get to know her better.

Some indicators questionable.
The execution is a little shenanigany for my tastes: an orange bra and men’s dress socks strewn across the living room couch, Clark and Damona stealing someone else’s couples massage, for example.  But it’s a small quibble in an episode where the central characters for once act like normal people with normal issues.

Vitals are stable and within normal limits.
Well heck.  That’s certainly not something I’ve seen before.  I just Googled “later life crisis,” and it’s apparently a thing.  While the setup is only marginally interesting, the concern Ken feels about his dad’s state of mind when D. K. moves out is convincing, and when he talks to him about it, D. K.’s existential response is also convincing, in a way that doesn’t come out of left field like some of this character’s serious moments in recent episodes.  It’s well done, and the characters don’t force the poignancy, as is their wont.

Unforced is a nice way to describe the whole episode.  There’s a nice theme through all three plots, where Molly, Dave, and Ken play grounded, self-aware, sensitive children advising their parents — in Dave’s case, advising his real dad and his fake dad.  What I really love is that this all works because the characters have already been established this way, not as wise-beyond-their-years children, but as well-adjusted, independent thinkers who have been encouraged to become these people.

It all works together to allow Clark and Damona to go a little crazy, and their comic relief is genuinely funny, and well timed.  When the show doesn’t depend on zaniness, the zaniness does its job.

Patient is conscious and comfortable.
A pleasant surprise.  While the episode neither goes for nor achieves wow, it’s a solid, thoughtful, believable half hour.  4 ice chips out of 5.

Dr. Ken, Season 2, Episode 8: “Allison’s Thanksgiving Meltdown”
Original airdate November 18, 2016.

I’m hot-blooded: check it and see.
Allison asks the family to change its plans for a quiet Thanksgiving at home in favor of visiting her parents at their new home in Santa Barbara.  Nobody’s very happy about it, but Ken puts up the biggest fuss, and when he causes a mishap involving Allison’s berry crumble and the sunroof on the car, Allison has a meltdown in the car while the family is stuck in stand-still traffic.

Clark convinces the Welltopia gang (and their plus-ones) to help him serve Thanksgiving dinners at a homeless shelter.    He has a little meltdown of his own over details like centerpieces and burnt biscuits.  When his boyfriend tries to console him, Clark shares a story about how a homeless shelter once gave him hope and inspired him to make things right with his estranged family.

Got a fever of a hundred and three.
This episode means well, but it’s just sooooooo stupid.  The Clark story is well conceived and poorly executed, with cartoonish behavior by Damona’s boyfriend and Damona.  The resolution involving The Doobie Brothers’ “Black Water” is painfully bad.  How bizarre is it that the unimaginable pairing of Damona and Pat last season was one of the show’s saving graces, while Damona’s completely understandable relationship this season lacks any kind of credibility?

The Molly story about her friend’s fish is unnecessary, uninteresting, and unfunny.  And although the fight between Ken and Allison is a pretty great idea, it could have been a little bolder without resorting to the now-standard D. K. voice of wisdom and fatherly advice.  In fact, if the writers really felt the need to resolve things right there on the freeway shoulder, why not do something different, like have Dave do it, or maybe a stranger in one of the nearby cars?  D. K. is part of Allison’s problem; why not let Allison work it out away from him, as she also needs to work it out away from Ken?

Ain’t there nothing I can take…
The episode gets props for two very interesting, you-don’t-see-that-every-day moments.  Clark’s story about his coming out to his family is truly well done, and Jonathan Slavin’s delivery is just about perfect.  Clark’s boyfriend says exactly the right thing, too, when he reminds Clark that it wasn’t a bunch of gourds in a tablescape that made such a difference.  A nice moment that devolves rapidly from there.

Allison’s fight with Ken is unlike the usual sitcom fight, and unlike the fantastic fights these characters have had in past episodes.  There’s something real going on here, and you can tell by the stunned silence from their children that this is extremely out of the ordinary.  No smart-alecky remarks from anyone is just the right note here.  And when Allison gets out of the car, she does the second-scariest thing kids can see one parent do to another: leave.  It’s also daring not to let Ken and Allison resolve things right there at the side of the freeway.  The whole sequence is gutsy, and well played by the actors, right up until D. K.’s words of wisdom.

…to relieve this belly ache?  
I don’t blame anyone for this episode’s falling flat.  It attempts a couple of interesting things and can’t stick the landing, but it was cool to see the attempt. I know I’ve written this somewhere on 8A before, but I once heard Sid Caesar say that great comedy makes you laugh until you cry, and great drama makes you cry until you laugh.  In two moments of honest drama, rather than let the laughter come, the show tries to force laughter upon both situations, and that almost never works.  It deserves an A for the best parts and an F for the worst parts, so we’ll split the difference and tack on an encouraging half-grade bump.  3 Band-Aids out of 5.