Chinese New Year Off the Boat

     Tonight was a winning episode of Fresh off the Boat, one of my favorite shows of 2015. Just in time for Chinese New Year, the Huangs are planning a family trip to Washington D.C. to celebrate the special holiday. Treasures such as fireworks, red envelopes of money and pork buns await, but they missed their flight by a whole day. Now, the family is stuck in Orlando, trying to find another Chinese group to spend the holidays with this year.  First, Louis and Jessica look through the phone book for other Chinese families. "Yang is the Chinese Smith," remarks Louis. They also try to track down a Chinese man they saw when they were on a city bus. After a failed attempt at the Orlando area Asian American group (AAAoO for short) and make several jokes saying "Ayy" like Fonzie and "Ay-Oh!" like Tony Danza. The group is of course, a disaster and a disappointment as it was formed by members from all parts of Asia, with people from India and Russia populating the event), and a terrifying dinosaur dancing like it came from a basketball halftime show. Then the family return back to their restaurant, where the neighbors and staff throw a great party to celebrate the Huangs' tradition. In the end, Jessica explains that nearly everything is meant to bring luck and wealth to the family.

     This is one of the episodes where the family dynamics truly make the episode, similar to the season opener where Jessica and the boys tag along on Louis' business trip. (In that episode, Jessica fights the hotel about the number of guests they are paying for in their room, among other things). Eddie and his little brothers are completely upset about missing the trip because they won;t get any little red envelopes full of lucky money. While Eddie hopes for enough to afford new Air Jordans, baby brother Emery wants to start a business by buying a Snoopy Sno-Cone maker (an amazing toy that my friends had when we were little) and middle brother Evan is so worried about grumpy Grandma,who will not give out any money in red envelopes. Truly brown in the wrong era, oddball Evan hopes to buy a fedora and bring back an era of rail travel, and dressed up in a suit in the hopes of the airline upgrading him to first class. Sweet little Emery puts on a Seinfeld-esque comedy show to cheer up Grandma. In an amusing moment, Grandma explains to people that their supposed "Chinese symbol" tattoos don't mean what they thought they did. This episode is a must-see and hopefully it will become a traditional episode in the coming seasons.