Netflix's new campus comedy is a mess. The marvelous Sandra Oh holds it together

  • 📰 latimes
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 60 sec. here
  • 2 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 27%
  • Publisher: 82%

Education Education Headlines News

Education Education Latest News,Education Education Headlines

Oh shows off her all-encompassing range in 'The Chair' as the first woman to run the English department at an old-school university.

plays Dr. Ji-Yoon Kim, newly installed head of the English department at Pembroke University, a small, lower-tier Ivy. Even before Ji-Yoon, the first woman to occupy the position, brings a meeting to something like order, things are falling apart for her — including, literally, the desk chair in her new office.

Ji-Yoon’s friend and colleague Yasmin, called “Yaz” , is up for tenure, and Ji-Yoon thinks that giving her the Distinguished Lectureship might be the shot of adrenaline the department needs to jump-start its heart. Why there is any drama around this is unclear — she’s a star, she’s young, she’s modern, her classes full of excited students who produce “Hamilton"-quality takes on “Moby-Dick,” she publishes, wins awards.

And the olds, represented by Bob Balaban’s Elliot and Holland Taylor’s Joan , don’t want to go, and Ji-Yoon doesn’t really want to make them go, though Peet has stacked the cards against them. We get jokes about colonoscopies and adult diapers and not being able to work the copier . “We’re still in our intellectual prime and have plenty to offer,” says one aged don, punctuating the statement with flatulence — adding insult to infirmity, so to speak.

Bill’s scenes with Juju, by contrast, remind us that he’s basically a good guy. There is a beautiful, quiet passage in which they leaf through her favorite book, Edward Steichens’as she points out pictures of mothers and babies. “It has naked pictures in it,” she warns Bill before they begin.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 11. in EDUCATİON

Education Education Latest News, Education Education Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

‘The Chair’ Review: Netflix’s Sharp Take on AcademiaReview: Netflix’s new series, 'The Chair,' starring Sandra Oh as the first female chair of an English department at a university, is an engaging sendup of higher education nice This past week a White lady who sold a noodle cook book was accosted by woke internet trolls. Why no out rage here?
Source: WSJ - 🏆 98. / 63 Read more »

H&M collaborates with Netflix\u2019s Sex Education
Source: LDNfashion - 🏆 157. / 63 Read more »