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DVD Review: FRESH OFF THE BOAT Season 1

Oct 04, 2015 Posted by in DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Comments

Fresh Off the Boat is a comedy series based off of the memoir of the same name written by author Eddie Huang.

The year is 1995 and the Huang family has just moved from Washington, D.C. to Orlando Florida, where patriarch Louis (Randall Park) has just opened a new restaurant called Cattleman’s Ranch steakhouse. The rest of his family includes mother (Lucille Soong), wife Jessica (Constance Wu), and their three boys Eddie (Hudson Yang), Emery (Forrest Wheeler) and Evan (Ian Chen).

Louis is in a constant struggle to makie his business profitable, and his not so bright staff —host Mitch (Paul Scheer) and waitress Nancy (Jillian Armenante)—don’t make things any easier. Meanwhile, control-freak Jessica experiences a bit of a culture shock when she meets the other suburban moms, who spend their days rollerblading and talking about Melrose Place. Eldest son Eddie is obsessed with rap and hip-hop, and finds it difficult being the new kid in school—especially being the only Asian kid in his class. However, his happy-go-lucky brother Emery seems to have no problem fitting in, and even has a girlfriend by the end of his first day of school. And youngest Evan also seems to just be happy going with the flow.

This series was one of my favorite new shows last season. Constance Wu is an absolute delight as the over-bearing mother who doesn’t want her family to lose their Chinese identity. But over the course of the season we see her slowly warm up to the American way of life, loosen her reigns just a bit and have some fun. While Jessica is constantly giving her husband a hard time about spending money or doing things she doesn’t approve of, you can still see the fun, loving relationship between this couple. Some of my favorite moments in the first season involve either Jessica or Louis making some snappy burn comment about someone else and the other is right there to close with a high five.

I also really enjoy the relationship between the boys. Emery and Evan are always happy and upbeat, and nothing ever seems to phase them—everything always seems to go right for Emery. Eddie, on the other hand, is always stressing about how he’s going to impress the other kids at school by getting some new hot product. However, his brothers are always there to support him.

The world of the show also has a lot of really fun supporting characters, including Grandma Huang, who won’t bat an eye at claiming her winnings while playing poker with her grandchildren, or while pretending to be Topenga from Boy Meets World while on the phone with one of Eddie’s friends. It’s also a lot of fun to see the staff at Cattleman’s Ranch doing something wrong. And Eddie’s schoolmates always provide some comic relief—there’s the sole black kid in school who always comments on his situation, the sad sack who always trusts his absentee dad will show up at any minute, and the rest of the gang, who mistake a sexual harassment instructional video for a porno or accidentally buy the 9 to 5 video game.

There are so many great storylines in the first season, and every episode has fun moments. Some of my favorite episodes are “Persistent Romeo”, where Jessica tries to teach the staff at Cattleman’s Ranch about sexual harassment and manages to harass everyone in the process; “Blind Spot”, for its horror film parody as one of the boys gets sick and threatens to spread it to the others; and “Dribbling Tiger, Bounce Pass Dragon” in which Louis and Jessica are forced to volunteer at the kids’ schools and Jessica turns the fun school play into a dark cautionary tale.

I also love how the show blends 90s nostalgia into the stories in a way that doesn’t feel hokey. The real-life Eddie Huang provides great narration in these episodes, which also helps to add authenticity and fill in some of the details to what’s going on. (This is one aspect I really miss in the currently-airing second season). The first season is nearly-perfect, taking viewers on a journey with these characters as they learn to find a balance between their Chinese and American cultures. Had the series not been picked up, the first season finale would have made a great series finale.

It’s a shame that FOX has decided to release this DVD-only even though the series airs in HD. However the presentation of the series on the discs is still quite sufficient. The picture is clear, the dialogue/narration can easily be heard, and the 90s soundtrack sounds great. There are only two bonus features on the discs—an interesting 90’s-style pop-up trivia track on the pilot episode, and a short gag reel. I really enjoyed these features and wish they had included even more.









What’s Included:
Episodes: (4:40:07)

  • All 13 Episodes of the first season:
    “Pilot”, “Home Sweet Home-School”, “The Shunning”, “Success Perm”, “Persistent Romeo”, “Fajita Man”, “Showdown at the Golden Saddle”, “Phillip Goldstein”, “License to Sell”, “Blind Spot”, “Very Superstitious”, “Dribbling Tiger, Bounce Pass Dragon”, “So Chineez”
  • 480p / Widescreen 1.78:1
  • Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Digital
  • Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
  • Closed Captioned

Extras:

  • Fresh Facts Trivia Track (21:49)
    Throughout the pilot episode, there is a pop-up trivia tracks that gives interesting behind-the-scenes production tidbits, information about the music being played, and other facts about the 90s that inspired what is being seen on screen. I really enjoyed this track—it made me wish there were similar tracks or audio commentaries available on the other episodes!
  • Gag Reel (3:38)
    A fun gag reel that features cast members dancing, flubbing their lines, cracking up, sneezing and just having fun on set.

 


Final Thoughts:

My Rating
Episodes:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Highly Recommended

Fresh Off The Boat was one of my favorite new comedies of last season, and it was such a joy to binge the episodes again on this DVD set. Constance Wu is the highlight of the show for me, and wish she had taken the Emmy for her performance. The DVD presentation looks and sounds great, and the (very few) bonus features that have been included are quite entertaining. I highly recommend picking up this DVD based on the quality of the series along—these episodes can be watched over and over again and still make you laugh every time!