Disney Plus’s original series American Born Chinese ,season one episode two entitled “A Monkey on a Quest,” kicks off with Jimmy Liu’s Wei-Chen as he talks to Michelle Yeoh’s Guanyin. This is where the viewer learns about the reason why he keeps trying to get close to Ben Wang’s Jin Wang. This is due to him having a vision where Jin is supposed to be his helping guide on his quest. In his mind, he is completely certain that Jin is the person who has to help him. Although deep down he has his doubts if Jin is the one as he seems to be only looking out for himself. No matter the case, Wei knows he must accomplish his quest as he holds the fate of his home in his hands.
Additionally, Jin’s dad Chin Han’s Simon Wang is seen struggling at his job. The viewer sees him desperately trying to talk to his boss in hopes of getting a promotion. The series does a fantastic job at showing how some immigrants struggle with asking for more on a job. Also, there is a culture barrier as Simon does not understand or watch the sports his boss does. Surprisingly enough, he ends up finding something in common with him as they both love Bon Jovi. This demonstrates how all it takes is one small thing to form a friendship in the long run. Unfortunately, even with the newfound friendship he could not get a promotion as his boss was retiring. However, he might have an opportunity to replace him as he now can use their bond as a jumping off point with him.
Towards the end of the episode, things get worse as the video where Jin stumbles around uncontrollably starts to get noticed even more at school. This is due to him being compared to a stereotype Asian guy who is dumb and gets hurts a lot in an old sitcom. This is further proved by how the catchphrase is also edited into the video about Jin. The is one of the reasons why Jin seems to freeze up when it comes to talking about it. He has never had to deal with that sort of thing and would prefer to stay quiet out of fear of being humiliated even more. All Jin wants is to have a good reputation at his school for once as he thought he would finally get to shine.
At the end of the episode, the viewer sees Jin deal with the issues regarding the video that was made of him. The series demonstrates how much making fun of someone can really affect them. Not to mention that it also deals with racism with Jin being compared to a stereotypical depiction of an Asian person. Luckily, there are those who are willing to take a stand against the video. From what the viewer sees, there are two sides to the issue regarding the video. There is Jin’s side where he wants to forget about the whole thing and act as if it never happened. And on the people’s side, they want to bring to attention what the video represents. In Jin’s mind, all he wants is to move on as he already has been humiliated enough as it is. Deep down he knows the video was not okay to have passed around. Also, he does want to speak up about it, it’s just that he is afraid that he will make it worse. All he wants is to make it on the soccer team and be a regular guy. The interesting part about this is how it seems the world is pushing him to be a hero that stands up for what is right. This is demonstrated by how he was given the opportunity to stop his old friend from being made fun of, which he failed to do. Another example is how he was given the opportunity to speak up about the video, and bring to light the racism that Asians are facing. This could possibly be the indication that Jin is truly supposed to be a helping guide to Wei.
Rating: 9.5/10