From Lucas Costello:
Link: Kim’s Convenience and Canadian television’s diversity problem
What makes Kim’s Convenience unprecedented is largely who is telling these stories. The show centres on a convenience store run by a Korean-Canadian family in Toronto’s Regent Park — a neighbourhood that, due to its many intersections of race, class and faith, gives Kim’s Convenience opportunities to engage in broad conversations about identity, place and belonging. Continue reading.
From Chloe Tejada of The Huffington Post Canada:
Link: ‘Kim’s Convenience’: Asian-Canadians finally find a show they say represents them
It’s been almost a year since #OscarsSoWhite took over the Internet, and although Hollywood has been making huge gains in putting people of colour on screen, Canada has been a bit slower on the uptake.
That has changed though with CBC’s “Kim’s Convenience.” The TV show, which had its series premiere on Tuesday, stars a diverse cast whose four lead actors are all of Asian descent — a rare sight in television. Continue reading.
From Bill Brioux of Brioux.TV:
Link: Kim’s Convenience an overnight success for CBC
Overnight estimates — a measure that means less and less these days — are in and the numbers for Kim’s Convenience so far are right where I expected.
Tuesday’s back-to-back opener measured 835,000 and 805,000 viewers on the overnight scale. That was good enough for third in the timeslot in Canada behind Global’s strong rookie Bull(1,627,000) and just behind CTV’s well-reviewed import This Is Us(949,000). Continue reading.
The second episode of Kim’s Convenience gave viewers an opportunity to get to know some of the finer nuances of the main characters.
The cold open presented two of Janet’s (Andrea Bang) classmates, Gerald and Samira (Ben Beauchemen and Getenesh Berhe) who arrived to work on a mid-term project. However, they first ran the gauntlet that is Appa (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee). Appa not only demanded proof of their work, but also a critique of his own photographic skills. It is scenes like these that set the viewer up to underestimate Appa, only to be caught unawares as he offered yet another cutting rejoinder, in this case his assessment of their work. Appa doesn’t fully understand Janet’s passion for photography and this led to some competitive behaviour from him. It was this enthusiasm that resulted in some difficulties for Janet at school.
I mentioned in my review of Episode 1 that Jung (Simu Liu) is estranged from the rest of his family. Much of this episode revolved around this breach, which was particularly difficult for Umma (Jean Yoon). She felt pressured to brag about her children’s successes and yet she was unable to fully rejoice in their accomplishments, particularly Jung’s. Jung, meanwhile, applied for the assistant manager position at his car rental company but where is the accomplishment in that when you dream your children will become a doctor or a lawyer? As children of immigrant parents, Jung and Janet are the source of constant anxiety to them. In the end, Jung got the job and even Umma was able to brag!
This was another solid episode. This is not just a sitcom—there is too much depth of character and too much emotion for it to be a comedy. This is not quirky or off the wall; this is real life. The familial relationships are those that anyone could see themselves in. Having friends who are newly immigrated to Canada, I can see their circumstances represented here. Then, to set this in Toronto … brilliant!
One more thing. It was fun seeing Hiro Kanagawa playing Pastor Choi! I loved him in Blackstone, iZombie, and The X-Files, so it was an added treat to see him here.
Kim’s Convenience airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on CBC.
The long awaited—and much-hyped—debut of Kim’s Convenience finally aired on CBC on Tuesday, and here’s a bit of background in case you have missed it. Mr. Kim, a.k.a. “Appa” (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) and Mrs. Kim, “Umma” (Jean Yoon) immigrated to Canada from Korea in the 1980s, and own a convenience store in downtown Toronto. They have raised two children: Jung (Simu Liu) and Janet (Andrea Bang); Jung has been estranged from his father for several years and is working at a car rental shop, while Janet remains at home, attending college as an arts major and helping out at her parents’ store when she can.
The premiere episode, entitled “Gay Discount,” began as its title might suggest, with Mr. Kim offering a gay discount to his gay customers during Pride Week. There is no need to tell Mr. Kim you are gay, because he can tell. Mr. Kim has 100 per cent guarantee gay-dar. Word spreads of the discount. Some customers like it, some try to take advantage, whilst others find it completely discriminatory. Meanwhile, Mrs. Kim thinks it is time she found Janet a “cool Christian Korean boyfriend.” I have a feeling this will be an ongoing concern for Mrs. Kim, an annoyance for Janet, and provide many humourous situations in the weeks to come.
The other long story arc will focus on the rift between Appa and Jung, and the family’s desire to see it mended, making the family whole again. But, it seems Jung will have his hands full with his enamoured manager, Shannon (Nicole Power).
As stories go, Kim’s Convenience is a fun show. I hope that the hype leading up to it doesn’t leave viewers expecting more than it delivers. Time will tell if Tuesday’s back-to-back episodes prove strong enough to keep viewers returning in the coming weeks. This was truly a charming beginning with some laugh-out-loud moments. The show features characters that are real. Series co-creator Ins Choi is not giving us humour at the expense of stereotypes, but rather he gives us believable characters we can connect with on a human level so we find the humour in the mundane. All told—very refreshing.
Kim’s Convenience is based on the award-winning play by Choi, who also adapted it for television. Kevin White serves as showrunner, and co-created the series with Choi, who both hold executive producer credits along with Thunderbird Films’ Ivan Fecan and Soulpepper Theatre Company’s Albert Schultz.
Kim’s Convenience airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on CBC.
Image courtesy of CBC.
