The Chair Netflix 2021

 

Short series about a newly appointed chair of an English dept. at a university who happens to be a woman and an Asian. This is the set up we are presented with and it’s acted by the wonderful Sandra Oh who brings the perfect blend of flair and annoyance to the role. The problems started piling up for her from the first minute of the show when she actually falls off her office chair. Heavy meanings and metaphors come knocking at her door. Smartly written and acted by a good cast but a little too pat and predictable especially in the writing. Well it is a sit com after all so I should just accept it for what it is and move on. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it. The main thrust and crisis of the show is a mess caused by one of the professors, a sloppy but popular guy played by Jay Duplass who teaches well attended classes with the usual smart ass students and flirty flirts that are always part of movie universities and universes. Duplass usually arrives late hung over or drug over and dishelved, and is generally out of control and ripe for discipline and removal. He’s up against the dean and the usual tenure factory and their workers that inhabit these places of higher education. Oh is torn between affection and disgust for him and the final encounter between them rings hollow with everything else all neat and tidy, maybe ready for additional seasons, its seems to be popular with folks and critics so who knows. There are also sidebars with conflicts concerning a well qualified African American woman who is pushed aside for an important position that is given to a celebrity actor that pushes all serious thoughts of reality out the window. Also around is some over the hill professors including Bob Balaban and Holland Taylor who are fighting for their careers and both are lively and fun to watch. Wish I could say the same for Oh’s nasty spoiled young adopted daughter who might be the worst child I’ve ever seen on screen. No excuses for her and she left a nasty after taste for me.