Have you seen The Listener? It's a relatively new NBC drama about a guy who has the power to read minds, and uses his special gift to help people blah blah blah. I was flipping channels last night and came across it, and last night's show just happened to be a repeat of The Chinatown Episode.
You know what I'm talking about. Every legal or cop drama eventually gets around to the Chinatown Episode, maybe even once a season. Sometimes it's the Koreatown Episode, or the Little Saigon Episode... but for that one episode, a handful of Asian American actors get some work as a helpless lotus damsel, an Asian street thug, or an honorable elderly Asian.
In last night's show, Toby ("The Listener") befriends a beautiful young woman, Kim, when her brother Raymond is killed in a shooting. It seems that Raymond was into something shady, and now Chinese thugs are after Kim to find an important document. So of course, the mind-reading hero dude has to step in and get to the bottom of this.
Did I mention that Kim is blind? And plays violin? She's also totally helpless. It's a little odd how Toby gets totally wrapped and obsessed with saving her. There's even an odd, interesting moment when his friend accuses him of being beguiled by her Asian mystique:
"It's the girl, right? You have trouble reading her, so you're stuck on her."It's kind of a frank, refreshing moment, though Toby completely laughs it off as sidekick nonsense banter. Meanwhile, Kim never really questions why this dude, a paramedic, is suddenly all up in her business. Eventually, of course, Toby is there to save her when a dangerous Asian thug attacks her in her apartment. Turns out, her brother hid a slip of paper... in her violin.
"No man, I'm not stuck on her."
"It's the total 'Dragon Lady' stereotype."
"Dragon lady?"
"The beautiful, unknowable Asian woman -- she's seductive as hell but she hides dangers and secrets. Come on, you're falling for a stereotype."
"You're wrong. That's not it."
"Uh, I'm actually pretty sensitive to these things."
"What are these things."
"Racism."
"Please.
"Toby, you may not have noticed this, but I'm not white."
"Okay. Shut up now."
"Just like the man. Trying to keep a brother muzzled."
The paper is the number of a shipping container... full of illegal Chinese immigrants. Turns out Raymond was working for Chinatown's benevolent elder, who was running in a human trafficking operation. Silly Chinese people, always exploiting other Chinese people. Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown.
This episode of The Listener guest starred Steph Song, Kean Lui, Darrel Gamotin, Warren Chow and Sean Lu. The show's starring cast includes Mylene Dinh-Robic as Dr. Olivia Fawcett, but she was only in this episode for a hot second. And that's my recap of The Listener Goes to Chinatown.
