TV review: The Chair
This has got to be Sandra Oh's best role ever.
Sure, the Korean-Canadian-American actress is the lead in the hit series Killing Eve, but she has always been overshadowed by Jodie Comer's more dynamic antagonist Villanelle.
But with this sharply written comedy-drama now showing on Netflix, Oh is given a vehicle that finally allows her to command every inch of the stage and bask in all of the spotlight.
It is a multi-faceted, Emmy-deserving performance that will make you laugh, think, reflect, love and maybe even cry.
And if you are or were an English literature major at university like me, The Chair is bound to resonate on many levels, and perhaps take you down memory lane along those hallowed hallways and corridors with its spot-on observations about academia.
Oh portrays Professor Ji-yoon Kim, the newly appointed chair of the floundering English department at the fictional Pembroke University - and the first woman of colour to assume the position.
Ridiculously digestible with just six 30-minute episodes, the show sees her trying to meet dizzying demands and high expectations, as she juggles falling student enrolment, ensures the tenure of a young black female co-worker (Nana Mensah), navigates a complicated romantic relationship with her widowed colleague Bill Dobson (Jay Duplass) and parents her rebellious adopted daughter.
Female empowerment may be at the forefront, but The Chair does not shy away from showing its heroine as someone susceptible to flawed leadership.
The cast of characters are highly entertaining, with Bob Balaban and Holland Taylor as senior faculty members grappling with the changing times, fossilised teaching methods, negative student reviews and looming forced retirement.
Meanwhile, Bill sees his popularity decline and his position in peril when he unwittingly uses the Nazi salute in teaching absurdism and fascism.
David Duchovny even makes a guest cameo as himself - a Hollywood actor who was a PhD literature student at Yale and is now the Dean's top candidate to be the school's guest lecturer with the hopes of increasing enrolment with his "star power".
The comedy of errors that ensues when Ji-yoon pays Duchovny a visit at his home is just gold.
High scores also go to the unlikely brains behind this project - creator-actress Amanda Peet, who also served as an executive producer alongside her husband David Benioff and D.B. Weiss (better known as the Game Of Thrones showrunners).
With everyone hitting their marks so effortlessly, The Chair gets an easy A.
THE CHAIR
RATING: NC16
score : 4/5
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