Fresh Off The Boat: 5 Best (& 5 Worst) Episodes Of Season 3 (According To IMDb)

The childhood adventures of Eddie Huang take the form of Fresh Off the Boat, a brilliant, powerful sitcom — and one of the extremely rare ones that depict Asian-Americans in the lead roles. The script is rich in scintillating detail, almost every reference, every cultural norm associated with the 90s is covered in the show, from Tupac Shakur to learning how the internet works.

Two years after moving to Florida from Washington, D.C., the Huangs are still adjusting to their new lives. Some of the major arcs in the third season include Jessica’s citizenship journey, Grandma Jenny’s newfound independence, and sweet little Emery growing into a confident young man. As is always the case, the episodes aren’t uniformly amazing/terrible (at least based on their respective IMDb scores.)

10 Best: The Flush (Episode 17) — 7.8

Eddie and his pals sneak a bottle of beer into his room, easily bypassing his dad’s not-so-watchful eyes. Although when he freaks out about his skin going scarlet, Louis comforts him by revealing that he also experiences the same syndrome — the dreaded Asian flush. This is a mild, temporary condition that Asian people have a genetic predilection for.

On the other side (of the state), Jessica takes Evan, Honey and Emery to Georgia, so she can save a measly twenty dollars on the couch that Jenny wants. The road trip is fraught with tension, because Honey is clueless about Jessica’s road rage and its associated tiers.

9 Worst: Driving Miss Jenny (Episode 19) — 7.6

Grandma Jenny loves her new electric wheelchair, using it as her main mode of transport. Louis finds this very uncomfortable, as he is deeply worried about his mother’s safety on the streets of Orlando. It’s one of those episodes in which these two characters interact; the incongruity is all the more highlighted by the rarity of the occurrence.

At home, Jessica tries to “clean” Emery’s collection of memorabilia, but learns that he has an emotional bond with all of them, while Eddie and Evan compete with each other over the latter’s new business and its outsourcing (to Dave.)

8 Best: The Taming Of The Dads (Episode 7) — 7.9

Eddie and Alison are left perplexed when their dads turn out to be massive fans of William Shakespeare, which begins to erode their own relationship (because Eddie isn’t nearly as spontaneous as his father.) The kids “take a break” from each other, which upsets the young Huang.

Evan and Emery struggle to keep a Tamagotchi alive, something a lot of people who grew up in the nineties can relate to. Of course, Jessica is furious that the jury she’s a part of doesn’t choose her as the foreperson, making the case more about herself than the act of arson and ends up causing a mistrial.

7 Worst: No Thanks-Giving (Episode 5) — 7.5

Louis loves Thanksgiving, being pretty much fully Americanized (as if Cattleman’s Ranch isn’t evidence enough.) However, his wife pretends to hate the holiday by making some weak arguments about it not being part of Chinese heritage, but her intention is finance-based. Meanwhile, Eddie tries to get out of working on his school project, but his parents will have none of it.

At the end, he takes a different approach to homework, creating a hip-hop/rap family tree instead. The elements in this episode have a clear focus, but it takes too much effort to form a cohesive final product.

6 Best: Breaking Chains (Episode 2) — 8.0

The worst thing an Asian man can do (going by the stereotype described in the series) is getting a maid for his wife. Jessica is incredibly insulted by his callousness, accusing him of thinking that her cleaning skills aren’t good enough.

Emery has his own problems when he begins middle school, as he has to re-establish his own identity out from under the shadow of his big brother — and his diverse set of lies about Chinese tradition. “Breaking Chains” depicts how families can, and sometimes must, separate themselves from each other in a warm, yet firm, manner.

5 Worst: Citizen Jessica (Episode 4) — 7.5

Eddie Huang and the gang are distraught by the murder of Tupac Shakur, but refuse to consider that The Notorious B.I.G. had anything to do with the drive-by (an eerily accessible callback to the real-life controversy.)

The adults are working hard to make Cattleman’s Ranch a polling location for the U.S. Presidential elections of 1996, where Emery cutely believes that Bob Dole actually has a chance of defeating Bill Clinton. However, the story waits for this episode to reveal Jessica’s non-citizenship status, a fact that could have been included, probably with greater effect, in several earlier ones.

4 Best: Coming From America (Episode 1) — 8.1

The Huangs travel to Taipei for Gene Huang’s wedding, which leaves a sour taste in Louis’ mouth when he discovers that his brother is far richer than him, in addition to having a gorgeous fiancée.

Luckily, Jessica is there to convince him that their American domesticity is not as bad as he thinks, in part because her native city has undergone some drastic changes in comparison with her childhood. “Coming from America” exposes the realities of immigration, not in their extremes, but in small details like linguistic gaps, loss of nostalgia, and so on.

3 Worst: The Masters (Episode 20) — 7.4

Jessica and Louis have one of their many squabbles; but this time, he stands his ground against her “bullying” the children into diligence. To prove the superiority of each parenting method, Jessica coaches Evan while Louis handles Eddie: to nobody’s surprise, the father-son team show better promise (even after the boys are switched.)

Most of “The Masters”, though, is too focused on Tiger Woods’ Thai heritage, as shown when Emery labors against his classmates preconceived notion of race, as well as when Jessica receives advice from a random woman she mistakes to be Kultida Woods.

2 Best: How To Be An American (Episode 9) — 8.2

Unlike the scattered fragments of “Citizen Jessica”, this episode accurately illustrates the trials of obtaining U.S. citizenship, although displayed from a humorous point of view (it is a sitcom, after all.)

Jessica’s past is slowly unraveled, in each case containing undefined white characters whom she replaces with Honey, Marvin and Deirdre in her memories. Louis does not take it kindly when he learns that the only reason his wife even agreed to marry him was to get a green card. The boys attempt a minivan adventure, but this goes about as well as one would imagine.

1 Worst: Pie Vs. Cake (Episode 21) — 7.4

“Pie Vs. Cake” is like every Marvel movie ever made — in that it has a Stan Lee cameo at the end. Still, the plot about Jessica’s jealousy over Evan’s newly developing debating skills is not honed to the perfection viewers have come to expect from the show.

Then again, it is certainly a treat to watch Jessica argue over her baby’s inclusion in his school’s debate team, irrespective of the rules denying someone his age from participating. Concurrently, the two older brothers decide to write/draw a comic book together, but soon realize that their concepts are supremely incompatible.

About The Author

Ajay Aravind
(429 Articles Published)

In real life, Ajay disguises himself as an academic, mainly writing textbooks for children — who all hate him for making their lives more miserable. He also writes about TV and film, strewing his opinions across the internet to see if people care (they don’t). You can find him @stain_dprinc_ss on Twitter.

More From Ajay Aravind