Space Force: 5 Times We Felt Sorry For Dr. Chan (5 Times We Hated Him)

This Netflix sitcom follows a group of government workers in the new military branch called Space Force. The show has an outrageous and zany cast of characters which includes Dr. Chan Kaifang, portrayed by Jimmy O. Yang. Dr. Chan is one of the lead scientists in Space Force and is number two to head scientist Dr. Adrian Mallory, portrayed by John Malkovich.

While he mainly stays with the scientific team, Dr. Chan also interacts with those in the military side of the branch and the marketing department, and, although he’s more of a side character, the audience was still able to see a lot of Dr. Chan throughout the first season. Here are some of the moments when fans felt sorry for him and some moments where they hated him.

10 Felt Sorry: Naird’s Constant Racism

General Naird is constantly suspicious of Dr. Chan for no other reason than he doesn’t trust him because he is Chinese.

Dr. Mallory is always standing up for his lead assistant scientist and Chan hasn’t given reason for Naird to not trust him and the audience has to feel sorry that Chan has to deal with that type of work environment.

9 Hated: Messing With Captain Ali After Her LASIK

Dr. Chan agrees to drive Captain Ali home after her LASIK surgery and they become close friends throughout the day. They have some cute moments where they do K-pop moves together and have some fun back and forth banter.

Although it’s played off as a cute moment, Chan does mess with her when she can’t see and that fact makes it a little uncomfortable. He jokes that there are spiders everywhere around her and she realizes that he’s been driving in circles so they can have more time together, it borders the line between cute and creepy.

8 Felt Sorry: Tony Taking Up His Time To Find A Present

Although these two characters seemed to get along by the end of the episode, it was still frustrating to see media consultant Tony distract scientist and botanist Dr. Chan.

Chan presumably has a lot of important work to do with and beyond Space Force, but Tony chooses to get him involved in finding the perfect birthday present for POTUS. It seems to take a while for them to figure out a gift, purchasing a star for him, and it takes up Dr. Chan’s valuable time.

7 Hated: Apathetic Attitude

Dr. Chan has a sarcastic and apathetic attitude that often downplays his scientific prowess throughout the series.

Although being in his work environment of Space Force it’s easy to understand why he would be apathetic toward the branch’s disregard toward science and reason, it’s still an upsetting attitude as hopefully as a scientist he would be more excited about the aspect of traveling to the moon.

6 Felt Sorry: Dr. Chan And Captain Ali’s Talk

There’s a moment where Dr. Chan and Captain Ali talk and they seem to be alone, but Dr. Chan tells her that their conversation is being recorded over the webcam.

It’s pretty clear that they care about each other, probably more than just friends caring about each other, and it’s a bit of a heartbreaking moment when they can’t say this because of the recording and instead say it in code.

5 Hated: Not Protesting When Dr. Mallory Walked Away

Dr. Mallory is sick of General Naird and Space Force’s constant disregard for his expertise and science in general that he quits and begins a protest, almost setting himself on fire.

When Dr. Mallory quits and walks away in protest, Dr. Chan is put in charge and doesn’t seem that bothered that Mallory walked away.

4 Felt Sorry: Naird Thinking He Was A Spy

General Naird thinks that there might be a spy within Space Force so he goes on a hunt to find the person responsible. One of the first staffers he looks into is Dr. Chan, with no other evidence than him being suspicious because he is Chinese.

Dr. Chan is used to the constant racism from Naird, but this situation stands out as Naird was about to arrest him purely based on his race. It turns out that there was no evidence of Dr. Chan being a spy and he isn’t one.

3 Hated: Didn’t Seem Close To Dr. Mallory

Both Dr. Mallory and Dr. Chan are annoyed that they are constantly disregarded as the experts in their field and Space Force doesn’t seem to care about their expertise at all.

Instead of joining up together, Mallory and Chan tend to fight on their own even though they’re fighting the same fight. Mallory says that Chan is his second in command and he trusts him, but unfortunately the series doesn’t show these two together much, and hopefully they will build their relationship if renewed for a second season.

2 Felt Sorry: Having To Constantly Stand Up For Science

Dr. Chan is in a similar position as Dr. Mallory as both of these scientists have to constantly remind the military side of things that operating in space is different than on Earth. Space calls for logic and precise reasoning instead of brute force, which is what Naird is used to.

In the first episode, Dr. Chan tries to convince General Naird that it’s not a perfect day for the launch, but Naird goes forward anyway. Even though it doesn’t cause disastrous results, Naird should still listen to his experts.

1 Hated: Not Very Ambitious

This goes in line with his more apathetic attitude, but Dr. Chan doesn’t seem to love or be very passionate about his job. Dr. Mallory is passionate and heatedly debates scientific merits with the equally passionate General Naird.

Captain Ali wants to learn and become an astronaut and even F. Tony is passionate about his marketing job, but Dr. Chan is one of the only characters in the department that doesn’t seem to be ambitious or passionate about his position and it is an odd characteristic.

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