Fresh Off the Boat Season 6 Episode 6 Review: Chestnut Gardens
Inga Parkel
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It's a mini throwback moment for Fresh Off the Boat Season 6 Episode 6 if you are a longtime fan.
Matthew Chestnut, Louis' old business partner returns to the restaurant after his failed success in Dollywood. Louis being, well Louis, welcomed Chestnut back with open arms after his wife had divorced him.
One woman's trash, another man's treasure.
Louis
It's been so long, I definitely required a refresher on the whole feud between the two. But maybe you can leave a small snippet in the comments below reminding me of what I'm missing out on.
Eddie and Trent were unhappy with the reunification of the two because it left them under stricter supervision that they had become desensitized to after climbing the ranks in the business.
Related: Fresh Off the Boat Season 6 Episode 5 Review: Hal-Lou-Ween
The return of Chestnut seemed to have sparked a new excitement in Louis with the restaurant, which caused him to leave behind his recently found interest in gardening.
Jessica took notice of this, and as Eddie put it, she grew disapproving because Louis brushed aside her suggestion.
Meanwhile, Emery prepared for his next role in Lady Macbeth by reading more literature written by women and The Vagina Monologues.
He awakened his awareness of his own sexist beliefs and helped Evan and Marvin as well.
Tall order. We're talking about a guy who still calls Germany Prussia.
Evan
The three worked hard to change their own narrative until they realized they started off thinking their male chauvinism came from Marvin, when it in fact, came from Honey.
Despite this show taking place in the early 90s, it manages to take current issues and work them into the storyline. Or perhaps history has never resolved itself and we're still stuck facing century-old problems.
Either way, it's important the boys learned about objectification and breaking gender norms.
It was different seeing Evan so sexist. Poor sweet baby Evan, objectifying women and talking about boobs? Who is this?! Can he please go back to calling Jessica "Mommy?"
While Chinese culture is very traditional and promotes strict gender roles, the family is surrounded by a culture that's advancing.
It's important that the show addresses these challenges and differences, and I'd say it's doing a favorable job.
Related: Fresh Off the Boat Season 6 Episode 4 Review: S'Mothered
After Jessica joined forces with Trent and Eddie to try and take down Chestnut, their plan backfired and left Louis upset and untrusting of them all.
Mostly with Jessica, until she managed to teach him another important lesson. We can always expect an important life lesson from Jessica.
I was right to support you. You are a gardener, you like to plant seeds. Idea seeds. Business seeds.
Jessica
This time she helped Louis realize his potential with consulting and helping others build on their own passions and dreams.
Instead of seeing his past attempts at different jobs and hobbies as failures, she helped him see that beyond those failures lied his true passion.
He's good at establishing ideas and starting them, but once a plan is developed he needs to hand them off to others who are looking for new business ideas.
It'll be interesting to see how Louis takes on this new information. Will he advance this into a new career? Will his new beer garden with Chestnut continue successfully or was it a one-time thing?
This episode was a bit too business focused and lost a bit of its original humor and lens on the family. The best storyline was Emery and Evan's, but sadly Jessica's fell flat.
Everyone learned lessons and that's a win for them all. Again, Jessica's really maturing and developing as a character.
Her concern for Louis is endearing and something that is almost foreign to her character. She might not always go about her plans in the right ways, but her intentions are always there.
She didn't take a direct approach this time, and that was certainly new for her.
Additional Side Notes:
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Every time Jessica confuses Honey with any other white woman is such an on the nose joke about all Asian women looking the same. Although, I can see how she could confuse her with Dolly Parton.
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Jessica's killing it with the metaphors. First comparing Louis' complacency with a flagpole and now comparing his ability to sowing ideas in other people's minds to gardening. A+ for her!
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The doctor scenario the boys gave to Marvin stumped me at first. Maybe I need lessons on feminism and etiquette.
- All the amateur references to 69 and "Deez nuts" received a few chuckles here and there. I'm actually just a teenage boy.
If you missed the airing of the episode, you can always watch Fresh Off the Boat online here via TV Fanatic!
Don't forget to comment and rate the episode down below.
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Inga Parkel was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She left the organization in June 2020.
