Fresh Off the Boat 4×08 Review: “The Vouch”

Jessica finally finished her horror novel, but it’s not good. This week’s conflict was Louis being honest with his wife and telling her that the story wasn’t good, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He loves her too much, so he lied about giving her story to Kenny Rogers, but Jessica found out the truth. The first issue I had with this conflict was that Louis wasn’t up front about his feelings towards her novel. By now, I feel the two of them should be in a more honest marriage, but it seems like they purposely keep things from each other for the sake of the plot. The other problem I had was with Jessica’s response. It became very personal and she felt that Louis had no faith in her dreams, even though she had faith in his. That moment felt way too intense and personal, especially since she was only receiving criticism for her book. The real issue was that she believed writing is a one and done type of thing. The episode didn’t help her learn anything since Kenny liked her book and is getting it published.

On a more positive note, Louis made a great impression on his short interaction with Kenny Rogers. It turns out he really liked the pen Louis gave him, which made him seem more likable even though we weren’t introduced to his character. If a small gesture like receiving a pen can make him happy, then he’s okay in my book.

Meanwhile, Eddie was fighting with his friends and his brothers over who had control over the CD changer. This episode really made Eddie seem like a jerk up until the end. He wanted to control all the music, he didn’t put a single dollar into buying the machine, and he put the changer in his room. Even after everyone agreed to share since they all pitched in, Eddie wanted full control. It ended up taking a little American history to change his mind into playing fair, which felt really odd and random. Eddie should know better by now. Also, as a character that doesn’t care about school, it was weird that a little history suddenly changed his mind. It would’ve been better if he somehow came around to everyone else’s music.

All of these were a small fault of the episode, but the bigger issues for the series are Evan, Emery and the Grandmother. As I’ve stated before, they do better in dramatic situations than comedic ones and the show runners need to find more interesting ways to incorporate them into the stories. Most of the time it’s obvious where these characters are shoved in and it was very apparent in this episode.

Fresh Off the Boat airs Tuesdays at 8:30/7:30c.

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