Which dessert reigns supreme on this week’s Fresh Off the Boat? That’s the debate that Evan (Team Cake) and Jessica (Team Pie) had inside Cattleman’s. In the end, Evan was the winner by consensus of the customers inside, and I agree that cake is better than pie, but hey, that’s me.
The crux of episode 21 was actually between Jess and Evan on who had the better debating skills. That idea fell flat pretty early into the story. Evan instantly got on top, and Jessica gave up without a fight, which felt out of character. It would’ve made more sense if the debates were more intense and the continued defeats pushed Jessica into denial.
What did work about this concept were Roger and the Debate Teacher. Roger brought the emotion to the phone situation and showed how emotions could be used to win a debate. The Debate Teacher did a great job of letting Jessica’s debate teach the class rather than him being put in his place, and he even let Evan join the team.
As for the comic book contest with Emery and Eddie, it didn’t work. The problem with the scenario is that we’ve seen this before during this season. Eddie wants money so he manipulates one of his brothers, and the brother figures it out and teaches Eddie a lesson. It felt too formulaic. Although, it was a nice touch to have Stan Lee get the comic, and to see the comic in action.
Overall, this episode felt more like filler than a core piece of this season. Hopefully, future episodes won’t be as by the numbers as this one was.
Fresh Off the Boat airs Tuesdays @ 9/8c on ABC
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