The Chair Review: Netflix Series Starring Sandra Oh Misses the Mark
Sandra Oh is the new chair of the prestigious Pembroke University’s English Department on The Chair, and that casting alone made this a show I was excited to watch.
Unfortunately, The Chair is wildly disappointing, in large part because it tries to do too much with too little time. It’s a show with great intentions and plenty of potential, but it manages to fall short.
In its brief six episodes, The Chair tackles the very real kinds of dynamics that you’ll find in academia, and specifically in English. I can speak from experience, as someone who teaches in an English Department and has seen a lot of these things first hand.
The trouble is that there’s no real chance to explore these characters the way they should be explored or to dive into these complex issues in the way they deserve.
We don’t even get a chance to know Sandra Oh’s character, Dr. Ji-Yoon Kim, as much as we should. She has all the makings of a fascinating, complex character, but so much of the story happens around her instead of with her being truly at the center.
I could do without some of the very basic humor we get from the senior faculty in favor of more time with Ji-Yoon. Her journey as the new department chair, who is also the first female chair and a woman of color in a department that’s not exactly diverse, is full of potential. That should be at the heart of the series in a bigger way.
What we do see of her is excellent, and Oh gives a heck of a performance as her character balances the pressures of the new job, being a single mother, and everything else in between.
She’s also taking over the position after Bill Dobson (Jay Duplass), an endearing character with a ton of baggage with whom she shares a strong bond. It’s messy, and the relationships get more complicated quickly.
The story that winds up being told, in fact, has more to do with their relationship as she puts out fires in the department that he starts, first by carelessly offering a Nazi salute during a class that he’s already shown up late to.
As Ji-Yoon tries to mitigate that issue, which causes students to protest, she gets brought down with him. Meanwhile, he’s sweetly able to help care for JuJu, Ji-Yoon’s daughter, when he’s needed most.
Those are probably some of the most enjoyable scenes to watch throughout the season, as are those that highlight Ji-Yoon’s own relationship with JuJu.
Ji-Yoon’s struggles as the new chair aren’t only related to Bill Dobson, though. One of her main goals in her department is to help Professor Yaz McKay get a distinguished lectureship, which would in turn help her in getting tenure. She wants to see the department become more diverse, and she wants students to be more engaged.
Professor McKay’s classes certainly engage students, unlike some of the more senior faculty members in the department. There’s an immediate divide between the younger professors with newer approaches to teaching and those who hear that they could be forced into retirement.
One of those is Professor Joan Hambling (Holland Taylor), who is one of the most delightful characters on the series. She puts up a fight when her office is moved to the basement, and she ultimately has one of the more satisfying arcs, though it’s directly related to the most disappointing arc for Ji-Yoon.
Ji-Yoon does try her best to Joan’s office moved (though I find it odd this happens without the department chair knowing in the first place) but she’s unsuccessful. Ji-Yoon also wants to get enrollments up, especially for the faculty who the dean would like to see forced into retirement, but that strikes a nerve when it comes to things like student evaluations.
On top of that, there’s the concern for the humanities as a whole and the lack of interest from students in majoring in English in the first place. Listen, some of the same discussions these faculty members talk about in the first meeting we see are most certainly realistic and timely.
In fact, one of the things I think I appreciate most here is the attention to detail when it comes to discussing the importance of the humanities. Even if some of the details are a bit too on the nose at times. A lot of the way this department is presented is a little too cliche.
Despite Ji-Yoon’s best efforts, including a bold announcement at a party, she’s unable to offer Yaz the lectureship. Instead, she’s forced to let that honor go to David Duchovny.
And yes, David Duchovny does make an appearance, and boy is it a memorable one.
Somehow, one of the most interesting and meaningful conversations related to teaching happens between Duchovny and Ji-Yoon, and it’s incredibly satisfying to see her put him in his place.
What’s less satisfying is seeing how all of this ends. Ji-Yoon has some great moments, including a perfect speech about how the faculty should be supporting their students rather than separating themselves from them. And she hits on some of the joys of teaching in a way that is truly motivating.
But it’s frustrating to watch her department turn against her. The ending is ultimately a happy one, depending on how you look at it, but I can’t help but think it undermines a lot of what the show seems like it wanted to set out to do in the first place.
What did you think of The Chair? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Critic Rating:
User Rating:
The Chair is currently available for streaming on Netflix.
Follow us on Twitter and on 
Instagram!
Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!
Ashley Bissette Sumerel
Ashley Bissette Sumerel is a television and film critic living in Wilmington, North Carolina. She is editor-in-chief of Tell-Tale TV as well as Eulalie Magazine. Ashley has also written for outlets such as Rolling Stone, Paste Magazine, and Insider. Ashley has been a member of the Critics Choice Association since 2017 and is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic. In addition to her work as an editor and critic, Ashley teaches Entertainment Journalism, Composition, and Literature at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.
3 comments
Jay Duplass as the messed-up love interest took up way too much screentime. I thought we were past viewing female characters only in the context of where they are in relation to men? Disappointing that this series was written by two women who let the men run away with virtually the entire plot of this series. As even female writers sometimes do, they created a passive protagonist who is acted upon based on who she wants to sleep with, wrest power from, and remove as an obstacle. And just putting foul language in the mouth of your lead character is not enough to make us think she’s some kind of badass.
This is a series which is about a woman “of colour” taking up a senior position in a university department. To me it seemed a great pity that she behaved without the dignity, nor the competence, nor, indeed, the ability one would expect of someone taking up the position of chair of a major university department. And, yes, in the end she got kicked out. What really got to me was the fact that the film could have shown a woman of colour, skilfully battling against embedded racism and misogyny so that, whether she won or lost her battle, one would be left with nothing but admiration for the courage and steadfastness of the character. As it is, this film has done a great disservice both to women and to people of colour in portraying one such, the key character in the series, as simply not up to the job she had taken on. She deserved to lose her position. The acting, however, was superb and went a long way towards making the film watchable – even enjoyable in parts.
I’m coming late to this table, but it seemed to me that somewhere in the middle of Episode Six, the producers decided not to finish the series but just wrap it up quickly and get outta Dodge. There were plot lines that evaporated (I personally was hoping Joan would get it on with the IT guy), there was the Daphna student situation, there were real issues that could have made for some great TV, but no, about 3/4 into the episode, they just slapped a happy ending on and that’s all they wrote. Literally. Seemed like a slap in the face to Sandra Oh, the rest of the cast, and all the viewers. Highly disappointed.
Comments are closed.