What I’m Watching: The Chair

The Chair: Season 1, Episode 5 “The Last Bus in Town” (B+)

I was curious when David Duchovny was finally going to make his appearance, and I’m happy with how his character was handled. He does have some depth but not all that much range – or maybe it’s the other way around – and he barely even registered most of Ji-Yoon’s comments about how he was out of date and he couldn’t just teach a course on the one subject he happened to know. She did manage to come up with a very creative solution that he seemed amenable to, but that doesn’t mean that others were open to it, namely the very irritated Dean Larson, who was ready to fire Bill and likely to do the same with Ji-Yoon. It’s unfortunate since there are multiple fires that she’s not even aware are burning and is going to have considerable trouble putting out, including the mutiny of the “dinosaurs” who wanted to stage a coup rather than be pushed out even though Ji-Yoon was doing literally everything she could to keep them employed, even the one who can’t stay awake long enough to have a conversation. It makes sense that Yaz should pursue other opportunities, and even if she can’t understand Ji-Yoon’s experiences, she has a right to choose how she wants to go about her career. Bill coming to the party was a disaster, though somehow he ended up having his house cleaned even though he interfered in a one-year-old’s career decision where his input was very much not welcome. It was sweet to hear Ji-Yoon’s father’s response to Bill asking about what she picked and how it worked out perfectly.