Fresh Off the Boat: Very Superstitious

April 15, 2015 11:10 AM - Season 1, Episode 11

When Jessica starts working as a real estate agent with her initial competitor, Ashley Alexander, she turns down a condo for something more challenging, and she is offered a challenging property that has been on the market for years. Meanwhile, the new school counselor, Ray (Judah Friedlander), tries to direct Eddie's entrepreneurial motivations into positive territory, specifically running for class president.

Songs in this episode:
Paula Cole - Where Have All the Cowboys Gone - from the album This Fire, which was released on October 15, 1996
De La Soul - Me, Myself And I - released in 1989
Also referenced: "Tupac's latest single," which could be a number of tracks, even considering that Grandma Huang was listening to Paula Cole's song near when it came out on the album, or even as a single on March 25, 1997, both after Tupak was killed (September 13, 1996).

posted by filthy light thief (3 comments total)

There are a good number of exchanges and lines I liked from this episode. I'll start with the issues with the Allen house (located at 44 West 44th Street):

Ashley: We've had the Allen house on the market for years, and nobody's been able to sell it. It has a rodent problem.
Jessica: It's pet-friendly.
Ashley: The roof has a hole.
Jessica: Skylight.
Ashley: There was a brutal murder there.
Jessica: So statistically, another murder is unlikely.
Ashley: Okay, great. [Hands Jessica the paperwork] Here you go.
Jessica: The address is Aw, hell, no!
Ashley: W-what's wrong?
Janitor (The Greg Wilson): Well, in the Chinese culture, the number 4 is bad luck. On account it's pronounced si, which sounds like the Chinese word for "death," se.
Jessica: The garbage man is right. Promote him to garbage boss.

And I liked Eddie's line to one of the kids while he's hawking bootleg radio recordings of a new 2pac song

Eddie: Yo, is this a farmers market? Am I selling squash? Get outta here, haggle-puss.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:17 AM on April 15, 2015

Karate frogs who eat pizza in the sewer!
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 3:04 PM on April 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

I thought the depiction of grandmother Huang's rituals to get the bad luck out of the family was a little overplayed in this episode. At least they countered it with the throwing the salt over the shoulder bit, but still.

I wonder if they live at 88 88th street, then?
posted by gemutlichkeit at 7:57 AM on April 17, 2015