Awkwafina è Nora del Queens

After the Golden globes I decided to take a look at this show. There is occasional raunch which isn't my thing but I did have some good laughs during the rest of the show and it grew on me. Nora is a cute slacker in a world of overachievers who lives at home in her twenties and both coping with and avoiding life's challenges. She will sometimes ramble trying to rationalize, which can be very funny. You don't need to be familiar with Chinese families and New York, but if you are, you'll recognize a very clever flavor of humor. I think some might also miss that this is something of a Seinfeld for millennials.

Reading some of the reviews it appears there's some serious hating going on from people who sound pretty angry. Even if you don't like this show, a 1 is ridiculous. One person says they get that there's humor... but still votes one. Another insists none of the writing fits the characters, which is really funny if you read a little background about the show. I don't like avenue 5 either but that's because the characters are really not likeable. This show is completely innocuous. And to me, contrived reality TV is the worst scripted no effort TV. Nora is like a bicycle. Stick with it a little and it's a fun ride.

I saw an interview with Awkwafina after the Oceans 9 movie and thought she seemed like a genuine and gracious. Recently I happened to catch her show about life and living in Forest Hills and New York City. It took me a little time to understand that Nora wants to be confident street tough but is really a softie underneath all that bark, always one step behind life and trying to crawl her way out of the messes she creates for herself. Unlike many sitcoms, there is no mean spirited humor. Perhaps I like the show more because I think Nora as a person is so very likeable and worked hard and deserves her success. But she is very funny, even in all her interviews.

I didn't know who Awkwafina was before I stumbled upon this in early 2020. A lot has changed since then globally and personally, Awkwafina herself is now in a billion massive films and I couldn't be happier because what hooked me into this was entirely her bottomless charm. Well, her and Lori Tan Chinn. Well... her and BD Wong and Lori Tan Chinn. And Bowen Yang. Oh and Stephanie Hsu. Just all of those. Nora is not a super consistent show but there's heart, laughs and some truly silly tangents which I value. I never expected it to keep going after she got gigantic - so three seasons feels like a good amount!

This is one of the shows I've binged during lockdown and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. The jokes are funny as well as Nora's antics. My favorite character is the grandma though, I enjoyed her Korean soap opera episode, that was very cute. Nora is a lot like a younger version of Natasha Lyonne's character in "Russian Doll" (raspy New York voice and all) and Lyonne even wrote one of the episodes as well as appeared in it. I can't wait for the next season. Definitely worth a watch.

I'm not sure I've ever related to a show as much as this. It's such a great show, and Awkwafina is just constantly laugh out loud funny.