Favorite Characters: Jessica Huang (Fresh Off the Boat)

I like all the Huangs on Fresh off the Boat (it and Black-ish have both become stellar examples of the single-camera family sitcom,) but Jessica has always been my favorite.  She’s such a well-done character; even though she can frequently be seen as skirting the edge of a stereotype, she never feels canned to me.  The fantastic humor of the character comes through her, not at her.

Jessica definitely fits the mold of a “Tiger Mom,” a strict Asian mother who demands high scholastic performance and irreproachable behavior.  Emery and Evan, her two younger boys, know to expect faint praise at best for any grade below an A++, she forever strives for her family to operate like a well-oiled machine, and she could be an Olympic medalist in micromanaging.  Eddie (her oldest son/black sheep) is a little cowed by her, the school principal is intimidated by her, and the employees at her husband Louis’s restaurant are terrified of her.

Her other best-known qualities fit similarly into the “uptight and controlling” category.  Much as she likes her family to be “just so,” she wants both her house and the restaurant in perfect order.  In a recent (hilarious) episode involving a lice outbreak at school, she banishes the infested Eddie and Evan to the yard while she and Louis scour the house, and getting a head-start on taxes is her idea of a satisfying night in.  She’s also notoriously frugal.  I bet this comes up at least once an episode and has been featured prominently in numerous plotlines; a recent/awesome example is when she’s disappointed at the thought that Louis went out and bought mood music for a romantic night, then gets turned on when he reveals that the CD is actually from the library.

It all adds up to one tough customer, and she is, but what the show does with this is important.  While Jessica is often the boss of the family, the series doesn’t lose sight of the fact that this is often her way of showing love.  She pushes her children in hopes of securing the absolute best for them, she wants everything in their lives to go well, and her greatest wish is for them to grow into capable, successful men.  Plus, when the chips are down, she’s absolutely someone you want in your corner.  She can turn all that tightly-wound Jessica energy on someone and browbeat them handily into submission.  When Louis encourages laxer spending habits on the family’s first vacation, she’s the one who swoops in to haggle down the resulting exorbitant bill.  And one scene from the pilot is still a favorite Jessica moment for me.  Eddie is sure that he’s in for it when his parents are called in over a fight at school, but Jessica’s only concern is why the school did nothing to punish the boy who started the fight by calling Eddie a racial slur.  After being introduced to her as the exacting hardass forever at odds with the academically so-so and hip-hop-loving Eddie, it’s so lovely to see her come to Eddie’s defense no questions asked.

Because Jessica really is so much about love, and this is most evident in how she steps out of her comfort zone for Eddie.  Another big moment for her in the pilot is when she darkens the door of the chain grocery store (where she’s never been) to buy Eddie Lunchables for school.  She gets them despite the expense, despite the fact that he turned his nose up at the noodles her made for his lunch even though he likes them (kids have been making fun of his “weird” lunch,) despite not knowing the unwritten rules behavior in this store and being too proud to admit it.  For Jessica, all that is huge.  I like it because the basic fact of the scene – going to the store to buy Lunchables – sounds so small-time, but anyone who’s familiar with Jessica knows what a big deal it is, and I think that right there is a good sign of a well-drawn character.