Shana Oshiro – Google

I wish I could give it 4.5, but I did lean towards the 5 stars without that option. Aside from the incredibly refreshing experience of having an Asian woman over 40 who is portrayed as a full human being— not exoticized, fetishized, or idealized— with a cast of characters who also represent the flawed, resilient, creative, fragile, and absurd being every person is regardless of race, gender or age (though all of these markers, of course, contribute to the ways all our human characteristics manifest). While I suppose a significant portion of potential viewers will be able to relate to the experience of higher education culture and politics, I don’t think this particular context of the plot is the point of this series. It’s an apt representation of the juvenile state of our society in its feeble attempts to diversify and yield power and influence to underrepresented/marginalized people— complete with the palpable resistance of White supremacist patriarchal paradigms checked by the intense pressures of the simultaneously brilliant and also sophomoric masses of the student body whose tuition is the primary resource on which the leaders of that oppressive and archaic system draws for its survival. Juju’s character seems to represent the outlook for future generations: souls adopted into this hot mess we’ve created for them with considerable confounding internal damages, yet also complete with an authentic will to love and need to be loved that gives us hope despite our well-founded concerns for everyone’s future. The pluralism of generational perspectives, innovative and authentic storytelling, and convincing acting is a gift in mainstream entertainment I hope will continue to grow past a trend.