The Chair
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I really like this series.
I think this series is really good.
I have enjoyed each episode.
The episodes are funny.
I want there to be more of them!
That said, we did not just watch the finale that we deserved.
Eventually, though, Peter met someone else.
you’re free to read about it in the school paper.
Im grateful to finally get the goods on Peter.
If only Ji-Yoon could confide in someone more appropriate than her daughters school-appointed psychologist.
Shes not just too distracted by work to seriously engage with Ju Ju about her frustrations.
Now shes even missing her daughters triumphs.
I wonder if she has ever defined the upper limits of what shell tolerate.
After thePembroke Dailystory runs, even Ji-Yoons lit classes turn on her.
Some women in the academy pretend to be allies, says an especially savage undergrad.
Its astounding how sure the students are of their own understanding.
Unbeknownst to Ji-Yoon, she has also lost Joans confidence.
My body dissolved into chills as she described how the culture curbed her ambition.
She stopped publishing, never bid for tenure.
Theres nothing anyone can do, not least the short-shorts lady, to make it right.
At home that night, folding laundry, she cant stop herself from crying.
Its strangely reassuring to see Ji-Yoon slow down enough to process her emotions.
Its language as a form of belonging to each other, something Ju Jus been unsure about all season.
Bill, on the other hand, is conducting business as usual, Hitler jokes included.
He may have even been a good friend to Ji-Yoon.
I want to root for them.
And, if Im being honest, I do like Bill Dobson.
I just also know that the part of me that likes him is a real sucker.
Take, for example, the moment Bill rushes over to Ji-Yoons place after seeing the scurrilous news report.
He wants to check that shes okay.
But when they finally make out, Im not even sure its what I want.
Ji-Yoon doesnt want to move to Paris.
She has the job she always wanted; shes got the daughter she fought so hard for.
Shes already on her grand adventure.
It takes less than a minute for things to sour between them.
He calls her a lackey.
He loves her not, I guess.
Bedtime is a time for repairing rifts at the Kim house.
Bills hearing the next day is precisely the kangaroo court Ji-Yoon foretold.
you could even hear the protesters chanting Nazis out!
Despite Ji-Yoons warnings, Bill has prepared no formal defense of himself.
This is all well ever learn about whats inside this envelope.
I will think about this envelope for the rest of time.
In lieu of a defense, he expounds on his love of literature a very complicated but faithful relationship.
Its a good speech.
The sentiments are lovely, and it stirs something in Ji-Yoon, but it also pisses me off.
Which, of course, she does!
Shes a nice person who loves Bill.
Another week, another protest.
So why does Ji-Yoon change her mind?
Because a 7-year-old reminded her that doctors are supposed to help people?
Also, I think she was probably talking about curing cancer.
Of course, they fire Bill anyway, even after Ji-Yoon has recused herself from the hearing.
(WHATS IN THE LETTER?)
By the time the coup happens, Im praying for it.
In fact, the no-confidence motion passes without a single woman in favor of it.
Ji-Yoon out, Joan in.
Whats there to celebrate?
By this point, Im convinced the chair is nothing but a poisoned chalice.
Im happy shes happy.
At least shes out of the basement.
(Do you think theyll show Joan the letter?)
From there, things grow montage-y.
Ju Ju is speaking Korean and making noodles with her family.
Bill is on the phone recommending a student, and Im embarrassed to admit I fell for it.
I went too negative on the man.
I thought hed read Dafnas novel, but really hes tying up loose ends for Lila.
Its a step in the direction of redemption.
The Chairis ostensibly about the first female chair of the English department, but the shows arc is Bills.
Instead of replacing the guy at the center of the action, the guy is her preoccupation.
Or maybe because it was sucking time away from her students and her research.
But the meaningful decisions all happen without her.
The one bold move she makes cant change the course of anything.
Dr. Ji-Yoon Kim, at the end of the day, just wasnt a very effective chair.
Out on the quad, she waits for Bill, no longer banned from campus, it seems.
Turns out Bill didnt take the settlement; hes trying to get his job back instead.
Im trying not to think of poor Doodle at Columbia, her tuition payment hanging in the balance.
Its good that hes fighting for something, really.
She can always take out back-breaking loans.
Young co-eds criss-cross the quad, the snow is finally melted, the white-columned buildings look resplendently collegiate.
Somewhere sits an unread letter.
I want to stay mad atThe Chair, but the crane shot always gets me.
