[AYAOTD? Recap with Erin Callahan] S6.05 "The Tale of the Misfortune Cookie"

RECAP

Andy brings fortune cookies for the gang and Quinn gets a blank one. After Vange taunts Quinn that he has “no future,” Andy tells a story about what would happen if your fortune really came true.

David spends most of his free time working at his family’s Chinese restaurant, while his friend Eddy steals money from the tip jar and hits on David’s straightlaced sister, Theresa. When David’s dad refuses to give him the night off so he can go to a party, David wishes aloud that the restaurant would close so he wouldn’t have to work all the time, even though he’s saving up to go to art school and illustrate comic books. That evening, David’s grandfather gives him a family heirloom—a box that’s not meant to be opened, but simply admired for its depiction of two ancient Chinese warriors, one black and one white, representing the opposing forces of good and evil. Of course, David can’t help himself. Inside the box, he finds a set of gold fortune cookies, and immediately decides to sell them so he can quit working at the restaurant and pay for art school. When his sister confronts him about opening the box, David drops it and one of the cookies cracks open. After David reads the fortune, the sky darkens with a solar eclipse and David slides into an alternate timeline. In this reality, the restaurant is hugely successful and he’s a famous and wealthy comic book artist. But his family don’t know him and his sister is on a bad girl warpath and planning to run away with Eddy. To set things right, David must stand up to the Black Warrior, and declare that if giving up his family is the only way to get the life he wants, then he doesn’t really want it. Another eclipse returns David to his original reality and he’s relieved to see his family.

Andy gets the last laugh when Quinn takes a second fortune cookie and finds that the message inside reads, “I told you Quinn, only one fortune a piece!”

REVIEW

T: Andy brings fortune cookies for everyone. I prefer this type of Midnight Society intro to “this random thing happened to me,” then someone else tells a story that’s not really about that.

E: Since we were lamenting this very thing a few recaps ago, it’s nice to see an intro that is perfectly logical. There’s no, “Oh hey, this conveniently relates to my story.” Andy brought fortune cookies because...his story is about fortune cookies!

T: As I’ve said, I liked Andy from the start, and Vange was okay, but her egg roll enthusiasm cements it. She’s awesome.

E: I prefer spring rolls but her enthusiasm is super cute!

T: Quinn’s blank fortune is a fun prank.

E: It really is. A definitely prefer the clever Midnight Society pranks to the big scares. This rivals the time Betty Ann had an entire book printed to prank Tucker.

T: Ah, a wordplay title. You know someone came up with “Misfortune Cookie” and then had to write a story around the title. Maybe not the best practice.

E: Oh man, you’re undoubtedly right, but it’s such a great title! I wish the story lived up to the awesomeness.

T: Okay, so it’s Andy’s first story. Time to get a sense for what sort of a tale teller he’ll be. And it’s not a great one? I’m sure we’ll get into this more during the season six recap when we can figure out each character’s style, but Andy’s set up as the “sensitive” one, right?

E: I feel like we will have a lot to discuss in the QUEER OR NOT section but yeah. Sensitive is definitely a word we used back in the day to label boys who wouldn’t or couldn’t buy into traditional and/or toxic masculinity. Given that, I suppose it makes sense that his stories will feature emotional journeys and explore the importance of relationships. Like, is he the new Sam?

T: I think so. It is only one story, so we’ll get a better sense of how everyone fits for our season recap. I assume. I do love that this episode is about a Chinese American family. This is a group that is sorely underrepresented in media, which was even more so in the ’90s. AYAOTD? has had Asian-American actors, which is good for implicit representation, but we also need the mix of explicit rep.

E: Considering the state of TV at the time, this kind of inclusion is commendable. But is it really solid rep? I honestly don’t know enough about Chinese folklore or history to know whether this is well researched or just a white writer’s thoughtless take on Asian culture.

T: Oh I can’t weigh in on the slightest about the warrior mythology, but I feel like the family dynamics are mostly good rep.

E: Possibly, though I’d love to hear from an Asian-American AYAOTD? fan on this. My Twitter DMs are open!

T: I thought we were done with oversized shirts, but David’s shirt goes down to his knees! Love it.

E: LOL -- Does it? I’m trying to remember when the baggy clothes thing finally went out of style. I guess this would’ve been the era of JNCOs (aka jeans so big they looked like skirts), so we weren’t out of the woods yet.

T: Why do they insist on giving us protagonists who are terrible? “I’m the only one who works around here.” “I wish my family’s restaurant would go under.” Wow.

E: This is certainly more relatable than the jerk-face older brother in “Forever Game,” but David is a real dick to his parents and his whole “I’m gonna buy a mansion” pipe dreams are pretty eye roll inducing. That said, I feel like I knew kids who said things like that. Like, kids with big dreams who had no idea how hard life was actually going to be?

T: Eddy the delivery guy rips off the restaurant, then hangs out chatting up David and Theresa? Is that just so David won’t look quite so bad in comparison?

E: My train of thought: Is that fucker going to steal money from the tip jar? Omg he did. Wait, he and David are friends?? Now he’s hitting on David’s sister??? WTF. Making David look better might be part of the point, but I think Eddy’s primary purpose is to up the stakes for the alternate-Theresa. She’s about to run away with this dipshit!

T: I don’t like ragging on people, but the actor playing David has no inflection. Every line is delivered like he’s just learned to read. I think every other performance is decent to good, but there’s just no charisma with this lead. The good news is the actor didn’t do anything else, so I’d like to think he found his passion in another field.

E: I found him passable but the actor playing Theresa is the only one here who jumped off the screen for me.

T: So David’s plan is to become a comic book artist so he’ll be rich? Just no. Apparently, he’s never heard the term “starving artist” before.

E: Right?? But again, I feel like this is such a relatable teenage thought. God, I remember being twelve and making plans with a friend to move to California as soon as we graduated from high school and get jobs as characters at Disneyland. Like, what?? Who can afford to live in L.A. on Winnie-the-Pooh wages?

T: Somewhere in the multi-verse, there’s a VERY different Erin out in L.A.

E: *blinks in horror*

T: This episode makes me hungry. I haven’t had a good Chinese buffet in FOREVER (thanks COVID-19!)

E: Ooof, same. #2022goals

T: What’s this? A brother and sister on AYAOTD? who love and support each other and get along great? Theresa’s like, “You don’t have to watch over me,” but really respects David and appreciates that he does.

E: Their relationship is definitely one of the things I like most about his episode, and unlike other brother-sister pairs, I didn’t pick up on unintentional sexual tension between the two of them. Did you?

T: LOL I don’t look for it, but some pairs it jumps out at you. This felt one hundred percent non-sexual.

E: Hallelujah for zero implied incest! #2021goals

T: Like “Midnight Madness” this is a LOOOOOOOOT of set-up. Unlike “Midnight Madness” there’s no payoff.

E: Oh man, well said. David’s alternate future is strange and sad, but not really scary. And his defeat of the Black Warrior feels so anticlimactic. I think I literally said, “That’s it?” out loud. 

T: Is this maybe not a horror story? Like, at all?

E: EXACTLY! This one’s very similar to “Long-Ago Locket,” but with a different kind of time travel. So it’s a piece of speculative fiction with some action/adventure elements, but not really horror. I’ll note that this also reinforces my theory that Andy is the new Sam.

T: Who plays cards sitting on a bed side by side? David and Theresa could see each other’s hand!

E: Hmmmm, I feel like I’ve done this? It’s where you play cards when you want to be comfortable and it’s more about hanging out with someone than seriously playing a game?

T: You play to win, or you don’t play at all. This is why we weren’t usually on the same team on board game nights.

E: Ah, yes. All-or-nothing-Troy and I’m-just-playing-for-fun Erin don’t make good teammates.

T: Can you really blame David for opening the box? If someone gave you an ornate box and said “never open it,” could you resist? Especially when you pick it up and can tell it’s not empty.

E: His grandfather wanted him to open it, right? Wasn’t that the point? He needed to go on this emotional journey to realize he’s actually pretty happy with his life.

T: Oh yeah, the grandfather was pulling those strings perfectly.

E: Nice job, gramps!

T: Theresa’s mirror world makeover is cool. So it turns out if David weren’t around, his goody-two-shoes sister would be a punk with a drug problem. That’s why she and Eddy need cash, right? And Eddy would dye his hair darker?

E: I LOVE her purple Tina Turner hair. The whole look is incredible. And she’s got such spunk in the mirror world! My mind immediately went to drugs when Eddy said they needed cash fast, but I’m going to theorise that they are actually low-level drug dealers and not necessarily users? Totally didn’t notice Eddy’s hair. I was too distracted by the purple and the super awkward moment where Eddy tells David to “back off” but doesn’t follow it up with anything. There’s no, “Back off, your sister is in charge of her own life,” it’s literally just, “Back off.”  

T: Does the mirror world not make any sense to you? Theresa going dark works, but why is the grandfather dead? The restaurant’s a huge success because they don’t have David working there? I get that they have a great chef now, but did they not hire him before because of David?

E: Okay, I was operating under the impression that this wasn’t just a mirror world, but an alternate near-future, which explains why the chef gets hired in the real world at the end of the episode. So some time has passed, but it’s passed in a world where David didn’t come from this family? No, you’re right. It makes no goddamn sense at all. Those misfortune cookies do not abide by standard sci-fi tropes.

T: But they say the grandfather’s been dead a long time, like years? And Theresa’s not years older?

E: Fair point. Either way, the logic is seriously flawed.

T: The bad side warrior makes a great entrance, and I was like, “Oh, something’s about to happen.” Then David just runs around him? Is he purposefully avoiding interesting storytelling?

E: Haaaaa! Yeah, besides not really being horror, I think this one struggles with pacing. The setup is lovely, but there’s so much time spent on it that we’re not doing much with the Black/Bad Side Warrior who keeps popping up in the alternate future. It would’ve been much more engaging if the warrior had stalked David, sort of in the way the vampire does in “Midnight Madness.”

T: David confronts Theresa and any chance at subtle storytelling goes out the window as characters just state what’s happening. “Maybe if my parents spent less time on the restaurant and more time as a family, my life would have turned out differently.” Ugh.

E: LOLOLOL. But we only have twenty minutes, Troyson! You’re right though. This is the worst kind of expository dialogue. These misfortune cookies are truly...misfortunate?

T: At least once we’re back in the real world, David sniffing customer’s food is funny, and Theresa asking, “What’s all the hubba?”

E: The episode as a whole is awkward, but this ending is cute. And I kind of enjoyed David’s grandfather giving him that look that said, “Did you have fun? You figure your shit out, kid?”

T: Turns out Quinn is an excellent liar, because he pretends he likes Andy’s story.

E: Haaaaaaa! Sometimes it’s definitely hard to buy the “great story” feedback at the end. Like, no, kids, it really wasn’t great. Learn how to give and receive constructive critique. God, wouldn’t it be great if we watched them workshop someone’s story? “Sorry, Andy, your pacing was all over the place and the emotional beats didn’t really land for me. Could you, perhaps, condense the setup without losing the richness of the characters?”

T: There’s not really enough time in an episode, but how cool would it be if there was a workshop episode that they kept changing the story? A new character enters as a blonde, then rewinds and enters as a redhead?

E: Surely, somewhere out there, there is fanfic that is exactly this.

QUEER OR NOT?

T: I don’t think the story itself is necessarily queer, BUT having it told by the queer storyteller makes sense. David feels trapped in his daily life and dreams of success in the city, something Andy (played by an actor named David coincidentally) might very well be feeling.

E: Ooooh! Interesting reading, I really love that. It speaks really deeply to ways in which experiences of marginalization can overlap even when they’re otherwise very distinct. From a feminist standpoint, I kind of love alternate-future Theresa and her spunky, punky attitude, but is that just me fetishizing an Asian character embracing stereotypical (white) Western rebellion? I’m torn, because she’s certainly not a dish rag in the real world. She works hard, jokes around with her brother and confronts him when he’s about to make a big mistake, and knows Eddy is bad news.

TRIVIA, USELESS TRIVIA

T: We don’t see his face, but the Bad Side Warrior is played by stuntman/actor Jason Cavalier. He has done a ton of film and television, including playing Sid the mechanic in “Station 109.1.” He’s the character Ryan Gosling complains to and pulls faces at.

E: Wow! Totally didn’t make that connection but that’s fun.

MODERNIZE ’90s CANADIAN KIDS

T: This is It’s A Wonderful Life, only set around a Chinese restaurant instead of a small town during Christmas. The super random guardian angel bit between David and Theresa is even a reference. The ideas in here aren’t bad, so how could they be salvaged? Um, I’d have David open the box and get sent to the parallel world much sooner. And what if each fortune cookie sent him to a slightly different bad world with him being chased by the warrior? Something along those lines.

E: Yes! Love it. The story has strong bones -- “careful what you wish for” stories are timeless. I think upping the stakes and tension with the warrior is key here -- that’s what will flip this from a spec fic adventure into genuine horror. Also, make the warrior scarier! Give him some ominous music and aggressive posture. And I love the idea of jumping from reality to reality, sort of like The Butterfly Effect, but less ridiculous.

 JUST GIVE IT A NUMERICAL RATING ALREADY

T: Nothing happened, Erin! I just watched a half hour of television, and nothing happened. David’s unlikeable and dull. There’s no action or horror. What little humor is present is mostly unintentional. 3.5 CAMPFIRES OUT OF 10.

E: Oh jeez. It really is pretty terrible isn’t it. I like Punky Theresa, I appreciate the attempt at inclusion/diversity, and Andy’s prank on Quinn is pretty great. But that’s not quite enough to balance out all the stuff that doesn’t work. I’m going to round up to 4 CAMPFIRES OUT OF 10.