Interior Chinatown
Skip To
Ending Explained - Theories / Alternative Endings
Only spoilers below, so don’t read if you haven’t watched.
Asian American & Pacific Islander Representation
I’m going to attribute a lot of this to this Reddit post (any quotes below are directly from the commenter HotZoneKill). The show’s main theme is about AAPI Representation in American media, so I like this breakdown review of who is who (plus a couple of extras).
Willis Wu represents the general Asian American male in media. Often background characters with specific traits like Delivery Guy or Tech Guy. And if they’re lucky, they get promoted, but still have to abide by the rules of the racial confines that Hollywood puts them in. It is highly difficult to break out and just be an actor in Hollywood. While applicable to many (including Jimmy Yang himself, famously playing ‘Chinese computer nerd’ in Silicon Valley for years), I thought of Steven Yeun, Randall Park, and John Cho in particular for this.
Steven Yeun didn’t spend too long as a background actor, but really broke out with the success of The Walking Dead (and simultaneously broke some Asian American male stereotypes, with his long story arc throughout the series). A few quiet years afterwards reminded me of Willis’ downfall once he outlived his usefulness to the studio. But Steven has since crushed it with lead roles in Minari and Beef.
Randall Park spent years as a background actor (most iconically as Asian Jim in the Office), before getting longer recurring roles in The Mindy Project and Veep, then getting a lead (albeit highly stereotyped) in Fresh Off The Boat. He’s still mostly a side character otherwise (showing up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe), but he did star in Always Be My Maybe (one of the best AAPI representation movies out there, as it bucks the stereotypes and truly tells an American story happening to star Asian Americans).
John Cho was my first thought of who the arc represented. In the 90’s and early aughts, he was in random bit roles on the side like the American Pie series. Maybe not very memorable to most, but it was to myself as a young Asian American boy. And then taking a chaotic groundbreaking lead in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle (and its sequel), where, spoiler alert, he gets the girl! He had cameos in a series of shows and films like New Girl and 30 Rock. And even played George Takei’s role of Hikaru Sulu in the Star Trek film series reboot, but his presence in Hollywood always felt limited. The small indie film of Searching was underappreciated, but he was a very good lead.
Lana Lee represents mixed Asian Americans and their struggles to fit into either community. Not white enough to be white and not Asian enough to be Asian. “She's constantly shuffled around as different types of ‘sidekicks’ or ‘partners’ but never can never really ascend beyond that since she can't fit in a box, per se. The parts where no one on the cop show ever addresses her race and just calls her the ‘Chinatown Expert’ and Uncle [Archie] straight up telling her that she can never understand what immigrants go through because she's ‘mixed’ conveys that contradictory sentiment so well.”
The actress playing her, Chloe Bennet, is a good example of this experience, she even changed her stage name from Chloe Wang to Chloe Bennet to try and improve her odds in Hollywood while still respecting her father (her father’s name is Bennet Wang).
Henry Golding is an absolutely gorgeous actor with roles in a variety of films including some as the lead, but many Asians (myself included) have harshly criticized him for being mixed and don’t think he’s been a fair representative to be the hot Asian male lead in Crazy Rich Asians (not that he isn’t a talented actor, only in that it enforces a stereotype that the male romantic lead can’t be fully Asian).
Fatty Choi represents Asian Americans selling out. Ronny Chieng did an amazing job, and he was a hilarious scene stealer for me. I can’t wait for him to be a lead someday.
“Based off Edsel Fong and essentially a commentary about minstrel-esque Asians and ‘selling out'. Putting on an act like that for white people's amusement makes him feel fulfilled and significant and when Willis calls him out on it he justifies it by pointing out the money he gets from them laughing at him.
Him shilling his own brand of chili oil is [a] very obvious dig at Dave Chang.” I had to throw my own favorite chili oil below; not as spicy, but a much better price point.
Johnny Wu represents Asian Americans who do martial arts. His scenes were often even filmed with a different style and even felt like a different era that couldn’t have been only 9 years ago.
“Johnny is essentially Bruce Lee. The ideal "golden child" of Chinatown who Willis aspires to be but is just the ‘Kung Fu Guy’ on the cop show: he's ‘liked’ but not really respected, similar to how certain self described Bruce Lee aficionados like Quentin Tarantino treat Bruce as novelty but never as a human being. Johnny's disappearance and how it tears apart Willis' family is reminiscent of Bruce's sudden death and the void it left behind.”
While Johnny is definitely Bruce Lee, I also thought of Jackie Chan, another iconic kung fu guy (albeit not Asian American). And when Johnny and Lana try to have their own romantic escape and it collapses due to the “story’s demands”, I was reminded of Jackie Chan’s desire to have a romantic lead which took him a lot of time to “earn” and never really panned out.
Lily Wu represents Asian Americans who want to ‘pass’ as white. Diana Lin was great and her performance was one of the most powerful in the show, please see The Farewell if you haven’t yet.
Lily desires to be Betty Chan (the successful real estate agent, who is played by Lauren Tom, Julie from Friends! A character who was the first non-white side character in a famously very white show) who is dressed in a standard “white” professional look and often tells her to forget her Chinatown home and background and pushes her to focus on / assimilate into white society. Mattos aptly pointed out that in the final banquet all of the real estate agents are dressed in red and Lily is dressed in blue, emphasizing her rejection of their desire of her to leave her original community and join them.
Audrey Chan represents the successful Asian American professional female. And let’s be honest, she is a much better partner than Lana Lee.
They frequently encounter the "bamboo ceiling," a combination of the “traditional” “glass ceiling” barrier along with stereotypes and biases with their racial background. They are frequently overlooked for being quiet just like Audrey is in the show, despite how helpful she is.
Asian Americans as a whole tend to be admitted to universities at rates significantly higher than their overall percentage of the U.S. population, and women are graduating at significantly higher rates than men. They’re doing so well in fact, that the white man took advantage of the situation and used them as proxies to strike down Affirmative Action.
Uncle Archie Kao represents the established Asian American / model minority community.
Be quiet, keep your head down, contribute with little to no recognition. Don’t question the bigger picture, just keep working hard and supporting your community where you can. Don’t think of yourself, start and run your “service” business, just stay quiet and be grateful for what you have… his character is emblematic of many Asian American communities and our progress in American society. They’re toughest on their own, and we owe a lot to their sacrifice, and we owe it to them to speak out for them.
Joe Wu represents the older Asian American communities in regards to emotional intelligence and open communication in particular.
Many were raised in environments where discussing feelings was discouraged, leading to emotional distance in relationships, especially with their children. This reserved nature can make it difficult for them to express affection, seek help for mental health, or prioritize self-care, as they often equate self-worth with hard work and providing for others. While this reserved demeanor has helped them endure hardships, it has also contributed to loneliness, unaddressed trauma, and difficulty forming deeper emotional connections with their families. This generational / cultural gap is furthered with their children who are more heavily influenced by Western ideals.
Carl represents the Asian American sidekick. Just a classic low development character who mainly pops in for the one liners and comedic relief.
The aforementioned John Cho in the American Pie series is a good example of this.
Ke Huy Kwan in The Goonies and Indiana Jones is definitely this role of slapstick humor and one liners; although he was just a child, and his recent resurgence has been nothing but amazing. I threw in a bunch of pictures below of him reuniting with some of his former costars.
Also, a little postscript, Love Hurts came out last month, starring Ke Huy Kwan in the lead role. It is not a very good movie, but I’m here for his resurgence. Obviously Everything Everywhere All At Once is great, but he is also very good in Loki. This film just didn’t have a very good script and he didn’t have great chemistry with his love interest, Ariana DeBose. But hey, he got to lead and break some stereotypes, though he still was a kung fu guy.
Ken Jeong in The Hangover series shows up for big laughs by being hyper exaggerated and wild.
Bonus: Miles Turner / Sarah Green represent two other highly common stereotyped demographics in the US, black people and white women.
Both of these characters struggle with being forced into a serial template. Turner breaks first, questioning his role in the police / show, and tries to find what genuinely makes him happy. Green then tries to ascend to main character status and is not so subtly told by her police chief that her “lack of penis” makes the top department job out of her reach. But very sweetly, the show ends with them being great allies to the Asian American characters and coming to the conclusion that regardless of the contrived situation, they are truly close friends who support and enjoy each other.
The Guide
This theory is that Lana Lee is a guide to the afterlife. HBWC is the faceless corporation / production company that serves as the series antagonist. The acronym is given two explanations in the show. One of which is Hei Bai Wu Chang.
Hei Bai Wu Chang literally "Black and White Impermanence", are two deities in Chinese folk religion in charge of escorting the spirits of the dead to the underworld. Similar to Charon and the river Styx in Greek mythology. As their names suggest, they are dressed in black and white respectively. They are subordinates of King Yan, the Supreme Judge of the Underworld in Chinese mythology, alongside the Ox-Headed and Horse-Faced Hell Guards. Willis’ father tells a story about them early on in the show, but this made us think about the entire show around the concept of death.
There’s the background characters who are killed and recycled back into the world. And the death of Johnny Wu that is the main conflict that is investigated for the majority of the season. Lana has had many roles and jobs in this world, and seems to slip in and out of systems and narratives pretty easily. Her existence and past are shrouded in mystery. What we do know about her is that she was with Johnny as he broke the narrative and implanted the idea of escaping via the sailboat. In the show’s main timeline, she helps Turner, Green, and Willis all shake off the standard police show plot. They all become more self aware and she even physically helps Willis “ascend” via the fall. Turner and Green decide to “stay” as cops, but that they’ll be more in control and better respect their true friendship. Her general presence exists as catalyst for other characters. She doesn’t really have her own objectives.
Standards and Practices is Willis’ version of the afterlife. He was escorted to the underworld by Lana when his story arc ended on the roof. She is there are the start of his new journey as a main character in a new show to help him adjust, but he’ll then get to live his own main character arc in the afterlife.
This theory could be stronger if at the end of the show or in a post credits scene we see Lana back in the main show with a new job and she’s assisting another background character to break the chains of the basic narrative.
Hulu & The System
I really wanted to take the title card screenshot where Hulu Presents is written in Chinese, but Hulu blocks screenshots, so alas. Here we are.
This theory takes the second name for HBWC. Hulu Black and White Corporation. This is an obvious nod to the streamer itself, Hulu, which produced the show as an original. Black and White is the name of the series that Interior Chinatown is mostly set within. It could stand to reason that the antagonist in the final scene would then be HSPC or Hulu Standards and Practices Corporation. That said, are they really antagonists or just puppet masters? They seemingly don’t actually kill anyone, since background characters are just revived endlessly, and they seem willing to give certain characters new stories and progress. They’re just the machine, the system, not really a force that can be fought.
HBWC here represents Hollywood. The roles offered to minorities, and Asian Americans in particular have to fit neatly into these predetermined archtypes. And while there are exceptions when someone becomes more popular, if they deviate too much or don’t stick to the script they can be cut and buried. Reminds me of Hawaii Five-0’s season 8 contract negotiation collapse for Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park. While details are varied, generally it seems that Kim and Park wanted higher salaries either on par or closer to some of their white male costars, Alex O’Loughlin and Scott Caan. Both of whom are billed as leads while Kim and Park were only classified as supporting. Regardless, this is a classic example of Hollywood not elevating minorities to be leads or compensating them as much white men.
Another frustrating part of this is that Hollywood is capitalist and should be motivated by money. And the highest median household income in the US by race / ethnicity is Asian Americans at $99,572 as of 2021. We’re literally the most valuable average household in America, by 33% ahead of white households. That said, obviously there are many more white households, so the total n is larger, but that still means there is a large underrepresented group in media.
The show ends with a slightly optimistic ending that the Hulu overlords have decided that Willis deserves a starring role in his own show. Granting him the ability to continue his popularity by leading a show. Mirroring Jimmy O. Yang’s own rise from bit character in Silicon Valley, to a major role in Space Force, his own stand up comedy specials, now to a limited series lead. The show seems to give Hulu a meta nod, that at least they’re fair and allowed them to prove their worth and then be rewarded with opportunity.
However, an alternative perspective could point out that while they broke out of being background characters, they didn’t break out of the capitalist media system and continue to be pawns for the entertainment machine. They’re just Turner and Green now, and will struggle with a continued sense of lack of agency and identity.
A darker ending would have been that even after death Willis and Lana get recycled as background characters in the Black and White police show. With some level of amnesia maybe some slight changes to show time has passed, but their situation has not. It could have been a more scathing criticism of the Hollywood system.
Everyone is a Main Character
This theory is more of a theme. Just that the entire purpose of the show is to focus more on background characters than lead characters. Lana and Willis were both just a hodgepodge of background bit roles in the world until they were elevated to leading status. And with their elevation, Turner and Green become side characters, and other side characters get deeper storylines, specifically Fatty and Lily.
The Tech Guy episode represents this theme the best, with three side characters, Felix, Randall, and Janice all getting little stories and undermining the police station by connecting to Willis on a personal level. They go so far to actually directly affect the plot and they help him replace the existing Tech guy.
Willis’ final speech on the roof is quite moving. Jimmy did a great job.
“I’m Willis Wu. My whole life, I thought I was invisible. But I was just hiding. I wanted this to be my story. That was wrong. It should have been my mom’s. She’s the real hero. She came here with nothing, she had to learn a new language, raise two young boys. And now look at her, she is an award winning real estate agent. I’m so proud of you mom.
And the story should have been my dad’s. He built a kung fu school and raised two kids. A family. He’s the real hero. He’s my dad. My lau dao, my si fu. They work so hard, and then they lost a son. My brother Johnny. This should have been his story. And it was, until you guys took it away from him.
And all those people at the docks. Invisible. You never saw them, but I did. I knew some of them. They’re from Chinatown, like me. Like my mom said, I forgot who I am, I forgot where I came from.
So here’s your ending. Instead of kung fu, it’s just a waiter, who became a detective, but that doesn’t matter. I’m just a guy, who wants to hang out with his best friend again. I’m just a guy, who loves his parents. I’m just a guy, who tried to make things better, but only made things worse. I’m just a guy, who fell for a girl. I’m just a guy, who misses his brother.
I guess that’s my story.
So, what do we do now?”
The show ends with him in a new story, where it is apparent that he’s the main character. He gets to really live his own story. But, do side characters exist without their main characters? With Willis gone does Interior Chinatown shut down? I suppose Black and White still exists. But it felt odd minutes after the speech to ignore the background characters again and refocus back on Willis, our main character.
It would have been a nice homage to this speech and tie in better, if after Standard and Practices showed, the camera panned out, to a wall of televisions and it showed that everyone got to be the main character of their own show. e.g. Lily has an HGTV real estate show, Fatty has a reality cooking show, Audrey is in a legal drama, etc. etc. Maybe a bit fan service-y, and too rosy, but it would have been a nice way to connect the ending to his speech.
Review
I liked the show, but overall, I came away disappointed. It got overly bogged down in its heavy handed meta-ness and could have been refined to be more impactful and I found that the ending was underwhelming for certain plotlines. However, it’s filled with a great commentary on Asian American roles in Hollywood and is a generally fun ride that is executed well.
It’s Too Long
With some reformatting it could have been improved:
Chinatown Expert and Translator could have been combined
Other episodes certainly in the middle / end could have been shortened
The final episode should have been extended or even cut into two (as it feels rushed and doesn’t give enough time to wrap it all up and explain things better)
The Show Is Too Meta
It spent too long waffling about what is going on, characters constantly questioning their surroundings, and I get that it takes time to build the status quo, and then more time to slowly break out of it. But, personally, it took too long to have the characters shake it. It felt tiresome and frustrating.
We also don’t really get a satisfying resolution to this “season” of Black and White”, but perhaps that’s the point, Willis had to ruin the show to shake it up.
Johnny Wu
The majority of the plot focuses on trying to find out what happened to Johnny, and this felt rushed and incomplete at the end. It turns out that Johnny is sentient (if not alive), and communicates with Lana. He and Willis get to have a reconnection of sorts, but it’s unclear where they are or what Johnny is doing. He is surprised when he sees Willis, but then the scene cuts and we don’t get any more resolution, because the “real” Willis is actually in a new series? Strangely unsatisfying. I don’t really understand why his death is “real” and theirs is an ascension. That delineation felt unclear. Is handcuffing yourself to a sinking ship more… death than an explosion or falling off a building? Is the assumption that Johnny has his own show too?
The Painted Faces
Another plot that is built to for nearly the entire series, Michelle, Larry, and Benson are revealed to be the gang the police were hunting. And they’re just a random Optometrist, Gas Company Employee, and Unemployed Guy who are a deus ex machina to help move along the plot. They’re a welcome relief from the bogged down cyclical purgatory that the story gets stuck in, but at the same time they are too random and too consequential, that it feels unsatisfying. They just happened to be underground for 9 years recording all this information? What? Odd.
Romance / Lack There Of
Willis’ romantic interest in Lana, who was/is his brother’s girlfriend is a bit strange (is he alive? Unclear). But overall this is a well done component that deserves a bit more recognition. Willis recognizes that he’s obviously fallen for “the girl with the hair like she’s in a shampoo commercial”, and they limit his final speech from doing a more classic confession of love and desire. He understands that it’s unrequited and respects Lana. Even in the final mislead scene of Black and White, he doesn’t lean in for the kiss even though the cameras clearly want them to. And in Standards & Practices it isn’t forced that they be romantic. I appreciated this choice as I often get annoyed at pop culture’s overemphasis on romantic relationships resolving everything in a character’s arc.
It should be noted that Interior Chinatown is a book, and I look forward to reading more about the differences between the two and how it handles some of these issues. Adopting something so meta into a visual medium must be difficult, so I’m sure there’s a lot the show couldn’t convey.
Episode Titles are:
Generic Asian Man
Delivery Guy
Tech Guy
Kung Fu Guy
Chinatown Expert
Translator
Detective
Ad Guy
Bad Guy
Willis. Willis Wu.