‘Fresh Off the Boat’: Writer Jeff Chiang on Louis’ paranoia in episode 16
Every week, the cast and crew of ABC’s Taiwanese American family comedy, Fresh Off the Boat, is taking EW behind the scenes. For each episode, one member is recapping, sharing thoughts on what went down, and walking us through the ins-and-outs of the show. This week writer Jeff Chiang brings us into the 16th episode of season 3, “Gabby Goose.”
Hello, I’m Jeff Chiang, a writer on Fresh Off The Boat and a lover of “Sumo Oranges.” If you’ve never had one, find them at your local grocer, laugh at how silly they look, eat them, and thank yourself for making an excellent choice. In this week’s episode, Louis makes the mistake of criticizing Jessica behind her back. That’s never a good thing to do to anyone, but certainly not a good thing to do to Jessica because she’s a wildcard, ladies and gentlemen, a loose cannon. Or at least that’s what Louis thinks she is, because when Jessica finds out that he gossiped about her, his mind runs wild with paranoia, imagining that she’ll gossip about him behind his back as revenge for his betrayal. But can you blame Louis for his paranoia? Who hasn’t allowed their internal monologue to overanalyze a situation negatively:
“Did my neighbor notice I don’t remember his name because I really need him to dog sit tomorrow, but will he now be mean to my dog?”
“I changed the side I part my hair on and nobody noticed. Am I basically invisible to the people in my life?”
“Why did I pretend I saw Moonlight? When I said the lighting was so good in that movie because they used the light of the moon really well, did that give me away?”
In fact, right now my internal monologue is telling me the “Sumo Orange” joke earlier was a mistake because those suckers cost $10 a pound and how relatable of a person can I be when I’m blowing that kind of dough on citrus? So instead, let’s go with this: “Hello, I’m Jeff Chiang, a writer on Fresh Off the Boat and I do not own a Rolls Royce.” There, much more relatable, disaster averted.
Fresh Off the Boat airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.
