Kim's Convenience Season 4 Review
On a busy corner in a Toronto neighborhood stands a typical looking urban convenience store that is home to the popular Canadian TV series, Kim’s Convenience. The Kim family owns and operates their namesake store, Kim’s Convenience. Here’s a production that cleverly combines the popular workplace drama and family sitcom genres into one show. Originally appearing exclusively on CBS, Kim’s Convenience is now licensed to the popular streaming service, Netflix, where it reaches an even larger audience.
While featuring a predominantly Asian cast, there is a high regard for inclusivity with a wide range of races and backgrounds represented alongside the family. The show is centered around a South Korean couple that immigrated to Canada from their beloved home country seeking better opportunities for themselves as well as their future family. This rarely-told story of first-generation immigrants making a new life in North America, depicts how they adapt to a new normal while still holding on to their cultural identity. The show also exhibits how the community responds to them by tackling the important topic of micro-racism that Asians residing in North America tend to experience in their everyday lives.
The premise of the show is taken right from the creator’s personal life. As a small child, Ins Choi moved from South Korea to Toronto, Canada with his family where he later became a playwright. In an interview, he stated that he stuck to writing about what he knew, and wanted to tell the stories that were painfully missing from theatre, yet present in the community.
A large majority of family sitcoms rely on three children characters that usually embody the personalities along the lines of smart, dumb and weird for the source of substance in their comedy. In this refreshingly honest approach to the 21st century family, you won't find over-exaggerated or exhausted roles for the sake of dramatics on Kim’s Convenience. Instead, they hold true to real-life family dynamics and complex issues that are as comical as they are relatable.
The parents Sang-il (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) and Yong-mi (Jean Yoon), who are mostly referred to as Appa and Umma (Korean for father and mother), are hilariously quirky and awkward by nature and regularly get themselves into peculiar situations. While traditional and progressive simultaneously, they place substantial importance on their livelihood (the store), church and family. Leaning on the stricter side of the spectrum than most modern-day parents, they always have good intentions when it comes to their two kids, though it may not always come off that way.
Like fire and ice, Appa and Umma are classic opposites that attract. Appa takes on the persona of the hard-headed, brust and painfully honest patriarchy while Umma is softer and nurturing but also very expressive with her emotions. She often covertly interferes in situations in a “mother-knows-best” kind of way which they refer to as a “sneak attack” in the show.
Janet (Andrea Bang), who is in her early 20s and new to adulthood, is currently enrolled in art college to pursue a career in photography, which is her undeniable passion. Even though her parents originally foresaw a different future for her, they support her in their own way even though they may not always completely understand her craft.
As the youngest and only daughter of the family, Janet struggles to gain her independence under the tight hold of the overbearing tendencies of Appa and Umma. In past seasons we’ve seen her thwart Umma’s attempts of trying to set her up on dates in hopes she’d settle down, fight for their approval to share an apartment with her platonic guy-friend Gerald (Ben Beauchemin), and convince them to give her an hourly rate for the work at the store as opposed to earning her “room & board.” Like most millenials with boomer generation parents, Janet serves as a key link to explaining emerging social trends and the changing times that her parents are more resistant to.
The oldest and problem child of the family is Jung (Simu Liu). As a former bad boy, he rebelled against his parents’ stiff expectations by acting-out in a way that caught the attention of law enforcement, resulting in a stint in prison during his troubled teenage years. Presumably at the end of his rope, Appa kicked Jung out of the house before he came of age in order to teach him a lesson but instead, ended up severing their communication entirely for several years. Forced to find his own way, Jung landed a job at a car rental agency despite his criminal record and lack of high school education. As a hard worker he manages to prove himself and turn his life around.
In uncomfortable encounters that brought them back together in previous seasons, Jung and Appa continue to navigate the difficult path of mending their strained father/son relationship. As two grown men with a mutual tendency for stubbornness, they butt heads over seemingly minor disagreements that give way to deeper-seated issues which still reside in the rift between them.
Season four seems to be the season of love. Everyone is getting into meaningful relationships but the question is: will they survive the test of time coupled with life’s difficult tests? Trading in their bachelor statuses, Jung pursues a long anticipated union with his perky boss Shannon (Nicole Powers) while his best friend Kimchee (Andrew Phung) finds something serious with someone nearby. Janet is juggling a few different love interests when the love triangle she is hopelessly trapped in, unexpectedly grows yet another side. We are left wondering who will capture her heart in the upcoming season.
Umma, a notorious meddler, finds herself unable to resist spreading juicy gossip about their young pastor’s dating life at church. In an accidental turn of events, Pastor Nina’s secret lover is revealed and causes whispers throughout the congregation.
Itching for an unforgettable adventure, Janet is set to embark on a life-changing summer trip. However, certain events indicate her life is about to change in a few unforeseeable ways. The season’s ending, where not all is yet revealed, promises to have heart-wrenching implications that make the course of characters’ futures unknown and uncertain.
The only thing I’ve observed that is missing from the set is snow and weather. Each episode features days that are all suspiciously sunny and summer-like...even during the traditional school year. While viewers from southern regions might not take notice, anyone from Canada or that general latitude has experienced first-hand how the days are dominated by the weather of the current season. Canada in particular, can have conditions that can sometimes be extreme. If they see a bump in their budget I’d like to see them make it snow-as well as rain.
