A new Netflix animated series tries to put a teenager in the center of two very different cultures: The Chinese supernatural legends and the life of a teenager in small-town Texas. Does it succeed? Well, it does help that the series has an excellent voice cast.
JENTRY CHAU VS. THE UNDERWORLD: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: In Seoul, a teenage girl picks a song to sing in a karaoke room she’s sharing with her school buddies.
The Gist: Jentry Chau (Ali Wong) is about to celebrate her 16th birthday; she’s been going to boarding school in South Korea since she was a kid. One of the things she’s looking forward to is a visit from her grandmother Gugu (Lori Tan Chinn), who raised her in Texas after the deaths of Jentry’s parents.
Someone is following Jentry as she walks home; it turns out to be a shapeshifting demon named Ed (Bowen Yang), who says he’s keeping an eye on Jentry for Mr. Cheng, a demon known as the the Mogui. Apparently, a deal was made between Gugu and the Mogui to keep away from Jentry, but when she turns 16, all bets are off; he can then kill her and take her soul. Oh, and Jentry also has the power to shoot fire from her hands, something she’s known for some time but has repressed ever since she set fire to the small Texas town where she was raised.
Gugu arrives just in time, and helps capture Ed. When she tells Jentry about the deal she made with Mogui, she then says that they need to go back to Riverfork, Jentry’s hometown, so Gugu can train her to channel her powers.
When they get back, Jentry is a little apprehensive, but it seems like the town has recovered from the “demon girl” who set fire to it, and now uses it for tourism. She meets up with her former crush Michael (AJ Beckles), who has no idea Jentry was that “demon girl.”
Because of what happened eight years ago, Jentry is reluctant to use her powers to their fullest — her “third eye” will open when that happens — but Gugu says she needs to harness the powers to defeat Mogui. Little does she know that she’s soon going to open a portal to the underworld, where Mogui will be the least of her problems.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Combine Gremlins: Secrets Of The Mogwai with Everything Everywhere All At Once and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and you get Jentry Chau Vs. The Underworld.
Our Take: Echo Wu, the creator and director of Jentry Chau Vs. The Underworld, undertook a difficult task when creating this show. She wanted to a story that combined Chinese supernatural legend with the everyday challenges of being a teenager in small town Texas, and make it accessible to a wide audience. She manages to succeed, mostly due to a dynamic performance by Ali Wong (also an executive producer) as Jentry.
Sure, she’s a pretty typical mid-2020s teenager, who obsessively uses her phone and social media, has a close-knit set of friends, and goes gaga over dreamy guys in her class. But she’s also going to be fighting one demon after another, now in full control of her powers and assisted by Gugu and the other ghosts she can now see (yes, Gugu becomes a ghost by the end of the episode).
But the story is as much about family and tradition in a very unlikely place as it is about fighting real demons and fire coming out of a teenager’s hands. Her relationship with Gugu is very close, and there’s a story about her parents that we haven’t heard yet. Chinn is her usual tough but impish self as Gugu, and her presence sometimes gives us Norah From Queens — with demons — vibes, because traditions were as much a part of that show as it is with this one.
The “this season on…” highlights at the end of the episode show Jentry teaming up with Ed (named Edward Cullen, natch) with support from Gugu while she deals with being back in Riverfork. Will Michael and the others in her new class find out she was the one who set fire to the town? And how will she navigate school and the underworld at the same time?
What Age Group Is This For?: Kids 9 and up will enjoy this show. It may be a bit too scary for younger kids.
Parting Shot: Jentry and Gugu look at the groaning portal to the underworld that’s been open after Jentry defeated the Mogui.
Sleeper Star: Bowen Yang definitely gets the funniest lines as Ed. Other guest voices this season will include Lucy Liu, Jimmy O. Yang and Woo-Sung Kim.
Most Pilot-y Line: None we could find.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Jentry Chau Vs. The Underworld boasts a good story, a fun visual style and fine voice performances from Wong, Yang and Chinn.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
The post Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Jentry Chau Vs. The Underworld’ On Netflix, An Animated Adventure Where A Teen Girl Fights Underworld Demons That Have Come To Texas appeared first on Decider.
