My Monster In Law: Season 1 (Vietnamese Series)

This little sitcom series was such a pleasant surprise. I had absolutely minimal expectations, and as I have said multiple times, this is usually a good thing. Comprising of 31 episodes of ten minutes approx each, this sitcom style narrative is funny, just lightly OTT, is entertaining and well acted (for most part). Yes, after the initial euphoria dies, it feels like its being stretched fo Ron reason, but more on that later.

A mother has single handedly raised her two kids, so when her son Ba Do is retiring from US, bringing along a "wife" with him, she is naturally excited to meet them. But when the wife turns out to be Jackie, another boy, all hell breaks loose. Forced to acknowledge the gay couple, she sets rules that Jackie has to do whatever she says for three months and then she will decide. And there starts some very funny incidents where the mother does all sorts of manipulations to separate the couple but they are very much in love, for that to happen. We also meet Ba Do's sister who is divorcing from her husband and only one who accepts Jackie. She soon streets a love angle with Ba Do's boss at work. Eventually, of course, the mother comes through, after some secrets about her single life, ex-husband and her past is revealed. Jackie proves himself to be more than a worthy member of the family.

Now besides the main story, we have many parallel stories being played out and most of them are quite funny. All interactions between Ba Do's co-workers are funny as hell. Them falling for Ba Do creates some funny situations. And then all the scenes with Jackie's only friend in Vietnam, a transgender person who owns a coffee shop just add even more to he whole fun of the show. She is nosy, curious, empathic, and an intensely loyal friend and abs absolutely fantastically played by the actor. Thankfully this show never made a caricature out of her. The best has to be the sister. She is a goofball and her dialogues and her actions, interactions, always create many funny situations. We also get to know slowly that the mother is not necessarily a bad character. She has her reasons and is genuinely a nice person. Coming to the main couple, I thought Ba Do was strictly average, but Jackie completely steals the show from everyone. He is extremely cute, funny. His comedic timing is also good, but it is his passionate display of loyalty and love for his husband that is so charming and noteworthy. He just handles every situation with charm and wit and brain, even while dealing with his mother-in-law nasty antics. The last 8-9 episodes where we find out about her past life and her ex husband and Bu DO's step brother; all that in my opinion was totally unnecessary for the show and was the only time I felt it was being dragged for on reason. If not for that sequence, I would have rated this show extremely high. Other than that emotions like jealousy, unrequited love, desperately trying to fit in, and the pain of rejection by your soulmate are just some issues tackled in this series in a respectful yet very funny way. Of course., I have too say again that using the phrase husband-wife for a gay couple in Asian BL series still bothers me a LOT and its time the makers stopped using that please.

This is the first time I have watched one whole show in single sitting. As mentioned above, besides my issues towards the end, the hoo wis generally very positive, funny and a simple pleasant watch. Definitely recommended. (7.5/10)