WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Season 1 of The Chair, now streaming on Netflix.
In Netflix's The Chair, Sandra Oh's Ji-Yoon is initially set up to fight white privilege at Pembroke University, fulfilling her lifelong ambition to add diversity to the school she studied at and loves. As the new Chair of the English Department, there's no better time than now. However, Season 1's ending highlights a massive flaw seen throughout the six episodes.
The problem centers around Bill, the former Chair, a Literature professor suffering a mental breakdown. Most of the season revolves around Ji-Yoon trying to help him get over his wife's passing, and exploring the possibility maybe they could work as a couple.
The Chair Wastes Its Best Character and Most Important Arc
However, Bill makes a terrible joke at school and the finale focuses on Ji-Yoon defending him at a hearing. It does no good, as the board ends up firing Bill. The finale's last moments are then spent with Ji-Yoon and Bill meeting for coffee. The conversation reveals that Bill has decided not to take the settlement, and instead is using lawyers to fight for his job. There are also jokes about Ji-Yoon possibly using Bill as a babysitter in the interim. At no point does Ji-Yoon call out Bill on his toxic ways, much less his failure to admit the Nazi wisecrack he got fired for was wrong.
The problem isn't Bill wanting a second chance, it's the fact that he has shown no remorse and yet thinks redemption is something he's automatically entitled to. Not to mention that, by using Bill's firing as way to go back to the romance between him and Ji-Yoon, The Chair does a major disservice to the arc that was set up as the driving force of the series and then dropped. This involves Yaz, the best teacher in the department, being passed over for the Distinguished Lectureship because the board wants a white celebrity for it, namely David Duchnovy.
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Yaz actually lets Ji-Yoon know Yale's made her an offer, but we don't even see this resolved as Season 1 concludes. To make it worse, when Ji-Yoon's replaced, Yaz isn't even a candidate to take her place. Ji-Yoon instead recommends the very woman who started the movement to get her removed, Joan, as she feels sorry Joan was shoved into a corner office and earmarked for retirement due to her poor enrollment and lack of connection with modern students. That means Yaz goes from being sidelined by her boss' romance with a toxic white male to being pushed aside for a bratty woman who just wants prestige.
This makes the show run-of-the-mill, losing the social justice message and the political impact set up when Yaz was touted as an agent of change. It's disappointing, as it turns the women of color involved in the show into nothing more than props. We really expected Ji-Yoon to wield power and shake up the system with Yaz, which is what the students literally begged her to do. Instead, Ji-Yoon empowers two teachers they hate.
For some reason, rather than letting Yaz be her rock, Ji-Yoon resorts to people who put themselves first. Bill ends up being nothing more than a white savior -- someone who's apparently the kind of husband material Ji-Yoon needs to add stability to her life. This belittles Ji-Yoon's character, which was already diminished by tone deaf actions and ignoring Yaz's dilemma.
By shifting so much focus towards healing her issues with Bill and Joan -- two toxic aspects of her life -- Ji-Yoon comes off as someone who doesn't care about her prized teacher, students craving a proper education, or the overall equality at Pembroke. Had Ji-Yoon addressed the bigger issues in her department first, it would have made her decisions about Bill and Joan easier to digest. Instead, these missteps shape a regressive conclusion that detracts from both Ji-Yoon and Yaz's journey, making them nothing more than stepping stones for folks who already have a leg up on the corporate ladder at an institution that desperately needed change.
The six-episode first season of The Chair is now streaming on Netflix.
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