Review: Kim’s Convenience (season 1)
SPOILER ALERT
Anyone who has not seen season 1 of the CBC TV show, Kim’s Convenience (season 1) is hereby advised that this post may contain a few unavoidable spoilers.
Every now and again, you’ll be perusing Netflix looking for a new show to watch, unsure as to what you’re looking for and feeling frankly jaded with the search. Nothing looks any good. It all looks rubbish. Sure, you could always just rewatch Star Trek for the billionth time, but that would feel like admitting defeat.
You look up at the clock and see bedtime is fast approaching and you still haven’t actually watched anything. In a panic, you take a gamble on some random Canadian sitcom you’ve never heard of and are quite sure is going to be rubbish. A few hours later, much to your surprise, you’ve made it all the way through to season 2 and deeply regret having to turn it off to go to bed. Such was my experience with Kim’s Convenience.
This show, based on the stage play of the same name, focuses on the lives of a family of Korean-Canadians who run a convenience store in Toronto. Kim Sang-il (more often referred to as ‘appa‘, which I gather means ‘father’) and is wife Kim Yong-mi (umma) immigrated to Canada from Korea, and hold fast to Korean tradition and values while their daughter Janet, who is fully assimilated into Canadian culture, frustrates her parents by her refusal to take over the shop or marry a ‘cool Christian Korean boy’. Meanwhile, Mr. Kim’s estranged son and reformed teenage convict, Jung, works at a car rental shop with his flat mate under the supervision of a socially awkward manager who also happens to have a crush on him.
As is so often the case with TV shows I like, the characters in this show are what make it what it is. Sitcom characters are often very two dimensional, easily whittled down to a smattering of traits and nothing more but the characters in Kim’s Convenience have all got a little extra depth. Nothing too deep (it is still a sitcom), but their motives, goals and conflicts are sufficiently defined that we do actually find ourselves caring about the characters and not simply laughing at them. I found I was eager to discover if Shannon and Jung were going to get together or not, or if Jung would ever speak to his father again or if Janet would ever win the approval or acceptance of her parents. As a result, this show is often funny but sometimes touching, without being over the top with it. As a result, the closing scene of the final episode (big spoiler coming up now) packed a heartfelt punch which sitcoms often lack, as Mr. Kim sorrowfully accepted his daughter’s decision to move out of the family home by giving her a relentless list of instructions about how to be a good roommate, thus providing a satisfactory conclusion to some of the conflicts in their relationship throughout the series.
Janet: I’ll still be working at the store. You’ll barely know I’m gone.
Appa: I will know.
Janet: Appa… let’s get some hot chocolate.
Appa: Yeah. Be good roommate. Pay utility bill. Wash dish after you finish eating.
Kim’s Convenience, s. 1, ep. 13
The individual stories often touch on a lot of contemporary issues, particularly discrimination and diversity though not in a way which feels preachy or insensitive. On the contrary, there is something quite refreshing about this show’s simple and direct approach to delicate themes which maintains the show’s entertainment value without shying away from difficult subjects.
So I know what you really want to know: is there anything I didn’t like about this series?
The short answer is: no, not really. It isn’t side-splitting, eye watering laughter from start to finish, but it’s not really supposed to be. Some episodes stand out more than others and there are a few story which seem to end rather abruptly, but in general I’d call this show an ‘all rounder’ piece of light entertainment which you can easily spend an hour or two binge-watching.
Get yourself onto Netflix and give it a try. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
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Andrew Ferguson 
Really enjoyed the quirky humour of the show, we have nothing like that in the UK. As a similarly unusual place and culture based sit com on Netflix I’ll offer Derry Girls set in Londonderry in the 70s during the times of the troubles.
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