If you’ve been keeping up with the latest Hulu original shows, you’re likely already aware of Interior Chinatown. The series, which is based on the best-selling 2020 novel of the same name by Charles Yu, aired all ten episodes of its first season on Nov. 19. Much like the book, its adaptation offers an intense character study and in-depth analysis of the Asian American experience, delivered amidst the explosive excitement of an action-packed police procedural. When the trailer initially released, droves of Hulu subscribers were pumped to see such prolific performers as Jimmy O. Yang, Chloe Bennet, and The Daily Show‘s Ronny Cheng taking center stage. Now that the series has finally arrived, fans have walked away with a number of questions and concerns about the plot characters, and overall themes in the show.
Needless to say, there will be heavy spoilers for the entirety of Interior Chinatown ahead, so please feel free to bookmark this page and return later if you haven’t finished watching yet. We’ll also go over a few key differences from the conclusion of the 2020 novel, which may or may not impact the future of the franchise moving forward. Though the novel offers the same storyline and characters, it also contains a number of fascinating stylistic choices which can’t translate into the visual medium of television, ultimately providing a wholly unique experience. Without any further preamble, let’s dive right in, and see what we can learn from the thrilling conclusion of Interior Chinatown.
How Does ‘Interior Chinatown’ Begin?
At the very start of the Hulu original, fans are introduced to Jimmy O. Yang’s Willis Wu. Willis is an unremarkable resident of Chinatown, who spends his days waiting tables at a local restaurant and his nights fantasizing about becoming a larger-than-life kung-fu master. In his meager existence, Willis fears that he is nothing more than a “generic Chinese guy,” who lingers in the background of other, more accomplished peoples’ stories. He laments that Chinatown is a place where “nothing ever changes,” arguing that each day in the neighborhood is like being trapped in a perpetual time loop à la Groundhog Day. This is mostly true of Wu’s life until one fateful day when he sees a young woman who was reportedly kidnapped and killed. Shortly thereafter, Willis gets a visit from the beautiful Detective Lana Lee, who believes that he can be of assistance to the case.
As the narrative kicks into high gear, Willis wholeheartedly agrees to assist Detective Lee with her investigation. What he doesn’t reveal right away, however, is that he actually has an ulterior motive for partnering with the law. As we soon come to learn, Willis’ older brother has been missing for many years, and the police have been less than helpful in seeking him out. Willis seems to believe that he can locate a lead on his brother himself, if he can only get into the police cold case files and uncover the existing information surrounding his brother’s mysterious disappearance. As the investigation begins, Lana starts to uncover a pattern of missing people and mysterious deaths all across Chinatown, exposing a criminal underworld that Willis never could have conceived of before he joined the force.
How Does Willis Change Roles?
One of the key elements of the Interior Chinatown novel is the book’s screenplay-like structure, which sees Willis and other Asians portraying characters in a semi-imaginary motion picture. While the series doesn’t stick too closely to this framework, it does lean in and out of the concept of life as a fictional narrative by allowing Willis to rewrite himself into different roles to progress the plot. When he first joins the investigation alongside Detective Lana, Willis is nothing more than a lowly “invisible waiter.” As the show continues, he infiltrates certain circles by posing as “Asian Delivery Guy,” “Tech Guy,” and eventually “Detective.” This transformation serves as something of a foil to Lana, who has spent months working tirelessly to overcome her reputation as an outsider to her precinct, simply because of her Asian heritage.
Through this lens, the series humorously explores the limitations that Asian Americans face in a myriad of industries, including tokenization in media and marginalization in the professional world. When Willis dons a pair of “Tech Guy” glasses, he instantly takes on the ability to hack computers, as a funny indictment of Asian stereotypes. Later, when he takes on the “Detective” persona, he rapidly falls into fame and riches and even begins earning brand endorsement deals for his work as a star investigator. While using his newfound tech skills, Willis hacks into the police database and shockingly learns that his brother was also working with the police before his mysterious disappearance over a decade ago.
What Happened to Johnny?
Throughout most of Interior Chinatown, Willis’ brother Johnny is known only by the moniker of “Kung Fu Guy.” As we come to learn from his cold case file, Johnny was working as a resident Chinatown expert before his disappearance, alongside a pair of white detectives named McDonough and Carrey. While investigating a mysterious gang known only as the Painted Faces, Johnny was eventually framed as the gang’s leader, causing a significant falling out between him and his partners. In a shocking twist, Willis learns that Johnny killed McDonough before fleeing from Chinatown, never to be seen again. The elder Wu brother also recorded a video during one of his final days in town, where he suggests that he is being watched and expresses concern that he is not responsible for the forces driving his own life.
In yet another twist, we then come to learn that Lana was actually Johnny’s girlfriend before he disappeared. Like Johnny, Lana also began to realize long ago that something isn’t right with the city, prompting the pair to plan an escape together. When Johnny disappeared without her, Lana began to fear that he was killed by mysterious forces, believing that he would never leave her behind. In truth, Lana learns that Johnny uncovered a massive conspiracy just before he skipped town, prompting him to hop on a boat and head for choppy waters. When Lana and Willis discover debris from the boat floating adrift in the sea, they accept that Johnny is likely dead, and seem to accept that their search is officially over.
What’s Going On With Chinatown?
In the final episodes of Interior Chinatown, Lana uncovers the shocking conspiracy that Johnny died for, as Willis relishes in his newfound fame as a star detective. Apparently, the entire reality that Lana, Willis and everyone they know exist in, is nothing more than a Truman Show-esque television series, titled Black and White. Johnny was meant to be the antagonist for the series, while Willis was never meant to be anything more than a background character. Instead, Johnny derailed the plot of the show by discovering the truth, and escaped from the fabric of his reality, changing the course of history. As Lana comes to find out, the new itinerary for the show will see Willis becoming a villain, who is investigated and killed by two other White detectives.
Meanwhile, Willis plays directly into the hands of his unseen masters by succumbing to the frivolities of wealth and material things and shunning his family and old friends. Just as Willis crosses the threshold into becoming a completely changed person, he too realizes that someone else is controlling his destiny, and fights to reclaim his life as a bereft sibling, basic waiter and morally upstanding friend. In the final episode of Interior Chinatown, Willis makes amends with his loved ones before partnering back up with Lana to mount their own escape from the twisted false reality.
How Does ‘Interior Chinatown’ End?
In the end, Willis and Lana realize that the only way to escape from the world that they know is to perish. Together, they race to the roof of the restaurant and take a leap of faith. Rather than plummeting to the Earth, the duo find themselves traversing a wormhole through time and space, where they encounter Johnny himself. The trio embrace each other before a flash of white light reveals that Willis is inside of an office putting the finishing touches on a new screenplay. He looks up from his work and sees Lana, who flashes him a look of recognition. Just before the credits roll on the whole affair, the camera zooms away from the pair to reveal yet another screen, confirming that the characters are trapped within a seemingly endless maze of fictional worlds.
The conclusion of Interior Chinatown masterfully weaves the themes and ideas of the show into a final allegory for systemic racism, as Willis and company come to understand the labyrinth they reside in. Like the conclusion of the novel, Willis realizes that the goals he once set for himself don’t serve to make the most of his full potential, as he still exists within a system that isn’t made with him in mind. He may have broken through the first layer by uncovering the truth about the system, but now the real work of escaping the entire corrupt framework can really begin.
Can Fans Expect a Second Season?
Obviously, Charles Yu has done an excellent job of adapting his hit novel for the screen, by making a number of changes to the plot without removing the nuance of Interior Chinatown‘s themes and influences. The first season wraps things up on an open-ended note which could really go either way, narratively speaking. If we never see a second season, we can surmise that Willis, Lana and Johnny have continued their rage against the machine from the bounds of their newfound office environment. Should season two be green-lit, fans will surely flock to see Johnny and Willis finally working alongside one another as a bad-ass brotherly duo.
For now, there’s been no word of a renewal, though that could all change if Interior Chinatown‘s streaming numbers meet unspecified internal metrics at Hulu. Whether the show gets another season or not, we’ll all certainly be watching to see what Charles Yu cooks up next, as his expert takedown of systemic racism and insightful deconstruction of modern society makes him one of the most exciting television showrunners of the modern cinematic landscape.
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