I've been looking forward to the animated Dang!, about dysfunctional Asian-American siblings, wiith some trepidation. In one of the scenes in the trailer, Andrew Dang struggles to say something to a burly Hispanic dude in a bodega, knocks over a display, says "I love you!" and leaves in embarrassment. Sounds like he's gay, but in another scene, he's knocking over furniture in enthusiastic kissing and hugging with a woman, so I'm not sure. I've been fooled by queerbaiting trailers before.
But it stars Andrew Law, the showrunner of The Family Law, about a Chinese-Australian boy coming out, so we'll give it a try.
Scene 1: Boardroom at the XY Deadstock Company. Andrew calls a meeting with his disengaged, phone-scrolling "grindset alpha" employees. His co-owner fires him because "every day you spend hours in the bathroom, eavesdropping on your own employees and tweeting their conversations."
"Can't fire me if you can't catch me!" He runs away in a panic, chased by security guards in a parody of those zany movie chases. One expects to hear "Yackety Sax" in the background. He runs into Lucille, Head of HR, who hands him the termination papers.
Scene 2: A purple-haired woman is livestreaming her foot-bread fetish, accumulating coins. If she gets enough, she promises her feet on marble rye. Andrew comes and gets yelled at for interrupting. She notes that she's only doing this until she lands the job at Klerp, Kate Hudson's lip gloss newsletter.
Andrew being fired will be a major inconvenience, since he pays for all her stuff. "Go back and fight for your job."
Scene 3: Andrew begs the Co-Owner to give him his job back. "We're a world-changing company!" "We let teens resell their fanny packs for $6,000. And you don't do anything." Who would spend that much on a used fanny pack? Unless it's a fetish -- the fanny pack has been close to the guy's junk?
"My lawyer and I will see you in court!"
"Isn't that just a guy you hook up with?"
"We only hooked up once, and it was mostly over-the-pants stuff."
Gay identity established at Minute 5.00, but what about the enthusiastic girl-kissing? Maybe it's bi identity.
Scene 4: Lawyer tells Andrew that they have two options: Prove that the Deadstock Bathroom Twitter account wasn't his. "Nope, it was mine." Ok, prove that he was wrongfully terminated. His older sister Ruthie texts, so he runs away.
Left: The IMDB and the closing credits don't reveal which actor plays which character, so all I know is that Brian Jordan Alvarez (left), Jared Goldstein (below), and Adan Palley are in the cast.
Cut to Klerp, where Purple-Haired Sister is waiting for her internship interview. The receptionist offers several wacky perks, like a cranial massage, bone marrow broth, and a bitch therapist: "A gay guy who agrees with everything you say, but goes too far."
She's interviewed by a young teen girl who puts rose quartz in her coffee. They're ready to hire her, when Andrew appears, gesturing wildly. "Our Sister Ruthie is in town, and she wants to...ugh...grab dinner!"
"Don't panic. We can avoid her until she leaves."
Scene 5: They run back to their apartment to grab some essentials and hide, but she's in the house! She explains that she's moving to town for her very important, very successful job, so she'll be able to evaluate their tech business and muffin shop.
Dang, the siblings don't have either of those careers! "When Little Miss Perfect finds out, she'll be sooo annoying!"
Purple-Hair has another interview at Klerp, so Andrew is in charge of entertaining their sister for the day. She interviews with Kate, who is trying "interminable fasting" and doesn't know what "Cornell" means.
More after the break
