The recent episode of ABC's favorite sitcom about a Chinese-American family cruising the hardships of raising a family as a minority in America was all about change. Change in the sense that the Huang children are now moving up in school and the family business, Cattleman's Ranch, is booming and is doing extremely well thanks to the TV set above the bar.
Upon return from Taiwan, Eddie is now an eighth grader and Emery is graduating from elementary. The middle child of the Huang brood is now about to enter the wild and woolly world of the sixth grade. This pending change is being dealt by the kids accordingly. Emery is excited while the youngest Evan is mourning. Eddie, on the other hand, has already prepared all the tricks which would help his brother navigate the tough world of the sixth graders and the horrors with it.
Presenting Eddie's binder, a detailed account of all the lies told by Eddie about Chinese culture which made his life easier. This is Eddie's way of exploiting white people's ignorance on their cultural heritage and making the most out of it. These lies include making up a fictitious holiday called the Harvest Day, requesting for double tater tots instead of green beans because Chinese people can't process chlorophyll, requesting for a better locker that does not have number four on it as it is considered bad luck in Chinese tradition, and a 1:15 PM nap on a desk facing the west to better sense if China is coming for Taiwan.
Everything is already prepared by Eddie for his brother. When it was Eddie's first day in middle school, it was a total nightmare. People made fun of the Chinese food he was bringing for lunch and everyone treated him like an alien because he was the first one. With the lies he has told them, Eddie was able to break the chains. His suffering has cleared the way for his brothers to flourish and not experience the hardships he had to carry.
But Evan, the youngest and wisest of them all, had to scold Eddie and is ought to straighten things. Evan screamed at Eddie for ruining Emery's life before he even had a chance to start it. Eddie, scared straight by his youngest brother, then yelled, "Everything you touch turns to dog doo!" at him in the middle of the street, and signed Emery up for karate the next day.
While the children are dealing school issues, Jessica is having problems with the house being a mess. So Louis hired a house cleaner who would assist Jessica and stop her from constantly complaining. You would think that Jessica's complaints about the cleanliness of her home mean that she wanted a cleaning lady, right? You are mistaken.
As she would always do, Jessica started micromanaging the housecleaner like a mother-in-law would do to her startled daughter-in-law. Mary, the housecleaner, was driven nuts by all the nagging, decided to quit. But when Jessica was about to do the cleaning by herself, Louis diverted to the Cattleman's Ranch, leaving the cleaning to Mary. But it turned out that Mary is excellent at doing her job.
However, Jessica is still sad even though the house is already squeaky clean. She lamented that while she hated cleaning, she also believes that a family is supposed to take care of things themselves. Hiring out strangers to handle tasks like cleaning means you're running the house like a business. Jessica still wants to clean the house because she wants to feel like she is needed.
