I've been watching Blue Bloods since it first aired in 2010 (it's better than the mess that the Law & Order franchise has become), and last night's episode (as well as the previous 2021 episode "USA Today") followed a storyline involving Vietnamese American gangster Sonny Le (played by character actor Alex Duong from TX). As a Vietnamese-American and native New Yorker myself, I would be remiss if I didn't give my honest 2 cents on
Pros:
-one of the few mainstream series to attempt to showcase Vietnamese communities in the US
-real life cultural references like banh mi
-Alex Duong's performance stole the show and despite the list of cons i found with the story, I genuinely enjoy watching him act and look forward to seeing his next featured appearance
Cons:
-'Little Vietnam' in NYC is a fictionalization created for the episode, portrayed in the series as a whole ethnic enclave sitting where the real life Two Bridges and Lower East Side meet akin to Little Italy and Chinatown. NYC does have a Viet American community but they're split between boroughs and most concentrations of Viet oriented businesses are Viet Chinese owned in Chinatown areas
-Donnie Wahlberg and Marisa Ramirez's characters end up taking on the cultural and language barriers between themselves and the Viet community themselves instead of... I don't know, calling a Viet NYPD officer to help? They exist IRL (two of whom are my relatives), and what makes it even sadder is that this is literally the most culturally diverse police department in the most diverse city in the world we're talking about. Not to mention Vietnamese Americans as a whole have been in the U. S. for almost 50 years - to the point where 3rd generation Vietnamese Americans are a thing. The perpetual foreigner vibe being portrayed here is antithetical to how it is in reality and does both Viet Americans and viewers who are not familiar with Vietnamese American culture and history a huge disservice by painting them in this light.
-the Viet you hear spoken in American TV is just... atrocious, this episode not withstanding. And this is coming from someone who's learning Viet as a second language... would it kill the casting directors to hire people that actually speak Vietnamese natively?
Overall I give the episode low 6/10. Alex Duong must have back pain from carrying this episode. I know the writers can do better and genuinely hope the next episode featuring Duong's character isn't as hamfisted as the tropes I saw here.
