Our take
This is an easy and funny Canadian TV show about a Korean store owner in Toronto.
He completely lacks awareness of modern gender, sexual orientation, and race issues – yet his good nature redeems him. In the first episode he is confronted for saying something homophobic, but replies by pretending he has an ongoing 15% “gay discount” (except he decides who’s gay or not by looking at them).
There are many other interesting themes, such as his daughter being pressured to find a “cool Christian Korean boyfriend” and her insisting that those words don’t go together.
Kim’s Convenience is about the Korean-Canadian experience, but it also feels geared towards a Korean-Canadian audience. It’s authentic, refreshing, and most importantly, funny.
The story
The funny, heartfelt story of The Kims, a Korean-Canadian family, running a convenience store in downtown Toronto. Mr. and Mrs. Kim ('Appa' and 'Umma') immigrated to Toronto in the '80s to set up shop near Regent Park and had two kids, Jung and Janet who are now young adults. However, when Jung was 16, he and Appa had a major falling out involving a physical fight, stolen money and Jung leaving home. Father and son have been estranged since.
Elsewhere
"Our most prestigious television series often double as commentaries on modern life. Though Kim's Convenience is set in the present, it feels like watching an alternate time line."
— Hua Hsu
"The delivery is so effortless, and the scene's flow is so natural, that the viewer has no choice but to laugh, gasping intermittently for air over the rest of the episode. In this way, Kim's Convenience is both a balm and a riot"
— Bryan Washington
Streaming arrival
Who picked it
Bilal Zouheir is the founder of A Good Movie to Watch. He is based in the US and a member of the Nevada Film Critics Society. He grew up in Morocco, where he learned English from watching movies. Bilal's work with A Good Movie to Watch is focused on offering an alternative to streaming algorithms, which are often used as commercial tools by streaming services.
