“Monkee Chow Mein” begins with Mike, Davy, and Micky eating in a Chinese restaurant while Peter fills a giant doggie bag with food. While leaving he dumps a plate of fortune cookies into his bag and grabs another off a waiter’s plate. This seemingly innocent action leads the waiter to shout “He has the cookie, stop him!” as the other restaurant patrons and spies gather around him. Mike yanks Peter out of the crowd and the band flees the restaurant before they can be caught, only to then run into agents from the Central Intelligent Service who take them to headquarters for questioning. After some attempts to explain that Peter likes to feed cookies “to a dog we don’t have,” the agents eventually realize the band’s innocence and non-involvement in the goings-on of the restaurant. They explain to the boys that the cookie contained information about a chemical weapon they’d developed called the Doomsday Bug, which had been stolen by a spy ring with a second-in-command called the Dragonman. Despite the inspector’s warnings, the boys nervously head home with Micky certain they’re being followed. After multiple kidnapping attempts, threats of torture, “bad food and drugs,” and costume changes, it’s up to the Monkeemen to bring down Dragonman and, his boss, Mr. Big.
Right. So, this is gonna be another one of those awkward episodes to talk about, because it is quite racist against Asians and Chinese folks, in particular. Like I’ve said before, I don’t think problematic elements automatically make a work worthless, but I also wouldn’t blame someone for skipping over it due to them. It’s a complicated issue. Part of me finds the old “It’s from the 60s, what do you expect” line, while true to an extent, riddled with its own problems. Racism is alive and well, folks. You can’t really get away with “well, that’s how it was then” when stuff like yellowface and stereotyping in fiction goes on to this day. Then again, I do think it’s slightly unfair to place our current standards onto older media, especially when comedy in particular often ages quickly and badly. For me, talking about these issues isn’t about ripping something to shreds, but about acknowledging the problems so that we can do and expect better going forward.In the case, the problematic elements are made all the more frustrating by the moments are good and kinda subversive. Early in the episode, after the band’s been chased out of the restaurant, Mike says, “Well, you never can tell, Orientals [cringe] are a curious people,” which is soon followed up with “I don’t know, occidentals [westerners] are a curious people” when the C.I.S. agents pick them up. But the best moment comes when Toto accidentally kidnaps Micky and says, “Forgive me, master, but all American look alike to me,” a play on the racist notion that all Asians look alike. Of course, the episode still hinges on stereotypes and yellowface, so I could understand the little moments of subversion not really making up for it.
And yet, I can’t deny that I have affection for this episode. When I was young and first getting into the show, it was a big favorite. Peter’s “Miiiiike!” and the Monkeemen scene always did me in. Honestly, those and all the other bits that always made me laugh and made me love it then, still make me laugh, even though it also makes me cringe hard at times. As I said before, this stuff is complicated. Luckily, the coming string of episodes are some of my favorites and hopefully won’t as a cringe-inducing and awkward to talk about.
Oh, wait… Miss Farnsby is coming up.
Shit!
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