"OK. See you."
The play Kim's Convenience started out at the 2011 Toronto Fringe Festival. I've been to fringe festivals in my Canadian travels in Winnipeg, Edmonton, and Victoria. You never truly know what you will find.
The play moved to the Soulpepper Theatre in 2012. Paul Sun-Hyung Lee and Jean Yoon played Appa and Umma in the play. Ins Choi, creator of the play, played Jung. Grace Lynn Kung played Janet in the Soulpepper production and national tour.
Kim's Convenience — the TV show — debuted in 2016 on CBC. The story was about the contrast between 1st and 2nd generations of the immigrant experience with the prodigal son mixed in and growing up Korean-Canadian.
Choi and Kevin White co-created the TV show but by all consensus, Kim's Convenience the everything was Ins Choi. The producers noted that Choi's departure was the reason the show is coming to an end after 5 seasons.
Kim's Convenience has been a major hit in Canada on CBC and outside Canada on Netflix. Lee and Yoon were joined on the TV show by Andrea Bang as Janet and Simu Liu as Jung along with Andrew Phung (Kimchee) and Nicole Power (Shannon). The series finale airs tonight on CBC.
The significance of the mostly Korean descent cast has been crucial and the show has gone out of its way to cast all hues in the smaller parts. Toronto is truly a multicultural, multi-ethnic metropolis in North America.
We also learned about the significance of Korean history, even in scenes where Appa tested a young Korean man who was going to take out Janet.
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To my fellow costars. @bitterasiandude @jean_yoon @SimuLiu @NicolePower3 and Andrea Bang, it was the greatest honour to watch you act, learn from you, and act alongside you. Every day with you with an absolute joy. I’m so proud of everything we created and cherish all moments... pic.twitter.com/dL6tgRvrNO
— Andrew Phung (@andrewphung) March 8, 2021
If you look back at Schitt's Creek, 6 seasons made sense since they were telling a story about characters who progressed over time. Kim's Convenience had its own set of conflicts but also was about family. The core family was absolutely key; family could also be used for the collective on-screen people and off-screen people. You got the impression that like Schitt's Creek, Kim's Convenience was a fun experience.
A Season 6 would have made the departure of the show a bit easier to handle. Leaving a bit early in the TV landscape is heralded; some shows need more time to tell stories rarely heard in that TV landscape. Kim's Convenience feels like one of those shows that needed more time and episodes.
We do want to mention a few of the many on-screen people who made an impact on Kim's Convenience. John Ng (Mr. Chin); Ben Beauchemin (Gerald Tremblay); Michael Musi (Terence Pepler); Derek McGrath (Frank); Amanda Brugel (Pastor Nina Gomez); Sugith Varughese (Mr. Mehta); Ishan Davé (Raj Mehta); Gabriella Sundar Singh (Chelsea Chettiar); and Akosua Amo-Adem (Stacie).
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The CBC lineup will be without Kim’s Convenience next season. The 2 new shows feature actors from the show in new settings. Strays is the only Kim's Convenience spinoff featuring Shannon (Nicole Power) relocating to Hamilton. The optics of having the only non-Korean descent major cast member getting the only spinoff is odd at best. Kevin White created the show. Can't think of too many spinoffs of Canadian TV shows.
Andrew Phung is the co-creator and lead in Run the Burbs about a stay-at-home dad with an entrepreneur wife and 2 kids.
These shows have been in the planning stage for some time so a potential Season 6 of Kim's Convenience might not have had everyone back.
The show didn't really have a lot of colour behind the scenes outside of Choi. That is an unfortunate legacy of the show.
We hope to see more of the actors from the show. We know Liu has been cast as the superhero Shang-Chi for Marvel with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. We know Lee was in a couple episodes of The Mandalorian. We don't want to forget about Yoon and Bang and hope to see them in future Canadian films and TV shows. Bang had a small role in the Canadian film Adventures in Public School.
If you are new to Kim's Convenience, come along with the journey. The saga is specific and also timeless. Congratulations on the 5 seasons and the impact felt on Canadian television.
Kim's Convenience is available in Canada on CBC and CBC Gem. The show is available on Netflix in the United States with Season 5 to air later this year.
photo credits: Kim's Convenience/CBC; Hockey Night in Canada/Sportsnet
Twitter capture: @andrewphung
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