Dev has a series of eye-opening experiences after he encounters some casual racism in TV auditions.
"Indians on TV" opens on a young Dev watching all the clips of how the entertainment industry views people of Indian descent. It's all a bunch of stereotypical roles - the scientist, the cab driver, the owner of a convenience store, etc. They all talk with an accent which is even played for laughs elsewhere. None of this identifies with Dev's personal experience. And yet, they are the kinds of roles that Dev has to look up to. While the industry has made some progress on race issues over the years, it's still a very sensitive topic. One that Master of None boldly tackles in this episode without losing itself in the heavy concept."Indians on TV" is a phenomenal episode of television because it both points out the problem and makes it a personal issue for Dev while not falling into the same traps that the examples they name fall into. There is no instance where Master of None could be labeled as an "Indian show." Aziz Ansari co-created and stars in the lead role. But the show itself is going for something much larger and grander. The stereotypical Indian experience isn't relevant to Dev and this episode wants to make that known to the audience without hitting them over the head with it. It's a phenomenal balance the show finds in this episode and the execution is brilliant.
The story starts when Dev goes on an audition for a cab driver role. The waiting room is filled with Indian actors. They are the only people brought in to read for the part. Dev's friend, Ravi (played by Ravi Patel of FOX's Grandfathered), nails his audition. But he also uses an Indian accent. That's something that the casting directors are looking for. It's also something that Dev doesn't feel comfortable doing because it's so offensive while continuing to push the stereotype. That opens a really interesting conversation about doing the accent or not. Not doing it means that Dev is standing up for his values and his hopes that Indian actors can get the chance to play fully-realized Indian characters who have much more depth to them than the way they look and sound. But doing it for this role in particular means that Dev will get paid and continue to make a living in this profession. It's a very complicated issue that the show explores extensively - highlighting how something like this can still happen in the industry today.
After that the story becomes much more personal to Dev. During other audition for a comedy called Three Buddies, the call sheet says the roles are open to all races. The waiting room for this audition is much different than the previous one. Both Dev and Ravi go out for the role and the producers love both of them. The discussion than shifts to whether or not one show can have more than one Indian actor in its ensemble without being seen as an "Indian show" to the mainstream audiences - aka an excuse to continue and encourage white privilege. Dev wants to believe that he and Ravi can do this show together. But then, he gets an email by mistake that shows one of the producers making a racist joke at his and Ravi's expense. Dev knows that any apology he would get from this mistake would only be because he was caught. It won't change anything. He could rightfully stand up to the racist industry and point out just how bad it still is. But what would come from doing that? It's not as if the show would be made as a result of that. As Dev's agent - played phenomenally by Orange Is the New Black's Danielle Brooks - points out, if she reported every racist and sexist comment at work, she would be there alone. Everyone is just doing their best to get their own Friends money. That's Dev's ultimate goal with this acting thing. He wants it to support him as a career so he never has to worry about money again.
But Dev still wants to do a better job representing people who look like him. His experience is solely his own. He can't speak for the entire community. Even though he and Ravi are friends, they still react differently to this situation. Dev gets treated to a Knicks game sitting court side with a visit to the VIP room where he runs into Busta Rhymes. That happens solely because the executive feels bad for what he said - though not bad enough to cast both Dev and Ravi on the show. This opportunity could be life changing for Dev. He could make a difference. But after all of this wooing, he's still not cast in the part. In fact, the potential show isn't picked up because the producer dies suddenly. That means Dev and Ravi can't expose him for the racist that he was. They just have to hope that the new executive is more willing to listen to their concerns than the previous one. And she is. She has bigger ideas to do more original concepts than just a show about three best friends hanging out. But her bright idea is rebooting Perfect Strangers where Ravi plays an Indian in America without an accent and Dev plays his cousin from India with an accent who moves in. So after all of this, the issue still circles back to Dev being asked to do an accent in order to have a chance at Friends money.
Master of None exposes these problems in the depiction of race on TV without getting too caught up in the behind-the-scenes antics. Acting is Dev's career but it's not the only interesting thing about him. That has been made abundantly clear throughout these first four episodes. In fact, the show wonderfully includes many scenes between Dev, Ravi and Ravi's friend Anush that show them being fully realized characters and not stereotypes. This show smartly depicts all kf the different sides to these characters while never losing the importance of this topic or the humor of the show. This is what all other shows should aspire to be. It's just that good.
Some more thoughts:
- "Indians on TV" was written by Aziz Ansari & Alan Yang and directed by Eric Wareheim.
- Dev also has a point in saying that people only get upset by racist things when it happens to African Americans. All the other minorities are still treated very poorly. People like Dev and Brian don't have that role model in the same way that Denise does - even though they all have faced discrimination in this world.
- There's a very amusing running joke about Dev pointing out to Ravi and Anush that Oscar winner Fisher Stevens is a white actor playing Indian in the film Short Circuit.
- Dev's nachos being stolen while he was at the basketball game was a funny tangent that felt very specific to this show while having very little to do with the actual story of the episode.
- Busta Rhymes: "I don't think you should play the race card. Charge it to the race card."
- Anush: "Is Mindy Kaling real?"
As noted in previous reviews from this series, every episodic review was written without having seen any succeeding episodes. Similarly, it would be much appreciated if in the comments section, the conversation would only revolve around the show up to this point in its run.
