Netflix "The Chair" WITH SPOILERS!

[ciao_yall]

Okay, had to get it off my chest with people who "get it."

Why I didn't like the ending of "The Chair."

1) Jay Duplass was annoying and unappealing on many levels. I get that he was her work flirt but Sandra, get over yourself.
2) Being a tenured prof isn't really about teaching, it's about research. But I get that they had to make the broader public "get it."
3) Sandra Oh was an excellent Chair and should have kept rising to replace that useless Dean. While her ideas didn't always work out, she tried to find creative solutions to thorny problems.
4) I did like that Holland Taylor ended up as Chair. I mean, why the heck not?

[ergative]

1) Jay Duplass was annoying and unappealing on many levels. I get that he was her work flirt but Sandra, get over yourself.

Yes, but that was why it was so satisfying that he did get canned!

2) Being a tenured prof isn't really about teaching, it's about research. But I get that they had to make the broader public "get it."

Absolutely. On the other hand, these types of public frenzies usually arise from teaching more than research (although there are exceptions--e.g., that transracialism paper a few years back). And they do say that whatshisface is a brilliant respected scholar, so in my head that's why he was able to skate by on such lousy teaching. I did like how we saw him using his research-related clout to help his student, although I'm not in a book field, so I don't know how realistic it is for a scholar to write a letter to an editor about how great a book manuscript is, and have that actually work. My impression is that cmmmercial publishing works more like this than academic publishing--but then, not a in a book field, so I don't know.

3) Sandra Oh was an excellent Chair and should have kept rising to replace that useless Dean. While her ideas didn't always work out, she tried to find creative solutions to thorny problems.

True, but she's miserable as chair and hates the job. I can't imagine she'd be happy as Dean.

4) I did like that Holland Taylor ended up as Chair. I mean, why the heck not?

Hell, yes. Holland Taylor wants the job, too.

I really, really hope that Yaz takes that job at Yale, though. This series did not leave me with warm fuzzies about the future of the college or department in general.

[little bongo]

I'd put the problem with Duplass' character equally at the feet of Mr. Duplass, the direction, and the writing (this is the first time I've seen Duplass in anything). I do think he had one good moment when the Chair is scolding both him and her daughter, and there's a shot of the two of them looking at her like naughty children. And there's a look on Duplass' face that seems to acknowledge, at least partly, what a ridiculous situation that is.

As for the Duplass character helping the grad student with publishing the diss., I can vouch for the basic plausibility of that scenario--a noted scholar is often friends with the academic editor in charge of overseeing a series of books into which the dissertation, with some tweaking, would most ideally fit. That friendship often leads a graduate student to that first crucial book publishing connection.