Stream It Or Skip It: 'House Of Ho' On HBO Max, A Docuseries About A Wealthy Vietnamese Family In Houston And Their Family Issues - Decider

Intergenerational reality shows are the ones that we enjoy most. Why? Because the issues between the cast members aren’t ginned up by producers or feel minor in comparison to the screaming matches they generate; they’re deep-seated in family dynamics and/or cultural traditions that have been around for decades or even centuries. House Of Ho, about a wealthy Vietnamese family in Houston, has more of those family dynamics than most, and that’s why you’ll likely blow through it in a couple of sittings, like we did.

HOUSE OF HO: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Flashes of big houses and expensive cars in some of Houston’s most exclusive neighborhoods. Then we see the Ho family walking up the driveway of the mansion of Binh and Hue Ho.

The Gist: Binh and Hue Ho came to America during the mass exodus of people from South Vietnam as it fell to the Communists in 1975. Both worked in lower-income jobs for years, until Binh began a career in insurance. Since then, he’s earned millions from creating a bank and a real estate development company. They live lavish lifestyles, but they at least know where they came from.

Their American-born kids, though, have known nothing but wealth for most of their lives, but they all act differently around it. The oldest, Judy, likes her clothes and cars but generally regrets how she’s lived her life to make her parents happy. At a family dinner, she drops a bomb that she’s divorcing her husband and the father of her 3 kids. Divorce is frowned upon in Vietnamese families, especially Catholic ones like the Hos, and Binh is certainly not in favor of the decision.

Washington, Judy’s younger brother but Binh and Hue’s oldest son — they named their boys after presidents, a tradition that’s carried on with Judy’s and Washington’s kids of both genders — is the first in line to take over the family businesses, but he’s more interested in drinking and throwing his money around. It’s something that Lesley, who came from a more traditional family that migrated to Oklahoma, is constantly concerned about. (The youngest son, Reagan, only appears in a couple of episodes, but is the only Ho not afraid to tell his parents exactly what he’s thinking).

Three months after Judy’s separation, she and her kids are living with Wash and Lesley’s family, which Wash hates but Lesley is reveling in; the two of them have grown closer, to the point where Judy tells Lesley that her mother thinks of her as a “tyrant” towards her son. Judy, for her part, always thinks that her parents favor Wash over her simply because he’s their son. And Wash tells his cousin Sammy that his mother more or less told him that she would give him anything he wanted if he married Lesley. “Are you sure you want to say this on TV?” she asks her cousin.

Then there’s Aunt Tina, one of Binh’s siblings, who likes to dress sexy and have a good time. According to her, she celebrates her birthday every Wednesday, between 4-7 PM.

Photo: HBO Max

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? House of Ho is in the vein of other family-oriented reality series like Shahs Of Sunset or Family Karma.

Our Take: I don’t usually blow through an entire season of any show before writing up one of these SIOSI reviews, but with some free time and a desire not to think too hard, my wife and I watched this entire 7-episode first season in three big chunks. Why? Because, unlike some of the similar shows that have come before House Of Ho in the “immigrant family drama” genre, producers Katy Wallin, Stephanie Bloch Chambers, and Nick Lee strike a great balance between exploring the personalities of the Ho family members and the disputes and drama that don’t always seem all that organic.

It helps that whatever conflicts that we see in the first season are so embedded in how the Hos relate to each other as a family, and also rooted in Vietnamese and Asian traditions, that none of the conflicts feel ginned up. In fact, some of what we see in the first episode is so raw that we wonder if we should even be there to watch it, and if the people speaking those words (mostly Wash) don’t realize that they’re being filmed.

But the attraction to House Of Ho also the various personalities of the family members. Binh looks like a nice old guy on the surface, but he’s a low-key shark; he had to be to get his millions, and the way he expresses disapproval of Judy and Wash’s actions is genius. No yelling, no performative guilt trips, but a manipulative brand of passive-aggression that every parent would give a chef’s kiss to. Hue is more the overt disapproving mother/mother-in-law, but definitely not in a performative way.

The contrast between Judy and Wash is also compelling. Judy is pretty calm and has her stuff together — though upset that she gave up her law career to have a family, and now is financially dependent on her father — while Wash is impulsive and always seeking his parents’ approval. During the season, as Judy navigates her divorce and finds new love, we see her come out of her skin, and we also see Lesley — a pharmacist who at one point says she’s the only Ho with a full-time job — start to assert herself with Wash. The women of this family certainly come off well here, and that’s refreshing; they’re not fighting or gossiping, and their stories are still interesting to watch. We should see more of that on reality shows.

Sex and Skin: Nothing, really.

Parting Shot: After Lesley hears the “tyrant” remark, she says in her interview that “Maybe ‘happily ever after’ is just for fairy tales.”

Sleeper Star: Aunt Tina, all the way. She’s a ton of fun, speaks her mind — including to her brother — and just DGAF about what anyone thinks of her.

Most Pilot-y Line: For a night out with TIna, Judy comes down in a conservative dress and flats, and Tina demands she change. Given how glam Judy was from then on forward, that scene felt a little fake to us.

Our Call: STREAM IT. The family dynamics and traditions on display in House Of Ho will make you forget about all the money being tossed around. But, oh, the trappings of wealth on display with the Hos is pretty damn impressive.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

Stream House Of Ho On HBO Max

Let's block ads! (Why?)

"House" - Google News
December 12, 2020 at 10:30PM
https://ift.tt/342RRm7

Stream It Or Skip It: 'House Of Ho' On HBO Max, A Docuseries About A Wealthy Vietnamese Family In Houston And Their Family Issues - Decider
"House" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2q5ay8k
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update

Bagikan Berita Ini