A pair of strange visitors from Lo Pu claim that a teenage boy is their next holy leader.
Mr. and Mrs. Strand
Episode Summary
This episode features the dysfunctional Strand family: a sports-obsessed dad, nerdy teen Seymour, and a mom that’s…just kinda there.
The visitors
They receive a pair of strange visitors from the fictional country Lo Pu – Chia Fung (played by Divine) and his assistant Madame Wu – who claim Seymour is Lo Pu’s next Lama.
Seymour is quick to accept his new role
The Strands thinks it’s outrageous at first but then warm up to the idea of getting a shitload of free gold and jewels, and Seymour enjoys abusing his his newfound power of bossing people around.
Chia Fung on the phone
But in a final twist, it turns out Chia Fung had the wrong address; he takes all his stuff and leaves.
The Strands think of how to punish their son for being a jackass
Thoughts
This was a really odd episode that wasn’t creepy or horror centric. I kept expecting a twist at the end that this was all a scheme by Chia Fung to murder the Strand family or trick them into showing how greedy they are so he could trap their souls in a box or something. But no, it felt like a bizarre sitcom plot.
Chia Fung
All the characters, the family especially, don’t act like normal people – just over the top caricatures, like the characters in TerrorVision. But it’s somewhat captivating to watch because of how weird it is. That aside, though, my biggest issue with the episode is just how racist it is in its portrayal of Chia Fung and Wu, and using their Asian-inspired culture for cheap jokes.
Rating
I revere this episode because it features Divine in a compelling though characteristic rôle. Also, I cannot help but think that this episode was the direct inspiration of the 1993 Bertolucci film Little Buddha.