The Chair Review

Netflix’s new miniseries The Chair is the perfect bite-sized binge. Six episodes, each clocking in at around 30 minutes, packed with plot and laced with humor, the show is fun, engaging, and a great watch. It’s a series that knows what it is – and understands the insane level of talent it possesses in front of the camera – and isn’t afraid to use all its strengths to its advantage.

The Chair tells the story of several weeks in the life of the fictional Pembrooke University English Department. Having just appointed been appointed to the position of Chair of the English Department – the first woman of color to attain that position – Ji-Yoon Kim (the always excellent Sandra Oh, who crushes it throughout the series, proving she’s one of the most versatile actors working today) has high hopes for what she can achieve in the department. Instead, the Dean (David Morse) presents her with a list of three senior teachers she must either convince to retire or fire (including Holland Taylor’s Joan Hambling and Bob Balaban’s Elliot Rentz), her pick for the prestigious Distinguished Lecturer position – and the only other woman of color in the department – Yaz McKay (Nana Mensah, doing great, subtle work) gets overlooked due to the preferences of a Board member, and her best friend – and the department’s most popular professor – Bill Dobson (Jay Duplass, nailing the clueless by utterly charming white man blinded by privilege role) gets embroiled in a scandal that ends up threatening both his and her jobs. And all of this happens in the span of roughly three hours of television.

The Chair is the rare Netflix series where I wouldn’t have minded another episode or two, if only to allow us a bit more time with some of the show’s most fascinating supporting characters. Taylor’s Joan is absolutely enthralling, and while she does get a complete arc, I would have enjoyed even more time devoted to her quest to see her worth recognized. And while the series only provides us the briefest hint of Elliot Rentz’s home life, I would have loved to have more time to explore that particular avenue of storytelling. And yes, we are presented with a great deal of Ji-Yoon’s life, but I would have enjoyed a bit more about her relationship with her adopted daughter (the wonderful young actress Everly Carganilla), and just what the little girl’s therapist says about her penchant for creepy yet still disarming statements.

The richness of The Chair’s characters and the great performances throughout the series help make up for some of the writing’s missteps. While there’s nothing too glaring to complain about, the series doesn’t have the time to really drill down deep into several of the more interesting topics it highlights. Yes, it provides some interesting points on “Cancel Culture” – taking pains not to come down hard on either side of the debate, which is one of the show’s biggest strengths – but the discussions on race, gender, class, and ageism don’t quite get to the heart of the matter for any of the topics. None of the show’s arcs feels unfinished by the show’s end, but again, I wish there had been a tad more breathing room to allow some of these topics a chance to be more deeply explored.

But, in the grand scheme of things, The Chair is about as good of a binge as you could ask for. The short season (as of now, it’s meant to be a limited series, but you know as well as I that almost no limited series stays one for very long) provides a fulfilling central storyline (Dobson’s scandal, the fall out, and how it ultimately resolves) that allows both Oh and Duplass plenty of time to share the screen and build up their great chemistry. That alone makes this a series to recommend. But we also get some really fun moments – including a famous actor guest starring as a heightened version of himself late in the series – that are well worth the short time commitment. If you’re looking for a fun binge, look no further than The Chair.

The Chair is currently streaming in its entirety on Netflix.