Crime
The Residence
As much as one might enjoy solving a good mystery, there’s a fair bit of content slop to muck through in Netflix’s The Residence.
A few years ago, Jentry Chau was just like any other teen. She went to school, hung out with friends and spent time with her family.
But then she discovered she had magical fire powers and accidentally destroyed half the town.
To protect Jentry from the media backlash that followed (and to prevent anyone from discovering who was responsible for the fire), Jentry’s grandmother, Gugu, sent her to boarding school in Seoul, South Korea.
Things have been going well for Jentry overseas. She’s made new friends. And while she misses her family, she’s also managed to repress her fire powers and avoid another inferno.
Unfortunately, there’s more to Jentry’s ability than simply repressing it.
It turns out that her powers are directly linked to her soul. And a Mogui from the Underworld—a sort of demon of Chinese mythology—called Mr. Cheng wants to kill Jentry and take her soul for himself so he can harness her ability.
Gugu has protected Jentry from Mr. Cheng, first by making some sort of deal for him to wait until Jentry was 16 to attack and second by hiding her away in Korea the last several years.
But now, Mr. Cheng’s agents have finally tracked Jentry down—just in time for her 16th birthday.
Gugu had hoped she would be able to kill Cheng before he caught up with Jentry. Since that’s no longer an option, she opts to take Jentry back home to Riverfork, Texas.
Jentry is anxious to return to her hometown, in no small part because she doesn’t want to lose control of her fire powers again. But she’s even more anxious about dying a painful death at the hands of Cheng. So, she’ll need to learn to use her magical capacities to help Gugu defeat Cheng once and for all.
Netflix’s Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld isn’t your typical fantasy-horror blend. The show gets most of its monsters and supernatural hokum from Chinese mythology (with a blend of Daoism, too). So beyond Jentry’s mystical fire soul powers, viewers are exposed to many Eastern traditions that clash pretty heavily with Christian beliefs.
We’re introduced to the diyu, which is essentially the Chinese equivalent of hell. Jentry’s home is swarming with ghosts, which she allegedly needs to open her third eye to see. Demons are pretty common in Jentry’s world, too. And we hear about qi and other concepts from Eastern religions.
The show can also get quite violent. Although nobody was killed in the Riverfork fire, it’s clear that Jentry is powerful enough to reduce someone to a crisp if she wanted. When Mr. Cheng tries his first attack, he stabs someone close to Jentry, killing that person. And while the first episode doesn’t reveal how Jentry’s parents died, it’s likely that their deaths didn’t occur naturally but supernaturally.
This series seems to have some messages about family, learning who you are and becoming the best version of yourself. But those messages are inextricably linked to the Eastern religions I already mentioned. So it Jentry Chau will likely be a non-starter for many families.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at [email protected], or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
Jentry is forced to move back to Riverfork, Texas, a town she nearly destroyed, after an underworld demon attacks her at school in Seoul. She can create fire, a power that is somehow tied to her very soul. She doesn’t have very good control of these powers though. And Jentry is something of an urban legend to Riverfork since she once burned down half the town (though nobody knows it was her).
Gugu uses Chinese magic and weapons to fight off demons. The demons we see here are shapeshifters, able to transform into monstrous creatures. They also wear disturbing masks that cover glowing red eyes. One demon changes his hands into blades, using them to stab and kill a woman. Cheng tries to rip Jentry’s soul from her body but fails when she fights back with her fire powers. And that opens a portal to the Underworld, which fails to close after he’s gone.
Ghosts live in Gugu’s home, though Jentry is unable to see them since she hasn’t opened her “third eye” yet. A recently deceased character becomes a ghost. We hear about qi and diyu (the Chinese underworld). One demon says he was named after a vampire from the Twilight series. There is a shrine to Jentry’s parents inside Gugu’s house.
Jentry defends herself from a demon using a trash can lid. Gugu uses sharp weapons to stab a demon named Ed. But it does nothing to him, since he’s technically already dead. Jentry and Gugu train in a lair hidden by magic.
Gugu seems to enjoy embarrassing Jentry in front of her friends, but it’s not mean-spirited. A demon taunts and mocks Gugu. Jentry feels remorse for starting the fire in Riverfork, especially after learning many people lost their homes and businesses.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
As much as one might enjoy solving a good mystery, there’s a fair bit of content slop to muck through in Netflix’s The Residence.
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