John Cho is one of those actors who really just nails every role he’s been in. Constantly at the top of his game, there is one aspect of his career that I really miss—his love interest era. The short-lived show Selfie had Cho starring opposite Karen Gillan in a one-season take on Pygmalion (a.k.a My Fair Lady). Gillian played Eliza Dooley (get it?) opposite Cho’s Henry Higgs (again … get it?) and the two really worked as a romantic back and forth. But that show was about all we got with Cho as a rom-com leading man.
That is, obviously, until his episode in season 2 of The Afterparty, “Ulysses.” Cho’s episode was all about his lost love and the life he left behind. A dancer who lost his partner in the war (they were there to support the troops), Ulysses (Cho) came back a broken man. In a move to help his brother cope, Feng (Ken Jeong) suggests that Ulysses get back into dancing by joining a competition for ballroom dancing with his wife, Vivian played by Vivian Wu.
The devastation in Cho’s performance, especially when he thinks that Grace could potentially be his daughter, is what makes Cho so good at what he does. It’s a story of betrayal, dance, and love that is brought to us in such a stunningly detailed and earnest way that you really feel for Ulysses, even though he is betraying his brother in the process. The love story aspect of his story really did remind me just how good John Cho is at this.
The episode is just a highlight of how dynamic Cho consistently is as an actor.
Cho and Jeong are expertly playing two brothers who, despite how they talk about each other, are already separated at the start. Ulysses calls Feng his half-brother and they are clearly divided. As someone who has an older brother who is technically my half-brother, I’ve never considered him as such. So the two labeling their relationship that way at the start, it’s a red flag, at least to me.
I know how The Afterparty works and that we won’t have another episode focused on him but now I really do need to see Cho in more romantic roles. Hell, after this episode, if he wanted to do an entire dance movie (prior to returning as Sulu in the Kelvin verse Star Trek movies), I’d love it.
“Ulysses” was brilliant—and it has John Cho to thank.
(featured image: Apple TV+)
