‘The Chair’ is the perfect Netflix series to ease you into the autumn
Something about the first weeks of autumn feels like a reset. The air around sharpens, evenings grow shorter, and the streets slowly fill with fallen leaves. Sounds like it’s time to get inside and start a new Netflix show.
With the beginning of every fall, Netflix brings out new shows and films for its wide fanbase. Some people reach for heavy dramas; others settle for easy sitcoms. But do you know what the best autumn viewing usually is? Like pleasant weather evenings, it lies somewhere between cosy and chilly, or in this case, heavy. Something smart enough to hold your attention yet light enough to feel comforting. That is exactly where Netflix’s The Chair comes in.
The series is short, darkly humorous, and a scathing take on the disappointments that surround teaching and academia, in just six half-hour episodes, making it an easy weekend watch. However, just because it’s short does not mean that it’s shallow and won’t provide the same satisfaction. The Chair balances witty takes and bittersweet charm in one episode that many shows barely manage over seasons.
Sandra Oh’s Ji-Yoon Kim, the newly appointed chair of the English department at a struggling university, forms the heart of the show’s charm. From the first episode, it is clear that this is not your standard academic drama. It is more about satire with heart, poking fun at the eccentricities of higher education while it walks us through the lessons of humanity.
As soon as Kim joins the college, she gets involved in academic politics and generational clashes. While the student demands keep on mounting, her aim is to modernise the department, and she starts that with a trek up the mountain of challenges. And while all this is happening, she manages her eccentric colleagues and a sort of complicated friendship with a fellow professor.
Have we mentioned that she is also a single mother and is dealing with the attachments that come with it? With all these difficulties, it still has funny and heartfelt moments that ease the atmosphere.
If you have also pictured a distressed mother struggling to get her life together while providing the best for her daughter, then you are nearly there. The only thing left to do is now add a touch of fun and sharp-witted dialogue, and you have got The Chair.
Ji-Yoon, as she navigates the impossible demands of her position, also juggles the expectations of administrators who want change while fighting colleagues who resist it and students who are demanding something better.
The supporting cast makes the series even richer. Holland Taylor is a delight as the sharp, seasoned professor who has little patience for academic politics but plenty of wisdom to share. You also have Jay Duplass bringing in both charm and chaos as a fellow professor whose poor decisions sping Ji-Yoon into one crisis after another.
Why is it the perfect autumn watch?
The Chair is an ideal autumn watch as a striking balance of tones. The humour is sharp without being exacting, and the drama is touching without becoming twee. And in a season that often feels like a transition between summer and winter, a show like The Chair offers just the right mix of substance and ease.
So if you are looking for the perfect series to curl up with as autumn settles in, cosy into The Chair. It will not demand weeks of your time, but it will give you plenty of laughs and comfort to carry through the season.