How Late Bloomer represents the breadth of the South Asian experience in Canada

Late Bloomer just wrapped up its second season, and the verdict is in: people love it. 

The Crave dramedy follows an aspiring content creator named Jusmeet Dutta, who's based on the show's creator and star, Jasmeet Raina (a.k.a Jus Reign). The series loosely mirrors Raina's own experience as a YouTuber and Punjabi Sikh millennial in Canada.

Today on Commotion, host Elamin Abdelmahmoud speaks with journalists Jeevan Sangha and Joyita Sengupta about the acclaim for Late Bloomer and their favourite moments from this season. 

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: Season two of Late Bloomer is being called the best one yet. Joyita, how did you feel about it?  

Joyita: I really liked it. I loved the first season, as well. I think the second season is even more ambitious than the first. And like it really leans into the drama side of the dramedy equation, although there are some really funny moments. 

But I think probably one of my favourite things about Late Bloomer, and specifically Season 2, is that in the canon of North American shows about South Asians, there's often, in my opinion, a huge lack of class representation. I always feel like I keep seeing the same stories about an upper middle class brown person whose parents are a doctor or something, and they want to go to an Ivy League school and blah, blah, blah. And they're made by great trailblazing creators, for sure — and they sometimes centre whiteness in a way that I don't appreciate — but it does speak to some people's experiences. 

But when it comes to Late Bloomer, you get to see a community that truly doesn't need to centre anyone else but themselves. And in terms of the class part of that equation, you see the first season ended with him [Jasmeet] falling out with his parents, mainly his dad. And now it starts with him living in a basement apartment with a bunch of international students. And there is a bit of tension there because those students are looking at him like, "You could just go home if you wanted to. You keep rocking the boat because you don't know struggle like we do." But then on the other hand, he's hanging out with this girlfriend who comes from a far more privileged and wealthier family, and there is a lot of discomfort around that and how they move through the world as South Asians. And I just think seeing that breadth of our experience from a class perspective? So refreshing.

Elamin: Last week, [Joyita] was on this very show, talking about anti-Asian and anti-immigrant sentiments being aimed at Brampton, Ont. — specifically South Asian communities — being stoked by places like 6ixBuzz. 

Jeevan, what does a show like Late Bloomer offer to that conversation, do you think?

Jeevan: I think this episode [Episode 6, which follows an international student who is also a food delivery person] of Late Bloomer, to me, is required reading for everyone in my life. I think that there are so many conversations about international students, about newcomers that are so vitriolic and so aggressive. One scene in that episode — it was very quick, but really important — is, after having the worst day ever, the protagonist of this episode opens his phone, and sees a video that he thinks is fun about folks that are just like him, and opens the comments, and it's just some of the most troubling and disgusting comments that you could ever see. And like any racialized person in Canada, but particularly South Asians in the last few years, know that feeling of seeing something on Instagram about someone in your community and just having to brace for impact. And I think the level of complexity that this episode brings to the international student experience, and presents to Canadians through the extensive research that was done, is so needed in this cultural moment in time. It is urgent to me, so if you haven't watched it please, please, please consider it.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Ty Callender.