I had heard this Sherlock episode early on and, in imagining where Harry might end up next, making him an opium addict was a fun avenue to explore. But the hang up I had was the opium den proprietor. He was Chinese speaking broken English. Were we going to be able to play it out without it being a horrific stereotype?
The first thing I thought about with the Proprietor is that while English was clearly a second language for him, he wasn’t portrayed as “stupid” or “ignorant.” He wasn’t a comic relief character or the butt of jokes. What I saw was a historically accurate character. He was a man from China making a life in London. His business was opium. Opium wasn’t illegal at the time. In fact, it was often enjoyed by “creatives” in society; actors, poets, even academics. And it’s true, Sigmund Freud used and recommended it. However, like taverns, gin joints or other establishments meant for customers to indulge their vices, how the dens were run weren’t necessarily on the up and up.
So when I looked at the Chinese character, I just saw someone who was bilingual, even if his English wasn’t fluent. He was no different from the German, French, Cuban, Haitian characters we’ve had throughout Madison’s adventures. There was an accent, and his English was choppy, but not because he was unintelligent. He was just new to English and picking up what he needs to know to get by in London. Period. I didn’t rewrite who he was at all. I gave him an extra joke here and there, but even the original episode treated him like any other person. And I guess I feel the need to point this out because as we’ve seen in other OTR shows, a lot of the writers didn’t treat Asian characters that way.
Still wanting to get the accent right, I reached out to Madison cast member, Steve Jun. He’s been in episodes since the very first one (we’ve known each other for over a decade) and he was Kato in our “The Green Hornet.” It just felt more accurate to have an Asian-American do the role. I think he was able to capture the accent with more authenticity. And, in the end, I think we serviced this Chinese immigrant living and working in late 1800’s London.
-Chrisi (aka Madison)
