Review: Netflix’s ‘Dang!’ Offers a Zany Yet Uneven Animated Look at Millennial Sibling Dynamics

As a rule, I usually find myself wanting to enjoy Zillennial hangout comedies, even if I’m not initially convinced. Having been a notoriously annoying twenty‑something myself, I tend to give their on‑screen counterparts the benefit of the doubt for their rough edges or brat‑like attitude. Occasionally, that patience pays off: FX’s Adults, after a shaky first season, returned for a brilliantly funny second run, letting me feel the smug satisfaction of a parent who always believed their child would shine.

Based on those standards, Netflix’s new animated series Dang! is another I’m inclined to enjoy. Created by Andrew Law—a veteran of Hacks, The Good Place, and numerous other comedies—the show follows three New York siblings, each a mess in their own way. Although it offers occasional flashes of charm and wit, and only rare moments of outright boredom, I found its eight half‑hour episodes more often left me wishing I’d laughed more than I actually did.

Dang!

The Bottom Line

Funnier in concept than in execution.

Airdate: Tuesday, Aug. 8 (Netflix)
Cast: Andrew Law, Poppy Liu, Stephanie Hsu
Creator: Andrew Law

Beyond its family focus, Dang! stands out as a rare series created by and centered on Asian Americans—one that, thankfully, largely sidesteps the typical tiger‑mom and assimilation‑blues tropes. Instead, the central pair define themselves through their blatant, unapologetic incompetence.

Andrew (Law) works loosely in tech, landing a make‑work position at a Depop‑style startup largely because he’s the founder’s college roommate. His priorities revolve around hooking up, dodging real work, and looking after his baby sister, Eunice (Poppy Liu). Eunice is an unpaid intern at a Goop‑like company who occasionally earns money as an OnlyFans creator, famous for stepping on bread barefoot. She’s narcissistic, contrasting with Andrew’s chronic neuroticism, and she’s all too happy to let her older brother handle the cooking, cleaning, bills, and even burp her when needed.

Eunice and Andrew are inseparable, communicating in grunts and hums that convey full sentences—like “Have you seen my battery pack?” “I tucked it in your room; it’s charging your vibrator as we talk.” Their favorite pastimes involve recreational drugs, binge‑watching reality TV, and dodging their older sister, Ruthie (Stephanie Hsu), a high‑powered corporate lawyer who barely hides her contempt for their aimless lifestyles.

When Ruthie upends her life after an extramarital affair with a coworker (SungWon Cho), she relocates from San Francisco to New York for a tentative fresh start—and, to her horror, attempts to reconnect with her siblings. Dang! tracks the largely goofy, occasionally poignant interplay among the trio, summing it up as the “three Bs of birth order”: the eldest is the bully, the youngest the baby, and the middle child the little bitch.

The series has several strengths. Titmouse’s animation is pleasing to the eye, featuring soft shapes, clean lines, and occasional cute expressions that recall both Miyazaki and shows like Tuca & Bertie. Its tone blends gentle sincerity with a largely irreverent edge. Dang! doesn’t shy away from portraying its leads as flawed—Ruthie comes across as a cold‑blooded capitalist, Andrew as a mix of passive‑aggressiveness and pushover behavior, and Eunice as a blatant brat. Yet it also acknowledges that their affection for one another is genuine, albeit imperfect. They’ll vow to support each other and mean it; they’ll also sigh, “Oh, thank God. For a moment I thought we’d have to be there for you,” when the help proves unnecessary.

When the show’s evident affection for its characters is channeled through fresh, specific scenarios, Dang! becomes a minor delight. One of my favorite gags this season is a spot‑on parody of suspiciously lustful Christian praise songs: “Come inside of me, come and fill me up,” originates from Andrew’s church‑going high‑school days, followed by “come inside me when I’m wide open.” The extra punchline—Andrew wondering whether the song is simply bad or bad “in the way gay folks enjoy terrible things”—lands perfectly. The whole bit feels like it sprang from writers who have logged far too many hours in Protestant youth groups and trendy gay nightclubs.

For the most part, however, Dang! suffers from a lack of originality—evident in its portrayals of Andrew and Eunice’s bosses as grind‑set hustle‑bros and wellness‑empress stereotypes that would have felt fresh half a decade ago—and from imprecise writing. A throwaway line such as “Last week I saw Omarosa playing Velma Kelly in Chicago. She took a call during ‘All That Jazz’ and we gave her a standing ovation” is adequate as a nod to New York’s disappointments, but the reference feels arbitrary rather than pointed; one can only imagine how sharper the joke would land in the hands of Hacks or The Other Two writers.

A rough‑around‑the‑edges debut is hardly disastrous for a series still shaping its identity. It’s encouraging that one of the standout episodes is the finale, which sends the siblings back to their hometown and blends broad comedy—think the exaggerated Boston accents Andrew and Eunice adopt—with a hint of genuine character development. Hopefully, Dang! will mature just enough to become a more assured and distinctive show.

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