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| Credit Group, Portrayed By | Guest Starring Stephanie Hsu |
|---|---|
| First Appearance | Strike Up the Band |
| Last Appearance | Go Forward |
Mei Lin
Joel’s doctor-girlfriend. Daughter of Chinese mob.
Table of Contents
Biography
S3E1 - When Joel discovers the illegal gambling parlor under his newly acquired club, Mei comes out and subtly threatens him and Archie to keep their mouths shut.
S3E2 - Mei, along with a mysterious man and a mysterious woman, attempt to bribe Joel into silence about what he saw below his club. Joel refuses the money, insisting that he simply wants to make sure his club is successful. The three express mocking skepticism towards this idea, and leave.
S3E3 - Joel has dinner at his local Chinese restaurant, where he spots Mei collecting money from the restaurant owner, presumably for the mafia. When Mei spots Joel, she comes over and teases him for not knowing that he ordered a bunch of feet, and helps to order food that will be more to his liking. The first sparks of romantic chemistry begin to fire.
S3E4 - Joel and Archie work on fixing up The Button Club. Mei swings by with a surprise gift of a jukebox. Joel and Mei dance to a song on the jukebox, and Archie picks up on their romantic chemistry.
S3E5 - Mei pops by as Joel and Archie work, and overhears that he’s struggling to obtain the liquor license.
S3E6 - Joel picks a fight with Mei when he learns that the liquor license has gone through, and he feels threatened by how much she’s like Midge.
S3E8 - Mei attends the opening of The Button Club after receiving Joel’s apology message. Joel introduces her to Midge.
S4E1 - Mei attempts to mediate the conflict when her parents insist that Joel shuts down his club because it is drawing too much attention.
S4E1 - Joel calls Mei from Coney Island to tell her to offer her parents a cut of the club revenue.
S4E2 - At the garment factory, Mei pretends to sleep as Susie delivers Joel the money she promised him.
S4E4 - Joel unpacks his stuff at his new apartment in Chinatown, as Mei reads in the living room. Shirley calls and tries to make sure that Joel will be at his club, wearing his best this Friday night, clearly intending to set him up with a girl. Realizing that the situation has become untenable, Joel tells Mei that it is long past time he introduced her to his parents, but she refuses point blank. The two get into an argument, and Mei storms off. Joel tells her that they have to discuss this and she can't run away, that he knows where she lives, but she reminds him that he actually does not.
S4E4 - At the Button Club, Joel learns that Midge is working at a strip club and the two get into an argument, which Mei walks into the middle of. Midge catches wind from Mei that Shirley has been trying to set Joel up with someone. Mei then makes her way to Joel's office.
S4E5 - Over breakfast, Joel and Mei are bombarded with phone calls and visitors, which Joel ignores, irritating Mei to the point where she finally concedes that she’ll need to meet the Maisels.
S4E5 - Mei dithers nervously over her appearance as she and Joel prepare to head to dinner with the latter’s parents. Ultimately, she backs out at the last minute and Joel has to go on his own.
S4E6 - Mei shows up at the Button Club and tells Joel that she’s pregnant. She has to leave for Chicago immediately, because she has a residency interview tomorrow.
S4E8 - When Moishe has a heart attack, Mei arrives late because Joel gave improperly translated directions to her via Li Wei.
S4E8 - Midge returns to the hospital bearing food for Joel. Mei plays Mahjong with Shirley, then has a reality-check conversation with Midge.
S4E8 - At the hospital, Mei sits in the room as Abe reads the obituary he wrote for Moishe to the family.
S5E1 - As Joel gets back to his apartment on Thanksgiving with Ethan and Esther, he finds Mei there waiting for him, a somber expression on her face. He sends the kids to another room so they can talk. She tells him that she’s moving to Chicago, she had an abortion, and they need to break up. He is shattered, but he eventually manages to contain his rage and sorrow and put on a thin veil of amicability. Mei says that she’ll give him her new address, and leaves.
Quotes & Dialogue
MEI: (shouting in Chinese) Hi.
JOEL: Hi.
ARCHIE: Hello.
MEI: You the new tenants?
JOEL: I'm the new tenant. What the hell is going on in there?
MEI: Where?
JOEL: Behind you, in there.
MEI: Nothing. What's your name?
JOEL: Forget my name. What is that? Who are those people?
MEI: Family gathering.
JOEL: Really? Your family?
MEI: Yup.
JOEL: All of them?
MEI: Yup.
JOEL: The guy serving drinks?
MEI: My cousin.
JOEL: He was wearing a name tag.
MEI: I have a lot of cousins.
JOEL: Those people in there are gambling.
MEI: What? No.
JOEL: We saw dice, we saw cards. They're throwing cash around.
MEI: I always liked this space. What's it gonna be?
JOEL: A club. Look, don't change the subject. I need to know what's going on. I don't want to get tied up in something illegal.
MEI: Nobody's gonna tie you up. What kind of club?
JOEL: I signed a lease, I made a deposit.
MEI: You know, a long time ago, this was a club. A magic club. One night, the guy made a woman disappear. No one ever found her again.
ARCHIE: Wait, what? Something happened to her?
MEI: Nah, he was just a really bad magician.
JOEL: Listen…
MEI: Or maybe a really good one.
JOEL: No, that is not a true story, just like a family gathering is not a true story. That is not your cousin.
MEI: Okay, so it's been nice talking to you. You shouldn't come through this door again.
JOEL: Wait.
MEI: Leave us alone, we'll leave you alone.
JOEL: Or what - I'll disappear?
MEI: Well, that's silly. (whispers): I'm not a magician.
– S3E1
MEI: You sure you don't want to go to a Chinese restaurant that has hamburgers and apple pie? This place isn't that.
– S3E3
JOEL: Were you born here?
MEI: Nope. I was born in a different restaurant.
– S3E3
JOEL: So, what's the song about?
MEI: Oh, it's the usual stuff. Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, girl buys knife with 12-inch blade, boy loses thumb, boy loses hand.
JOEL: I like Rosemary Clooney's version better.
– S3E4
MEI: My cousin's cousin would be my cousin.
– S3E6
MEI: They wanted a business that looked legit but didn't cause too much of a splash. A dud club means less eyes on the parlor. A successful club means eyes. They just assumed your club would fail.
JOEL: Why?
MEI: 'Cause you're a Jewish ex-plastics salesman who suddenly opened a club in Chinatown with an English to Chinese dictionary from the 1800s.
JOEL: I… Shit.
MEI: My expectations were low.
– S4E1
JOEL: Mei. Mei. We have to discuss this. Mei? You can't just run. I know where you live.
MEI: No, you don't.
JOEL: No, I don't. Fuck me!
– S4E4
JOEL: Looks like it's gonna be four debates.
MEI: Kennedy-Nixon?
JOEL: He's such a creep.
MEI: Which one?
JOEL: Nixon. Mei.
MEI: They both have skeletons.
JOEL: You are not voting for Nixon.
MEI: I am not voting for Nixon. He looks like he eats children.
– S4E5
MEI: I'm gonna be a doctor!
JOEL: I know you're gonna be a doctor. Why do you keep saying you're gonna be a doctor?
MEI: I'm not saying it to you. I'm saying it to me. You have to say it over and over and over at first so you know the other person heard you, and then again and again to remind yourself that you're actually gonna be a doctor, and then over and over so you remember you're gonna be a doctor and you don't forget and you don't lose focus and you don't get pregnant!
JOEL: Mei…
MEI: I go to bed saying I'm gonna be a doctor. I wake up saying I'm gonna be a doctor.
JOEL: I know. I've woken up next to you.
– S4E6
MEI: I'm moving to Chicago.
JOEL: Easing into a conversation's really not your strong suit, is it?
MEI: Sorry. How was your Thanks…
JOEL: Moment's passed, Mei.
MEI: Right. Sorry.
– S5E1
MEI: I can't have it all, Joel. The world doesn't work that way. If I'm really gonna be a doctor, then I just have to be a doctor. Please understand. I really need you to understand.
– S5E1
Appearances
Season 3
Season 4