Lost in Translation Language and Communication

Sure seems like "That's all he (or she) said?" could be Bob's motto when we meet him. He's a guy who's struggling to understand the world around him and who's frustrated by not being able to really communicate with anybody. In short, Bob's looking for more.

In this scene, the communication barrier is played for laughs. We can't help wondering if they're laughs that lean a little too far into stereotypes about the Asian accent, though. It's a funny scene, especially once Bob does try to rip her stockings and the premium fantasy woman delivers some first-rate physical comedy. What do you think? Is turning Rs into Ls offensive? Genuine? Something in between? How does comedy work? That's a simple question, right?

As the Suntory photo shoot wears on, Bob starts getting a little mouthy, in part because he's tired and bored and feels like a sell-out, but also because he's pretty confident the communication barrier means Naka can't tell he's being a smart-aleck.

Bob's photo and film shoots are filled with little sparks of miscommunication like these. It's no wonder they wear on him and add to his overall sense of isolation and dissatisfaction. And let's be real: movie star or no, we're sure these gaps in language are no picnic for the Japanese directors that Bob works with, either.

Here we have more of the age-old joke of Rs turning into Ls. That's not why we're looking at this exchange, though. We're looking at it because it shows that Bob can't even bond with somebody about Bond, James Bond, an internationally recognizable pop culture icon whose movies transcend languages and cultures. In other words, if they can't even agree on the best Bond, what hope is there for forging a connection about anything else? (Personally, we're Team Timothy Dalton all the way. Dude gets no respect; probably because he made The Beautician and the Beast.)

That's our Charlotte. She doesn't mince words, and she doesn't have anything in common with Kelly, Kelly's beat-making friend, or even her own husband right now. Do you think Charlotte's an old soul, or is she being mean, or are Kelly and her friend just terrible? We're kind of leaning toward terrible, TBH. Charlotte can't communicate with them, and it seems like she's A-OK with having zero common ground. Hella okay.

Part of why Bob and Charlotte are able to connect almost immediately is this shared sense that they don’t belong, and that they want to escape from this moment in their lives. Sure, Bob's making a joke of it here, but given how many times we see them literally running away from people and events, there's a lot of truth to this jailbreak plot.

Bob's communication with his wife has been ground down to talking about carpet samples and their kids. There's no "I miss you" or "I can't wait to get home." There's only burgundy.

We don't know about you, but we're starting to think Bob has just a wee bit of hostility toward the cultural and communicative barriers he keeps running into in Japan. We know from the mobile billboard he and Charlotte pass that he's been Suntory's spokesman for a while. That means this isn't his first trip to the Far East. The fact that, in this brief exchange, he squeezes in yet another joke about Japanese accents and insinuates that, in their culture, people find blackened human toes a delicacy seems to suggest there's some hostility—or at least disdain—there.

Two things going on here: First, the fact that Bob can tease Charlotte about being "mean"—something we know she's insecure about—shows their connection. It bothers her when John says it, but not when Bob does. Charlotte makes no secret about the fact that she was trying her best to be uncommunicative in elevators, as a rule. She smiled at Bob despite herself.

Bob and Lydia used to laugh about stuff? Here, Bob sums up how communication has deteriorated between him and his wife, while he's doing an awesome job of communicating with Charlotte. Charlotte seems interested in what Bob’s saying, but her response here—“that’s nice”—shows us that she’s at a totally different place in her life than he is. She can’t really get what it’s like to have kids.

It's interesting that Charlotte's reaction to Bob sleeping with the Sausalito singer is to immediately discredit Charlotte and Bob's bond, which she does by claiming that he has more in common with the singer because they're closer in age. Bob uses the same tactic when he fires back, accusing Charlotte of being self-absorbed, which is a trait usually associated with youth, but not always (see: The Real Housewives of Orange County, New Jersey, Peoria, etc.).

Way to chicken out, Bob. Given that he thinks this is the last time he's going to speak to Charlotte, he leaves a lot unsaid, and evades his feelings by joking about his jacket.