Chicago Med Star Defends Show's Most Hated Character
Dr. Kai Tanaka-Reed is among Chicago Med fans' most hated characters of all time, even though he only appeared in season 8… But his actor disagrees with the hate and has something to say about that!
To say that Tanaka-Reed made quite an appearance would be an understatement.
Immediately after arriving, he began acting out: from speaking over and disrespecting senior doctors to literally almost killing another doctor's patient and then filing an HR complaint about that doctor — and that was just the beginning.
Kai instantly became one of the most annoying and irksome characters, both for his on-screen colleagues and for the series' fans.
In any Chicago Med discussion, his name typically pops up next to "needs an ego check" or "needs to be shown his place" regardless of the initial topic of debate, and that tells you something.
It's obvious that Dr. Kai Tanaka-Reed was only created with one goal in mind: to be blatantly annoying and serve as something of an "anti-Choi" in the show.
Chicago Med was right to give this role to Devin Kawaoka as it takes quite a lot of skill to portray such an irksome and infuriating person on the screen, and Devin nails it.
His great performance raises even more questions regarding his recent statement in an interview with Tell-Tale TV. Kawaoka was "shocked" to learn just how much Chicago Med's fans hate his character.
He explained that he didn't expect such a backlash toward Tanaka-Reed as he "had to justify [his behavior] as the actor".
And justify his behavior Kawaoka did!
Among the reasons for Kai's inappropriate behavior, the actor mentioned striving for perfection, overcompensating for his inability to talk to people, social weirdness, and even just "not feeling comfortable" in this world.
Tanaka-Reed's background plays a huge role here, claims Devin.
But according to him, not all hope is lost: soon, someone will knock him down a peg, or maybe, Kai will "experience his humanity a little bit more" after dealing with enough patients to realize that compassion is not unfamiliar to him.
Source: Tell-Tale TV