Miles Turner is a Black detective and a star of Black and White. Before starring on the show, he graduated from Yale University and then worked on Wall Street. He joined the police force after his father, a veteran with the NYPD, was killed on the job. Turner is handsome and has obvious on-screen (and possibly off-screen) chemistry with his costar, Sarah Green. His character makes racist remarks against the show’s Asian characters and clashes with Willis during their on- and off-script interactions. Turner claims that Willis can’t complain about “the system” stereotyping and discriminating against him, since climbing up the system (as Willis has done to secure increasingly better roles on Black and White) only strengthens that very system. In short, Turner claims that Willis is complicit in his own discrimination, a point to which he testifies during Willis’s trial.
Miles Turner Quotes in Interior Chinatown
The Interior Chinatown quotes below are all either spoken by Miles Turner or refer to Miles Turner. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Act 1: Generic Asian Man
Quotes
Black and White always look good. A lot of it has to do with the light. They’re the heroes. They get hero lighting, designed to hit their faces just right. Designed to hit White’s face just right, anyway.
Related Characters:
Willis Wu (speaker), Sarah Green, Miles Turner
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Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2: Int. Golden Palace
Quotes
GREEN (turns to you) You speak English well.
GENERIC ASIAN MAN Thank you.
TURNER Really well. It’s almost like you don’t have an accent.
Shit. Right. You forgot to do the accent.
Related Characters:
Willis Wu (speaker), Sarah Green (speaker), Miles Turner (speaker)
Related Symbols:
Chinatown
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 3: Ethnic Recurring
Quotes
“I’m working with them now. This could be good.”
“Happy for you,” he says. He looks skeptical. Worried.
Related Characters:
Willis Wu (speaker), Sifu/Ming-Chen Wu/Old Asian Man (speaker), Miles Turner, Sarah Green
Related Symbols:
Chinatown , Kung Fu Guy
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
No. But you’re going along with it. Look where we are. Look what you made yourself into. Working your way up the system doesn’t mean you beat the system. It strengthens it. It’s what the system depends on.
Related Characters:
Miles Turner (speaker), Sarah Green (speaker), Willis Wu
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Are you doing the right thing? Something about this feels wrong.
But this is Black and White. They let you have a part. You can’t stop now.
You look at your dad. He shifts his eyes away, and you know in that moment that he is disappointed. But he won’t ever say it. You’ll never talk about it again. He’s gone, slipped back into Old Asian Man. He’s not going to make the choice for you. It’s your role to play.
Related Characters:
Willis Wu (speaker), Sifu/Ming-Chen Wu/Old Asian Man (speaker), Sarah Green, Miles Turner
Related Symbols:
Chinatown
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 5: Kung Fu Dad
Quotes
KAREN You wanted them to find you.
KUNG FU DAD I wanted them to find us.
Related Characters:
Karen Lee (speaker), Willis Wu (speaker), Sarah Green, Miles Turner, Phoebe
Related Symbols:
Kung Fu Guy , Chinatown
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 6: The Case of the Missing Asian
Quotes
But at the same time, I’m guilty, too. Guilty of playing this role. Letting it define me. Internalizing the role so completely that I’ve lost track of where reality starts and the performance begins. And letting that define how I see other people. I’m as guilty of it as anyone. Fetishizing Black people and their coolness. Romanticizing White women. Wishing I were a White man. Putting myself into this category.
Related Characters:
Willis Wu (speaker), Miles Turner, Sarah Green
Related Symbols:
Kung Fu Guy
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
“Hey,” Turner says. Off-script.
“I can’t do this anymore,” you say.
Turner smiles. “Yeah, man. I know.”
Related Characters:
Miles Turner (speaker), Willis Wu (speaker)
Related Symbols:
Chinatown , Kung Fu Guy
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Interior Chinatown LitChart as a printable PDF.
Miles Turner Character Timeline in Interior Chinatown
The timeline below shows where the character Miles Turner appears in Interior Chinatown. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 2: Int. Golden Palace
...“the most accomplished young detective in the history of the department.” Black Dude Cop (Miles Turner) is “a third-generation cop who left Wall Street to honor his father’s legacy.” They’re in...
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INT. GOLDEN PALACE CHINESE RESTAURANT—NIGHT. White Lady Cop (Sarah Green) and Black Dude Cop (Miles Turner) enter the restaurant, where Dead Asian Guy is dead, a sheet partially covering his body....
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...of Black and White feature White Lady Cop (Sarah Green) and Black Dude Cop (Miles Turner) driving around in the police car, though they’re detectives, so this doesn’t really make sense....
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The screenplay next introduces Black Dude Cop. Miles Turner, 33, is tall, handsome, and extremely muscular. He went to Yale and then worked on...
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Turner thinks he hears something. Turner and Green draw their weapons. Willis, meanwhile, stands off to...
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INT. GOLDEN PALACE CHINESE RESTAURANT—NIGHT. Dead Asian Guy is dead, and Green and Turner are investigating. Green reminds Turner that they need “to be sensitive here.” Just then, Old...
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Finally, Turner, trying to intimidate Old Asian Man, suggests that they take him down to the station....
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Act 3: Ethnic Recurring
...of the shot, and Willis, the “Special Guest Star,” is in the background. Green and Turner engage in flirty banter, and it almost makes Willis forget his lines to see them...
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Green and Turner flirt some more. Willis (as Special Guest Star) interrupts their banter to announce that Older...
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...extras seated at tables. He doesn’t see anyone he knows and gestures for Green and Turner to follow him into the kitchen.
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Willis tells his dad that he’s working with Green and Turner now and that it’s a good thing. Old Asian Man praises Willis but looks skeptical...
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Turner asks if Old Asian Man will help them, and Willis (as Special Guest Star) says...
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Willis (as Special Guest Star) claims that Turner, too, is part of the system: his name is in the show’s title. Turner counters...
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Willis (as Special Guest Star) lunges at Turner. Turner might be big and muscular, but Willis has been working on his Kung Fu....
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...and thanks him for his cooperation, her voice louder than normal, almost like she’s shouting. Turner asks Old Asian Man when he last saw Older Brother. Old Asian Man says it’s...
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...Oriental) is at the door. Willis (as Special Guest Star) approaches him with Green and Turner in tow, and Fatty Choy whispers his congratulations to Willis. But Turner threatens to arrest...
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INT. GAMBLING DEN-BOSS’S OFFICE—CONTINUOUS. Willis (as Special Guest Star) leads Turner and Green to the boss’s office. Young Fong is here, already back at work, though...
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Turner forces himself inside the office. Mini Boss (Young Fong) calmly offers to let Turner “sample...
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...in the building if he doesn’t cooperate. Mini Boss asks for immunity, but Green and Turner say they can’t do that. Fong gives a signal, and bottles start to be smashed...
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Green breaks character to applaud Special Guest Star (Willis), though Turner (also breaking character) grumbles about Willis deviating from the script. Turner resumes his acting, roughing...
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Lee turns to Turner and Green and tells them that Fatty Choy knows something but will never talk. Turner,...
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Act 4: Striving Immigrant
...that he hates smoking. He looks up at a billboard for Black and White, Miles Turner and Sarah Green’s large faces staring down at him, “the light hit[ting] their faces just...
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...for Black and White. He knows he has to get out. He sees Green and Turner’s car parked nearby. He goes to it, breaks in, hotwires it, and then drives off....
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Act 5: Kung Fu Dad
...and Phoebe that everything is okay—they’re there for him because he stole the police car. Turner and Green call out for him to surrender and nobody will get hurt. Karen tells...
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Act 6: The Case of the Missing Asian
The judge enters the courtroom. Willis notes Green and Turner seated behind him—they’re going to testify for the prosecution in “The Case of the Missing...
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Eventually, though, the prosecution calls their first witness (Miles Turner) to the stand. In his interrogation, Turner calls Willis “a punk.” The judge reminds him...
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As the jury exits the courtroom, Green and Turner approach Older Brother and compliment his performance, suggesting he come to work for the DA;...
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...Older Brother nods to Willis, and Willis, speaking as “Generic Asian Man,” addresses the judge, Turner and Green, and the jury.
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INT. GOLDEN PALACE CHINESE RESTAURANT—NIGHT. Green and Turner look down on Kung Fu Guy’s body and observe that he is dead. A crime...
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