Lucy Liu’s Elementary character is an Asian-American television anomaly. She is neither a fanatic fighting-machine nor a quiet, subservient woman — and sadly, that makes her revolutionary.

Well-rounded, dynamic, complex and just plain real Asian-American characters in American television and film are few and far between. We are accustomed instead to seeing Asian-Americans depicted as awkward nerds, untouchable geisha girls or oddball and a-sexual men — not to mention the growing prevalence of the “model minority” archetype.

The depictions are lazy and repeated ad nauseum; stereotypes used as punchlines. With 18.9 million people of Asian decent living in the U.S., Hollywood would be wise to retire the joke.