S01.E07: Guidance

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

After learning some devastating news about Pei-Ling, Nicky attempts to keep herself distracted by offering to help a young woman in need; Zhilan confronts her past; Mei-Lei makes a startling confession.

Promo:

Original air date: 5/26/21

[paigow]

When did Cobra Kai move to S.F. from L.A.???

[Camera One]

Does everyone watch this the next day?  It's so quiet in here.

I thought this was a better episode.  The story felt more coherent in some ways.  Nicky's reaction to what Zhilan said and having doubts about her Shifu makes sense.  The case of the week was pretty simple, but got the job done.  It was fun to see that "American school" master defeated by Nicky, though I was wincing that she would worsen her injuries.  Some of Shifu's speeches are too full of "ancient" platitude, but I actually liked her conversation with Nicky after visiting Zhilan, and how that brought Nicky back.   Seriously, without Althea's hacking abilities, Nicky couldn't get very far.

After finding out the pathetic reason for Zhilan's grudge against her sister, it's a real shame that Pei-Ling had to die.  The backstory was not very creative.  The scene where Pei-Ling "accidentally" stabbed her father felt super unconvincing.  Pei-Ling was afraid "Tan" was going to show up?  To pick up the sword?  Did the father already take the money?  The Uncle listened to Pei-Ling's request to hide the mother's notebook, but the Uncle had already sold the scroll?  Why?  He was desperate for money too?  Why didn't Pei-Ling grab the notebook while she was visiting instead of leaving it in the floorboards?   I might have to watch this part again to clarify what happened.  I can't say I feel any sympathy for Zhilan.  

As long as Nicky has feelings for Evan, Henry's out?  So he's not "helping" her with research anymore or what?  That reflects really badly on him, if that's the case.  

The Mom revealing her secrets at the end was a nice scene.  The whole idea that Nicky is a descendant of the first female warrior was hokey, but the actress playing the Mom made it work.   I can't say I was behind Nicky when she angrily stormed out at the end, though.  I hope we get to see Nicky's aunt one day.  

So if Nicky is the rightful owner of the sword, then why did it burn her hand?  It will be funny when Zhilan translates the scroll and it basically says, give the weapons back to the actual owner, please; your guardian services are no longer necessary.  

Edited May 27, 2021 by Camera One

[possibilities]

I agree Henry looks bad, but I'm glad if it reduces his screen time and if Nicky stops feeling like she can't do anything about her quest without him.

I was surprised by-the-book Evan was willing to use illegal hacking as useable evidence.

I was also surprised that Nicky's dad was mad at her mom for hiding/revealing her ancestry to Nicky. I thought they were the kind of couple that always has each others' backs presents a united front.

 

 

 

[paigow]

Shaolin Scientology Sportsbook is not a mashup I saw coming... 

3 hours ago, possibilities said:

I agree Henry looks bad,

Dude deserves to feel betrayed. She ghosted him.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I really want to know where people have rustic cabins near San Francisco (especially one close enough to SF that Nicky and Evan used to sneak off there to get away from their families). And Evan just left Nicky there without a car or a way to get home so I guess she walked home the next day. Mr. EB's family has a cabin at Tahoe and there isn't even enough cell reception or internet to get a Lyft.

While I understand Zhilan being upset that Pei-Ling killing their father, it's clear that it was an accident. It's not like Pei-Ling murdered him in cold blood (ahem, the way Zhilan murdered her own sister in cold blood).

And then Zhilan accusing her uncle who took her in and raised her of betraying her because he spoke to Pei-Ling a few times over the course of 10+ years? Girl, you need some serious therapy.

When Henry's friend first explained what was going on with his sister, I was like oh, she joined some kind of kung fu cult? Spending all your money on "trainings" and "classes" while moving into the compound and cutting ties with your family because the the cult leader says that the cult needs to be your first priority? That's classic cult brainwashing right there!

And OF COURSE Master Ponytail told Nicky that he couldn't share his wisdom with the uninitiated. Not only was he taking his students' money but he was also making money from live streaming the fights so double profit! I bet Keith Raniere is now kicking himself that he wasn't making money by letting people watch his sex slaves get branded.

When Phoebe said that the goal of training with him was soy hung, I was really hoping that Nicky would say something like, "You know that soy hung means 'outhouse eyebrow,' right? It's just some nonsense made up phrase that doesn't actually mean anything."

5 hours ago, Camera One said:

As long as Nicky has feelings for Evan, Henry's out?  So he's not "helping" her with research anymore or what?  That reflects really badly on him, if that's the case.  

On the one hand, I fully support someone who knows they are playing second fiddle because the person they're interested in is still in love with someone else. It's fine to say that you don't want to be a consolation prize while someone else is making heart eyes at their ex. But my issue is that he acted like he was her friend and interested in helping with research, so if he's going to completely drop all the research just because they aren't dating then I'm going to give him some serious side eye. People who only stick around because they want to date you but pretend to be your friend are not cool in my book.

5 hours ago, possibilities said:

I was also surprised that Nicky's dad was mad at her mom for hiding/revealing her ancestry to Nicky. I thought they were the kind of couple that always has each others' backs presents a united front.

I don't think that's what happened. Nicky was yelling at her mom but her mom kept her voice down. Nicky left the living room and saw her father standing in the hallway (he wasn't there earlier so I assumed he heard Nicky yelling and came to see what was going on). She asked her father for the car keys and left. Then he turned to his wife and said, "What have you done?" Nicky didn't see that though, so as far as she knows, her parents are still a united front. It remains to be seen how much her dad actually overheard. The last bits of Nicky's fight with her mom was her yelling that her mom lied to her and manipulated her and her mom saying she was trying to protect her. If that's all he heard, he probably thinks they were arguing about her mom sending her to China to find a husband during spring break for the millionth time.

1 hour ago, paigow said:

Dude deserves to feel betrayed. She ghosted him.

Maybe I'm splitting hairs but to me ghosting is when you leave a relationship by never returning someone's texts/calls. Yes, Nicky ditched him at the party but she went to find him the next day as soon as she got back from the cabin in the woods. I get that it hurt his feelings to see her drive off with Evan, but she sought him out 12 hours later to apologize so in my opinion she didn't ghost him. She was rude and inconsiderate but she didn't actually ghost him.

Edited May 27, 2021 by ElectricBoogaloo

[tv echo]

This episode was okay, but I didn't like the following...

• The dreaded love triangle. However, I interpreted that scene as Henry putting a pause on any progression of their romance (which is understandable if Nicky still has feelings for Evan), not on his willingness to help Nicky. If she asks him for more help in the future, I doubt he will refuse.
• Aside from the "one girl in every generation" giving me Buffy, the Vampire Slayer vibes, too often a TV show makes its hero or heroine super special because of a super special bloodline or genetic heritage or mystic destiny. I would've preferred it if Nicky stayed a regular girl who learned martial arts skills (kinda like the difference between anyone can use the Force and only those from special bloodlines can use the Force).
• I think I mentioned before that I have to suspend disbelief when someone with only three or five years training is able to beat someone who spent a lifetime training. I don't know how long Master Drake trained in martial arts, but I assume it was a lot longer than three years (unless he's a complete faker who never trained at all). Even given different martial arts methodologies, it would've been more believable if Nicky had beat Master Drake's star pupil (like Daniel beat Johnny in The Karate Kid), thus demonstrating the superiority of Nicky's training. 
• I agree that Zhilan's evil motivation was really lacking.

So maybe this episode was not okay.

Edited May 27, 2021 by tv echo

[Camera One]

Yeah, I have somewhat mixed feelings about Nicky's whole "chosen one" origins.

The students of the Kung-fu "school" didn't even find out that their fights were being filmed and they were being used as pawns for profit?  Did they just walk out on Master Drake because he got beaten by Nicky?

[owenthurman]

41 minutes ago, Camera One said:

Did they just walk out on Master Drake because he got beaten by Nicky?

This felt SO incomplete to me.

It felt like the fight needed one more significant beat for that walkout to feel realistic. Like, Master Drake needed to lose his temper, fight dirty, break his own rules, AND STILL LOSE to Nicky, for all his students to walk out on him en masse.

[owenthurman]

1 hour ago, tv echo said:

I have to suspend disbelief when someone with only three or five years training is able to beat someone who spent a lifetime training. I don't know how long Master Drake trained in martial arts, but I assume it was a lot longer than three years

There is a real difference between training part-time and training full-time. The person who takes a 75-minute martial arts class every Tuesday and Thursday does not receive the constant reinforcement of monastic-rules martial training, with constant drills and personal instruction from teachers. Thirty years of twice-weekly classes vs. three years of ten-hours-a-day, six-days-a-week training….

[tessaray]

9 hours ago, Camera One said:

So if Nicky is the rightful owner of the sword, then why did it burn her hand? 

I need to go back and watch the first episode to be sure but wasn't there a line about Nicky not being strong enough (yet? kinda implied I remember thinking) to wield the sword that burned her hand. 

[Testing]

Still find it funny Nicky wanted to learn martial arts while the actress was proud to not learn it before..

 

[tennisgurl]

The plot just keeps on thickening, now with Nicky even being the once in a generation chosen one with a whole secret family legacy. When will parents learn not to keep these huge family secrets from their kids? It just never ends well, the kids always find out anyway and it just makes everything even more of a pain. I am not sure that I like the introduction of a Chosen One narrative, but it does get her family more involved in the sword plot. 

Speaking of family, we get the backstory for Zhilan and Pei-Ling and why Zhilan hates her sister so much, and while I can get why Zhilan is upset as that was certainly really traumatizing, killing their father was very clearly an accident, unlike Zhilan murdering her sister and slaughtering everyone with her. I do find it kind of questionable that Pei-Ling left her sister with their fathers body after she killed him. Yeah her sister wasn't responding to her or moving to run with her, but she couldn't have grabbed her? Or tried to come back later? Of course Pei-Ling did apparently try to make amends with her sister and she wouldn't hear it, so all of this is still definitely on Zhilan. The blocking of the scene where Pei-Ling accidently stabbed her dad was really weird, I don't even know how you can fully stab someone with a sword at that angle by accident. 

The case of the week was pretty good, Nicky going against an evil Cobra Kai style Kung Fu cult was fun, although like with a lot of the cases of the week it feels rather unfinished. I expected Nicky to get Evil Ponytail Trainer to cheat or that she would show the students that he was making money off of them and that would make them all turn against her, her just beating him doesn't really seem like it would be enough to get his brainwashed students turn on him. 

I can get Henry wanting to back off of his and Nicky's possible romance if he thinks that she is still holding a candle for her ex and he might just be a placeholder, but him not wanting to be around her at all, not even be friends, if there isn't a possibility of romance anymore is not a good look. 

Edited May 27, 2021 by tennisgurl

[arc]

Every time Nicky talks to ghost Pei Ling, I think of that Simpsons episode where Homer hallucinated the spiritual coyote, specifically the part after the hallucination: "This is just your memory. I can't give you any new information."

Child Zhilan had a stick brace? Y'all realize that if this was 25 years ago it would still be 1995, not 1905? Why is the light flickering so much like there's a fire? They've clearly got electric lights.

"They're bruised, like, hella bad" -- wow, some attempt at Bay Area flavor! I approve. Not enough to make me wonder how a community center clinic has an x-ray machine, but still.

Considering real-life NXIVM had its hooks in the Vancouver TV community (Smallville, Battlestar Galactica), it's kinda funny another TV show shot there is doing a take on coercive cults.

Quote

Spending all your money on "trainings" and "classes" while moving into the compound and cutting ties with your family because the the cult leader says that the cult needs to be your first priority? That's classic cult brainwashing right there!

I know Pei-Ling didn't tell Nicky to cut her family off, but she did just move right in to a monastery (convent?)/cult and give up her entire life for the sake of martial arts training plus whatever mundane tasks of maintaining the monastery were.

12 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

When Phoebe said that the goal of training with him was soy hung, I was really hoping that Nicky would say something like, "You know that soy hung means 'outhouse eyebrow,' right? It's just some nonsense made up phrase that doesn't actually mean anything."

You have to have some incredible brass balls to make up fake Chinese words while teaching Chinese martial arts in a city that is 21% Chinese.

Young Pei-Ling was certainly not worthy of guarding the sword if she could ACCIDENTALLY KILL HER DAD WITH IT, and frankly her dad also loses a lot of points for failing basic safe handling of swords. Maybe the real villain is whoever took the scabbard away long ago though. That said, magical sword or no, I think Pei-Ling gave up on her dad too soon. He just took a stab to the gut, not the heart. That's not necessarily an immediately fatal wound. AND, she left her seriously ill and now orphaned younger sister behind too!!!

Why would her dad sell a sword he didn't believe in but also try to translate a scroll he presumably also didn't belive in?

BTW, as adult Zhilan has shown, temporary ownership of the weapons is not a big obstacle. Granted that a young Pei-ling might not have thought of this but the move shoulda been to just let Tan buy the sword, then steal it back later.

I know I said I wanted more cases of the week but Nicky went 0-60 really fast here with Phoebe.

It's a little weird that the show insists on using "shifu" but Nicky says "kung fu" and not, say, "wushu". It is also weird that the show insists on "baba" but uses the English "uncle". (BTW, the subtitling glossed over it, but "mei mei" and "jie jie" both mean sister, or more accurately one means "little sister" and one means "big sister" because Chinese is absurdly precise about relative ages for family relations.)

Literally nothing happening in this old stream of the underground MMA fights was Shaolin kungfu. A weird choice considering the Drake-Nicky fight is kungfu.

The technobabble is killing me. "the source code is mega encrypted" please stop. And there is NO WAY Althea needs to go from the cameras to the router to find the servers. The servers are internet broadcasting video!!! Just hop on the stream and "backtrace" from there!!!

Why did the old streams show students fighting in gym clothes but everyone's got on Asian-looking martial arts clothes this time?

9 hours ago, Camera One said:

Did they just walk out on Master Drake because he got beaten by Nicky?

ROFL. They really boiled the case of the week down to the core essentials: Nicky won a fight so she's morally in the right.

I did like the twist about Nicky's destiny. I kinda hope even though supposedly it was Nicky's aunt who was the "chosen one" last generation that Mama Shen can bust out some moves.

Nicky just took her parents' car? Call a cab or take the bus, you moocher!

[paigow]

Nicky: I hate you Mom.  Can I borrow the car?

Edited May 28, 2021 by paigow

[Camera One]

It bothered me a little that Ryan's white T-shirt or undershirt was showing through one sleeve of the polo shirt.  I wonder if that was an intentional glimpse into Ryan's personality as reflected by his method of dressing, or it was an accident.  

I wonder if they will reveal that Pei-Ling secretly knew of Nicky's ancestry.

Edited May 28, 2021 by Camera One

[arc]

Was no one in this show's Scoobies tempted to bet on Nicky?

Actually, how did this whole betting thing work? The site probably didn't hype up Nicky vs Drake, considering he invited her to the fight the same day and it probably wasn't promoted on the website before the fight or Althea would've seen it.

Also, seems poor that 50K subscribers tune in to an underground fight club that the authorities have no idea about.

Also, they should've used AWS, not some "residence near the airport". Or just stream it through the analogue for Twitch or Youtube.

But aside from the logistics of the betting*, the unlikelihood of a secret fight club regularly generating multiple serious injuries, and everything wrong on the tech side of the story, and everyone quitting the school because their sifu lost a fight with a rando, the plot was okay.

* it strikes me now that with this and the secret high rollers casino in ep 2, Nicky goes up against shady illegal gambling quite a bit more often than one might expect.

[paigow]

1 hour ago, arc said:

* it strikes me now that with this and the secret high rollers casino in ep 2, Nicky goes up against shady illegal gambling quite a bit more often than one might expect.

From gamboool.com

All that said, the closest casino to San Francisco is the Graton Resort & Casino in Rohnert Park. The Graton is located 50 miles north of San Francisco on Highway 101. The casino boasts that you can go from “Bay to Play” in just 43 minutes.

[Camera One]

On this team, Nicky is perpetually the "staller" while Althea does her "I just need a few minutes!" tech thing.  Meanwhile, Ryan eats snacks and Evan explains how rigid the law is.

[paigow]

4 hours ago, arc said:

Not enough to make me wonder how a community center clinic has an x-ray machine, but still.

The "Bro" running the sweatshop NEXT DOOR probably paid for it...

[thuganomics85]

Episode literally starts off by showing once again how Zhilan beat the stuffing out of Nicky.  That's harsh, show!  No need to kick Nicky while she's down!

Not surprised that there was more to the whole Pei-Ling/Zhilan situation than Zhilan's typical "She killed our father!" speech.  I mean, yeah, Pei-Ling technically did kill him, but it was clearly an accident and she was a teenager, so it wasn't the straight-up murder that Zhilan made it out to be.  And considering that Zhilan was this close to strangling their uncle, I can't say anyone really has a foot to stand on, which it comes to this family and how they treat their fatherly figures.  Also kind of a waste of Ron Yuan as their father, but I'm always glad when he shows up on something I watch!

The "case of the week" had potential with the whole "Nicky goes undercover in a martial arts school to take on a corrupt teacher" story, but it felt a bit rushed and underdeveloped: especially the ending.  I agree that it really should have taken more than Nicky simply beating Master Drake to make his students turn on him that quickly (before they found out about the whole video-recording thing.)

Love triangle is heating up now as Nicky clearly still has feelings for Evan (and vice versa), and Henry clearly sees it as well and is putting a "pause" on things for now.  At first, I thought he just meant any romantic possibilities, but if he means not even working together on the magical weapons anymore, then, yeah, it kind of makes him look like an immature jerk.

 Still enjoy Althea and Ryan backing up Nicky on missions, even if this time it was really just Althea doing all the work, while Ryan ate and watched behind her.

Nicky finds out that she is actually a descendent of a famous warrior woman and her mom was hiding her lineage this entire time.  More family drama!

For a second I thought Tzi Ma was going to have the episode off, but then he literally shows up in the last five seconds.  Easy week of work for him!

Looks like Zhilan and her quest is now going to bring in this Tan family, starting with one of the sons, who looks like a spoiled rich guy, but since he's played by Ludi Lin a.k.a. Liu Kang from Mortal Kombat and Zack from the Power Rangers reboot, I'm guessing he's going to be showing off some fighting skills as well!

[paigow]

1 hour ago, thuganomics85 said:

Looks like Zhilan and her quest is now going to bring in this Tan family, starting with one of the sons, who looks like a spoiled rich guy, but since he's played by Ludi Lin a.k.a. Liu Kang from Mortal Kombat and Zack from the Power Rangers reboot, I'm guessing he's going to be showing off some fighting skills as well!

Crazy Rich Asians - but with more action. Maybe Michelle Yeoh is his mom....

[ElectricBoogaloo]

7 hours ago, paigow said:

From gamboool.com

All that said, the closest casino to San Francisco is the Graton Resort & Casino in Rohnert Park. The Graton is located 50 miles north of San Francisco on Highway 101. The casino boasts that you can go from “Bay to Play” in just 43 minutes.

Red Hawk Casino is located in San Francisco. The Casino San Pablo is about 18 miles from San Francisco. The Oaks Card Club technically isn't a casino but they have poker, blackjack, baccarat, and pai gow. It's on the Oakland/Emeryville border which is about 10 miles from San Francisco.

[william0102]

Someone way upthread asked if everyone watches the show next day, I always watch On Demand within the first week of an ep airing, for any shows that are new. It's the only way that I know that the show gets "credit" for me watching since I'm not a Nielsen boxowner lol.

If they would have cut down the Evan/cabin scene, and the end of the fight with the mom- then we could have had a bit at the end of the cage fight where Nicky announces that he's been streaming their precious soy-whatever fights and profiting. Since, yeah, the students just walking off was lame. 

I didn't get the impression that Henry was dipping on their research. I think they really can't do that since they've established that Nicky "cannot research on her own", lol. Also for the sake of their love triangle, they can't have Henry not be part of the research, because it's only Nicky visiting Ryan at the community center where she would run into Henry. Would Nicky even be able to go into the section of books that she needs at the university library? Unless what they want is to have her pause on the research while she heals from her exacerbated injuries and have her play tag along with Evan for a couple cases.

You guys, I never even assumed the mom followed Nicky, I thought she had somehow got the info off the betting site- and I was like "well that seems like a really big plot hole to forget about, but okay, show." Since they asked me to believe that Nicky's lawyering wouldn't have let her know how restraining orders worked, I was fully willing to just accept it as a bad plot about the mom. I don't know how I feel about the whole chosen one from each generation thing, but it does help with why Nicky has been so focused on getting the weapons. I personally thought her getting justice for her mentor was enough motivation, but this works too. And it brings in her feelings about her mom controlling her, nicely.

Loved the flashbacks, wish some of the cuts had been a little longer- like with Tan having been knocking at the door while Pei-ling was trying to get Zhilan to leave- but they all worked for me. Zhilan is too young to realize what happened, cool. She spent 20 years thinking her sister abandoned her and likely killed their dad, okay check.  So she probably spent that time also resenting the sword until she realized how it was part of a collection of power that she wanted. I can assume she did shady stuff, and had no problems pushing what she was willing to do, onto why Pei-Ling did what she did and abandoned her for the sword. I am so excited for Ludi to be part of the show, love him. Is it bad part of me wants Nicky or Zhilan to get with him? Nicky has no chemistry with Evan, so I mean if they are gonna shelf Henry for a bit, have Zhilan send him to SF to spy on Nicky, please, lol.

[AnimeMania]

I think it would have been better if Nicky was connected to some other magical weapon, instead of the sword. Does that mean that Nicky and Zhilan are related? Maybe the words branded on Nicky's hand is the incantations/instructions for bringing out the magical properties of the sword, which picked her as the rightful owner. Nicky needs to compare her hand, the scroll, and maybe Zhilan's mother's notebook to get the best understanding of what is really going on.

[paigow]

There should be once in a generation warriors for each weapon. Maybe teaming up is the way to beat Zhilan and her new Crazy Rich boyfriend...

[arc]

5 hours ago, william0102 said:

You guys, I never even assumed the mom followed Nicky, I thought she had somehow got the info off the betting site

She did! She copied the address from the website. Why would an illegal fight club advertise its address on the web??? And yet Mei-Li Shen was the only outsider there! Nicky was invited, she invited Henry along, and everyone else there was a student/“disciple”. So they advertise their address, they don’t lock the front door after hours, but this internet famous operation doesn’t attract any IRL fans??

[possibilities]

I desperately want to like this show, but the writing is SO BAD. And the heroine is the worst character, SO helpless and petulant, and her love triangle is SO RIDICULOUS. I want a show with an Asian cast to succeed. That's the only reason I'm still watching, and it's starting to feel like martyrdom. I hate that if a bad show fails, it will be taken as evidence that a cast with almost all Asian cast can't succeed, when really the problem is that it's a shitty show and that should be blamed on the show runner, not the demographics.

[william0102]

1 hour ago, AnimeMania said:

I think it would have been better if Nicky was connected to some other magical weapon, instead of the sword. Does that mean that Nicky and Zhilan are related? Maybe the words branded on Nicky's hand is the incantations/instructions for bringing out the magical properties of the sword, which picked her as the rightful owner. Nicky needs to compare her hand, the scroll, and maybe Zhilan's mother's notebook to get the best understanding of what is really going on.

She's not connected to the sword, she's the descendant of the first woman warrior, not the weapons. It's her family's belief that one woman a generation from their family could wield the sword, not protect it. Though wielding it would come along with protecting it. 

[arc]

2 hours ago, possibilities said:

I desperately want to like this show, but the writing is SO BAD. […] I hate that if a bad show fails, it will be taken as evidence that a cast with almost all Asian cast can't succeed, when really the problem is that it's a shitty show and that should be blamed on the show runner, not the demographics.

Take heart! I watch Superman and Lois and have dipped in here and there on other CW shows and this is basically at the level of other CW shows as far as writing goes.

[AnimeMania]

2 hours ago, william0102 said:

4 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

I think it would have been better if Nicky was connected to some other magical weapon, instead of the sword. Does that mean that Nicky and Zhilan are related? Maybe the words branded on Nicky's hand is the incantations/instructions for bringing out the magical properties of the sword, which picked her as the rightful owner. Nicky needs to compare her hand, the scroll, and maybe Zhilan's mother's notebook to get the best understanding of what is really going on.

She's not connected to the sword, she's the descendant of the first woman warrior, not the weapons. It's her family's belief that one woman a generation from their family could wield the sword, not protect it. Though wielding it would come along with protecting it. 

Here is a transcript of what was said:

Mama Fu: I shouldn't have been so surprised. I've seen glimpses of it, ever since you've come home, but tonight, that fight.

Nicky: Mama, you know I've been training.

Mama Fu: No. There is a difference between training and what I saw. You are a warrior, Nicky. A warrior by birth. I've been trying to shield you from it your whole life, trying to change your destiny. 

Mama Fu: I shouldn't have been so surprised. I've seen glimpses of it, ever since you've come home, but tonight, that fight.

Nicky: Mama, you know I've been training.

Mama Fu: No. There is a difference between training and what I saw. You are a warrior, Nicky. A warrior by birth. I've been trying to shield you from it your whole life, trying to change your destiny. 

Nicky: My destiny?

Mama Fu: It was the last thing I wanted for you. I suppose I was a fool to think I could stop it. It's in your blood.

Nicky: What are you saying?

Mama Fu: You are a descendant of Liang Daiyu. The first woman warrior. We know the lineage is real. Traceable. But only a few believed in what that really meant. Our family's legacy.

Nicky: Legacy?

Mama Fu: As descendants of Liang Daiyu, we are the rightful owners of her sword. It's been lost for generations, held by a guardian, but it is said that when the time is right, it would be ours to reclaim. Our birthright. It was said that one member of every generation... a woman... would be chosen to wield the sword.

Nicky: And you believed this growing up? That's why you kept it from us?

Mama Fu: I... I never really understood any of it, but my sister, she did. She believed the stories.

Nicky: Auntie Mei-Xue? You said she died when she was a teenager. Tuberculosis.

Mama Fu: Lied. It's less painful than the truth. She believed she had the right to wield the sword, that she was the chosen one of our generation. That it was calling out to her. And she was obsessed. I begged her to stay but she ran away, abandoning me, our family. We haven't seen her since.

[Stardancer Supreme]

On 5/27/2021 at 2:33 PM, tennisgurl said:

The plot just keeps on thickening, now with Nicky even being the once in a generation chosen one with a whole secret family legacy. When will parents learn not to keep these huge family secrets from their kids? It just never ends well, the kids always find out anyway and it just makes everything even more of a pain. I am not sure that I like the introduction of a Chosen One narrative, but it does get her family more involved in the sword plot. 

What would make this story more awesome is if the Chosen One is Althea instead of Nicky...

[Testing]

7 hours ago, possibilities said:

I desperately want to like this show, but the writing is SO BAD. And the heroine is the worst character, SO helpless and petulant, and her love triangle is SO RIDICULOUS. I want a show with an Asian cast to succeed. That's the only reason I'm still watching, and it's starting to feel like martyrdom. I hate that if a bad show fails, it will be taken as evidence that a cast with almost all Asian cast can't succeed, when really the problem is that it's a shitty show and that should be blamed on the show runner, not the demographics.

Have you watched Warrior on HBO Max? But yeah not much Asian casts on local TV.. Kim's Convenience ended, but I think Never Have I Ever will have their second season on Netflix. And then there are the crazy reality TV shows like House of Ho and Bling Empire lol

Everyone else on the show is more likable than Nicky. If she's like this now, I expect she will get worse as the  series goes on.

[Trini]

On 5/27/2021 at 2:00 AM, Camera One said:

Does everyone watch this the next day?  It's so quiet in here.

For reasons I'm usually watching this days later.

This show really doesn't need the love triangle nonsense. There's enough drama for Nicky elsewhere (especially with the latest twist), and Evan is an ex with a girlfriend, they don't need to be romantically involved. I took Henry's "pause" as a backing away from him and Nicky as a couple; not from helping her with research.

I kind of side-eye the "chosen one" twist, but I do think it's an interesting development, anyway. I liked seeing more backstory for Zhilan and Pei Ling. Although, I think I might need a flow chart to to keep track of all the mythologies, relationships, and objects.

Even though it's mostly her family, the show has that typical Berlanti team format for the cases of the week; and I really hope that the show doesn't get stuck in that rut like other Berlanti shows.

 

On 5/28/2021 at 2:03 PM, possibilities said:

I desperately want to like this show, but the writing is SO BAD. And the heroine is the worst character, SO helpless and petulant, and her love triangle is SO RIDICULOUS. I want a show with an Asian cast to succeed. That's the only reason I'm still watching, and it's starting to feel like martyrdom. I hate that if a bad show fails, it will be taken as evidence that a cast with almost all Asian cast can't succeed, when really the problem is that it's a shitty show and that should be blamed on the show runner, not the demographics.

The show is renewed for season 2, if you're just watching to try and keep it alive.

[akg]

On 5/28/2021 at 2:03 PM, possibilities said:

I desperately want to like this show, but the writing is SO BAD. And the heroine is the worst character, SO helpless and petulant, and her love triangle is SO RIDICULOUS. I want a show with an Asian cast to succeed. That's the only reason I'm still watching, and it's starting to feel like martyrdom. I hate that if a bad show fails, it will be taken as evidence that a cast with almost all Asian cast can't succeed, when really the problem is that it's a shitty show and that should be blamed on the show runner, not the demographics

Same. I watch on the CW app on thursdays and make myself start with this show before I watch Nancy Drew. Which I'm loving this season so it's a nice reward. I'm really hoping the writers of Kung Fu fix a few issues over the summer and the show can come back next fall in a much better form.