S02.E01: Year of the Tiger: Part 1

[tessaray]

Air Date: March 9, 2022

With the Lunar New Year around the corner, a more confident and grounded Nicky finds herself in a great place in her relationship with Henry and with her family. However, when a break-in at the Shen residence leaves her shaken, Nicky, with the help of Evan, begins to suspect that Russell Tan may be involved. Elsewhere, as Mei-Li and Jin prepare for the New Year at Harmony Dumplings, Althea begins to question whether she made the right decision re-entering the workforce. Finally, an unexpected guest at the Shen’s New Year’s Eve dinner rocks the family to their core.

[memememe76]

I love the Nicky Henry and Evan trio. Evan as a great gunsman is such a great move. I missed the last couple of episodes last season due to my tech issues so I didn’t realize Dennis is now part of the shenanigans. Loved the whole family dynamic. 
 

And no more cases of the week!

[Trini]

That was a really good start to the season! I'm pretty intrigued by all the stories they started here.

But since when is Even a sniper??

How old is Mia supposed to be? I think the actress looks older than whatever age she's supposed to be playing.

So now Ghost Shifu is with Zhilan? Well, I guess there's no one else in the cast she can really interact with right now. But I hope Ghost Shifu still has scenes with Nicky.

1 hour ago, memememe76 said:

And no more cases of the week!

I doubt that part is completely going away.

[paigow]

Zhilan could not even kill her ex-boyfriend... no wonder she is the now the equivalent of Beecher on Oz

[thuganomics85]

Pretty good start, I think.  The introduction of Mia and the team having to protect her from Russell Tan and his cronies is intriguing enough, and should hopefully introduce some interesting dynamics.  Obviously, I'm sure the relationship between her and Nicky will be a main factor, but I have to imagine Mei-Li will be having a lot of emotions over finding out her deceased sister actually had a daughter this entire time.

Continue to love all of the character interactions and chemistry between the cast.  Definitely glad Dennis is getting to be involved more this go around!

The Shen's new line cook is totally being set up as a love interest for Ryan.  Right now, he seems almost too good to be true, so I hope nothing shady is going on...

Althea continues to be the best: even when she's stuck working at some kind of tech job where no one else takes it as seriously as she does.  Weird as hell seeing Edi Patterson as her boss for a brief moment.  I wonder how that came about because I wouldn't have predicted that Judy from The Righteous Gemstones would ever appear on The CW (not that there is anything wrong with that)!

Zhilan is not having a good time in prison, I see.  And now it's her turn to get Pei-Ling stuck her in head!

Kerwin is already out from his coma, but I have a feeling he won't be happy being under dad's thumb again.

Welcome back, Kung Fu!

[possibilities]

I just wish they didn't shoot so many scenes in the dark. I thought my TV was dying.

[paigow]

Is the show going full Princess Bride???  The dude is mostly dead but re-animated?? 

[Camera One]

This premiere was fine, though it took awhile to be re-engaged, even though I enjoyed seeing all the characters again.  

Once the cousin showed up, the momentum picked up but it almost went too quickly.  I'm glad we didn't get multiple episodes of angry cousin targeting them, though.  How the heck was she able to figure out their secret stash for research?  Was she behind the bookcase spying on them for weeks?  

That cabin must not be a very remote location when they can get to it so quickly.  Defeating the special ops team from Russell Tan seemed almost too easy.  Just in time for dinner, too. 

It was nice seeing a bit of regular life with Althea. 

Looks like Zhilan is going to get a redemption arc.  Why is she not fighting back in prison?  

Darn, the ratings seem to be down a bit from last year.  I want to have this show around for awhile!

[peachmangosteen]

On 3/10/2022 at 12:13 AM, Trini said:

How old is Mia supposed to be? I think the actress looks older than whatever age she's supposed to be playing.

Yea, it seems like she's supposed to be a teen but the actress doesn't look like one at all. ETA: Googling says the actress is 27. Listen, I'm down for casting non-teens as teens but like let's maybe not go above 24-ish lol.

16 hours ago, possibilities said:

I just wish they didn't shoot so many scenes in the dark. I thought my TV was dying.

Right! I can never see anything!

It took me forever to realize the prisoner was the woman from last season. That actress looks completely different to me every time I see her lol.

[emma675]

I thought it was a really good season opening. I liked kind of easing into the action, seeing the family and friends having fun together, catching up on their lives, and seeing what they are doing now.

I'm happy the family restaurant is doing good, it's nice to see them stressing about too many guests instead of empty tables. And I feel like the new chef has a secret.

I love the Henry/Nicky/Evan trio. And Evan is a sharpshooter, who knew?! I also love that Dennis is fully part of the family secrets now. And Althea remains the best.

I'm saving judgment on Mia until we know more about her.

[Cress]

16 hours ago, Camera One said:

Looks like Zhilan is going to get a redemption arc.  Why is she not fighting back in prison?

Yeah I'm not liking her prison storyline so far. Will she eventually be able to break out and see Kerwin again? I'm not sure how she could apologize, though, unless he accepts her help in getting away from his dad Russell Tan.

I hope Ryan can have a happy lovelife this season. I forgot what the chef's name is.

I thought they were going to say that Mia was the one who buried her mother. Because when Nicky found Mei-Xue's grave last year, she did ask "Who buried you?". Yet Mia didn't mention burying her mom, and she made it sound like she didn't return to her mom's cabin until after Sasha and company killed all the friends in New York. So, again, is there another relative in hiding? Is it Mia's father?

[Camera One]

17 minutes ago, Cress said:

I thought they were going to say that Mia was the one who buried her mother. Because when Nicky found Mei-Xue's grave last year, she did ask "Who buried you?". Yet Mia didn't mention burying her mom, and she made it sound like she didn't return to her mom's cabin until after Sasha and company killed all the friends in New York. So, again, is there another relative in hiding? Is it Mia's father?

Good question.  I know they can't have too much exposition but I wanted to hear Nicky tell her that they were seeking out her mother and why.  Considering how paranoid she was, Mia accepted their story almost instantly.

17 minutes ago, Cress said:

Yeah I'm not liking her prison storyline so far. Will she eventually be able to break out and see Kerwin again?

Me neither.  I'm glad they are finding a way to incorporate Shifu but I'm not buying the 180 of having Zhilan be a helpless bullied inmate.  Maybe if they didn't have her brutually murdering that K-pop star last season.  A show can't have it both ways if they want to redeem a villain.

Edited March 12, 2022 by Camera One

[Trini]

2 hours ago, Camera One said:

Me neither.  I'm glad they are finding a way to incorporate Shifu but I'm not buying the 180 of having Zhilan be a helpless bullied inmate.  Maybe if they didn't have her brutually murdering that K-pop star last season.  A show can't have it both ways if they want to redeem a villain.

I don't think she's really helpless, but she's not not fighting back for a reason, and I hope we find out why.

I'm not sure they really can redeem her (she murdered way more than that K-pop star); but I'm not so sure that's what they're doing. We'll see, I guess; but I think they can keep her as an antagonist, in any case.

[Trini]

On re-watch:

Obviously you get more context if you watch Season 1, but I think if new viewers wanted to start watching with this season premiere, they would be able to follow along fine.

Clearly, covid restrictions were relaxed between Seasons 1 and 2. It was great to see the restaurant with employees and customers!

So now Nicky has a Batman-like reputation in the neighborhood. Maybe Ryan is right about her being a superhero - heh!

I guess it's cool that Nicky/Henry/Evan are all friendly now, but it's still a little weird to me since they were in a love triangle last season. I suppose I'll get used to it. Speaking of relationships, I hope they don't add extra drama with Sebastian; he seems okay so far.

Not sure where they're going to go with Althea and Loungr; I don't think she quitting, at least not soon. However, I think it might be good to see he take over the company.

I don't know if they're really going to do a full redemption with Zhilan, but unlike a lot of other 'reformed' CW villains, at least she seems to have some remorse and is actually doing time in prison. I just wonder how many episodes can they have her be off by herself (with Pei Ling). There's got to be some way they connect her to another character.... So, jailbreak?

It'll be interesting what they do with Kerwin, since he was against his father, but betrayed by Zhilan. I feel they could go any way with him.

Don't know what to think about Mia yet. So many questions I need answered about her! I guess she's this season's mystery.

And I'm going to wade in the shallow end for a bit: I can't remember that last time I watched a show with so many hot dudes in the cast at once! It's kind of ridiculous. 😍  Ludi Lin should consider rocking facial hair more often.