S02.E02: Year of the Tiger: Part 2

[Trini]

In the midst of Lunar New Year festivities in Chinatown, Nicky tries to help her newly-discovered cousin Mia (guest star Vanessa Yao) understand her new reality. Meanwhile, as Nicky and Evan follow a lead involving one of Russell Tan's (guest star Kee Chan) mercenaries, Henry keeps an eye on Mia at the community center. Elsewhere, Ryan meets Sebastian (guest star JB Tadena), Harmony Dumpling's newest line cook, and Kerwin (guest star Ludi Lin) is paid a surprise visit by his sister Juliet (guest star Annie Q.) Finally, Zhilan is forced to confront her past.

Joe Menendez directed the episode written by Ryan Johnson & Peter Lalayanis.

Airdate: 3/16/2022

Edited March 16, 2022 by Trini

[Trini]

[Aw, no one watches this live?]

So - the plot thickens... on all the plots. (So many plots!) Juliette Tan basically being a younger, prettier version of her father is so CW. Now the Tans have a magical bell? I guess we'll see where that goes.

I'm assuming Mia will be back sooner than later, but it's weird to lose her so soon. Even if the Shens don't feel like family to her (yet!), they've still been really helpful, so you'd think she stay for longer than a day.

So is Althea quitting Loungr? I'd rather she had a plot about reforming the company.

Nicky's dad and Ryan being so supportive of Nicky's mom was cute.

Dang -- I figured Zhilan would get out of prison somehow, but not in episode 2! So Ghost Shifu addressed whether Zhilan is getting redeemed; and the answer is... not yet?

[paigow]

The show is saving money by sending Mia to La Isla de Oliver Queen 

Althea will open a code sweatshop because she has absorbed enough slacker vibes to balance working 24/7 forever...

[Cress]

I'm relieved that Zhilan broke out of prison sooner rather than later. I was not looking forward to a season of her stuck in her cell being bullied. I wonder why she left her pendant behind, though?

I didn't get Althea's stupid boss complaining about her working "in front of everybody" then complaining about her working in the nap pod too. What the hell is she supposed to do all day, if you won't let her work on Loungr's actual app? I hated the whole scenario. I want Althea to do something else, maybe make some app that helps Ryan's doctor's office or something. Anything other than this stupid Loungr crap.

I don't get why Mia ran off. Is she afraid that if she gets too close to the family, then Sasha's going to murder them all like they did with Mia's New York friends? Also I thought the writers were trying to make us suspicious about her for a while, but she definitely recognized the fringe jacket.

Edited March 17, 2022 by Cress

[possibilities]

The new line cook is definitely Ryan's new love interest. I just hope he's for real and not a spy or something, trying to infliltrate the family.

Althea's boss wants her to goof off and throw things like her colleagues. I didn't see that as work-life balance. Work-life balance is when you do some of each, not when you goof off full time. And what harm was Althea doing by working out of sight, or doing something else "as a side gig" if they didn't want her to work, anyway? Why did they hire her? I have known people who want to goof off all the time. I just don't know why they hired Althea id they didn't want her to do any work. 

If Mia lived in a cabin alone with her mother with no explanation until she was 16, she'd definitely be nuts. That's mentally scarring. I don't know if she has a rational motive to flee or if she's just too traumatized to handle the company on offer. 

I find Zhilan boring because she's nothing but snarl. Her motives are stupid, her behavior is one note, and I just don't care about watching her character.

 

[norcalgal]

1 hour ago, possibilities said:

If Mia lived in a cabin alone with her mother with no explanation until she was 16, she'd definitely be nuts. That's mentally scarring. I don't know if she has a rational motive to flee or if she's just too traumatized to handle the company on offer. 

Because the character comes across as bitchy and ungrateful rather than scared, traumatized, mentally fragile or confused/overwhelmed about “real life” outside of her mom’s cabin, I’m ready for Mia to FOAD. Oh yeah, miss me with her being an EXTRA special snowflake if it does turn out she’s the child of the only known pairing of a Warrior and a Guardian.  🙄

 

[Trini]

17 hours ago, Cress said:

... I wonder why she left her pendant behind, though?

I'm guessing to make people think she died in the fire? But I don't see how that would fool anyone - especially the Tans - for long.

[thuganomics85]

Definitely thinking Zhilan left the pendant as an attempt to make it look like she died in the fire as well.  Although, maybe it was also partially to show that she's moved past it as well and is truly on a new path.  Did find it funny that Hallucination Pei-Leng wasn't there to give a pep talk because she isn't even sure Zhilan is worthy of "redemption."  She just wanted her to get her ass in gear and start killing some fools!

Kerwin is up and about already, but we now get to meet his sister, Juliette, who might even be more smug than him, which is saying something.  And seems to be Daddy Tan's favorite right now.  Don't thinks he's wrong though that Kerwin still has feelings for Zhilan.  Hey, relationships have their ups and downs, and a little throat slitting isn't necessarily a deal breaker!

Looks like Althea is already done with her new job.  If this is it for that arc, it was strange that they bothered to get someone like Edi Patterson to play the boss.  Not sure what her deal was over Althea helping Nicky out on "company time."  It wasn't like she was doing a paid gig or anything.  If she's all about her employees just goofing off and not working, why not just let Althea be?

Sebastian is totally being set up as a new love interest for Ryan.  Hope he doesn't end up being bad in any way.

Happy for Mei-Li and Jin that the restaurant seems to be thriving now.

Fun seeing the villain from the pilot again.

Mia going off to do her own thing smacks of atypical "stretching things out to keep the seasonal arc going" thing, which is annoying and makes Mia come off unlikable now.

[HerkyJerky]

23 hours ago, possibilities said:

I have known people who want to goof off all the time. I just don't know why they hired Althea id they didn't want her to do any work. 

When I was in college, I worked in a storage facility where we would take calls and look up old files.  But no one ever called and we played cards all day long.  People thought I had the best job but after screwing off all day long,  when I came home I just wanted to do something, anything that was productive.  LOL!

[KaveDweller]

On 3/17/2022 at 10:57 PM, possibilities said:

If Mia lived in a cabin alone with her mother with no explanation until she was 16, she'd definitely be nuts. That's mentally scarring. I don't know if she has a rational motive to flee or if she's just too traumatized to handle the company on offer. 

But Mia doesn't seem like someone who was raised in a cabin with no outside contact. She seems pretty normal. Maybe she just adapted while in New York, it wasn't clear how long she had been living on the streets there. 

I assume we will be seeing her again this season.

I agree with all the comments about Althea's boss and why they even hired her. Also not sure the point of the story if she is really done working there.

[Camera One]

This season seems to be shaping up to be slightly better, at least dialogue-wise and plotwise (somewhat).  I mean, not putting your phone on silent during a super secret mission was laughable, but at least it had zero consequences.   Last season was a bit frustrating with Zhilan pretty much getting what she wanted for most of the season.

Althea's boss was uber annoying, though I'm not sure if she was supposed to be funny or what.  If they were going to create that setting, I'd prefer to stick with it for a bit longer (Althea working at a company that was bought out by Russell Tan would have given her a connection).  I can't believe none of her co-workers backed her up.  At least they would be working on passion projects or something.   Althea working in the sleep pod was amusing, though.

So Zhilan just needed her sister to give her a pep talk to gain a will to live.  Ooookay.  

Mia was ungrateful and annoying.  She didn't need their help.  Except with all the intel and the research, of course.  Well, at least Henry knows enough to have a few leads about where she might have gone.  I wouldn't mind it if she's the sacrifice this season demands.  Better her than any of the originals.

I forgot... where are the Tans located?  I'm assuming near San Francisco since they got the artifact so quickly.  Ludi's sister sounds like she could be an interesting character.

Ryan deserves better than cutting his hand while cutting cabbage or lettuce or whatever.  Though I always enjoy seeing more "everyday" normal scenes like at the restaurant.  Their dad seeing a friend delivering food could have been explored a bit more.  I also enjoyed all the Chinese New Year decorations.  Henry took awhile to realize the baby lions weren't there, LOL.

Edited March 21, 2022 by Camera One

[possibilities]

4 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

I agree with all the comments about Althea's boss and why they even hired her. Also not sure the point of the story if she is really done working there.

Maybe someone just really wanted to complain about workplaces like that, so they wrote it into the show.

Edited March 21, 2022 by possibilities

[Stardancer Supreme]

On 3/21/2022 at 1:26 AM, Camera One said:

This season seems to be shaping up to be slightly better, at least dialogue-wise and plotwise (somewhat).  I mean, not putting your phone on silent during a super secret mission was laughable, but at least it had zero consequences.   Last season was a bit frustrating with Zhilan pretty much getting what she wanted for most of the season.

 

I'm binge watching Season 2 and 3 and I couldn't help but wince whenever Nicky's phone went off at the most inopportune times. I keep my phone on silent damn near every day; why on earth wouldn't Nicky silence it while slinking about in places where she doesn't want to be discovered?