S02.E09: The Enclave

[Trini]

After uncovering an item that Russell Tan is after, Nicky enlists her entire family to help infiltrate the Enclave, a secret gathering of the world’s elite. Elsewhere, Nicky deals with the fallout of a secret she’s kept from Mia.

R.T. Thorne directed the episode written by Dan Hamamura.

Airdate: 5/11/2022

 

[paigow]

I thought this would be about Althea buying a new car...

[Trini]

Hey, Captain Singh Patrick Sabongui! Aw, I miss him on The Flash, but it was nice to see him here.

Ryan, noooooooo!!

I was enjoying this heist episode up until then. :(

I wish they had let Team Nicky get the win with the mallet, though. Everyone worked so hard for the whole plan!

More thoughts later...

Edited May 12, 2022 by Trini
oy, typos -- don't type when sleepy everyone

[william0102]

I'm not worried about Ryan, I think they have made him too important, being a part of the gang, to kill him off this early. Plus, it would be very mean of them to have killed him off and have had Nicky being more concerned with Mia in the previews. That said this IS the CW, so you know, I could be completely wrong.

Good, solid episode. Couple wonky points, with the one family handing over the silk, and Tan immediately figuring out Nicky had a replica, but I can forgive that. I thought Mia and Nicky's reactions to Ryan getting shot were really good, tho I wish one of them had tried to stop the bleeding, lol. Laughed at the mom's "I gave him whatever the Wong's ordered."

[tennisgurl]

Ryan! No! Granted, I'm sure that he's going to be fine, killing off a major character and Nicky's brother would make this show way too dark, but getting shot still sucks. I really liked this episode, the heist was a lot of fun and I loved seeing almost the entire cast working together (except for Dennis, who had an important Magic game) to sneak into a creepy rich people ball. I wish they had gotten away with the mallet, the gang needs a win. 

Mia certainly did jump pretty quickly to murder, but the real issue is that Mia's getting annoyed with Nicky for keeping secrets, not listening to her ideas, and now feels guilty that her going rogue led to Ryan getting hurt, which is unfortunate as she also has Zhilan around trying to play dark mentor. 

Loved Mei-Li going into serious business mode when she realized that the guy who would be testing her food was a famous chef, yeah saving the city from a magic bell is important, but cooking a perfect bite for this guy is even more so! Maybe they should look into catering more? Just for less evil parties. 

[paigow]

1 hour ago, tennisgurl said:

Loved Mei-Li going into serious business mode when she realized that the guy who would be testing her food was a famous chef, yeah saving the city from a magic bell is important, but cooking a perfect bite for this guy is even more so! Maybe they should look into catering more? Just for less evil parties. 

Gee... Having to make 2000 dumplings... maybe if she had competent help like ... SEBASTIAN.. FFS! Was he out killing the Sons Of Anarchy???

Now we know that Mia has extra plot armour... because when Tan ends up dead, Sebastian will do the time, regardless of the truth... 

[Trini]

4 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Loved Mei-Li going into serious business mode when she realized that the guy who would be testing her food was a famous chef, yeah saving the city from a magic bell is important, but cooking a perfect bite for this guy is even more so! Maybe they should look into catering more? Just for less evil parties. 

It be would funny, but awesome if Harmony dumplings actually got more business because of this caper! That's one way to get a win out of this.

I did like that this episode showed new sides to Mei-Li and Jin. It's a little convenient that Jin just happens to be a master woodworker, but it's not contrary to what we know about him from before.

Edited May 13, 2022 by Trini
gah - dropped word

[paigow]

6 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Ryan! No! Granted, I'm sure that he's going to be fine, killing off a major character and Nicky's brother

Does he have any Stark blood ?? Not the best plot armour if he does...

[thuganomics85]

Ah, a good old heist episode!  Even got the parents involved!  Liked how almost all of the main players were involved, although I wish they found a way to include Dennis outside of him apparently finding a way to get the tickets off screen.  At least he's spending his time doing some Match: The Gathering!

I'm pretty confident Ryan will survive since he was shot on the opposite side of his heart and so forth, but I have to imagine that it will suck for him going forward.  Granted, the danger has been ramping up a lot, but I think this is the first time a non-Nicky member of the family has really gotten badly injured like this, and I'm curious to see how the Shen family handles this going forward.

Always great seeing Patrick Sabongui.  Even when he's playing an evil rich guy that is so smug that I almost (key word: almost) felt sorry for Russell and got a kick out of him turning the tables on the Enclave.  I do think it's funny how even amongst the wealthy, there is a hierarchy and "cool club" aspect among them that is almost high school-ish.  Wouldn't be surprised if that is kind of similar in real life.

Felt bad for the guy who agreed to let them use the special cloth for the mission since it ended up being a bust.

At least Mia already told Nicky she knew about the secret, so that won't be a hidden plot point anymore.  But, just when it looks like they made some form of progress, Mia has now run back to Zhilan because she thinks the Shens will blame her for Ryan getting shot (it also didn't help that she overheard Nicky express her doubts to Ryan.)  And now it's time for Zhilan to go all big sister with her and probably turn her into a killing machine.  Aww?

[possibilities]

Sebastian can cook and he can fight and he would be super-affected by Ryan being shot, and... he's not there. Odd.

[Trini]

Re-watch thoughts:

Pretty solid episode. Props to the costume department; everyone looked great! Besides the masquerade outfits, I liked the Harmony Dumplings uniforms for the party.

Sweet scene at the start with Henry making Nicky breakfast.

Another nice pairing that I don't think they've done before: Henry and Jin. But actually, they should probably have more of Henry and Nicky's parents, since he's been dating Nicky for a while now, and is closer to the family.

Althea and Evan again make a surprisingly good duo. I missed Dennis and Sebastian, but a few of the cast had to be cut since almost  everyone was in one plot this time, and there were a good number of guest stars and extras.

I love a good fight scene, but kinda wish Mia had helped Nicky and Henry fight off a dozen(!) guards by themselves; despite Nicky's 'superhero' status.

Aw man; now Mia with Zhilan on her revenge quest. I assume that in the end she won't actually kill Tan, but I'm not sure what they're going to do with her by the end of the season. Well, at least if she's with Zhilan, she'll be off Tan's radar... for the moment.

Gotta say I'm a bit disappointed in how they've handled the Tans as villains so far. Last season (and the beginning of this season) I thought they did a good job of fleshing out Zhilan and Kerwin; but then Russell and Juliette have been pretty one-dimensional so far. And besides the general villain motives of money and power, they really haven't told us the 'why' of the Tans' plans. I'm guessing they'll throw in some type of twist with him and the bell later?

And I know it's not likely to happen, but um, Russell just straight up tried to murder Ryan in public -- even if the Shens can't do anything against him, can't at least one of the billionaires who were there try to get him prosecuted, if only for retaliation for stealing the mallet?

[Trini]

Oh I forgot: even though I know that despite this not being a comic book show, it still runs on comic book/vigilante justice rules, but I still feel the need to object to - at least on principle - Nicky & company doing all these crimes, even if they're working against much bigger criminal Russell Tan.

It's just that right now it seems like that's the first thing the writers go to for most of the situations they set up.

[paigow]

1 hour ago, Trini said:

And I know it's not likely to happen, but um, Russell just straight up tried to murder Ryan in public -- even if the Shens can't do anything against him, can't at least one of the billionaires who were there try to get him prosecuted, if only for retaliation for stealing the mallet?

The opening gambit should be from Liar, Liar. Ryan sues the homeowner for negligence... like the burglar falling through a kitchen skylight and getting cut by landing on a butcher knife... despite being an accessory to attempted felony, Ryan could leverage a settlement into more resources against Tan. 

[william0102]

Yeah, but what would it help since Tan has the manuscript, which has all the info on the members of the illuminati's misdeeds? No one will back him. Any of the guests could order or payoff someone to take the fall for Tan shooting Ryan. So really, it would be a waste of time storywise. I'd definitely prefer them to use whatever time they have on the characters.

[possibilities]

This is a show where the characters are great and the plot is terrible. 

[Camera One]

This was a fun episode.  Having the mom and dad help with their mallet switching plan made the episode.  I agree that it was disappointing that so much effort was put into the fake mallet and Tan realizes it right away.  At least have an episode or two before he figures it out.  I didn't even catch why Nicky came out of hiding at that very moment instead of waiting it out.  Heck, Nicky could have scrapped the whole plan, and nothing would have changed, minus Ryan getting shot and Mia running off to join the psycho.  The plan (and Mia) only made things worse.

It's still hard to warm up to Mia, and it doesn't help with plot contrivances like overhearing conversations and then doing the opposite of what she was instructed to do (which was supposedly resolved in an earlier episode).  

This season has been much more skilled at balancing drama and humor.  I really hope the audience numbers keep up, what with the New CW owners itching to axe shows.