S03.E02: Risk

[Trini]

When someone from Nicky's past shows up unexpectedly, she reaches out to Ryan for help uncovering why.  Jin takes on the Chinatown Council, while Evan and Althea investigate what may be behind the city's recent rise in crime. Finally, Mei-Li meets with Carrie (guest star Kim Rhodes), the representative of a restaurant investment group, and Henry's globetrotting search brings him to one of his father's former allies.

Geoff Shotz directed the episode written by Dan Hamamura.

Airdate: 10/12/2022

[paigow]

Those Icelandic cops are really trigger happy... not at all like one would expect in the land of Bjork....

And Fire Saga

Edited October 14, 2022 by paigow

[paulvdb]

Were they cops? I thought they might be working for that one guy's private security firm. I figured they'd want to somehow get Henry involved in the main storyline and this could be a way to do that.

[thuganomics85]

So, in accordance with this show's mission to keep Zhilan around (no complaints here: all about that Yvonne Chapman!), it turns out that when the walls fell in that realm, she ended up in some kind afterlife for fallen warriors.  An afterlife that consists of being hunted by some kind of creepy mask guy, whose blade erases them or something.  Not exactly a fun afterlife, to put it mildly.  But, hey, since Zhilan technically didn't die, she's immune to the deadly blade!  Oh, and she is also reunited with Simon a.k.a. Badass K-Pop Warrior from "Attachment"!!  Great seeing him again: he was a fun character and I'm looking forward to seeing more of him.

Good news!  Althea might avoid jail time!  Bad news!  The plea deal consist of her losing access to the internet for a year, so that would be a big blow to both her involvement with Team Nicky missions and, really, her life in general.  Not sure the legality of it, but seems kind of harsh: especially since she turned herself in and it wasn't like meant for that app to have that backdoor.

Looks like Harmony Dumplings might be going into business with that corporation after-all.  Not sure if they should fully trust this Carrie person, even if she assisted them this go around.  But, dammit, its Kim Rhodes!  Jody Mills would never do something underhanded, right?!

Jin might be diving into the world of local politics with this Anthony fellow.

Henry meets up with a former partner of his dads, finds a mysterious compass that reacts to him, only to have the partner get shot right in front of him.  That sucks: especially since he was played by David Nykl and he's awesome (miss Anatoly!)

Pei-Ling figures out that The Alchemist hitched a ride with her and smashes the pendant in order to prevent her from coming out or something.  Everything seems good now, but I really doubt this is anywhere close to being over! 

[paigow]

8 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Good news!  Althea might avoid jail time!  Bad news!  The plea deal consist of her losing access to the internet for a year, so that would be a big blow to both her involvement with Team Nicky missions and, really, her life in general.

She will be spending more time with Bo... watching him browse the web...

[Cress]

On 10/14/2022 at 1:00 AM, thuganomics85 said:

Oh, and she is also reunited with Simon a.k.a. Badass K-Pop Warrior from "Attachment"!!  Great seeing him again: he was a fun character and I'm looking forward to seeing more of him.

Thanks for explaining. I had no idea who Simon was. I'll have to go back and watch his previous episode. I'm not sure where Zhilan's story is going. Is the masked killer going to turn out to be someone we know? Is she going to eventually escape back to Earth?

I hope the Nicky/Bo/Henry triangle won't be dragged out too long.

[KaveDweller]

No internet for a year seems really, really harsh for someone who accidentally broke privacy law, only used the info to save lives, and turned herself it. It seems more like a punishment for someone who intentionally committed fraud. Maybe say she can't work in tech for a year, but no Internet at all?

Bad guy who kidnapped Althea used to be on Castle. Fun to see him as the villian.

[possibilities]

No internet also seems unenforceable. They say they will be monitoring her. How? By having her wear a body cam?

[Camera One]

This was a good second episode.  I did find some of the gang/security company/ordinance stuff and the alchemist lore stuff a bit convoluted and difficult to follow, though.  

I too was happy to see the K-pop guardian guy back, albeit in the afterlife.  Normally, I hate redemption stories for murderers, but I liked that Zhilan gave a full-out apology with no qualifications or snarky jokes.  

I liked the scenes between Nicky and her Shi-fu.  I'm glad we aren't seeing the evil Alchemist masquerading as Shi-fu fooling Nicky, which would have been frustrating.  I'm sure the Alchemist isn't gone even with the pendant smashed, but hopefully, her evil plan won't activate for awhile.

I'm not sure if that lady from the investor company can be trusted.  But I think this was a good subplot for the parents.  The politician guy who couldn't help his community was also sort of interesting and realistic.  

Henry's subplot was better this week, since it actually had a purpose.  I guess Henry is also "special" in his own way.  Warrior, Guardian and the third magical role - Court Archivist?  It was a bit weird to see Ryan playing Henry's role as history/lore research guy.  

One year with no internet would be tough these days.  But Althea was pretty awesome as usual.  If she didn't actually delete the files off Evan's company, would that criminal guy even know?  

Edited October 17, 2022 by Camera One

[tennisgurl]

I'm so happy to see Simon the badass K-Pop star again, I was so disappointed when he got killed off after an episode. We also have the welcome return of Zhilan, who isn't actually dead but was just sucked into some warrior afterlife, which seems like a pretty crappy afterlife, but now at least she gets to hopefully get out soon. And now she can have a very awkward reunion with her sister. Zhilan is very much one of those reformed snarky villains that the CW loves so much, but the actress is great and she did offer a really genuine apology towards Simon, so I can get behind the show keeping her around as a good guy. 

I liked this season, it seems like a lot of the subplots are coming together, with the street gangs, the lore, and the Alchemist stuff. At least Althea isn't going to jail, but going without internet for a year seems really harsh. She broke the law, but it was clearly to save lives not to data mine or anything, I would think that would be taken more into consideration. 

Henry's plot is getting more interesting, I was really happy to see David Nykl pop up, then was disappointed when he got killed off. I miss Anatoly! 

Harmony Dumplings getting into business with a corporation should be an interesting subplot, maybe they will tie that in with Jin getting involved with local politics. 

The scenes with Nicky and her teacher were really nice, I'm glad that it seems like its really her and not the Alchemist pretending to be her...at least not yet. She might have hitched a ride on her soul/body and is just waiting for her moment. 

[paigow]

12 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

happy to see David Nykl pop up, then was disappointed when he got killed off. I miss Anatoly! 

Was he friendly neighbourhood Bratva on Arrow?

[emma675]

Am I the only one who wondered if the Alchemist jumped from shifu into Nicky when they smashed the necklace? Nicky had the oddest look on her face in the scene immediately after when she met up with Bo. The whole scene seemed odd and kind of un-Nicky like.

[Camera One]

2 hours ago, emma675 said:

Am I the only one who wondered if the Alchemist jumped from shifu into Nicky when they smashed the necklace? Nicky had the oddest look on her face in the scene immediately after when she met up with Bo. The whole scene seemed odd and kind of un-Nicky like.

Oh gosh, I didn't even think of that.  In that case, they can play the triangle as The Alchemist slept with Bo, not me.  Yikes.  On the whole, I'm not fond of bodysnatching storylines.

Edited October 18, 2022 by Camera One

[Trini]

I've said this before, but I'm not really into the supernatural/magic parts of the show; so with at least three subplots/characters in that vein, I don't know how engaged I'm going to be with this season.

That being said - it was great seeing Simon Lau again! Wish it was under better circumstances though. At least he got an apology from his murderer -- yay? Don't see how Zhilan can get back from ... wherever she is, but I'm sure the Alchemist will figure it out by the end of the season. Can't believe they brought back Suyin just for a death scene! LOL But I guess she's one of the few people the audience might recognize from the Alchemist's realm.

I'm guessing the Harvester is masked because they're holding out for a particular guest star?

Yeah, I don't think the writers are serious about Nicky/Bo. They're moving way too fast with them.* They're kissing already in episode two! And with Althea's internet ban, I see why they also made him a master hacker.

*

Spoiler

Mainly to set up tension for Nicky and Henry (and Bo) next week.

Yeah, that internet ban for Althea seems harsh, unreasonable, and unenforceable; but it's typical for (CW)TV. I wonder what they plan for her to do if she's not the Team's hacker?

Dang -- they paired up Henry with an interesting character just to kill him off immediately! I don't like Henry being isolated from everyone else. This compass thing seems intriguing; but it looks like they're going to make Henry magical too.

This show is pretty good at juggling multiple arcs, but it seems like there's A LOT going on with everyone this season. However I am interested in the stories they've set up for Mei-Li and Jin.

I might have missed it, but exactly who was profiting (or going to) from the crime wave? Who was the mercenary working for?

Sooo.... If we're resurrecting people, can there be one more Kerwin/Ludi appearance?