'Kung Fu' 1.10 Review: Choice

This post contains spoilers for Kung Fu "Choice"
Check out our last review here. 

 There is a lot going on for the Kung Fu characters--whether it be in their personal lives, dealing with outside forces that invade their space, or just helping a friend out with their criminal case. This episode ‘Choice’ felt like a lot, especially since there was so much going on for each character in the episode. From Mei-Li (Kheng Hua Tan) coming to terms with her sister’s passing to Ryan’s (Jon Prasida) relationship with Joe (Bradley Gibson), who finally met the Shen parents, to Althea (Shannon Dang) dealing with the lawyers for the case against her abuser, the episode felt packed with so much information, it was hard to keep track of the two main stories with Nicky (Olivia Liang) helping Evan (Gavin Stenhouse) on a fraternity-prank-gone-wrong case and Zhilan (Yvonne Chapman) and Kerwin’s (Ludi Lin) ever-growing relationship to find the weapons. Still, the episode was entertaining and, because of all the stories, never had a dull moment.  

It’s down to the wire for the final few episodes left in the first season of Kung Fu and the burning question that is on everyone’s mind has finally been answered--who is Nicky going to choose to be with? With the last episode, both Henry (Eddie Liu) and Evan were both pining for Nicky, but, like the good guys that they are, understood it was ultimately up to Nicky and that they would respect whatever choice she made. It looks like Nicky has finally figured it out in the love department and chose Henry over Evan, who is experiencing his own existential crisis over his career with the district attorney. It was actually really nice for Nicky and Evan to have that heart-to-heart conversation at the end of the episode. It felt like closure for Evan and for him to finally move on and explore what truly makes him happy. As for Nicky and Henry, it was lovely seeing Liang and Liu give into their chemistry and officially become a CW couple. It’s also about time that Nicky got some after being stuck in the all-women monastery for the past three years. 

As for the storyline with the fraternity case, it was smart of the writers to have the accused perpetrator, who was actually innocent, be Asian American. So often, minorities are the ones blamed for crimes caused by privileged white kids. It created a sense of empathy that many Asian Americans have dealt with having to ‘save face’ and sweep the problem under the rug. It was also satisfying to watch Nicky infiltrate a college party and beat up privileged white guys. 

 With this week being the last day of Pride, it is a bit heartbreaking to have this episode see the possible end of Ryan and Joe. After Joe successfully receives the Shen seal of approval, he reveals to Ryan that he won’t be able to attend Althea’’s wedding because he was just offered his dream job… in Chicago. Ryan is obviously distraught because he’s finally invested in a real relationship and now he’s potentially back to square one. There’s a lot of problems I had with this storyline because Ryan recently received his parents' blessing for coming out. His father is open to Ryan’s relationship with Joe and it seems like Mei-Li is also accommodating to Ryan’s relationship. These are the same parents who dismissed Nicky’s relationship with Evan for years and even tried match-making Nicky up with Chinese guys during her trip to China. It was also only recently that Mei-Li revealed a bit of anti-Blackness commentary during the Black Lives Matters episode. It’s hard to believe how open she is to Ryan’s love life and not even be a bit passive aggressive about it to Ryan in private.  

The story between Zhilan and Kerwin feels a bit out of place compared to the Shen family stories, but I understand it’s just to build up to the eventual meeting between Zhilan/Kerwin and Nicky. I’m just not sure how much time the two have really spent together, because it seems to be moving fast. Kerwin decides to throw his whole life away choosing Zhilan over his family by killing Edgar, his father’s right-hand-man, who I felt was pretty dumb to trust Kerwin. But, it appears Zhilan was moved by the gesture and, by the looks of that passionate kiss in the end, has fallen for the handsome heir. I don’t blame her, but I still wouldn’t put all my trust into the guy. For all we know, it could be a ruse for Kerwin to infiltrate her trust in order to get all of the weapons to present to his father. 

Overall, the episode did contain a lot of information that sets up the final three episodes. The Tan family will find out what Kerwin did after Edgar doesn’t show up and that is going to create some problems for the two. Althea is going forward with sexual assault charges against her former employer. Ryan will come to terms with his relationship with Joe--whether or not it can be fixed. And Nicky and Henry will search for the weapons together as an official couple.