In this week’s Kung Fu Nicky and Henry are finally reunited and we learn more about Henry’s destiny when Nicky rushes to Thailand to save him, only to discover he’s too deep into his magical research to even think about being rescued. Read on for our conversation review of “The Compass.”
Working together Henry and Nicky continue piecing together the mystery of Si Nan between awkward small talk and even more awkward relationship talk. They finally make some progress, only to be caught at the last minute by this week’s baddie, Calvin Zarco (Josh Blacker) who reveals a big secret Henry never knew about himself. Nicky is able to defeat the bad guys, but not before Henry has been “activated,” leaving us unsure what Henry’s future holds.
Meanwhile, back at home, Ryan and Sebastian are fighting, Pei-Ling has such a successful day playing tourist and doling out dating advice that she decides to have a difficult conversation she’s been putting off with Mei-Li, and Althea and Jin help get each other out of their comfort zones.
Where is Bo you ask? Hanging out with one of Nicky’s ex-boyfriends while they try to rescue her other ex-boyfriend. All very normal and sane new-boyfriend behavior. He also poses sexily near a hot sports car to make sure Nicky knows who she’s coming home to.
The official synopsis of “The Compass” reads:
NICKY TRAVELS TO THAILAND — After learning that Henry (Eddie Liu) is a person of interest in a heist gone wrong, Nicky (Olivia Liang) travels to Thailand to help him — a move that forces them to confront their unresolved issues. When Mei-Li (Kheng Hua Tan) needs help reorganizing at Harmony Dumplings, Jin (Tzi Ma) and Althea (Shannon Dang) team up to help. Elsewhere, Ryan (Jon Prasida) gets some relationship advice from an unlikely source. Gavin Stenhouse, Vanessa Kai, Yvonne Chapman and JB Tadena also star. Joe Menendez directed the episode written by Ryan Johnson & Peter Lalayanis.
Catch up on all of our Kung Fu reviews right here, or carry on below to jump right into our reactions to Kung Fu season 3, episode 3 “The Compass.”
‘Kung Fu’ season 3, episode 3 review in conversation
Natalie: Once again, we have an episode that’s got a lot of isolated threads, people all over the place — literally! Though some things do become reconnected so it’s possible that paths may re-converge. We always followed a few tracks, in prior seasons, but in particular Zhilan was often the other POV of Nicky’s same arc. They were two sides of a common “goal,” or chasing the same target, the weapons, Russell Tan. Kung Fu season 3’s separate tracks mean separate STORIES. Zhilan’s own story that isn’t connected to anything else, Henry’s journey, which we will see eventually reconnect and maybe become core magical issue for the whole Shooby gang, but is still pretty individual right now. We always had different personal tracks for the Shens, like career, relationships, restaurant stuff… but how are you feeling about the show juggling a lot of bigger plotlines that aren’t about the same premise? It’s a bit different from the past seasons.
Nichole: Right now I’m enjoying it. There is a certain zing to everyone having their own thing going on. It feels very lively. I do think as the season progresses though, I’ll probably want things to converge a little more. I can feel myself starting to get a little anxious to get Henry back into the fold. I also want to know how Althea is going to stay a part of what Nicky is doing without her ‘superpower’. And I want to see Pei-Ling more folded into things, although maybe not quite the way the writers are about to do it.
Natalie: Okay, here’s another question right off the bat, before we go into Pei-Ling’s little problem. How do you think this show feels about life and death and people back from the dead? Pei-Ling is alive, she’s clearly a little haunted okay, pendant or not. Do you think the endgame for her is like “I am meant to be dead, it was my time” once they get rid of Xiao? Or do you think she’s allowed to just be resurrected and all good?
Nichole: I think, personally, that the overall tone of Kung Fu is such that Pei-Ling could very well be alive and stay alive and it not be a bigger issue on a cosmic scale — unlike something like Supernatural, which sort of by its nature used those situations to twist the knife a bit. That said, I also think the show has the depth to use her situation, and the bigger implications of life and death, to craft a meaningful story where she does have to die again. In terms of what I want? Obviously I want the first one, but I guess I’m keeping myself emotionally open to the potential of the second one, just in case.
Natalie: Yeah, right now neither Nicky or Pei-Ling are griping about her being alive or talking about the natural order of things. Pei-Ling was willing to die again if that happened with the pendant smashing, but she isn’t coming at it from that “scales balanced” place. She seems comfortable being alive, if a bit out of practice with both socializing and exercise. (Same.)
Nichole: Lol. I did enjoy Nicky and Pei-Ling training together.
Natalie: And Pei-Ling’s crop top.
Nichole: I am looking respectfully.
Natalie: Last week we were pretty wary of the non-reveal of the pendant smash. Like, cut to Nicky, claiming Pei-Ling is fine in a shady way. Maybe we were just crazy, but it now seems absurd to me to not have included a post smash reaction shot of Pei-Ling and Nicky being relieved. Not showing the aftermath and just having Nicky be weird with Bo makes me feel like something Happened after the smash. Maybe we will get a flashback. Or maybe the editing didn’t flow properly to imply that things really were fine and I’m now misinterpreting their intention.
Nichole: I don’t know, I really just interpreted it as a deliberate sort of mishandling of the aftermath just to make us suspicious. But they overshot with you, lol.
Natalie: We’ll see. Anyway, Pei-Ling is fine! Allegedly. And Nicky no longer seems possessed. How did you take the news you’d missed her first introduction to the family?
Nichole: Oh man, I did feel a little robbed, I’m not going to lie. If we hadn’t gotten such good Pei-Ling/Shen Family interaction this episode, I would have gotten mad about it.
Natalie: Yeah, I thought you might feel that way. But I guess this means a few weeks have passed. The restaurant isn’t quite open yet but it’s close… more on that later. But Pei-Ling is just staying in the apartment. Personally I see no issue.
Nichole: She needs to get out!
Natalie: Nah. What for? That’s how you get COVID.
Nichole: You and I, we don’t need to get out, but she does. I need to live vicariously through the blorbos.
Natalie: Okay, fine, as long as I don’t have to take this advice as universal.
Nichole: Fictional milfs only.
Natalie: Well, she’s forced to engage with other people once Nicky goes off to find Henry. Pei-Ling flying solo! Or not quite. She gets to hang out with Ryan, because Ryan doesn’t want to go home to his apartment that’s full of Sebastian. The chafing hinted at in the first episode has begun. Do you have a “side” in this fight?
Nichole: Hell yes I do.
Natalie: Is it Ryan’s?
Nichole: WHAT? NO. Ryan is being such a jerk.
Natalie: I don’t know, last time you said that you were a slob whose husband picks up after you!
Nichole: I mean, I appreciate it when he picks up after me! I recognize that it is annoying and I am grateful that he works around it! Once he reorganized our pantry and made a specific spot for my lunchbox so I would have an easy place to put it away. I feel like Ryan is being very immature about it all. Selfish.
Natalie: I think I’m a big believer in couples moving in together getting a separate third new place. I know that we learn this was an emergency sitch, but ideally, the whole lording it over about “MY place” is not something that should be able to happen.
Nichole: No, it was bad. Like you can’t think that way or you get super pissy, like Ryan is.
Natalie: However. I have two points against Sebastian here.
Nichole: Your points can’t hurt me, I can’t read.
Natalie: One. The earbud thing. In episode 1, I said I wondered if they were going to take it to a place of ADHD or executive dysfunction. The whole “I leave them here so I know where they are” REALLY fed that idea for me, and someone else being like “well now you’ll know they’re always in the drawer” is… bad in that respect. If it’s not that, fine. But it feels to me exactly what that process would be in terms of someone not neurotypical making a process that works for them and that being disrupted. If that is the case, Ryan will never remember to put them back in the drawer, and he won’t put them away. Then Seb will get mad like, “why can’t he just…” But if it is executive dysfunction, things being hidden and not visible is bad for habit forming. I may be making too much of this, but I said it in episode 1, and following that line, Seb disrupted a system Ryan had to function and turned it into one that wouldn’t work, without consulting him or making a new plan that might work. The show probably doesn’t mean this, but the “put things away where you can’t see them” is one of the worst issues for stuff like ADHD.
Nichole: I think that is a valid point, but also, if you leave something in the middle of the living space, you have to expect it might need to be moved. It makes sense that Sebastian and Ryan need to negotiate these things, but it was the angry way Ryan reacted when Sebastian knew exactly where they were. It wasn’t like he brushed everything off the table and didn’t pay attention. They should definitely talk about it, but Ryan didn’t make any space for that.
Natalie: I don’t know. The more we talk about this, the more I maybe actually am on Ryan’s side. I’m watching it again and while I think pulling the my place thing could be bad, it also could be worse, because he’s like “My place isn’t big enough for our needs” — not like Don’t Fuck with My Place. Like it could be more like… “My place — the apartment I had before you moved in — is clearly not working for two people.” It wasn’t like “you are Lesser in My Place.” And I think Seb’s passive aggressive tone was worse than Ryan’s reaction. I’m not on Ryan’s side in terms of generally not working out how to use the space or expecting to fit around him, but I might be on his side in terms of the elements of this scene. I think Ryan’s “I keep them there so I always know where they are” was a valid level of blunt annoyance, and Seb notched that up to passive aggressive sarcasm. But that’s how these things escalate, isn’t it? Small things. Seb really could have stopped at “I was just trying to make some space” and not added the rest of that sentence.
Nichole: Hmmmmmmmm.
Natalie: Seb was the only one who used a tone of voice in that scene that I read as antagonistic. Angry/annoyed from Ryan does not equal antagonistic.
Nichole: Wow. I didn’t hear him as antagonistic at all!
Natalie: Oh, I did, big time. It felt sarcastic, between the “tripping over your stuff’ and “have some room to ACTUALLY cook in here.” That was a taunting tone, to me, I would blow up at that.
Nichole: Ha. I didn’t read it that way at all. But I guess this is why people have dumb arguments all the time. People interpret things so differently.
Natalie: Yeah, the point is, the frustrations with the situation are circumstantial and this is how they escalate. I think the way that Seb says, “you okay?” is a sign that his tone wasn’t actually AT Ryan. But it was still bitchy and ironic, maybe more about missing the restaurant than anything. The whole “ACTUALLY cook in here” not being an attack on Ryan, but the circumstance in general. However Ryan isn’t very happy about it and decides to hang out with Pei-Ling instead of going home. After she shyly asks him on a friend date.
Nichole: The way I screamed. This episode really gave me exactly what I asked for last week.
Natalie: Her little face! For someone professionally serene she’s also very expressive. Both when she asks and then when he agrees.
Nichole: So cute.
Natalie: Side note: what do you think it means that results say sheer human alive blood but she clearly is possessed? Feels like this wouldn’t show up on a blood test anyway? Unless jyu sa did something?
Nichole: Right? I don’t know why it would be on a blood test. But I guess I understand looking at her bloodwork to try to figure out how she’s alive at all.
Natalie: Sure. Anyway, technically she seems fine.
Nichole: She’s fine. No problems. None at all. None problems. Left possession.
Natalie: Now. Onto the important issues. Mocktails and boy talk. To quote Eddie Liu, “the moment Zhilan impaled Pei-Ling with a sword, who knew that two seasons later, Pei-Ling would be giving Ryan dating advice about his boyfriend Sebastian?”
Nichole: He’s just like us for real.
Natalie: “What a time to be alive.” Taking Ryan’s wrongness into account, because that’s the angle we are looking at here, what did you make of their chat? I found her line saying “An apology is a great place to start” pretty profound. Because it doesn’t imply closing the issue or even full culpability. But It does mean starting from a place of like… “I’m sorry for hurting you/saying things in a bad way” or whatever. It isn’t like apology, issue closed, wait for the wound to open again. It’s a good faith place to start regarding sharing what you mean and resolving the issue. Or that’s how I took it anyway. I’ve had experiences with people who don’t see the value in apologizing, even if they are well meaning and are trying to jump ahead to “fixing the problem” — whether that’s a mistake, misunderstanding or worse. To me, jumping ahead to fix or even just explain, without apology coming first, is like excusing it. I feel like an explanation without an apology often feels like an excuse, like they’re saying “this is why it’s okay that happened.” How do you feel about that and what did you take from Pei-Ling’s wisdom?
Nichole: I agree that it was good. Ryan is still emotionally immature in a lot of ways. And this was a good example. He loves Sebastian and doesn’t want to fight, but also he feels angry. He has just enough awareness to see he’s being petulant about it, so the answer feels like he should apologize, but he doesn’t actually feel like he’s in the wrong, just that he can see Sebastian also has a point. So, Pei-Ling is opening his eyes to the fact that the apology isn’t what’s most important, it’s a start — to figuring out why they are fighting in the first place.
Natalie: “I should just apologize and let him win” vs “An apology is a great place to start” — totally different ways of looking at it.”Sorry I did that, you were right,” will erupt again especially if he doesn’t mean it. “Sorry that things turned painful and my part in causing hurt today. I didn’t want that to happen and I didn’t express myself well. Can we talk about the issues in a proper way?” Or, “I’m sorry for my part in how this went down. I don’t want it to happen again, I didn’t want to hurt you,” etc
Nichole: Exactly.
Natalie: That’s not the same kind of apology as letting someone win or saying their angle is right and you give up.
Nichole: Yeah, because that just lets resentment build.
Natalie: So we don’t actually revisit this before the end of the episode. Do you feel like there was a resolution scene that was cut for time so next time it will be more progressed? Or do you think it was intentional and we will come back to this issue with them and see them discuss their needs?
Nichole: I think we’ll come back to it. I mean, I HOPE we’ll come back to it.
Natalie: More importantly, what did you think of Pei-Ling’s little hat?
Nichole: I can’t even with her whole outfit. Please. It was like “dress up shifu” paper dolls.
Natalie: Later in the day, Pei-Ling feels emboldened by the day out in San Francisco and also takes her own advice to heart when she goes to see Mei-Li in order to apologize for keeping Nicky hidden. This whole scene was stunning. I’ve been anticipating it since we saw the image of them together, the one in our header pic here, but I had no idea of the tone.
Nichole: NATALIE. That scene.
Natalie: What would Mei-Li think of her? Would she be disapproving or have a grudge or feel jealous of their relationship? But she greeted her with almost a sense of excitement. Which interested me even more.
Nichole: It was exactly what I wanted!
Natalie: Mei-Li looks thrilled to see her visit the restaurant! And then they sit down and talk and this scene actually made me cry! Talk me through what you wanted and how they delivered. Or maybe what you didn’t want that they avoided?
Nichole: Well, I mentioned last week, how from a parental perspective, I just really appreciate other adults who can provide Sylvia with something that I can’t. Or even if it isn’t something I can’t, I think it is still meaningful to have more voices in your life. So, the idea that Mei-Li can recognize that Pei-Ling was there for Nicky at such a pivotal time when Mei-Li couldn’t be there. It was just really meaningful for me. Tell me what you liked about it though! I feel like there is a lot there.
Natalie: I think for me just the full support from Mei-Li of Pei-Ling’s choices. Mei-Li back then may have done something rash if she got word of Nicky. She may not have responded well. But the line that really got me was “That change in her, it changed all of us.” Just as a general assessment of Kung Fu, or of many stories about I guess a pebble in a river diverging the flow and sort of reshaping the whole environment. I haven’t actually re-watched Kung Fu season 1 since season 2 started airing because I think the family friction would really upset me to revisit at this point. Mei-Li’s behavior, Nicky letting Jin down.
Nichole: Yes. They’ve all come so far.
Natalie: That line really hit hard, and I was getting teary, and then Pei-Ling had to go all monster-voice on us.
Nichole: God. The impact! Just such a flip it and reverse it. And whatever weird thing they did to film it was so well done. I was legitimately creeped out.
Natalie: Well, we don’t have any answers at this point. Any theories? The pendant is destroyed, but Xiao is still apparently phantoming around.
Nichole: Yeah, I wonder if the pendant was somehow containing her and now she has more freedom.
Natalie: Don’t you just love it when the heroes accidentally unleash something?
Nichole: I do… NOT LOVE THAT.
Natalie: Not something for them to feel guilty and responsible about at all.
Nichole: The face I’m making right now. Sour lemon mouth.
Natalie: So, Xiao’s out of the realm but Zhilan and co are still inside it… or the shitty version of it. We pick right back up with her and bestie Simon just as I expected — she gets to come back to their camp and be one of the group. Bonding!
Nichole: The absolute non-reaction any of them had when he introduced her. It felt very “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it.”
Natalie: I mean, I feel like … there have to be worse people who turned out to be warriors or guardians, right? That being said — guardian families. The warrior is just one person in a generation. But the guardian family had Pei, Zhilan, AND their mom. Is it like, everyone? Way more guardians than warriors? Is Simon’s mom or dad there?
Nichole: I wondered that too! Wouldn’t technically all of at least one side of their family be there?? And, yeah, I feel like it’s confusing about guardian families. Is everyone with a bit of guardian blood a guardian? Or is the potential unlocked by something in particular?
Natalie: I legitimately have no idea. They did what I guessed they would though, which was to include people from different eras.
Nichole: Yes. I loved that. I want to know everyone’s stories.
Natalie: Did anyone in particular catch your eye?
Nichole: There was a Victorian-ish looking dude. I wanted a better look at his outfit.
Natalie: Weird vibes in the cave, for sure. I don’t even know if I agree with you on the others being disapproving — they seemed almost indifferent to me, like Simon gave them the news and the way they scattered was absent, almost robotic. Dull. I wonder how long this period of time has felt like, for them.
Nichole: I also wonder what life was like for them in the realm. Was it good? Was it boring?
Natalie: I can’t imagine. Did they interact? Live in any sort of “real time?”
Nichole: Were they with their families who were also there?
Natalie: Well, I am so confused about Zhilan’s mother. When Zhilan saw her and had that awful experience, that version of her mom seemed to not know Pei-Ling was dead and wanted to know where she was. But I THINK, this season, Pei-Ling said she knew her mother was in the realm? Correct me if I’m wrong.
Nichole: She did say that. But I think last season their mom just didn’t know that Zhilan had killed Pei-Ling. I think she knew she was there.
Natalie: I’m still not sold on the Mom Zhilan met being her real mom. I still think it may have been a Xiao distraction. I really still don’t think it was actually her. I wonder if Zhilan and Pei-Ling will reunite and Pei-Ling will tell her about her real ghost mom. Not the mean fake one.
Nichole: Well, I’m not sure how it could matter now, because Zhilan thinks it was and thanks to the harvester Zhilan will never see her mother again.
Natalie: Yes. Of course Zhilan is looking for her mother and finds her on the memorial wall. But I think getting some comfort from Pei-Ling that Mom wasn’t mad at her may help at the end of all of it. Or maybe the Harvester is sending them on to the better realm 2.0! LET ME HELP YOU!!!
Nichole: Kerwin, NO.
Natalie: I mean the way they frame it — Simon tried to be so nice! It just rubbed salt in the wound, about “looking for her daughter.”
Nichole: Ok, but speaking of your very special boys, how great was Simon with his pep talk?
Natalie: Maybe that’s why he pulled out the big guns with the pep talk. He’s not exactly “tough love” but he’s… something.
Nichole: He’s just so blunt. Facts are facts. I love it.
Natalie: He has a unique approach. I feel like if Simon had had the same screen time as the various leads, he would be my favorite. If we had three seasons of Simon? No contest.
Nichole: I think he should come along as Zhilan’s Pei-Ling! Zhilan gets out, but keeps seeing Simon the way Nicky saw Pei-Ling. He’d be like her snarky Jiminy Cricket.
Natalie: Do you think he sings them songs in the cave?
Nichole: Yes! Concerts in the cave every night.
Natalie: I am a big fan of a “nobody cares” pep talk honestly. There’s a great one from Alexis to David in Schitt’s Creek.
Nichole: Yeah, I think sometimes in life the only thing to do is move forward. Just accept everything behind you is kind of fucked up and try better moving forward.
Natalie: It’s also kind of like, “No one is thinking badly of you the way you are thinking of you.” Stop being so hard on yourself.
Nichole: Zhilan is really beating herself up, for sure. Which is, like, in this case, probably not a terrible thing, but Simon is right, they are in such an apocalyptic situation, who cares about the past?
Natalie: He also suggests exactly what I did, which is that Zhilan can be the harvester advance guard as she’s less at risk than the spirits. But… okay. Nichole. What “supplies” do the spirits need?
Nichole: RIGHT?? Are they eating? They are, and I cannot stress this enough, dead. If being dead has one advantage it has to be that you don’t have to keep figuring out what to eat every day.
Natalie: I don’t know. I guess they needed a reason to make them leave the cave? Weapons?
Nichole: It makes more sense that the reason they are leaving is to look for other spirits. And they might need supplies for weapons to do that successfully.
Natalie: I don’t know, man. If I was dead I would stay in that cave.
Nichole: I cannot wait to figure out what is going on with the harvester.
Natalie: Well, it’s not something that we get to find out this week. It’s more of a transitional moment before, I assume, something big happens. Zhilan is going to fight the Harvester and try to kill him. How many times can she kill Kerwin in this show?
Nichole: I’m obsessed with the idea that it’s Kerwin. Like, maybe we’ll get the reveal just as she is pulled back into the “real” world. And then she’ll be stuck knowing Kerwin is in the other world. Delicious.
Natalie: I mean if it is him, I don’t know how that can possibly end well, but… sigh. I have a question about this inclusion. Not much, like, happened. Do you like checking in on the different arcs in small scenes that are transitional? Or would you have preferred this episode had maybe longer scenes to do with some other plot, and then Zhilan’s scenes more extensively in the next one? This whole part could have probably been saved for the start of an episode where she also fights the guy, if beats were shifted around. Do you like the small catch-ups?
Nichole: I think it can work either way. If you asked me as an intellectual exercise, which I prefer, I might say longer scenes, but in reality, I was really happy to have Zhilan and Simon in this episode. I guess it is true that not a lot happened, but it did move us along emotionally, which is important for me and it set us up well for Zhilan’s next move. You and I, personally, don’t need to be sold on Zhilan’s redemption, but, in reality, she was quite a villain, so we do need to take that a step at a time so the general audience can buy into her “change arc” so to speak. I like the smaller, quieter stuff, so doing it this way was very good for me. And I do really miss characters when they aren’t in an episode, so I appreciate getting peeks even when they are short.
Natalie: I agree but I am still getting used to it, I think, having characters on paths that are really a totally different plot to the main one. Zhilan was always a part of the main plot before so I am a little bit like, “oh, this is its own little show right now.”
Nichole: Not to digress too much into behind the scenes stuff, but one of the things I love most about Bob as a writer is how much emotional sense everyone’s choices make. Like, on Supernatural, he could often take all of these various threads left dangling prior to his episodes and craft them into something that retroactively made sense, emotionally, for the characters. So, one of the things I am enjoying seeing in him as a co-showrunner is that I really BELIEVE everything, from an emotional perspective. Even when it isn’t exactly what I wanted or thought would happen, I believe it, emotionally. It really feels like his touch in that way, specifically. And seeing all these characters on their own journey is giving us that too, I think.
Natalie: Yes, and small moments matter for that kind of thing, the slow growth of maybe someone’s choices or feelings becoming something that feels earned and inevitable to the viewers. Cohesion and cooperation from the writers to understand that X matters here for this reason to telegraph some frame of mind that gets us to them doing Y, everyone agreeing on the direction of the story. Supernatural was at its best when runs of episodes flowed between writers who were united in their aims for the show, and I know it was a bit tricky there as it was always said those episodes were more individually written rather than the whole room sitting together to break the story. Supernatural of course also had hundreds of episodes of unresolved moments from writers no longer on the show. I don’t know exactly how the Kung Fu writers room operates, but with a shorter season you want to make sure that every moment counts. There’s no real room for a lack of flow or cohesion or anything entirely self contained. Motives have to be united.
Nichole: Yes, and I feel like Bob and Christina are doing an excellent job unifying the overall tone of Kung Fu. Even when they have an episode that is very different or a bit experimental, like, say “Clementine,” it doesn’t feel like it is happening on a different show. It still feels true to our world. It’s just having a bit of fun with it.
Natalie: They’ve made a number of choices with the show that surprised me in how they subvert the “expected” kind of drama from a situation. Character reactions to certain things, mainly. Henry and Evan’s relationship in season 1. Mei-Li and Pei-Ling this episode. There are certain cliches you could expect in those dynamics that are absent, and it’s not like OMG aren’t we so subversive and interesting… It’s more only surprising to me because TV has brainwashed me into expecting certain tropes, especially network TV. They never let people be shitty just for tropey dramatic effect.
Nichole: Yes. The characters feel so real and grounded. Even an over the top character like Althea could be feels real and relatable. Everyone is so three dimensional.
Natalie: This episode had another small plot line that was really a “transitional” moment, setting up what will come next for some of the family, with Althea and Jin and their careers. It wasn’t much, but what parts stuck out to you?
Nichole: The first thing that stuck out to me was how much I love Jin and Althea’s relationship. He has such different relationships with each child. I really loved the side of Jin trying to get out of doing something. We have not seen that at all! And also pulling such a dad move, dumping off your least favorite chore on your child. He was so funny. I love it when he gets to be funny.
Natalie: They love him so much.
Nichole: But what he was asking Althea to do, organizing all of the supplies at Harmony Dumplings (throw back to her app Matron, which did that for the home) was perfect for her skills. Like when you think about how Althea thinks she really was perfect for the task. My husband and I often talk about how, even though we have very different jobs, a lot of what we do is look at information and organize it efficiently so that other people can use it. So that felt very real to me. It is not so much the tools, but a way of thinking.
Natalie: Yeah, I personally enjoy practical logistics myself, so it surprised me a bit that if Althea’s mind works that way, that she’s not a chronic furniture re-arranger. It surprises me that she allegedly only thinks like this digitally. Maybe she was just stuck in her head.
Nichole: I think that was it. She was stuck in her head. She feels so useless and couldn’t really move past having had her biggest tool taken away. So Jin makes her realize the power was inside her all along!
Natalie: It also tells us that the deal with the investors is setting them up with a level of stock that makes their processes easier. This is kind of random, but I always remember something I learned about having a bit of money and making life easier. You get some money, and are no longer struggling. Okay, you’re not going to buy 5 cars. But you know what you can buy? 5 nail clippers. 5 vegetable peelers. Stuff like that. Stuff to make your life quicker and more convenient like, oh where the fuck are the nail clippers? One in the bedside, one in the bathroom, one in the car… Harmony Dumplings can have 5 bottles of brown rice vinegar, stationed all around the kitchen at once. Not like, pass the vinegar.
Nichole: Yes. I just recently bought an extra set of tweezers for my travel toiletries bag. And I’m like, “Why haven’t I always had two sets of tweezers?” And it’s like, duh, there was a time you didn’t have money for an extra set of tweezers and it’s just a hold-over thought process, like it would be wasteful to buy them.
Natalie: I don’t believe in extreme excess, but things like that can help you to function and make life a bit easier.
Nichole: Yes, and definitely help you be more efficient and save time!
Natalie: The point is, that seems to be the angle they’re taking for Harmony, they have enough stock to have prep stations stocked with duplicate ingredients. I didn’t quite get the flow of it, but I’m not a chef and the others seemed pleased.
Nichole: Yeah, I’m not a chef either, but when I do cook, I like to do a mise en place to make life easier, so it made sense to me, as a helpful way to organize things.
Natalie: I feel like they must already do mise though? But it might be a lot of like “can you toss me that.”
Nichole: Yeah, they have to gather it from all over, so now they have it all in one place.
Natalie: How about the Jin angle? At the start of the ep he says he doesn’t want to be in politics, he’s too old and also, it changes you.
Nichole: He’s not wrong about how it can change you.
Natalie: I think that’s a valid concern. Unfortunately we need really good people to ruin their own lives in politics in order to get any progress.
Nichole: It was interesting to me that he didn’t think it was for him. I guess his own brand of activism has been so different. And getting into the cogs of the machine is pretty scary. But, I’m excited to see Jin get in there and disrupt things with his humanity.
Natalie: Any idea what this career might look like with Anthony? What sort of things he might be helping with?
Nichole: I’m not totally sure what he’s meant to be doing yet. Is this a campaign manager type position, or a grunt work position? Jin obviously doesn’t have any experience on campaigns, but Anthony wants him because he has strong ties to the community. Will be be doing outreach? I don’t know. I probably don’t know enough about campaigns to even make an educated guess.
Natalie: Again, this is kind of a pending plotline until we get things sorted with Nicky and Henry.
Natalie: We spent a fair bit of time talking about Pei-Ling and Ryan sure, but this episode is weighted very heavily towards the Nicky and Henry side of things, both in San Francisco and in Thailand. It’s a BIG plot with several stages. A lot is going on!
Nichole: So much.
Natalie: Do we feel sorry for Bo? One minute you’re making sexy s’mores on the beach, the next you’re being roped into tracking down your new bae’s ex, WANTED FOR MURDER BY THE FBI.
Nichole: I do feel sorry for him, but he handled it all with a lot of grace. Aside from that one moment when he assumed she was joking about the FBI agent, he was nothing but helpful and supportive.
Natalie: I feel like if I was Bo in this scenario, I’d be like… are you sure he didn’t do it? Like, he doesn’t know Nicky that well. He has no reason to believe in Henry.
Nichole: Yeah, I feel like he just goes with the flow more than I might in this scenario.
Natalie: I also feel like I need to point out that we don’t know yet if Bo is in the loop regarding the magic side of Nicky’s life. He knows about the vigilante stuff, but I guess like… Dennis, the parents, Seb… the family is in the loop at the very least after the quake, the bell. They know magic is real. Does Bo? If he doesn’t know how strong the ties are that bind the Shoobies — what they’ve dealt with together — he has no reason to trust Henry really. This is a very new relationship, and it’s not that they’re talking about magic here and now or anything while helping Henry (at least Bo’s part in it) but it’s more like, as an outsider, he doesn’t know the extent of trust within the group?
Nichole: It doesn’t seem like he’s really been spending time with the family, in spite of saving them twice. You’d think after saving Althea from kidnappers, he might rank a family dinner.
Natalie: I’m now kind of wondering if we’re going to get this reaction when he finds out, like “mobsters I can take. Magic??? Y’all are crazy.” ESPECIALLY if Henry comes back and is the center of the magic. That being said, I also wonder if his chillness is actually because he knows a LOT about them from afar for whatever reason. Something else I suspect.
Nichole: Yeah, I think there is something else going on with him. Either specifically about them or in general about magic.
Natalie: Any theories?
Nichole: Not really. I think it must go back to whoever his mentor was. That can’t have just been a casual line drop. It’s Chekhov’s Shifu. It has to be important.
Natalie: I think you’re right.
Nichole: But it’s weird because whoever it was, that all had to be happening before Nicky was back in SF, so how can it be connected?
Natalie: I wonder if there’s any connection to Mia and Mei-Xue?
Nichole: Oh. Now that’s a thought. Maybe after Mia ran away? I don’t know if that timing quite works. I like the idea of Mei-Xue being involved.
Natalie: I think we’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, what did you think of this FBI agent? He felt very like… not of the era. I think maybe that was just the hair.
Nichole: Agreed. I felt like he walked onto Kung Fu from the set of Barney Miller. He had an old-school cop vibe.
Natalie: He seemed pretty doubtful of Nicky, and like, it is pretty weird.
Nichole: None of us can believe her boyfriend of one year hasn’t contacted her in 4 months!
Natalie: Despite her living in his place and working at his old job! It definitely sounds like “relationship still secretly going and I’m covering!”
Nichole: It is all very far-fetched. When she was like, “Henry’s a good person, I want to help,” I was like, Nicky, haven’t you seen those TikTok lawyers who tell you to never talk to the police! Zip it.
Natalie: I’m curious how anti-cop a network show like this is allowed to be, behind the scenes. Like how much of a stance can be taken and who the stakeholders would be making that decision.
Nichole: Yeah, I don’t know, but I could make some guesses. But luckily the cops are usually more of an afterthought on Kung Fu.
Natalie: Well, moving on from that, when Nicky tells the group, Ryan has a reaction that’s a lot more intense than I expected.
Nichole: Honestly, I appreciate that Ryan is upset, but I was just not feeling his outbursts this episode.
Natalie: I wondered if the power behind this came from thinking about how he felt when Nicky went missing. Like triggered, almost. That or he just really likes Henry.
Nichole: I don’t know. He was very upset in an out of control way.
Natalie: I would love to know about the stage directions on the script, or the director’s instructions, for that moment
Nichole: Yeah, like was that reaction supposed to be telling us something specific or was it just an acting choice.
Natalie: Well, he’s very upset, but the situation results in Bo hacking the FBI agent’s tablet to check the details of the case. Now, I don’t usually pick holes but okay. This Althea internet ban. WHO’S MONITORING HER? Does she have like a fucking spy camera on her? Invite the dude over to the Shen house and give Althea SOMEONE ELSE’S COMPUTER TO USE, hide her in the kitchen pantry!
Nichole: Oh man. I am just hand waving that whole business, because if I look too closely at it I’m like… this could never work.
Natalie: If I was banned from the internet I would be like, hey can I use your phone real quick to look at something, 100 times a day. Not to mention all the stuff like banking or services that have switched to app only.
Nichole: Is she allowed to ask google home questions??? What are the logistics?
Natalie: Is she allowed to print out things from AO3 and read them offline? What about streaming apps? Netflix and stuff?
Nichole: I would literally do murder if I had to be without AO3 for a year. You might as well put me in prison.
Natalie: For real. I feel like there are apps that are internet based like Spotify, Audible, Netflix that she should be able to use? Just not… on a computer? But AO3 is browser based and it requires a real device. I would die. Look, it’s too weird logistically for me to deal with the internet ban, I guess we can just say that she is self-regulating on this matter. Not looking for ways to get around it or asking to use other people’s phones.
Nichole: The honor system.
Natalie: Sure. Let’s incriminate Bo instead.
Nichole: The way he laughed when she said she needed him to hack into an FBI agent’s computer. I love you, Bo.
Natalie: I won’t pretend to understand the reason why you need the proximity to the device to hack. Rolling with it, because, bagels.
Nichole: [whispers] b a g e l s
Natalie: BAGELS.
Nichole: That poor FBI agent. I felt a little sorry for him, to be honest.
Natalie: It was so unhinged.
Nichole: It was a good scene.
Natalie: Again just not quite the humor I expect which doubled the impact.
Nichole: Yes. Nicky doesn’t usually get to be the silly one, so it’s extra special when she is.
Natalie: Well, it works, and Evan and Bo are able to help Nicky put together what happened — FBI don’t think Henry is the killer, it’s clear Grant was his partner, they suspect that the killer, the people who intercepted them, was a thief called Zarco. At the same time, Henry is intercepted in his current location by the very same man so are able to paint a picture of the general circumstance. Zarco wants what Henry has and he’s still following him. They decide to track Zarco, hoping it will lead them to Henry. But in the middle of all that, Henry, while reading and before running, starts to get these flashbacks. What was your first impression of what might be going on?
Nichole: Hmmm. I think when we first see him sort of messing around with his dad’s stuff I felt a little nervous, like there might be something dangerous, but I didn’t have any clear idea of what might happen.
Natalie: Yeah, it escalates. I wasn’t expecting Nicky to reach out to that old contact Razor, but I guess it makes sense for a fun little diversion. I like his teacups.
Nichole: What a great character to bring back. He has so much charm.
Natalie: Maybe I ship #Nazor now.
Nichole: Pfff. I loved all the negotiating around the rematch and his posturing, “I’ve been practicing every day,” and then she just wipes the floor with him. There’s a moment where he realizes how good she is and his face makes me crack up.
Natalie: I feel a little bad for him, she has super powers and he’s clearly so confused.
Nichole: Yeah. I loved it. It was delightful. I would love to keep getting little visits from him from time to time.
Natalie: Nicky and Bo parting ways so Nicky could go to Thailand — but not breaking up. She’s putting a lot onto this fledgling new relationship.
Nichole: I mean, she does come out of Razor’s place to find him standing there by his fancy car like a snack… The heart wants what the heart wants
Natalie: Okay, but what if she finds Henry and is like sorry I couldn’t contact you for this life or death situation, I wanted to but literally couldn’t. That’s not what happens, but WHAT IF she found Henry and found out the separation or no contact was beyond his control? Her determination that they’re over seems to have come from the wound of dropped contact/that treatment.
Nichole: I guess then she has to figure out how to date both of them at the same time.
Natalie: How can she promise to stay with Bo when the circumstances with Henry may not be what they seem?
Nichole: I guess that’s a good point, but they very definitely broke up before he left. So, I think regardless, it was fair to move on.
Natalie: Yeah, I guess so. I’m just thinking about like, what if the thing that Killed the Feelings for Nicky turned out to not be true? I think that happens in romance novels and stuff. Anyway.
Nichole: Bo does take a moment to check in. Like, he’s been so chill about the ex-boyfriend, but then he’s like, “Uh, actually???”
Natalie: He’s been almost too patient and tried to be really good about it all. He can have this one moment when it turns out Nicky is going away by herself to reunite with Henry.
Nichole: Then he’s like, “I do need a smidgen of reassurance.”
Natalie: Lke “Okay no but I have to ask…” And that’s probably been building for him the whole time. He held out. Next stop, Bangkok.
Nichole: Nicky hits Bangkok in an absolute PEAK Nicky Shen outfit. Probably in my top 3 outfits. Those wide leg trousers that little vest top. She is chasing her ex and dressed to devastate.
Natalie: It does look good, but I’m going to take my once a season moment to say that I am pretty much constantly annoyed by impractical shoes and loose hair on women in action shows. These weren’t the worst shoes but they’re heeled suede boots and she knew she would possibly be running and fighting. I know they like long hair to flip around in fights for the look. But I just can’t with it, and the shot of her boot landing on the ground as she slid off the truck, the heel, tight fit and pointy toe… I wish she dressed more casually, honestly.
Nichole: I also like the long hair to flip around in fights. It’s totally impractical, but I do love it.
Natalie: I don’t usually bother bitching about it, but I am currently also annoyed about it on another show. TIE YOUR HAIR BACK!
Nichole: I thought this had a very Katharine Hepburn look and I was into it.
Natalie: But if she wasn’t doing hero stuff? Good outfit. She also had that little bondage bra on, like with the visible harness straps above the vest.
Nichole: Look, she was going to see her ex, maybe rush in dramatically to save his life, she had to look good.
Natalie: Surely, if she’s trying to not get back into things, should have looked like shit intentionally. NEVERTHELESS, the old-fashioned elegance of the palazzo pants worked for the sort of almost tango element to their reunion, the way they ran into each other, flipped each other around, and held each other.
Nichole: It was so well choreographed.
Natalie: It was incredibly reminiscent of those sharp movements and grabs and holds in those kinds of dances.
Nichole: You’re right. It really was. It also very clearly sent the message, “Hey, remember these two, they are a great team and work so well together.”
Natalie: Oh yeah. Like, it really felt like clicking back into place. It was a very unexpected reunion for me, this isn’t how I thought it would go down, and it really just felt so… right, cosmically.
Nichole: Yeah. They did a good job of bringing them back together after sort of working to distance Nicky, and the viewer, emotionally from Henry. A very good reminder of why we all loved Hicky in the first place!
Natalie: And good old Evan, making it happen with his video game controls.
Nichole: That felt pretty high tech. I mean, they do high tech stuff all the time, but for some reason with this I was like, really? He can just see where everyone is, this clearly?
Natalie: I guess tracking that guy’s phone on GPS?
Nichole: Yeah, I mean, I guess in reality it’s not that wild if you’ve got a tracker on the guy and on Nicky.
Natalie: It was just kinda funny. But when Nicky and Henry get back to a safe place to chat, the vibes are all over the place.
Nichole: So awkward! “So how are you?” lol.
Natalie: It really stuck out to me when he said “Razor? That’s how you found me?” and kind of advances with a smile, like he thinks “She is amazing and clearly still loves me, that’s my girl, I’ll prowl sexily up to her and we will kiss” and she steps away.
Nichole: He has really neglected to consider that he has left her without a word for 4 months.
Natalie: I mean, my interview with Eddie made that clear. “I don’t know if Henry really thought too much about the risks of not communicating with your ex who you still love and miss terribly while you’re playing poker with some unsavory characters out in the Mediterranean.” NOT ONE SINGLE THOUGHT.
Nichole: Wild. I was kind of hoping Henry might have an explanation that would resonate with me, and although I understand on an intellectual level, that Henry was having an existential crisis or whatever, I thought his excuse was, for lack of a better word, bullshit.
Natalie: He tries to distract her with lore first and to be honest it’s pretty distracting. He’s in full research mode about the lodestone and the compass and his next steps but Nicky honestly isn’t too impressed.
Nichole: Nicky seems so disappointed that there is all this lore at all.
Natalie: I don’t exactly know how to parse her reaction. She’s pretty blank, and yeah bitter.
Nichole: I think she wanted, a little bit, for Henry to have been wrong to leave.
Natalie: At first I thought it was like “I thought you were in danger but you’re fine, you don’t even give a shit about that…” Then I was like maybe it’s more “Oh this sucks because this means stuff is going to escalate, not mad at Henry just worried about what’s next. But like I said, weird vibes. Her being like I thought you were running for your life — I mean he was? Zarco was after him. But I guess that’s ALL she thought he was doing? Which, naive, because why would he be on the run with a stolen artifact for kicks? I don’t know. I can’t work out her tone.
Nichole: I think in the end for Nicky it was just like, “I don’t even know what I wanted from this reunion, but it wasn’t this.” Like, he didn’t even properly need her to save him and he is so close to finding what he wanted without her. I think it is just a bit of an adrenaline drop. She was just plowing ahead and then when faced with the reality she doesn’t quite know what to do.
Natalie: Henry is so focused on this quest and of course I get it, how crucial this is for him, but it feels like Nicky feels cut down again when she catches Henry up on stuff at home and sort of starts to talk about her feelings and then he’s like hang on, I need to have a childhood flashback.
Nichole: Lol.
Natalie: It’s complicated. It’s one of those moments where Henry’s stuff is objectively more important, it just is. But it did feel rough.
Nichole: Yeah, and she was just about to tell him about Bo, but he cuts her off. But then of course, later, he’s just like, “What a wild kooky idea I’ve had just now out of nowhere — WE ARE MEANT TO BE TOGETHER FOREVER!” It’s like, Henry, please, take your head out of your compass for 30 whole seconds.
Natalie: Teeth-baring emoji.
Nichole: I honestly do understand that this journey is important for Henry, and, possibly, has implications for the world, but his obsession with doing it on his own and being “worthy” of Nicky… meh.
Natalie: Okay at the point where Henry seemed to psychically just know the writing of these symbols, which seems to be maybe an ancient Thai? “It just came to me.” At this point were you having any thoughts about maybe memories he repressed, or some power?
Nichole: I am a sucker for a character who can just read or understand or speak a language they don’t know. There’s a really good one in Wheel of Time. Anyway, I was just like EYEBALL EYEBALL at it. In spite of my distaste for Henry’s methods, I cannot deny that I am invested in his story.
Natalie: I would be so mad if I was the knower. I would be like HOW! HOW, BRAIN? HOW? At myself.
Nichole: That’s pretty much how it goes in Wheel of Time, lol.
Natalie: Well, this gets Nicky engaged in the drama and ready to take action. Something big is going on, bigger than her feelings or the relationship dynamic. Of course, Henry chooses that exact moment to make it about the relationship dynamic.
Nichole: Henry still with the bad timing.
Natalie: Look. It’s a lot. Nicky’s little eyebrow raise as she transitions from “can we not” to “go on then, tell me why you messed me around…”
Nichole: How did you feel about Henry’s admission?
Natalie: It’s not the best timing, but as Eddie said he’s working through the stuff about his father, not even the mission, but the death and the reveal of the truth about Danny’s love for him and his duty to the Wan Zai. He’s not particularly rational and he hasn’t had to engage with any personal feelings in the last 4 months, he’s been on his own and mission oriented and I’m sure he’s had a lot of thoughts, but he hasn’t sat and worked through any feelings about any of this. His instincts seem very base level and impulsive now that he’s been sort of re-energized by a shot of emotion seeing Nicky. It’s interesting because as a viewer I almost agree with him about “as soon as I saw you today…” For me it was like “as soon as I saw them run into each other and hold each other when fighting I was like yes, this is how it should be” and I don’t think I even realized I missed it.
Nichole: I had that same reaction to seeing them back together. The scene DEMANDED it.
Natalie: So I felt that as a viewer, what he felt. But I also felt that when he had that moment confessing his feelings, he was maybe being presumptuous? I don’t know if I’d say arrogant, but possibly selfish with his feelings? Maybe expected her to be thrilled, like he thought this was his big apology and she’d been waiting and hurting and he needed to say this big piece so she’d know that he was still all in, because he assumed SHE was all in but wounded.
Nichole: Yeah, it is the complete lack of taking Nicky’s feelings into account that sours the whole thing for me.
Natalie: He assumed the wrong thing.
Nichole: He did and he doesn’t seem to realize it is 100% his fault. If he had kept in touch she wouldn’t have felt the need to claw her way out of a deep Henry-related depression! I know he literally wasn’t thinking about it at all, but, really, did he expect her to just put her life on hold not even knowing if he was dead or alive? And the worst is that I’m not 100% sure if this is what the writers want me to take away from this. I can’t tell if this is a me problem or a Henry problem.
Natalie: Eddie gave some extensive answers about this in our chat but again he’d be taking away from the scripts and finding his way to interpret them. I think we are meant to find it pretty unreasonable given that we see Nicky’s pain and her depression and moving on. From Eddie, I think my takeaway is that he was not thinking. Not consciously. Like he had no… object permanence? Or maybe the opposite? Too much object permanence? In his own bubble and really not thinking about change outside of it?
Nichole: He’s so in his own head about it.
Natalie: So I don’t think he had conscious thoughts or expectations, just sort of gut feelings, or maybe a faith in their love that was somewhat arrogant as he was not considering how hard it would be to be the one who stayed behind.
Nichole: Which, I mean, to your point from before, it is what Nicky did to Evan, but I still don’t like Nicky taking the brunt of it. I’m such a hypocrite for my fictional faves.
Natalie: Henry pulls another sort of “not now, Henry” moment in the forest asking what did you mean? Before he does his thing with the compass. Again, timing, but maybe there’s more to this one. Without picking on Henry, what do you think it meant for him to sort of stop and deal with that before taking those final steps towards what he knew would be a big sort of answer or change in his life (even if he didnt know what it was.) Like “No, not before I know…” It felt like, I don’t know, he had to separate the things in his mind?
Nichole: Ok, looking at it objectively, it still feels like a bad moment to be going into it. Does Nicky’s answer change what he decides to do? If he is about to experience something life-changing, what if it means he can’t be with Nicky any more, but he has, 5 minutes prior, convinced her to give him another shot? I don’t know. I still feel like he is dealing with everything very reactively and not thinking about what he’s really doing to Nicky.
Natalie: I think maybe for me there was an element of like, okay before I step up there and whatever happens, happens, I’ll know if I’m doing this For Her, or if this is just about me. It was sort of a severing for me of that motive.
Nichole: But, I think “doing this For Her” is selfish in its own way. I don’t know. I have a lot of complicated feelings about this situation.
Natalie: Yeah, I’m not necessarily defending it, just trying to puzzle it out. Luckily, men with guns move in swiftly to prevent any more of this drama.
Nichole: A little embarrassing to be caught in the middle of your relationship drama by the villain.
Natalie: At least it’s one of the kinds who explains everything for you!
Nichole: Thank goodness he was there to fill in all of Henry’s childhood memories!
Natalie: In this case, it isn’t just sheer hubris, he does need Henry to know the drill in order to use him as a pawn. This was, to say the least, a pretty big deal. Henry has had this mystical destiny since he was marked as a child by this device — he was chosen, and he’s the only one who can bring the compass to life and wield it to detect magic energy.
Nichole: Do you think we’ll ever find out why it chose him? Or was it just because he could assemble it?
Natalie: I don’t know, but it reminded me in a way of His Dark Materials, even the word “bearer.” I don’t know if you’ve read them but it reminded me for some reason of Will and the Subtle Knife. He was chosen by the knife as the knife bearer kind of just because he was there, and also worthy. But he wasn’t like the one guy in all the world. But once it was him, he was the only one who could wield it.
Nichole: Yeah, that is how I’m reading this too.
Natalie: He is now The Guy. And it stands to reason that when Danny found out his kid accidentally became The Guy, he wanted to destroy the compass, to prevent this exact thing happening, someone with bad intentions trying to use Henry as a pawn and weaponise the power, force him to use it.
Nichole: Yeah. So when he was looking for it with Grant, he knew he wanted to destroy it, but Grant didn’t know that?
Natalie: I guess not? That part must have been a secret. He didn’t fully trust anyone.
Nichole: So, once activated, Zarco’s plan was to use Henry to what? Hunt out magical objects? Is that how you interpreted what was going to happen?
Natalie: Yeah. Like a sniffer dog. Maybe a truffle pig. Objects, power sources, Henry will be held under duress and used as a tool. That’s how I saw it.
Nichole: Yeah, that’s what I thought too. I sort of wondered at the bigger implications though. I feel like there might be more to it in the end.
Natalie: Well, hopefully Nicky can get Henry out of there before Zarco wakes up from his brain damage. Once again, four guys unconscious on the ground. Sebastian would like a chat. Also, if Nicky had the capacity to do that with a gun drawn on her could she not have done it 30 seconds sooner before Henry put the thing on the thing? Create a diversion? I feel like I’m picking a lot this episode, and also narratively they needed Henry to activate genesis and get imbued with power, and he maybe wouldn’t have just done it by choice knowing all this. But it feels like the way Nicky got clear, she could have kicked off that fight before the compass hit the podium.
Nichole: In Nicky’s defense, I think she could do it once the activation started because they were distracted.
Natalie: I looked out for that, but they didn’t seem that distracted! Anyway, it’s moot. The process of the magical powers going into Henry looked kind of painful.
Nichole: It didn’t look great! Do you have any thoughts about what is going to happen when Henry wakes up?
Natalie: Not one. It’s a pretty serious cliffhanger given Nicky needs to get home in time for the grand reopening!
Nichole: I assume he’ll be coming home with her, but that’s all I’ve got.
Nichole: Next week looks like it is going to be a bit of a fun diversion, so I’m not sure we’ll get our answers soon.
Natalie: Will Henry, Pei-Ling and Nicky all live in the same apartment?
Nichole: Maybe Nicky and Pei-Ling will move into Nicky’s childhood bedroom together. Maybe this season is actually an indictment of the housing crisis in tech-bro dominated cities.
Natalie: I think you’ve nailed it.
Nichole: [finger guns]