In “Reunion,” the entire Shen family gets involved in the search for Mia as Zhilan and Russell Tan close in on their target. Will Nicky convince her cousin to come home, or will Mia choose the path of revenge and anger? From dumpling rivalries to forbidden romance, let’s unpack what happened in Kung Fu season 2, episode 5!
The Battle of the Dumplings
Mei-Li gets a brochure in the mail for a new restaurant, Melody Dumplings. They claim to have faster wait times than Harmony Dumplings, and Mei-Li is angry. It’s revealed to be even worse when her old line cook joins the new restaurant. Sebastian tries to cheer her up by telling her that if she wasn’t beating the competition, they wouldn’t be trying to imitate her. He buys some dumplings from the competition for them to taste test, trying to get to know their enemy. The dumplings are no match for Mei-Li’s, and both are relieved. It raises Mei-Li’s spirits in the way Sebastian intended, and Mei-Li tells him how glad she is to have him around now that Jin has left. Sebastian is touched by the compliment, and his harder edges begin to soften.
Meanwhile, Ryan decides to clear the air with Sebastian. He says he doesn’t want things to be weird between them as Sebastian realizes his too-cool attitude might have cost him his shot. At the bar that night, Sebastian texts Ryan to meet for drinks. He tells Ryan that he can’t stop thinking about him. Sebastian confesses that he loves Harmony Dumplings and is scared of ruining his chance to grow with the restaurant instead of moving on like he usually does. He doesn’t want to get involved with the boss’ son. Ryan makes a bold move, leaning in for a kiss. It seems that even if it’s a bad idea, both Sebastian and Ryan are on board for now.
Baba To The Rescue
Althea’s start-up is quickly outgrowing her house, but she doesn’t want to take a loan offered by her in-laws. She’s indecisive, and her team is losing confidence. Needing her baba in more ways than one, Althea asks Jin for help with her spotty electricity. He ends up providing her a lead on an office space and some fatherly advice.
The new office space in Jin’s friend’s art studio comes with a burst of inspiration for Althea, who decides on a new focus for her company. She will start a new social network called I Know Someone, which will aim to help users make local connections in their communities.
Search and Rescue
The Shens are all in on the search for Mia, working off of their limited information. They know Mia is looking for her father, John Liu, who is a Guardian. The crew run down information on potential John Liu matches worldwide. Their list gets narrower and narrower with each new lead, but they’re still no closer to finding their match.
Evan arrives to help with the search, and Nicky apologizes for what happened with his job. Evan offers to have Nadia hack get the files the DA office has on Mia, and while Nicky doesn’t want him taking any risks, Nadia is willing to help. She hacks into his files, covering her tracks with the DA by claiming she texted Evan an inappropriate picture and needed to delete it.
This information leads to a Mia sighting in Reno, and Althea hacks into a bus schedule. They realize one of the John Liu possibilities lives in one of the towns on the bus line. Realizing it’s faster to drive, they decide to head to Medford, Oregon to track down Mia.
Henry and Nicky go on the road trip together, with Nicky seeing Pei-Ling again. She confides her worries about Mia to her shifu, and Pei-Ling advises her to be flexible and trust her instincts.
In Oregon, Mia shows up on John Liu’s doorstep as one of Tan’s men watches from his car. Mia wants answers, and John tells Mia he truly loved Mei-Xue. He was assigned to protect the crossbow while Mei-Xue was looking for the sword. John tells Mia that they knew they had to separate once Mia arrived — it would be too dangerous to have people know that there was a child of a Warrior and a Guardian. John claims he wasn’t the one who buried Mei-Xue but that he thought of Mia every day. He was scared to try to find them in case their enemies followed him. But as Mia tearfully tells her story, John receives a text. It turns out he was the one who tipped off the Tan family to her arrival. He injects her with a medication, saying that he wishes she didn’t come.
Nicky and Henry arrive too late to save Mia, but it turns out the Tans aren’t the only ones after her. Zhilan is waiting for them. She mocks Nicky for not being able to protect Mia so far, but they both ultimately have the same goal: keep Mia away from Russell Tan. They are forced to team up. Zhilan has one of Tan’s men, and she will make him talk.
Henry and Nicky are understandably not thrilled with the idea of torture. Nicky asks for five minutes alone with the prisoner. She reminds him that Tan will kill him whether he talks or not, and if he doesn’t talk to Nicky, Zhilan will make his death even more painful. If he talks to Nicky about where Mia is located, she’ll give him the chance to escape Tan and start over. He takes the deal. Zhilan still wants to kill him to tie up loose ends, noting that this lackey will just call Tan and tell him Nicky is coming if she lets him go now. Nicky compromises: Henry will stay to guard the man while Nicky and Zhilan go after Mia.
At Tan’s facility, John tells Mia that Tan knew about Mia months ago and approached John. He threatened to kill his new family if he didn’t give Mia up, also revealing that it was Tan who killed Mei-Xue. Nicky and Zhilan make a deal: they will work together to find Mia and let her choose which of them she goes with. Nicky adds a caveat: no killing anyone in the process (cue the eyeroll from Zhilan). Working together, they take down all of the guards, with Zhilan reaching Mia first. She speeds off with Mia on her bike, leaving Nicky in the dust.
At a safe house, Mia asks Zhilan why she’s protecting her and how she knows who Mia is. Zhilan says that all she knows about Mia is that Tan is after her, and that’s all the reason she needs to step in. Zhilan asks Mia to join her and help make Russell Tan pay. Nicky tracks down Zhilan and Mia. Nicky warns Mia that Zhilan is a killer who isn’t to be trusted, and Zhilan concedes that Nicky is right. But Zhilan reminds Mia that they’re dealing with Russell Tan, and to take him down they need to be willing to do whatever it takes.
Zhilan attacks Nicky, but Mia steps in between them. Mia goes to Nicky, throwing Zhilan off of her in a display hinting at her strength as a Warrior and a Guardian. Nicky asks Mia what she wants to do, and Mia says she doesn’t know. She wants to go after Russell Tan, but she knows she can’t trust Zhilan. Nicky offers to bring her back to San Francisco, noting that the whole Shen family wants to help Mia even after she ran away. Mia agrees to go with Nicky and Henry. Back at home, the Shens welcome Mia with a breakfast feast. With her family around her, Mia finally realizes she’s home, no matter what comes next.
Kung Fu airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on The CW. You can find our other coverage of the series here!
