Wednesdays mean an all-new episode of Kung Fu. Last week, we saw Althea come to terms with facing the consequences for her app’s breach of privacy, Nicky and Bo grow closer (romance is a-brewin’), and reconnected with Henry. For more information on what you missed last week, check out our recap. Without further ado, let’s get into what happened this week on Kung Fu.
Pei-Ling
In a demonstration of fluidity and grace, Nicky and Pei-Ling train together in the community center. That is, until Pei-Ling stumbles; it’s taking her a while to recover physically even though her memories are returning. She feels better since shattering the necklace and hopes it severed her connection with Xiao.
Pei-Ling ribs Nicky about embracing change — a thinly veiled prod via Althea about how things are going with Bo. Nicky tells her shifu she’s embracing change plenty, but that she should do the same. Pei-Ling hasn’t been out much since coming back, and Nicky reminds her that this isn’t just a second chance for their relationship but for Pei-Ling’s life too.
Ryan visits Pei-Ling, checking up on her. All of her bloodwork is normal, showing no traces of any traces of Xiao — presumably meaning Jyu Sa. Pei-Ling asks if Ryan has any plans for the day, trying to start getting out more as Nicky suggested. Ignoring things with Seb, he agrees to go out with her.
The pair hit all of Chinatown’s touristy spots and have a blast. However, Pei-Ling notices Ryan checking his phone a lot and after weasling the truth out of him urges him to apologize. Ryan feels like with Seb having moved in so suddenly, he had to give up his space so quickly but Pei-Ling helps him see that Sebastian probably feels like he hasn’t made space for him.
Pei-Ling visits Harmony Dumplings to talk to Mei-Li. She apologizes for never letting know where Nicky was during her 3 years away, stating she felt that she had to respect Nicky’s choice. Mei-Li says she has nothing to apologize for. She took Nicky in when she was lost and Mei-Li had pushed her away, not knowing how to help her. Pei-Ling helped Nicky transform into a wonderful and strong person, and that change in Nicky helped change the rest of the family. All of a sudden, there is a shift in Pei-Ling; Xiao emerges and starts gripping Mei-Li very tightly, realizing she’s Nicky’s mother. Pei-Ling manages to snap out of it and apologizes, running from a shaken Mei-Li.
A Change Is Gonna Come
Back at the Shen household, Jin and Mei-Li still fondly contend with the challenges of Althea living at home. The issue today? She’s got so many things plugged into the wall for her haircare that the lights in the house are flickering! Mei-Li asks Jin if he’s thinking of taking Anthony’s job offer. He says no, but seems to be interested — though he cites that he’s too old to get in the game and doesn’t want politics to change him. Mei-Li encourages him to do it, saying the city needs someone like him.
Back at the restaurant, Jin is wrestling with a huge delivery from the new supplier. They’ve never ordered for more than 2 weeks at a time and need to find somewhere to put all the ingredients. He recruits Althea to take over in her place.
Althea proves her organizational skills by sorting the new inventory in a new, more convenient system — by dish rather than by ingredient grouping. She feels accomplished and realizes she can still solve problems without tech. She thanks Jin for getting her out of her comfort zone and Mei-Li uses that lesson to push Jin into calling Anthony.
And Everyone Gets Stuck In A Love Triangle
Nicky and Bo are having a romantic night under the stars when Evan contacts Nicky. He got a call from an old FBI contact who was looking for Henry after he broke into the museum in Iceland. Interpol has declared Henry a person of interest and wants to talk to Nicky.
Back at her apartment, Nicky tells an agent that she hasn’t been in contact with Henry — which he finds hard to believe since she’s living in his old apartment and working at his old job. She tells him it’s the truth and that even though they didn’t have a great breakup, she wants to help if he’s in trouble. The agent doesn’t give anything up, much to her chagrin.
Back at the house, Althea and Ryan question her about reaching Henry, which she responds again that she hasn’t been able to reach him. She’s tried everything, even reaching out to the Wan Zai. Ryan apologizes for pushing her, stating that he just knows if the tables were reversed and one of them were in trouble, Henry would drop everything in a heartbeat to help them.
Nicky meets up with Bo and apologizes on cutting out on their date. She explains the situation with Henry to him and asks for his help since Althea’s in “tech jail.” His task? Hacking into an FBI agent’s computer. No biggie. Nicky lures the FBI agent back to the community center to tell him some details about the day that Henry left that she “forgot” while Bo hacks into his tech in the back, gaining access to everything the FBI has on Henry.
Bo and Nicky meet up with Evan, who tells them the FBI thinks Henry and Grant broke in to the museum to steal Lai-Taang Bow-Ran. Henry’s wanted for questioning, but he’s not the FBI’s main suspect. That would be Cavin Zarco, a notoriously lethal South African antiuqities thied and the man we saw try and apprehend Henry. They decide to track Zarco in hopes of finding Henry. Nicky knows someone who might know Zarco’s whereabouts: Razor, the man Zhilan hired in season 1 to recover the box that held the scabbard for Liang Daiyu’s sword.
Razor thinks Nicky came to see him for a rematch, but she wants info on Zarco — which Razor does not want to give. He says Henry has really gotten himself into trouble this time; Zarco has no code and if it gets out Razor helped Nicky, he’s done for. Nicky challenges him to a rematch; if she wins, she gets information on Zarco’s whearabouts and if Razor wins, he gets to use Nicky for a job. Nicky disarms him extremely quickly and gets her promised information. Outside, she meets up with Bo and tells him Razor has a buddy on Zarco’s team who tipped him off they’re in Bangkok, where Nicky is headed. She thanks him for helping her out even though it was weird with Henry invovled. He asks if he has anything to worry about between her and Henry, and the answering kiss says no better than any of her verbal reassurances.
The Jig Is Up, The News Is Out. They Finally Found Me.
Henry is seen researching The Compass. Once again, he touches it and it reacts to him. He flashed back to his childhood, sneaking inot his dad’s study while he and his mom are arguing. There, his young self found a contraption Daniel was in the porcess of builidng and intuitively assembled it. Back in the present, some thugs break into Henry’s hiding spot, but our slippery friend is in the wind before they find him. However, the head guy says that he knows where Henry’s headed.
In the beautifully vibrant Bangkok, Evan helps Nicky track Zarco’s guy. All of a sudden, the chase is on and Evan steers Nicky right into none other than Henry himself, who questions what she’s doing there. After she explains she’s there to help, the two fall into their familiar dance up against Zarco’s men and make a mad dash for it, hand in hand. The two hole up somewhere and Henry shows her the compass; he found Si Nan.
Henry explains that he’d seen the symbols on the compass before on a connected object called The Lodestone (from the flashback) — both parts of the same myth. If the two items are brought together at a sacred site called The Foundation, it activates an unknown process called Genesis. The Foundation was believed by Daniel to be somewhere in Thailand; Henry is seeking it out to try and unlock the secrets of who he is, though he still lacks The Lodestone. Nicky thought she was coming to save Henry, but realizes that his chase for answers isn’t over.
Nicky helps Henry research and catches him up on what’s going with the family. She’s interrupted by Henry seeing a picture of The Lodestone in a book she has. Somehow, he’s able to read the Thai symbols that say, “The compass and the lodestone will summon Genesis fromthe foundation at the center of the rose.” Henry takes this to be about an ancient temple Grant told him about before he died, called “The Flower of the Heavens.” It’s located in Kanchanaburi, about an hour by motorcycle.
Nicky goes to head out and push on with the mission, but Henry stops her to apologize for hurting her and not reaching out. He thought he had to go on this mission alone, which she argues he didn’t have to do — which he now realizes. He tells her he fell in love with her because she’s always known who she is, something he’s never had. He thought if he could solve this last mystery his dad plopped in his lap, he would have some security in his identity and be worthy of her. But he realized as soon as he saw her that it’s supposed to be the two of them togehter. Nicky tells Henry she wants to help him find what he’s looking for, but he can’t go back.
In Kanchanaburi, Nicky and Henry reach The Foundation. Before figuring out what to do, Henry asks if he and Nicky are truly done, and she says yes. She had to move on. They’re interrupted by Zarco, who takes the compass. Zarco tells Henry that he crossed paths with Daniel years ago, who refused to team up with him. The Lodestone isn’t just an object, it’s a vessel for the energy to anoint the compass bearer, “the one person who can initiate Genesis.” Flashing back to the childhood memory, we see the Lodestone flash as Henry assembles it and he passes out. The Lodestone chose him; he is the compass bearer. Only he can bring the compass to the foundation and achieve Genesis.
Genesis is supposed to be a powerful locator of mystical energy. It will find the divine object that first brought magic into the world. Daniel wanted to find the compass and destroy it in order to protect Henry. Henry refuses to do it, but Zarco threatens Nicky and he has no choice. He settles the Compass in the correct spot and the ground beings to shake. Nicky uses the distraction to break free of the guards, but Henry is already immobilized by beams of light pouring energy into his body. Nicky grapples with Zarco and puts him down, but she’s too late. When she tries to reach Henry, she’s thrown back. Henry levitates into the air before dropping.
Trouble in Paradise?
Ryan comes home from the brainstorming session on locating Henry very frustrated, and he’s taking it out on Sebastian, who is cooking in the kitchen. They get into a tiff about Ryan leaving his stuff all over the place and Sebastian not having enough room to cook. It all comes to a head when Ryan slips up and calls the apartment “his place” and not “our place”, to Sebastian’s chagrin. Thankfully, Pei-Ling makes him see some sense.
The Shadow Realm
This isn’t the actual name for wherever Zhilan and the rest of the departed Guardians are stuck, but you have to admit it’s fun. Simon brings Zhilan to the Guardians’ hideout. As Zhilan faces the others, they ask where Suyin is and Simon tells them The Harvester got her. Zhilan questions if the scant few gathered are all of the Guardians they could find. Simon thinks there’s still more out there since they all got scattered when they got cast into wherever they are. The others inscribe Suyin’s name on a wall of those fallen by The Harvester. Here, Zhilan finds her mother’s name, Zhang Fang-Su. She was one of the first to fall, but was looking for her daughter, which Zhilan takes to mean Pei-Ling.
Zhilan tells Simon of Zhang Fang-Su rejecting her after they met in the realm. She was hoping for a second chance. Simon laughs, saying that all the Guardians in the cave know Zhilan’s a murder. He tells her that it doesn’t matter what she’s done in the past. They’re all stuck togehter and it matters only what she does now. A Guardian runs in and tells the others that another has fallen, Jia. The Harvestor got her.
The Guardians argue about whether or not they should leave as the Harvester was only a mile from their hideout when he got Jia. Simon thinks they can subsist on less supplies and just go out less frequently, but Zhilan wants to fight, saying cowering in a cave is no way to live. She tells them she willl fight and kill the Harvester since the blade doesn’t kill her if they help.
You can catch Kung Fu on Wednesday nights in its new time slot at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT on The CW. As always, make sure to stay up to date with all of our coverage here, and stay tuned for more updates!
