‘Kung Fu’ Recap: Season 3, Episode 9 “The Architect”

This week’s episode of Kung Fu did not end the way we expected. Let’s break down how we got to the episode’s shocking conclusion.

Anthony Chan’s Ad

Anthony Chan is playing dirty in his campaign. He’s airing an ad about Jin Shen’s family — particularly putting Nicky and her history of “violence” in the spotlight. Althea wants to fight fire with fire (they do have all kinds of dirt on Chan after all), but Jin says absolutely not. Nicky leaves, understandably upset.

Shen Family Integrity

Mei-Li and Jin talk about their parents’ intuition. They know that Nicky is not okay after everything with Pei Ling, Xiao, and Bo. Jin offers to drop out of the race, but Mei-Li says no. If that ad is any indication, they need new political leaders in their area now more than ever.

Althea and Dennis get a $5,000 espresso machine as a gift from his parents. They’re clearly trying to buy Dennis and Althea’s love back, but Althea tells him to return it. They cannot be bought.

Damian Returns and Nicky Cancels Class

At work, Ryan texts Seb that they should meet up.

Then, Damian gets rushed into the hospital. He’s hysterical, yelling that he didn’t do anything. Ryan remembers him from when Nicky helped him and tries to help, but he’s not cleared to see him as a patient. Only Dr. Fredrickson is.

Nicky goes to teach her class, but only two students show up. These girls know that the ads that Anthony Chan are putting out are lies. Nicky always tells them to only use violence as a last resort, right?

While Nicky works with her students, she thinks about what she did to Bo. That wasn’t using violence as a last resort. She broke her moral code. Upset, she tells the girls not to call her Shifu and cancels class.

Pei Ling is Still Gone and Something Big is Happening

Nicky goes to visit where her ShiFu used to stay, but she’s gone. Nicky cries.

Althea gets a call from Ryan about Damian. Apparently cops dropped Damian off then bounced, leaving Damian alone with some DSE security guards. Evan tells them that DSE stands for “Delta Security Endeavors,” which begs the question: “What the hell are delta codes doing in a patient’s chart?” Why is Damian on such a tight leash? Whatever’s going on, it’s big.

Damian is Being Framed

Ryan goes back in to try and talk to Damien. The DSE guard says he’s not allowed, but Ryan tells him to verbally state that he understands the legal implications of denying a patient healthcare. The guard leaves, and Ryan is able to talk to Damian.

Cops dusted his apartment and arrested him for armed robbery. They found a gun in his apartment, but he says he’s never touched a gun. They made him sign a contract and told him that he could either go to jail or go into some sort of rehab. He wasn’t in his right mind, so he signed the document without looking into it further. He now realizes that these guys were following him, and now they’ve framed him.

Damian begs Ryan for help, but Dr. Fredrikson comes in and tells him to get back to work.

Nicky and Henry Talk and Ryan Needs Help

Nicky talks to Henry and tells him that she has to step away from the fight. She wants him to continue with everything while she works on herself and figuring out why she did what she did to Bo.

At this point, Bo regained consciousness a few hours ago and he’s gonna be fine. But still, she violated her principles. She forgot everything Pei Ling taught her.

Ryan calls Nicky and tells her that he needs help at the hospital. He takes Nicky to Damien’s bed, but Damian’s gone.

Who’s Behind Delta?

Evan explains that Delta Security Endeavors is bad news. They have all kinds of security clearance across the city. Henry adds that the CEO, also known as “The Architect” is willing to do anything to increase Delta’s impact on the city. They definitely framed Damian for some bigger reason.

Meanwhile, Althea got a designer bag from Dennis’ parents, and she has to return it. She’s devastated. “Maybe,” Nicky tells her. “Try asking yourself ‘will this bring me lasting happiness.'” She realizes she doesn’t need the bag.

Mama Bear

Mei-Li goes to visit Anthony Chan because he slandered their family. She demands that he removes the ads, but Chan tells her, “It’s politics, Mei Li. Nothing’s off limits. Not even family.”

She was hoping he would say that. Good thing he did, because Mei-Li brought Anthony Chan’s mom into the situation. Mrs. Chan tells Anthony that he owes the Shens an apology. Mei-Li says she doesn’t need an apology. She needs the ads to be taken down.

This is how we find out that Anthony Chan didn’t even want to run those ads. He was forced to through blackmail because of his brother’s mess. Delta’s behind all of it. Delta wants to take Nicky down and they used an ad against Jin to do it.

Getting Into the Server

Delta’s holding Damian against his will on false charges. They can’t be hacked and they won’t respond to the government. The only way they can help him is if they can hack the cameras and get into the system (Thanks, Althea). Delta would have eyes on them the whole time. That is, unless they gave them something else to look at.

Dennis blinds camera one so Nicky can get into camera two and help Evan hack it. Evan goes as fast as he can but, even with Althea’s help, Dennis has to buy them more time using a rendition of Happy Birthday that goes on for way too long.

Sneaking Into Delta

Althea guides Evan through hacking. Delta’s info is unreachable from their code, but they found the location of the hub where they’re storing all their data. Nicky could go inside the headquarters, and they could find the rehab and Damian.

Mei-Li calls Nicky and tells her what she found out from Anthony Chan. Evan and Althea say that it’s maybe not a good idea for Nicky to break in. She’s already on their radar. Nicky (of course) is going to do it anyway. “Delta thinks I’m a threat?” she says. “Let’s prove them right.”

Finding Out the Truth

Henry sneaks Nicky in and goes on lookout, she’s got 15 minutes. “Hey,” he tells her. “Glad you got your fire back.” Bold assumption that the fire went anywhere, Henry.

She sneaks into the office and finds out that Damian is at their property in Bayview. The group was right. They were watching him for weeks. There are tons of videos of him, including the ones that were sent to SFPD to put him on their radar.

Nicky is smart enough to find the stuff they deleted, and she find a buried video of Damien playing basketball at the same time as the robbery. He’s innocent.

There’s also a huge list of hundreds of SF residents. Delta is massing data and finding candidates for lockups. Seb is on the list. She needs to get the names. Althea and Evan say the transfer will take too long, but Nicky doesn’t care. They need the information.

Henry gets stopped by DSE guards and has to fight them. Nicky tells him to get to safety while she finishes the transfer. Nicky downloads it on a flash drive and is caught. She fights them as best as she can while the files download.

Eventually, she goes to punch one of the guards but remembers what she did to Bo when she lost control. She loses her ground. They smash the files and taze her. She passes out.

The Architect

Nicky wakes up tied to a chair in a dark room. She’s alone in there with Delta’s CEO, the Architect.

He tells Nicky that SF is the key to Delta’s success. It comes with challenges, but with time all the difficulties would become part of the pitch. It’s proof that, if they can take this city, they can take any city. The one quirk they didn’t plan on was Nicky. SF has a hero. How can they be the savior if the city already has one?

Now SF knows who Nicky is and views her as a villain. Nicky realizes that she gets to crime before the cops, so there’s less people in jail. They want lots of people in jail, so she’s bad for their numbers. She feels a lot better about herself, as she should.

The Architect tells Nicky that, thanks to the algorithm, he can predict crime. They want to arrest people before they’ve committed a crime. It’s illegal and unconstitutional.

The Architect says it doesn’t matter. The politicians of the area have green-lit their plan. The police are on their way for Nicky, who just trespassed and assaulted employees.

Nicky Gets Arrested

Henry sneaks in to get Nicky out once The Architect is gone. She tells Henry to go. Nicky has to face her consequences. She doesn’t want to be a fugitive. Xiao is still out there, Delta’s going to screw over the city, and Pei Ling is still missing. “I need you to help my family,” she tells him. “Lead them. You’re the only one who can.”

Nicky gets arrested and put in jail. As unfortunate and jaw-dropping as it is, she looks good in orange.

Henry Steps Up and Seb Returns

They got the Damien video so he should get out of Delta’s custody. Nicky’s still being processed. They should know more tomorrow. Henry, Althea, and Evan are upset.

Henry remembers what Nicky said. He has to step up. “Nicky will be okay,” he tells them. “She will. We’re gonna do everything we can to get her out. In the mean time, we can’t give up. Xiao’s still out there, Pei Ling needs us, Nicky was Delta’s biggest challenge and now she’s off the board.” They’re going to do everything they can.

When Ryan gets home, Seb is waiting for him. He got Ryan’s message. He’s in a much better place and he wants to get back with Ryan.

Ryan tells him that he should leave. He’s a target for Delta. “They already got [Nicky],” Ryan tells him. “If they got you, too… You need to leave the city. You have to go.”

Seb tells Ryan that if his family is fighting something, he’s not going anywhere. He’s going to fight alongside them.

Where We Ended

Dennis comes home and realizes Nicky’s in jail. Althea says they actually do need his parents’ money. Otherwise, they can’t afford Nicky’s bail.

The last shot of the episode is Nicky sitting in a jail cell, trying to stay calm. And now we have to wait until next week? Unfair.

The next episode of Kung Fu will air next Wednesday at 9/8c on the CW. You can find our other coverage of the series here!