‘Kung Fu’ Recap: Season 3, Episode 11 “The Scepter”
On this week’s episode of Kung Fu, all the Shens find themselves facing big decisions as Jin’s election arrives. Nicky faces Bo to get the answers she needs to find Xiao while Henry and his powers open the door for a final showdown. Read on to find out what happened in “The Scepter”!
New Beginnings
Mei-Li arrives at Harmony Dumplings to find that Carrie is preparing for a busload of tourists. An important food critic has just named the restaurant the best Chinese restaurant in San Francisco, leading to a spike in customers. Mei-Li is uneasy with all the attention, particularly the fact that the restaurant is being totally redesigned.
Sebastian is polishing up his resume when Ryan notices that he is looking into opening his own food truck. Sebastian thinks it’s a pipe dream, given the expense, and insists he’s fine with looking for another restaurant gig. Ryan wants to help and goes to Mei-Ling for advice. She shares that Jin held down two full-time jobs so that she could start Harmony Dumplings and that it will take a lot of support to make Sebastian’s dream a reality. However, she thinks the two of them can do it. Ryan purchases a broken-down food truck and surprises Sebastian, saying that they’ll make it work as a team.
Meanwhile, the restaurant’s success among wealthy white tourists means that Mei-Li’s friends and other Chinatown residents are being locked out of eating there. Upset, Mei-Li goes to Carrie and demands answers. Carrie shares that she didn’t want to make the changes and that corporate forced her hand, adding that she knows this isn’t the vision that Mei-Li had for the restaurant. Mei-Li’s only option would be to take her fight to the top — Carrie doesn’t have enough power to help.
Instead, she decides to follow her heart. She and Jin sell their shares in Harmony Dumplings and let the restaurant go. She asks Sebastian if she can join in his new food truck venture, and he happily agrees.
Jin It to Win It
With just two days left until the election, Jin’s team is busy. Evan pops in to let everyone know that the DA is working to make a move on Delta but that it won’t happen until after the election. While Jin is optimistic that he can win without scandal, his manager isn’t so sure. The polls have him in a tight contest with Anthony.
Knowing that charges are coming, Jin goes to Anthony to warn him. Even though they’re opponents, he wants the district to have a scandal-free leader. Thinking Anthony is more likely to win, Jin wants him to have a strategy in place to keep the district running when the news about the charges breaks. At home, Althea is being followed by Delta Securities, finding a hidden camera in her house.
Instead of doing the right thing, Anthony jeopardizes the DA’s investigation by publicly taking credit for the crackdown on Delta. On election night, Althea sees her stalker. Confronting him, the man admits that he’s not from Delta — he’s a recruiter for the NSA. They have been keeping tabs on her and want to offer her a position. He leaves his card with her as he leaves.
Jin wins the election, revealing that Anthony’s press conference was a last-minute hail Mary due to his own low internal polls showing Jin in the lead. The Shen family celebrates while Althea contemplates her offer.
Old Friends, Old Foes
Henry hears from his contacts that Xiao has murdered a group of miners who she commissioned to dig into a mine in China. Nicky urges him to use his compass power to locate her, and he lets slip that the only reason it worked before was because of his feelings for Nicky. Both awkwardly refuse to discuss the situation further.
Nicky, Henry, Evan, and Zhilan meet to go over the strategy. Zhilan wants to ask Bo for help with finding Xiao and figuring out her plans, but Nicky is strongly opposed. Evan has a video of the mine massacre, which shows that Xiao is using her true face. Pei-Ling is gone. In addition, she has a ruyi — a scepter from her time period that symbolizes power. Zhilan is ready to stop looking, thinking that her sister is gone. Nicky urges her not to give up.
Henry sees that the golden pearl on the scepter is powerful, meaning that he may be able to focus his compass powers on it. Zhilan points out that his powers are shaky, again urging them to find Bo for a “friendly chat, or a torture session.” She helps Henry with his powers, and he is able to locate Xiao, but Xiao sees him in the vision, implying that the connection doesn’t go one way.
Nicky goes to see Bo, who is still in bad shape. They both apologize, with Bo taking the blame for everything and insisting that the feelings he had for her were genuine. He can’t offer her much information about Xiao’s plan, but he remembers that she wanted to “cleanse” her bloodline. They realize Xiao is at the monastery to find and kill Mia, the “abomination” in her bloodline. Zhilan books her and Nicky on the next flight to China while Henry offers to protect the remaining Shens in case it’s needed.
When they find Mia, she is happy at the monastery and has clearly grown a lot. The trio realizes they will need to fight Xiao here, and everyone prepares for the fight. When Xiao arrives, she poses as Pei-Ling and goes after Mia. They manage to fend her off, but she escapes with her totem after Mia dives in front of Nicky to save her.
While they tend to Mia’s wounds, Nicky gets the news that her father won the election from Henry. Thinking about his words from before, Nicky says they should talk about their future when they bring Mia back from the monastery. Both are happy, but it is short-lived. Zhilan notices that a symbol is burned into Mia’s arm. Back in San Francisco, Xiao appears before Henry. She tells him that after she saw him looking at her, she realizes that he has something that she needs. She yanks him away, disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
Kung Fu airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on The CW. You can find our other coverage of the series here!