A quarter-life crisis causes a young Chinese-American woman to drop out of college and go on a life-changing journey to an isolated monastery in China. But when she returns to find her hometown overrun with crime and corruption, she uses her martial arts skills and Shaolin values to protect her community and bring criminals to justice…all while searching for the assassin who killed her Shaolin mentor and is now targeting her.
It might be worth sticking around for a couple more to see whether the mythological aspects actually blossom into something more than the premiere suggests. If not, to paraphrase the original show, it'll be time to leave.
Representation matters, so the existence of an almost all-Asian cast on a broadcast network series is a welcome development even as the show's format and themes feel overly familiar.
The makers of the new Kung Fu have taken a scorched-earth policy as regards the legacy of its ancestor, and good for them: The cast is attractive and committed; the storyline has multiple avenues to pursue; Ms. Liang can carry the show.
It's yet another series from Greg Berlanti, but it's full of action, gives Asian Americans a showcase at a time they need it and ultimately more entertaining than, say, the "Mulan" remake was.
The pilot of Kung Fu suggests a sincere interest in the story of a Chinese family in the U.S., with an amount of complexity and sophistication that one might not necessarily expect from a network action series.
The new "Kung Fu" isn't as serious as its predecessor, and it doesn't have the makings of a classic thus far. But its light and affectionate portrait of Asian American family life feels both heartening and right for this moment.
Kim's enthralling iteration ... rights the wrongs of appropriation to fashion a modern, painfully relevant take that features high-flying action papering over a melodramatic script.
