Althea Shen

**Althea Shen** is Nicky's sister and the oldest of Jin and Mei-Li Shen's children. She's newly engaged and on her way to planning her dream Chinese wedding.

## Biography

### Pilot

Upon Nicky's return to San Francisco, Nicky is shocked to discover that her older sister Althea is preparing to marry Dennis Soong, an old high school classmate of theirs.

Later, once Althea and her siblings manage to get the mob off their backs, the Shens happily celebrate Althea's marriage and Nicky and Mei-Li formally reconcile.

### Silence

Althea, Ryan, Mei-Li, and Jin cook Nicky a welcome home breakfast and surprise Nicky with their cheerfulness. All four immediately demand Nicky’s time, with Mei-Li already suggesting both an eligible bachelor and a law internship. Nicky tells her she’s not going to law school as she notices the smell of smoke in the kitchen as the chicken burns. She’s transported to the night Pei-Ling Zhang died, and she awakens terrified in her own bed. As it turns out, it was all a dream, including the nice breakfast.

While at the community center, Nicky gets a text from Althea reminding her about her bridal fitting. Nicky sighs, knowing she won’t be able to train like she wanted to.

At the dress shop, Nicky tries on bridesmaid dresses as Althea tells a mysterious caller to stop contacting her. Nicky asks who it was, and Althea smoothly lies and says it was a wedding vendor. Althea flatters Nicky by saying she looks so good in the dress that she’s worried it will be a Pippa/Kate Middleton situation. As she looks at Nicky’s shoulder, she sees the scar from Nicky’s stab wound. Althea is shocked, saying that they all thought it was a fire at the monastery in the Yunnan Province, not an attack. Nicky admits that she “left some parts out” as Althea pulls her into a hug. Nicky shares the story with Althea, who is incredulous that Nicky wants to put herself in danger again by going after Zhilan Zhang. Nicky, still hurting from reliving Zhilan’s attack, lashes out, saying not everyone can live in a “bridal fantasy world”. Althea gets serious, saying that a lot has changed in three years and that “believe it or not, my life is no fairytale” as she storms off.

Later, Althea is running her cake tasting with precision as Nicky gives Ronda some of the food. Ryan and Nicky joke about the rating system as Althea sends them a death glare. Ryan makes a remark about Nicky “hunting down an international assassin,” and Nicky realizes Althea told him about Zhilan. Althea protests that she had to tell Ryan and that her plan is unrealistic. Ronda sees the cake, and Althea gives her a piece on the condition that she take part in the rating system. Nicky tells them about Ronda’s situation, and Ryan tells Nicky about transitional housing she probably qualifies for. Nicky’s stuck on how to get Ronda and her mom out, and Althea says Nicky should use all the years she studied law to find a way to help the young girl .

At the apartment, Camren reveals that Derek is probably spending all their money on card games right now. Nicky calls Althea, asking her to hack Derek’s computer. Althea is able to help Nicky get into Derek’s computer by trial and error of common passwords he might have used. Nicky gets the address of the underground card game. Nicky then decides she’ll go get the money herself despite Althea’s protests.

### Patience

Althea takes Nicky into a fashion event thrown by designer Eddie Kwong and she informs him of her concerns over the treatment of the fashion line's factory workers.

Later, asthe two sisters leave the fashion event, Althea is approached by an investigative reporter pressing for an interview to divulge information about mistreatment from her former boss. An emotional Althea declines before departing after admitting she hasn't even told her family or her fiancé.

### Hand

As the Shen family prepares for Althea's next marriage marital event ahead of her impending nuptials to Dennis Soong, Nicky finds that the burn on her hand inflicted by The Sword of Liang Daiyu is flaring up painfully mysteriously. Before Nicky meets up with Henry to discuss the origins of the ancient key they discovered inside the puzzle box, Althea teases her younger sister over her will-they/won't-they romance and advises her sister to act on the attraction she is feeling towards Henry.

While the meeting between the Shen family and Soong family over dinner goes well initially, Dennis' father reveals he wants Althea to sign a prenuptial agreement. This coincides with an investigative reporter alerting Althea that her source dropped out in a sexual misconduct case linked to one of Althea's former employers. Snapping at the request, Althea vents about being objectified and storms out of the dinner.

As Nicky and Althea catch up after the respective eventful evenings, Althea recounts that Dennis told his parents to drop the request for a prenup. Nicky however senses there's more her sister isn't telling her, and Althea reveals that her former employer sexually assaulted her while Nicky was training at the shaolin monastery in the Yunnan Province for those three years. An emotional Althea admits to feeling like she isn't strong enough to speak out about the incident.

### Sanctuary

As the Shen family opens up the restaurant to allow activists a place to shelter from the police's unrelenting response, internal pressures between the family begin to form. Althea has concerns of her own, torn over telling Dennis about her past trauma enduring workplace sexual abuse from her former boss, with Nicky urging her to tell her fiancé as her sister's stress over keeping the secret becomes noticeable.

Later, Althea shows video evidence disproving police reports that Joe Harper incited the crowd. Realizing their case won't hold up in court, the police depart empty-handed. Mei-Li confesses that her hardened response to the protests was that the shooting and vandalism of the restaurant triggered traumatic memories of the family being harassed by racists when the Shen children were young.

### Rage

Althea is cornered in a parking garage by an attorney from Cloudrush Capital who represents her old boss, Chase Matheson. They want her to sign an NDA about her time under her boss since a reporter has been trying to get her to come forward for the sexual assault exposé. They offer her $300,000; when she declines, he levels some not-so-thinly-veiled threats, saying that the fallout won’t just hurt her but her family and their reputation as well, which will eventually include the Soongs. He leaves her his card and tells her to think about it.

Althea tells Ryan he needs to “schmooze” people to get funding for the clinic. Nicky asks Althea to pull some strings and get tickets to the gala for her and Henry Yan. She does some recon of the museum before meeting up with Henry, laying out a plan to steal the dagger.

Later, Ryan, Althea, and Henry corner Nicky about her plan. Instead of trying to stop her, they’ve decided to help her.

Eventually, Nicky, Henry, Althea, Dennis, and Ryan arrive at the gala dressed to the nines. They go over the plan one last time: which has Henry mentioning how he will get to the server room and provide Althea remote access, that way she can open the doors to where the dagger is being held for Nicky and Henry during the mayor’s speech while everyone is distracted.

Evan Hartley suspiciously looks on as Althea and Nicky get into the security system. Althea says the firewall was already down due to routine maintenance according to the system.

Unfortunately, Nicky and Henry run into a security detail. Ryan distracts them by pretending to be inebriated and hassling the mayor about cutting funding. Althea buzzes them in.

A woman profusely thanks Dennis and his family in front of Althea. Curious, Althea asks what that was about. Dennis relays that her daughter was treated at the oncology ward the Soongs paid for, telling her about the different charitable endeavors they funnel their money into. Althea wasn’t aware of the breadth of their reach in the community and how extensively they give back. Althea is visibly shaken, seeing how much the community could lose if her reputation was damaged because of Matheson.

Later that night, Nicky tells Ryan and Althea that she’s leaving and to look after their parents, as more goons for hire could be around.

### Guidance

With Nicky is invited to participate in Drake's trials, which are a series of illegal fights that he quietly profits from. Althea hacks into a livestream of the fight to monitor the trials and expose this operation while Nicky learns she will be fighting Drake himself, who wants to publicly assert his authority over a bonafide Shaolin fighter. Though Nicky endures a nasty blow to her ribs, she rallies and humiliates Drake before his students as Evan and Althea work together to bust his operation.

### Destiny

When Nicky comes home, she ignores her mom She then tells Ryan what’s been going on as she accuses Mei-Li of “nuking” her marriage to their dad. They all choose not to tell Althea as tonight is her bachelorette party. Ryan and Nicky leave to find Jin, with Mei-Li staying back.

Althea, meanwhile, is freaking out about the party taking place somewhere in San Francisco. Her mother-in-law to be is coming, along with Dennis’ perfect sister Chloe, and she wants everything to be perfect. Dennis finds her binder full of tech ideas, and he’s impressed.

At the party, Althea is stressed as Nicky broaches the subject of telling Dennis about the NDA. Althea refuses to get into it, and the Soong family meets them in the entryway. Chloe and Mrs. Soong are not getting along, and the tension is palpable.

At the venue, Nicky gives a speech in tribute to Althea and Dennis. Poor Althea is torn between presenting the perfect image and having fun.

Henry and Nicky decide to go after Chloe and not disturb Althea’s party.

Elsewhere, Nicky tells Henry that Chloe’s friends are big time thieves and that TJ and Chloe were definitely involved. Nicky heard TJ say something is going down tonight, and Nicky sighs. She goes to Althea to tell her what’s going on, including that she lost Chloe in the process. Althea barely holds in a scream of frustration, but then tells Nicky and Henry to find Dennis, who is currently at his bachelor party.

Nicky and Henry eventually find Dennis. The trio then realize that Chloe and her group are going to break into their own house. Althea tries to keep Mrs. Soong in the dark about Chloe, and they have a heart to heart about what she thinks of Althea.

At the party, Henry and Nicky fill Althea in. Ryan arrives and immediately starts drinking as Althea remarks, “That bad?” Ryan tells them Jin isn’t ready to come home yet.

### Isolation

Ryan accompanies Althea to her women-in-tech seminar, where she tells him she wants to give back in a way she couldn’t when she worked full-time. He wants to stay due to his boredom with Joe away at a conference, but Althea encourages him to just enjoy his time alone as she shoos him out.

A student named Courtney excitedly rushes up to Althea to talk about new changes in tech, and Althea is thrown off by terms she hasn’t heard. This initially knocks her confidence, but she begins the seminar anyway.

In San Francisco, Courtney and Althea go out for a chat. Even though Althea didn’t do as well as she hoped with her presentation, Courtney says she’s brilliant and asks for advice about job offers — including one at Althea’s old firm. Althea diplomatically tells her she doesn’t think Courtney would flourish there, sighing with relief when Courtney says it’s off her list.

Meanwhile, Ryan dances around the house enjoying the temporarily single life as Althea catches him. Unfortunately, her phone pings with a text from Courtney. It turns out that she took the job with Chase after all because of the benefits, not understanding the full context of why Althea wanted her to stay away from her former place of employment. Ryan asks if she’s okay as Althea stands still, shocked. Althea and Ryan talk about what to do about the NDA and Courtney. She doesn’t want this to happen again and needs to warn Courtney. But she realizes she needs to tell Dennis first.

Later, Althea tell Dennis the truth while Jin and Mei-Li make up.

### Choice

As Mei-Li listen to Mei-Xue’s tapes, Althea, Nicky, and Ryan wait in another room. While they wait, Althea bothers her siblings about who they’re going to bring as their plus ones to her wedding. Ryan claims Joe hasn’t even met their parents. Althea and Ryan then tease Nicky about being stuck between Evan and Henry now that Evan broke up with Sabine.

Later, Althea and Dennis meet with a lawyer since Althea is going public about the sexual assault scandal with Chase Matheson. The lawyer tells Althea that she must be ready for her whole life to change if she does this, as her life will never be the same once Matheson starts trying to drag her name through the mud.

Althea notices Nicky seems happy and starts prying for details on her love life. Nicky tells her about her and Henry’s kiss a while back but that it’s complicated now. She admits how she loves Evan; always have, and probably always will. She doesn’t want to tell Evan how she feels about Henry and risk losing him, especially since he and Sabine broke up.

Nicky pays a visit to Evan, wanting to talk to him like Althea suggested.

Althea searches the frat’s social media and cloud, trying to find evidence for Cody. Althea asks Nicky if she’s talked with Evan yet, thinking she’s on this quest to delay having to talk to him. Nicky insists she’s just trying to help Cody and Evan.

Back at the frat, Justin is watching Nicky, who is still trying to figure out a way to get in the room upstairs; she needs an easier mark. Althea directs her to a drunk senior who puked on Nicky’s shoes earlier at the party.

Althea confirms her phone and SIM card are damaged. Then, Nicky remembers a girl named Margot that was in the video and protested when the frat boys were drugging Rick.

Nicky, Althea, and Evan confront Margot. She was the one who called Evan. She was afraid to come forward because Justin threatened to ruin her life. Althea tells her that coming forward sucks and is complicated and messy, but the truth is simple.

Althea tells Dennis she wants to call the lawyer in the morning.

Then Nicky finds Henry and asks him to be her date to Althea’s wedding.

## Skills

* **Computer Specialist:** Althea is an immensely skilled computer specialist and hacker.
	+ **Expert Hacker**