Kenny Liu

Kenny Liu is one of the people trapped in the Town. He has to balance his responsibilities between caring for his aging parents, and acting as Boyd Stevens' Sheriff's Deputy and right-hand man.

## Biography

### Background

Fu-Hen Liu is the son of Chinese immigrants Bing-Qian and Tian Chen Liu who had settled in College Station, Texas. However, Fu-Hen, desired to fit in in America, and went by Kenny. As Bing-Qian got older, he was diagnosed with rapidly spreading dementia. One night, Bing-Qian had a particularly bad episode and took the bus all the way into Austin. On the drive back to College Station, they became trapped in the Town.

### Season One

As daylight fades, Kristi informs Deputy Kenny Liu and his elderly father, Bing-Qian, that it is time for him to go to the basement just as they conclude their chess game, which Bing-Qian has won. Bing-Qian gets agitated, but Kristi calms him, and Gina helps the old man downstairs. As he exits, Kenny compliments Kristi’s skill in calming his father. Kristi tells him that he should tell his mother to come more often, but Kenny says that she keeps saying Bing-Qian's dementia will get better, wryly remarking that denial is a major branch on his family tree. He awkwardly lingers, clearly enamored with Kristi, but she instructs him to get home before locking up. Before heading home, Kenny reports to Sheriff Boyd Stevens that everyone is home.

The next morning, a hungover Frank Pratt walks back to his house, where he sees a crowd gathered outside. He is then met by a furious Boyd, who slaps him and berates him for not nailing the windows shut when he had a small child in the house. Frank, realizing what happened, breaks down in tears while Boyd drags him upstairs to look upon the eviscerated bodies of his wife and daughter, causing him to break down even further. As Frank sobs on the floor, Boyd orders Kenny to lock him up. On his way out, he passes Father Khatri, who goes upstairs to presumably administer last rites.

As the funeral for the Pratts is concluding, the townspeople notice the RV arriving and Boyd and Kenny go to talk to Jim, who asks for help getting back to the highway. Boyd tells him to follow the road up the hill and he’ll see it. As the road keeps returning the Matthews to the center of town, they make a U-turn and head in the opposite direction. Seeing this, Boyd has Kenny lay down the spike strip. However, the RV encounters another car on the road speeding in their direction. The two vehicles swerve to avoid each other, with the car crashing into a tree and the RV going down a hill and flipping over. Tobey McCray, the driver of the car, staggers out of the car and finds Kenny and Boyd, who rush over to help. Boyd has Kenny take Tobey to the Clinic and informs Kristi of the situation. Kristi hands Tobey off to Gina, and she and Kenny race to the scene of the accident.

At the RV, Jim and Julie are bruised but otherwise fine, but Tabitha is knocked unconscious and Ethan's leg is impaled by a metal table leg. Kenny, Kristi, Khatri and Ellis arrive to help the crash victims. Boyd successfully retrieves a panicked but otherwise unharmed Julie, while the others work on helping Jade and the trapped family members. Tabitha is successfully retrieved from the RV, but Kristi says that it will take at least an hour to safely remove the table leg from Ethan’s leg, while Kenny informs them that they have 40 minutes until dark. Boyd and Kristi decide to stay in the RV overnight with a talisman. Jim, Tabitha and Julie try to stay, but Boyd tells them that the woods are not safe after dark and pleads with them to head to town, but permits Jim to stay. As sundown draws closer, Kenny warns everyone that they must leave. Kenny, Khatri and Ellis drive the newcomers back to Town, but forgetting about the spike strip he had laid down earlier, drives over it, puncturing the tires. With darkness falling, they decide to make for Colony House on foot, as it is the closest shelter.

Kenny leads his group to Colony House, but they struggle to make it through the rain. Father Khatri, who is carrying an unconscious Jade, falls, and Kenny helps him up. However, the people inside sound the alarm. Fatima tries to let them inside, but the guard doesn’t believe that it’s really them. As the Creatures approach, Ellis and Kenny pound on the door until Donna arrives and grants them entry just as they are about to be surrounded. However, she orders that Tabitha and Julie be tied up, as per protocol, much to their distress.

As they get settled, Kenny complains to Father Khatri about the fact that the Matthews girls got tied up. He informs the two that there's a room made up for them, but Kenny sarcastically asks if they'll be tied up first. Khatri thanks him and asks about Jade, and Ellis says he's still knocked out from the drugs he was on. Ellis apologizes for Donna's abrasiveness, but points out that they opened the door. After Kenny sullenly answers "eventually," Ellis blames him for forgetting about the spike strip and the two begin arguing until Khatri diffuses the situation. Before leaving, Ellis leaves the two a bottle of moonshine.

Kenny drinks with Father Khatri and worries about his mother, before talking about how even when his father’s dementia gets bad, he can still remember chess. Kenny further compliment’s Kristi’s care for his father, and Khatri promises that they will all be ok and they’ll get them in the morning. Kenny however says he won’t go out, explaining that he is hanging by a thread and cannot find any more bodies.

Later, Kenny and Khatri drunkenly climb the stairs while Kenny talks about his father’s dementia diagnosis. One night, his father left the house and took the bus all the way into the city, and on the way back, they became trapped in Town. In the morning, Kenny, Khatri, and the Matthews women arrive in the van, and the family happily embraces. However, on the way back they find the Clinic door left open. Kenny rushes inside to the basement and finds Gina's dead body. Father Khatri tries to tell him that he doesn't have to see this but Kenny advances to the next room and finds his father's torn-apart body. He cradles his father's body and begins sobbing.

Kenny then goes out into the woods and begins furiously chopping a tree. Boyd finds him and asks what he’s doing, and Kenny explains he needs wood for the new chess set, which he and his dad made together, but is now ruined by the blood. Kenny recalls how every game he played with his father always ended with him down to his final piece desperately avoiding his father’s. Kenny then points out that the Creatures always walk and never run, as if they know there are only so many places the people can go. Kenny then hands him the bloody chess piece and concludes that they are running out of space on the board.

The next morning, Kenny’s mother, Tian Chen, frantically prepares food while Kenny begs her to get some rest. Tian Chen replies that she has too much to do but knocks over a glass. As she chides her son for making her break the glass, she tries to clean up the shards but cuts her hand. Kenny helps her and tells her that she needs rest. Tian Chen begins to say that if she were with her husband the previous night but Kenny cuts her off and says it would not have changed anything. As the two are talking, Sara walks in and seeing the broken glass, begins cleaning it.

Later, Kenny sits with Jade, who believe that this is all an elaborate escape room. Kenny asks if anyone has talked to him, and Jade says he got the whole “intro” from Donna, but feels that there are flaws in the logic. Jade points out that he is eating eggs in a diner, and that his nightmares do not usually serve breakfast, and jokes that they have chickens out in the forest. A tired Kenny replies that they don’t know where the chickens and cows come from. Jade then asks if he is supposed to get a clue from Kenny, but leaves on his own. Kristi then walks in, and Kenny remarks to her that Jade is going to get himself killed. Kristi, seeing Tian Chen, asks how she’s doing, and Kenny repeats what he previously said about denial being a part of his family tree.

That afternoon, Father Khatri holds the Choosing Ceremony, and explains that if the Matthews want to live in Town by their rules, working for the communal good until they can return home, they will choose a rock. If they prefer Colony House, where they will live for the present because the future is not guaranteed, they will choose the flower. Boyd then interrupts and begins to say that while he has them all gathered, he thought he would address the issue of Frank and the Box. As Boyd begins his speech, Frank asks to speak, and is given the floor. He explains to the group that he has been thinking about his last normal Christmas with his family, recalling that he used to be a good father. He confesses that he let the Town and the Creatures in the forest get to his head, and he forgot what really mattered, lamenting that had he been a little stronger, he could have had another Christmas with them all at their home. Frank instructs his fellow townspeople not to let that be taken away from them, and to take care of each other. He then turns to Boyd, and expresses gratitude for his attempted intervention, but points out that the only two things that he loved in the world are gone, and he just wants to see them again.

Jade, still believing that this is a performance, begins clapping and laughing. Boyd then restrains Jade and orders him to choose one and he picks a rock. As he begins threatening retribution at Boyd and the rest of them, Kenny offers to show him something and takes him away. Kenny takes Jade to the graveyard, and explains that no one is trying to be cruel to him, but he needs to understand what is going on. Jade continues ranting while Kenny approaches a grave that has yet to be filled in with a shrouded body inside. Kenny unwraps the shroud and shows Jade Tobey’s mutilated face, and Jade begins sobbing. As the sun sets, Kenny takes Jade to his house, where they find Tian Chen crying over a shrine to Bing-Qian. Kenny explains that Jade is going to stay with them for a few days, and Tian Chen nods before they leave her be.

The next day, Kenny finds Jade sitting by the entrance to the root cellar and Jade has him follow him downstairs. Jade explains that when he found it there was a strange symbol on the ceiling and he found a dead body crushed by a boulder that began screaming in the cabinet. Jade gets angry when he sees Kenny’s face and promises that what he saw was real. Kenny explains that the first few days are really hard on everyone before Jade stops him and says he knows what hallucinations are like due to his drug use and that this was different. Jade admits he has a healthy imagination that helped him build a software company, but even his is incapable of imagining this. Jade says that there is an explanation but none of them seem to be looking for it. Kenny then tells Jade to follow him to the Sheriff’s Office. At the Sheriff’s Office, Kenny shows Jade the map of all the locations the inhabitants of the Town were originally from before they became trapped. Jade was driving on the East Coast when he entered the Town, while the Matthews, who arrived on the same day, were driving in Arizona. Kenny lists several other examples, and explains that all the residents drove in from wildly different locations. Jade declares that impossible and begins laughing and says the difference between them is that he doesn’t accept the world as it is and won’t rest until he figures it out. Kenny tells him he’ll lose his mind that way, and that the people who don’t bend and adapt will break. Kenny adds that the hardest part isn’t the monsters, but it’s what it does psychologically. Jade then overhears the radio static and takes it with him as he leaves. Later, Kenny arrives at the Diner and is spotted by Boyd, who leaves his dinner with the Matthews to talk to him. However, they are interrupted when Sara Myers has a seizure, and they rush to help her. The next day, Kenny updates Boyd that Sara is okay, and brings him some food. Boyd asks him to hold down the fort while he stops by his wife’s grave.

After Sara accidentally kills her brother Nathan while trying to kill Ethan Matthews, Kenny and Boyd bury Nathan's body while Father Khatri gives a sermon. As they finish digging the grave, Boyd asks **Kenny** if he is alright, and Kenny admits that he is having a hard time wrapping his mind around the kind and nice Sara doing this. He adds that his mother is taking it hard, having viewed Sara as a daughter. Boyd tells him that he has been thinking about what Kenny said about running out of room on the board. Kenny dismisses it as him having been upset, but Boyd says it does not mean he was wrong. Boyd explains that he feels that things are changing, and points out that the talismans can work in the RV. Now, he is determined to go out into the forest but Kenny begins to walk away. Boyd scolds Kenny, who asks if he is going alone and how far he is going. Boyd says he is trying to find a way out, but Kenny says there is no point and he is simply going to his death. Later that day Boyd finds Kenny carving chess pieces. Boyd asks his protege to play catch with him, but Kenny is not interested. Boyd explains that he played first base in college, and had a chance of going pro. Kenny asks what happened, and Boyd replies that life, as always, had other plans. Boyd admits to Kenny that he has Parkinson’s disease. He explains that it has already begun chipping away at him, and eventually he will not be able to protect the townspeople. Thus, he has to find a way out while he still can, but he can only do this knowing that it will be in good hands. Boyd praises Kenny, telling that there are many in Town who are alive because of him, and while his father is not around to say it, he, like Boyd, is proud of him. Boyd adds that if he is not ready and needs more time, he will stay. Kenny then rises, and asks him if they are playing catch or not, and Boyd follows him out. As they play, Kenny offers to carve them a bat, so they can play proper baseball when Boyd returns.

As night falls, Kenny finds Jade squirreled away in his room repeatedly drawing the mysterious symbol he saw in his hallucination. Kenny admonishes Jade for drawing in his book. Jade angrily shouts that he was out of paper and asks Kenny if he wants him to draw on the walls like a psychopath. Kenny informs Jade that dinner is ready. Jade refuses to come down, but relents after Tian-Chen yells at him. Jade continues to stare at the journal with the symbols during dinner with the Lius before realizing that two of the pages are stuck together. He is able to pry them apart, and a polaroid photo falls out of the book. The picture is of a smiling man holding the journal in front of the diner. As the three look at it, Tian-Chen points out that a young Victor is in the corner of the picture, identifiable by his signature lunchbox, shocking Jade and Kenny.

The morning after the Colony House Attack, Kenny informs a bloodstained Boyd that he’s gotten most of the Colony House residents set up in Town. Kenny warns that things are getting tense, and suggests gathering everyone to say something. Boyd agrees and says Kenny should do that, but Kenny says it will mean more coming from him. Kenny asks Boyd if he is ok, and Boyd explains that Father Khatri risked his life to save his family. Boyd then remembers something and tells Kenny to give everyone his regards and prepares to leave. Kenny tells Boyd that people need his guidance. Boyd tells Kenny that he needs to learn how to do this himself and leaves. Kenny then settles Clara and some other Colony House people in his home while Colony House gets fixed up, although Jade objects to the newcomers' presence. Kenny goes to the Clinic and asks if he can help Kristi, and she asks if he can help secure the building. Kenny adds that he finished chapter 6 of the book, and says things are getting interesting. Kristi replies that she doesn’t think she’ll be able to read much tonight, but kisses him on the cheek and thanks him for his help.

Boyd tells Kenny that he can’t leave now given that they nearly had a riot at the Diner. A surprised Kenny reminds Boyd that this is why he said he had to leave, because things are starting to fall apart. Boyd points out that they lost over a dozen people the previous night, and Kenny argues that they’ll lose more if they start to panic. Boyd tells Kenny that he is going to stay until things settle down. Kenny retorts, asking what if they don’t when Donna walks in, asking if she is interrupting. Boyd tries to end the argument, but Kenny refuses, and reminds Boyd of his words, asking what’s changed. Kenny argues that the Talismans made them complacent, but are only a temporary reprieve, that things will never be ok in the Town, and they need to find a way home, or they will all die. Kenny says that there are answers and Boyd will find them before turning to Donna, telling her to pull herself together and be the leader she is, because that is what the people need. Kenny concludes that if they aren’t willing to fight like hell to get home, they might as well kill themselves now, before leaving. An amused Donna remarks that she didn’t know Kenny had that in him, and demands that Boyd explain what he was talking about. Boyd asks her to take a walk with him, and offers to explain on the way.

Kenny gives a speech to the assembled people. He admits that they are in a tight spot, but Boyd is risking his life to find a way out for them, so the least they can do is keep things together while he does. Kenny says that going forward, there will be no more division between the Town and Colony House. Donna then steps up, and tells the Colony House people to be good houseguests, and says that Jim has an idea on how to get a signal out to people in the normal world, giving the floor to him. Jim explains that they will need batteries and people to build the radio tower, which they agree to. Ellis finds Fatima, who asks him if he found his father. Ellis answers that he did, and Fatima asks if he is ok. Ellis admits that he is not, and she hugs him.

The next day, Kenny explains to his mother how they are dividing work on the radio tower. Tian-Chen asks if Jade has found Victor, and Kenny answers no, adding that if Jade mentions the symbol one more time, he believes Jim might kill him. Tian-Chen expresses happiness that Jade is finally working, and says that she does not like him because he is selfish and lazy. Kenny quips that that is what Tian-Chen says about her favorite people, making her smile. Tian-Chen tells her son to go ring the bell and be a good sheriff. As Kenny exits the Diner, Kristi arrives and returns his book, saying that she finished chapter 6. The two talk about the book, and Kenny asks if she thinks it will have a happy ending. Kristi does not know, but looks forward to finding out.

At Colony House, Jim leads the work on building the Radio Tower. Kenny informs him that Jade is working on the power source. Jim says that they need more building material, and Kenny promises to have people scavenge some wood from the Barn. When Donna arrives, they ask her how she is doing, and she hoarsely answers that she has had a rough morning. Kenny asks her if Eric is with her, because he needs him for a supply run. Donna answers that Eric isn’t coming, and walks inside. After Donna breaks down, Kenny finds Donna and asks if she is ok. Donna deflects and asks why he isn’t working on the radio tower. Kenny tries to comfort her but Donna rebuffs him. Kenny then mentions that he is going to get some wood from the Barn to build the radio tower. This prompts Donna to fly into a rage and she takes an axe to the floorboards. Kenny and Jim tell her to stop, and Kenny says they need Colony House standing. Donna replies that they don’t need it anymore because the radio tower will get them home, adding that is no longer a home but a tomb. Donna then storms out onto the porch and tries to regain her composure.

Kenny finds Donna at the Bar, and asks Tom to leave them alone. After he leaves, Kenny tries to comfort Donna over Eric’s death, but Donna reveals that that is not the reason she is upset, and asks Kenny to leave, wryly telling him to go back to work on the tower. Kenny asks if she believes that it won’t work and she in turn asks him if he believes that it will. Kenny says he thinks it might and is therefore worth trying. Donna then asks him what happens when they fail, and Kenny answers that they will try again. Donna tells him that won’t work, because he is getting peoples’ hopes up, and when it gets taken away they will give up. Kenny scoffs at Donna but she tells him that he doesn’t understand what it used to be like because he wasn’t there. Donna tells him that she is grieving the loss of what they almost made the Town, that they almost made it work, and that they are so busy trying to get out that they cannot see what it the Town will become when they fail. Kenny asks her if they are just supposed to simply stay in Town where the Creatures come out and hunt them every night. Donna says she knows the people in Town look down on Colony House as just a giant party, but Donna explains that it was more than that. It was special by virtue of all the different people living together and despite the fear and the monsters, there was joy in the house. Kenny apologizes, and Donna promises to pull herself together for the next day, but warns him that they have to be prepared for the fallout if the radio tower does not work. Before she leaves, she tells him that if it does work, she thinks he will find that there is more he misses than he thinks.

As night falls, Kenny walks through Town ringing the warning bell to get everyone inside. As he finishes, he finds a despondent Kristi sitting on the stoop of the Sheriff’s Office. She explains that Eric was her friend. He had celiac disease, so he was a frequent visitor at the Clinic. Kristi fondly remembers how she always told him to stop eating bread, but Eric would make jokes, and how he made her adjustment to the Town easier when she first arrived. Kristi makes Kenny promise that if the radio tower does not work and he falls apart, he will go to her and let her help. Kenny promises her and hugs her, telling her it will be okay.

Kenny finds Donna examining the map of where they all came from. Donna muses about how they call came from different places and roads, but they all ended up in Town. She asks if he really thinks the radio will make a difference, and Kenny optimistically answers that radio waves travel in ways that people can’t. Donna leaves to get to work on the tower, and Kenny thanks her. Kenny grabs the globe lamp on his desk and finds Kristi stripping the ambulance of wire. She asks about the lamp, and he explains that it was his desk lamp in college and although it didn’t work, it was nice to have something from home. He adds that the globe actually opens up, and he used it as a secret hiding spot from his kleptomaniac roommate. Kristi asks what he keeps in it now, and he says that he often thinks about which countries he’d like to visit should he escape, and wrote them down. Kristi goes through the list, and reveals that she hardly traveled beyond Grand Rapids. Kenny asks if she wants to travel with him if they escape. Kristi tells Kenny that she likes him a lot, but reminds him that she was engaged prior to her arrival. Kenny apologizes and leaves with the wire.

Kristi finds Kenny in the Colony House kitchen, and returns his globe lamp. Kenny apologizes if he made things weird but Kristi stops him. She admits that she does not know what to do and it freaks her out because part of her wants to return to her fiancee and pick up where they left off, but the other part wants to go to Iceland with Kenny. Kenny asks her what she is going to do, and she answers that she doesn’t know as she holds his hand. The radio tower is successfully erected on Colony House's roof. Jim Matthews informs everyone that they have a signal. Jim and Ethan operate the radio, and Jim tries to broadcast a mayday as a massive storm draws closer. As the storm rages, the lightbulbs powering the radio inside the house begin exploding, sending shards of glass everywhere and causing chaos.

## Appearances

### Season One

* Long Day's Journey Into Night
* The Way Things Are Now
* Choosing Day
* A Rock and a Farway
* Silhouettes
* Book 74
* All Good Things...
* Broken Windows, Open Doors
* Into The Woods
* Oh, the Places We'll Go

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Way Things Are Now
2. ↑ Long Day's Journey Into Night
3. ↑ Choosing Day
4. ↑ A Rock and a Farway
5. ↑ Silhouettes
6. ↑ Book 74
7. ↑ All Good Things...
8. ↑ Broken Windows, Open Doors
9. ↑ Into The Woods
10. ↑ Oh, the Places We'll Go