Jyu Sa

Jyu Sa is the sixth episode of CW's Kung Fu. It airs April 13, 2022.

## Synopsis

FRIEND OR SHIFU - After a tip from Evan (Gavin Stenhouse) leads Nicky (Olivia Liang) and Mia (guest star Vanessa Yao) to a secret meeting between Juliette (guest star Annie Q) and a mysterious scientist, Nicky begins to question whether she should approach her relationship with Mia as a friend or a shifu. Elsewhere, Henry's (Eddie Liu) findings lead him to an expert that may be able to help decipher his research. Finally, Jin (Tzi Ma) and Mei-Li (Kheng Hua Tan) help to settle an age-old dispute between Chinatown's oldest grocers. Shannon Dang, Jon Prasida, Vanessa Kai and Tony Chung also star.

## Plot

At The Collective, Jin is managing the egos of two competitive Chinatown family grocers miffed that their rival is included in the exhibit. Mei-Li tries to help him smooth things over to no avail. But the Shens are not to be deterred. They gather the Pengs and the Zhaos as they recount their own first meeting story. They disagree about how the first date really went, but yet, they can both tell their stories. Jin wants the families to tell their story together, and the Pengs and the Zhaos reluctantly agree. They create a new art piece telling the story of their feud and how they’ve grown since their beginnings.

Dennis is heavily invested in painting his miniature goblin figurines when Althea comes in. After some gentle teasing, Althea asks what’s wrong since Dennis only paints when he’s stressed. Dennis wants to cancel the party. He got the job because of his parents’ connections, and he feels strange celebrating what he views as a nepotism promotion. Althea tells him that while nepotism helped him get a foot in the door, it was his own skills that got him the promotion.

She suggests an celebration at an bar later that evening which is complicated by the arrival of Chase, Althea’s former boss and the man who assaulted her. Dennis asks if Althea wants to leave the bar, but Althea doesn’t want to let Chase ruin their night. Chase tries to use his “Chase 2.0” persona to get past Althea’s defenses, but she’s had enough. She tells him her life is going great, while he will always be a pathetic creep. In a hilarious move, she says she fantasized about throwing a drink in his face before shrugging and chugging it in one gulp. He’s not worth it. But Chase isn’t done. As the group leaves, Chase tells Dennis that his father never fully cut business ties with Chase even after Althea came forward publicly. Dennis slugs Chad while he taunts them. Later that night, Dennis calls his father to find out what’s really going on.

Sebastian visits Ryan at the clinic, kissing him passionately as Dayglow’s “Can I Call You Tonight?” plays. It’s romantic and sweet, with Ryan inviting Sebastian to a party celebrating Dennis’ promotion for their first official date. Sebastian hesitates at first, but when Ryan reassures him that his parents won’t be there, Sebastian agrees. At the party, Sebastian senses that Nicky has more going on than meets the eye as Ryan tries to throw him off the scent. Ryan eventually asks Sebastian to trust him: he’ll share more about the Shen family secrets when he’s ready. When Chase tries to send his bodyguards after Dennis, Sebastian steps in and handles them with ease while a surprised Ryan looks on. Later, Ryan asks where Sebastian learned to fight. Sebastian says that while there’s things Ryan isn’t ready to talk about yet with regards to his family, this is something Sebastian isn’t ready to share with Ryan just yet.

Mia and Nicky are training together, with Nicky acting as a mentor to her cousin. But their relationship appears a bit strained as Mia chafes against Nicky as an authority figure. Pei-Ling appears in a vision to her and asks Nicky wants how wants her relationship with her cousin to proceed, but Nicky doesn’t want to push so hard that Mia runs again.

Juliette has built her father a new bell with all the latest technology, but Russell is unmoved. Until it produces results, he’s not excited yet. He wants to go after Mia again, but Juliette urges him to wait. Russell notes that if the plan fails, it’s on Juliette.

Henry comes to Nicky with new information about Li Jiaming. There are old newspapers from the 1900s that discuss the man in more detail, but Russell bought them years ago from a woman named Cheri Tin. They visit Cheri, who is initially reluctant to talk. But once they let her know they’re not with Russell, she shares more. Her great-grandfather was a journalist investigating Li Jiaming’s disappearance. While Russell’s men took most of what she had, Cheri didn’t tell them she had a copy made of an old film featuring the bell with industrialist Jacob Sloan. In the footage, Sloan forces Li Jiaming to ring the bell as the room collapses around him. The date, April 18, 1906: the San Francisco earthquake. Tan wants to destroy San Francisco.

Ryan and Althea join Nicky, Henry, and Mia to discuss next steps. While Althea and Ryan are skeptical that the bell really caused the earthquake, they still want to help. Nicky reassures them that they aren’t in panic mode … yet. Meanwhile, Evan keeps an eye on Juliette Tan. He goes after their chauffeur, who lied about his background to get the gig. Evan threatens to tell the Tans if he doesn’t give up information on Juliette.

Evan finds out that Juliette is meeting with Grover Charles, a scientist for hire who works with shady corporations and individuals. Mia wants to help go after Grover, but Nicky wants to keep her as far from the Tans as possible. Mia threatens to go without Nicky, so Nicky relents to keep a closer eye on her. At the warehouse, Grover hands Juliette a mysterious case with a “sample” of something. Nicky wants to keep the mission strictly recon, but Mia goes after the strange substance. She’s entranced by the red gem inside, and Nicky is forced to distract the security team to get her out.

At home, Nicky yells at Mia for nearly getting caught. Mia is offended by the parent-like tone from Nicky, noting they would have no idea what Juliette bought if she hadn’t gotten close. Althea interrupts, and they move on to figuring out what the red rocks have to do with Russell’s plans. The gems are called Jyu Sa, and they need to intercept the rest of Grover’s shipment before it reaches Juliette. Althea figures out the location, and Nicky heads out with Mia to investigate.

At the secret lab, Nicky asks Mia to follow her lead. Mia reluctantly says yes, wanting to stop Tan. Inside, they are confronted by Grover and his goons. They fight them off, with Mia displaying the same catatonic state she did before when the stones fall to the ground. Grover and his guards leave with most of the gems, but Nicky manages to swipe one.
Meanwhile, Henry and Even analyze the video, figuring out that music is integral to the ritual. Henry calls a musicologist named Eric Han for help, but as he does so, Tan’s men break into Eric’s studio. Turns out, Han is part of the Wan Zai, a secret organization that had the original sheet music for the Yueling song. Juliette finds the hidden sheet music and plays the song, with Han collapsing. She has earplugs in along with the rest of the team and now knows that the Jyu Sha are real.

Henry goes to Han’s house, just in time to be kidnapped by the Wan Zai led by Henry’s estranged father.

## Cast

### Main

* Olivia Liang as Nicky Shen
* Kheng Hua Tan as Mei-Li Shen
* Eddie Liu as Henry Yan
* Shannon Dang as Althea Shen
* Jon Prasida as Ryan Shen
* Gavin Stenhouse as Evan Hartley
* Vanessa Kai as Pei-Ling Zhang
* Tony Chung as Dennis Soong
* Tzi Ma as Jin Shen
* Yvonne Chapman as Zhilan

### Recurring

* Vanessa Yao as Mia
* Ludi Lin as Kerwin Tan
* Fiona Fu as Po Po
* Françoise Yip as Diana Soong
* Marissa Cuevas as Nadia
* Chelsea Clark as Chloe Soong
* Kee Chan as Russell Tan
* Elfina Luk as Ziqi

## References

1. ↑ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings/20220303cw08/