For those who enjoyed the first season of “Kung Fu” will enjoy the second series. There is a lot of martial arts action, a lot of adventures and also drama, to keep audiences satisfied.
Click here to purchase “Kung Fu: The Complete Second Season” on Amazon
TV SERIES: Kung Fu – The Complete Second Season
YEAR: 2022
DVD INFORMATION: Dolby Digital English 5.1, Subtitles: English SDH
DURATION: EPISODE 14-26 (549 Minutes)
RELEASE DATE: September 27, 2022
Based on the series developed by Herman Miller and Ed Spielman
Developed by Christina M. Kim
Series Directed by Joe Menendez, Richard Speight Jr.,, Geoffrey Wing Shotz, R.T. Thorne, David Grossman, Kristin Windell, Jeff Chan
Written by Christina M. Kim, John Bring, Linda Ge, Melissa Rundle, Dan Hamamura, Richard Lowe, Michael Deigh, Robert Berens, Ryan Johnson, Peter Lalayanis, A.C. Allen, Angela Trevino, Brian Anthony, Matt Young
Executive Producer: Christina M. Kim, Robert Berens, Greg Berlanti
Co-Executive Producer: Joe Menendez, Ryan Johnson, Peter Lalayanis, A.C. Allen, Brian Anthony, Jonathan Gabay
Producer: Jennifer Lence
Co-Producer: Jordan Menn, Carl Ogawa, Melissa Rundle
Music by Sherri Chung
Cinematography: Lindsay George, Christopher Charles Kimpinski, Geoff Wallace
Edited by Magnolia Rosso, Dexter N. Adriano, Amy Stuvland Parks, Hilary Bolger, Robyn Muir
Casting by Jennifer Cooper
Production Design by Bridge McGuire
Art Direction: Michael Corrado, Shay Hilliard, Lisa Van Velden
Set Decoration: Rachel Robinson
Costume Design: Angus Strathie, Rafaella Rabinovich
Starring:
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
Tzi Ma as Jin Shen
Tony Chung as Dennis Soong
Yvonne Chapman as Zhilan
Kee Chan as Russell Tan
Ludi Lin as Kerwin Tan
JB Tadena as Sebastian
Vanessa Yao as Mia
Annie Q. Riegel as Juliette Tan
Marissa Cuevas as Nadia
Terry Chen as Daniel Yan
It’s been six months since the explosive events of the season one finale, and we find Nicky (Olivia Liang) and the Shens in a great place: Nicky’s been using her kung fu skills to keep Chinatown safe, she and Henry (Eddie Liu) are only deeper in love with each other, and unlike season one, the Shen family are all in the know about Nicky’s extracurricular activities. Jin and Mei-Li (Tzi Ma and Kheng Hua Tan) have righted the ship and Harmony Dumplings has seen an extraordinary recovery – the restaurant is doing better business than ever. Everything’s been great in Nicky’s life… that is, until the reemergence of Russell Tan (Kee Chan), and the surprise appearance of Nicky’s cousin, Mia (Vanessa Yao).
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of this DVD, which I am reviewing in this blog post.
The opinions I share are my own.
In 2011, a reboot of the 1972 TV series “Kung Fu” was developed by Christina M. Kim.
We were introduced to the character Nicky Shen (portrayed by Olivia Liang) who dropped out of Harvard and wanting to seek her own freedom, she ran away and joined an all-female Shaolin monastery in China, where she spent three years becoming an expert fighter and a student of Pei-Ling.
In season 1 of “Kung Fu”, Nicky’s mentor is murdered by a renegade warrior named Zhilan (who stole a sacred sword) and the monastery was destroyed. And now Zhilan wants to collect the seven other remaining mystical weapons to unlock their true power.
Nicky would head back home to San Francisco to meet her family that she was estranged from. And we learn that her family is full of secrets.
Her family operates a Chinese restaurant but because they are indebted to local Triad boss, Tony Kang. Wanting to use her martial arts skill to protect her family and community, Nicky gets help from her older tech-savvy sister Althea and her younger brother Ryan (and looking that the time spent with them again, can hopefully repair their relationship).
While back home, she got closer to Henry Yan (through martial arts) also gets help from Evan Hartley (a successful assistant DA that has feelings for Nicky).
In season 2, the story continues right after the chaos that transpired in season 1.
Nicky and her family are in a better place, Nicky along with family and friends have been protecting Chinatown. While Zhilan has been incarcerated and is in a Chinese prison.
But someone mysterious has come to the city looking for answers and also looking for the Sword of Liang Daiyu. It turns out the mysterious person is Mia Yang, the daughter of Nicky’s aunt, Mei-Xue (sister of Nicky’s mother, Mei-Ling).
And while the family try to keep Mia safe, Mia is a bit difficult to keep safe.
Meanwhile, Zhilan is in prison and now being bullied. But while she tries to stay strong in prison, she is visited by the ghost of Pei-Ling.
Meanwhile, there are developments within Russell Tan’s family and Nicky seeks to uncover his evil plan.
Watching the second season, it’s no doubt a season filled with action, but I felt that the season is pretty much a season about family.
As we know with the first season, Nicky tries to strengthen her family bonds and many secrets were revealed. With the second season, Nicky continues to further those bonds with her family, Henry and friends and doing what they can to protect her cousin Mia.
While each person that is close to Nicky tries to find their inner strength.
I felt the writers did a good job of establishing the characters and showing us a new side to Zhilan Zhang but the addition of actress Vanessa Yao as Nicky’s cousin, Mia, was a fresh step of bringing in a new face who would have a major impact for the season.
But part of the issue with season two which audiences would either love or hate, is the magical side that is reminiscent to Marvel Comics “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” live action film. May it be portals opening to another land and the mystical weapons and of course, the martial arts action. You also have a major Bay Area quake which affects Nicky’s family.
But for me, I was open to seeing how things develop between the characters from beginning to end and it will be interesting to see what lies for Nicky for season three as season two does end in a melancholic way.
I do applaud the series, as it’s the first major live action series on public television to incorporate Asian/Asian American talent and also staff behind-the-scenes. And I love the fact that this series continues and has a good following (as seen on social media).
Now, while season one was released on Blu-ray and DVD, the second season of “Kung Fu” will only be released on DVD. Unfortunately, many companies have decided to stop releasing their TV series on Blu-ray (thanks to the growing popularity of streaming media and high speed Internet), so for those wanting the series in HD, you may want to consider watching on streaming platforms such as Netflix or Vudu.
The DVD includes a gag reel (the only special feature) and the DVD comes with a slipcase.
Overall, for those who enjoyed the first season of “Kung Fu” will enjoy the second series. There is a lot of martial arts action, a lot of adventures and also drama, to keep audiences satisfied.
Click here to purchase “Kung Fu: The Complete Second Season” on Amazon