TV Review - Wu Assassins

Two years ago, Netflix in conjunction with Marvel Studios released Iron Fist (2017), a series that almost immediately drew controversy for its casting and its story line. It's about a guy who becomes a martial artist and even gains supernatural powers from some unidentified, Asian country. The reason that Iron Fist drew controversy is because the person in question is a white guy. The actor also wasn't actually a martial artist. Yes, through the magic of filmmaking, any actor can be faked into being able to do anything, but the better production is one that has an actual martial artist in the role. Yes, things can be faked, but, in that series, the magic didn't work and it was obvious that the actor wasn't up to snuff to pull off the martial arts scenes. The other reason it drew controversy was this idea of a non-Asian person co-opting Asian culture and being positioned as the end-all-be-all, which has been a trope that has been offensive to Asian people for a long time. Given the context of when that series premiered and the backlash from other Hollywood productions that had been white-washing Asian stories or practicing what's known as yellow-face, the existence of Iron Fist rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.

This series, created by John Wirth (Hell on Wheels and Nash Bridges) and Tony Krantz (24 and Sports Night), almost works as a rectifier or an apology for Iron Fist. That might seem like a weird connection to make, but this series is being released by the same company, Netflix, and it features a couple of the same actors from Iron Fist. I think the argument can definitely be made that this series is what Iron Fist should have been all along. That's not to say that this series is perfect and that Wirth and Krantz's run of episodes here don't make any mistakes, but, as it stands, it is monumentally better than Iron Fist and a tonic that people have been needing, if they felt disappointed by Iron Fist or the potential that it squandered or didn't live up to.

Iko Uwais (The Raid: Redemption and Headshot) stars as Kai Jin, an Indonesian chef who was brought to the United States at a young age where he was adopted by a Chinese businessman who lives in San Francisco. He was raised not only to love cooking and be good at cooking but also to love martial arts and be good at fighting, something his father most likely taught him. However, he became estranged from his adopted father when he learned that his adopted father was apart of a violent, Chinese gang, known as the Triad that in many ways controls Chinatown in San Francisco.

Unfortunately, Kai's father isn't the only person in his life who is linked to the Triad. Kai works as a chef in a restaurant called Master Wah's. Kai's best friends own the restaurant, but the place was funded with the help of money from the Triad. Members of the gang come to eat and when Kai offends them with a wrong food order, members of the Triad threaten to kill him. After an attack and an attempt from the Triad to kill him, Kai meets Ying Ying, played by Celia Au, one of a couple of actors from Iron Fist to appear here. Ying Ying gives Kai a piece of tortoise shell, which imbues him with mystical powers and turns him into what's called the "Wu Assassin." The mythology of the Wu Assassin is not that dissimilar from that of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer (1997). Kai is the 1000th Wu Assassin. There can only be one at a time and his job is to kill supernatural entities who want to do harm or take over.

Byron Mann (Arrow and Hell on Wheels) co-stars as Chao Waj Luk aka "Uncle Six." He's what's known also as the dragon-head. He's the local leader of the Triad in San Francisco. He started as a businessman and then rose to be at the top in this area. He's the aforementioned Chinese-American who adopted Kai. Even though Kai wants nothing to do with him, Uncle Six still loves Kai and wants to be his father again. Right now, he's dealing with a rival gang that wants to take over Chinatown.

Tommy Flanagan (Sons of Anarchy and 24) also co-stars as Alec McCullough, the man from Scotland who's the leader of the rival gang who is trying to take over Chinatown. He's also revealed to be one of the supernatural entities that Kai has to battle and ultimately kill. How he came to be this supernatural entity is a little bit of a head-scratcher. Alec's origins might be where the writing for this series falls down a bit. In short his villainous motives are akin to that of the bad guy in Spider Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018). Obviously, for these super-hero shows, some suspension of disbelief is required, but in this case the origin story is missing a key piece of information that literally would answer Alec's initial problem. I'll detail what that piece of information is below in spoilers.

Lewis Tan is the other actor from Iron Fist who appears in this series. He plays Lu Xin Lee, another Chinese-American businessman who owns his own car dealership and body shop. He's also a car thief on the side, but he's one of Kai's best friends who has been with Kai since they were children. He wants to help Kai to get his own food truck. Yet, he does have his scars, both literal and figurative. He was with Kai and a couple of their friends when he was actually burned. He blamed one of his friends for the burning and the result caused him to act out in certain ways. He has to deal with that.

Li Jun Li (Blindspot and Damages) also stars as Jenny Wah, the person who runs the restaurant, Master Wah's. She employs Kai as her chef. She inherited the business from her parents who still comment and criticize her for how she runs it. She is having financial trouble, so she asked for financial help from the Triad in the form of a loan and specifically a loan from Uncle Six. She knows she's in the shadow of this criminal organization and she's had to toughen up as a result. She's learned to be a fighter as a result. What's added to her toughness is also having to deal with a sibling who has substance abuse problems.

Lawrence Kao (The Originals and The Walking Dead) plays Tommy Wah, the aforementioned sibling to Jenny. Tommy is her brother and, yes, he has substance abuse problems. He's an addict and a lot might stem from the fact that Lu Xin blamed him for getting burned. Tommy is in recovery, but he's pulled more into the criminal world than his sister. He's not just taking loans. He in fact works for the Triad as one of its thugs. Dealing with his addictions and getting out from under the blame, mostly self-blame are real things for him.

Therefore, this series goes beyond the issues with Iron Fist and it gives us three-dimensional and fleshed out, Asian characters who are dealing with deeply emotional issues that are resonant to all people, while also being specific to their culture. It's also about the humanity of these Asian people. It gives Kai these powers and calls him an assassin, but a lot of the series is about him fighting this notion of having to actually kill people. It's about empathy in many ways. It's about a father and son relationship between Kai and Uncle Six, which is played out strongly and sympathetically. It does a good job of making us feel for these characters.

Spoiler alert! Spoiler alert! Spoiler alert!

Much of the dramatic and interpersonal stuff is handled very well. Given that Uwais is such a terrific, martial artist in real-life, it's no surprise that the fight scenes and martial arts are incredible. The scenes are shot and edited in a way that doesn't detract from Uwais and Tan's skills. Even Li gets great fight scenes. However, the plot, particularly the plot of the main villain falls into a hole that it doesn't explain.

Again, Alec is a supernatural entity, known as the Wood Wu. He's the principal villain of the series. His origin story though is missing a key piece of information. He later is doing villainous things for a reason, but if the show had explained what that key piece of information was, then he wouldn't need to do those villainous things. For example, Alec is seemingly immortal because the Wood Wu has healing powers that prevents him from being killed. The missing piece of information is that Alec wasn't born as the Wood Wu. There was another person who was the Wood Wu who had to give him the power. Yet, the only way to get the power is to kill the Wood Wu, but if the Wood Wu is immortal, then the question is how did Alec kill the previous Wood Wu? The series just says that Alec killed him, but the series never explains how Alec actually did it. That's the missing piece.

This missing piece wouldn't matter, if it weren't for the fact that Alec's family was murdered and he wants to be reunited with his family in the afterlife or through some mystical means. He says he tried to kill himself, but because he's the Wood Wu, he couldn't kill himself. Yet, we're supposed to believe that he did kill the previous Wood Wu. Again, because the series doesn't show or tell how Alec killed the previous Wood Wu, it doesn't make sense as to why he can't kill himself. I'm not advocating for his suicide. He does make for a formidable villain, but the missing piece of information undermines his motivation for all of this.

Later, it's revealed that Kai can remove the Wu powers from people who have it. It's not said that that's what Alec did, but, it's another plot hole that Alec doesn't figure out or know what Kai knows about removing the Wu power without having to kill the person who has it. If he did know, that would also undermine Alec's motives. The fact that Kai doesn't offer that as a solution for Alec is also a kind of plot hole too. Nevertheless, the rest of the series is very strong.

Rated TV-MA.
Running Time: 1 hr. / 10 eps.

Available on Netflix.