Transformation

Season

1

Episode

13

Series

Kung Fu

Air date

July 21, 2021

Writer

Christina M. Kim & Robert Berens

Director

Joe Menendez

Episode guide
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Sacrifice	Year of the Tiger: Part 1 (2x01)

Transformation is the thirteenth and final episode of the first season of The CW series Kung Fu. It premiered on July 21, 2021.

Synopsis[]

THE KEY TO THE FORGE - In the explosive season finale, Nicky (Olivia Liang) learns what is needed to open the forge. Meanwhile, an emergency at home threatens to derail Althea (Shannon Dang) and Dennis' (Tony Chung) tea ceremony. Tzi Ma, Kheng Hua Tan, Jon Prasida, Eddie Liu, Gavin Stenhouse and Vanessa Kai also star.^[1]

Plot[]

In the Yunnan Province, Nicky tells Zhilan she has no interest in listening to what Zhilan has to say. Zhilan laments at having been so close to The Forge the night she raided the monastery. Nicky then proceeds to tell her the monks are ready and that she won’t reach it. However, Zhilan presents a twist; that the “Warrior and guardian must cross together”.

Nicky asks why Zhilan thinks she’ll go with her and Zhilan threatens her with the ones she loves, saying to Nicky that her attachments make her weak. Zhilan then reveals that she has men parked outside of Dennis and Althea’s tea ceremony.

Back in San Francisco, Ryan picks over details for Althea’s wedding, using the Best Man binder Nicky left him. Preparing for the tea ceremony, Ryan notices one special tea is missing; Po Po has been drinking it all morning. Nicky’s binder saves the day by pointing Ryan to some extra tea the family has.

Outside the Shens’ house sit men in dark SUVs.

At the doors of The Forge, Nicky and Zhilan begin to open the door, going on instinct though they have no concrete knowledge of how it works. Pressing an array of buttons and turning some gadgets, the door slides open. Nicky tells Zhilan to call off the men outside her family’s home. Zhilan ignores her and they enter the room.

Zhilan begins touching the walls, and in a panicked voice says she doesn’t feel anything. Nicky agrees; “the energy is gone.”

Zhilan questions if Nicky knew that the energy was gone. Nicky denies the accusation. The two young women then spot a bed. As it turns out, there used to be a sorcerer living in The Forge who protected it. The sorcerers and their apprentices drew Biange energy from the earth and infused it into The Forge and its weapons. Zhilan had assumed they’d died out. Zhilan questions Nicky about what she knows. Nicky tells her about her sighting of a woman in the courtyard with a green glow about her two years ago. Zhilan surmises Pei-Ling raised the alarm about Zhilan’s intentions to capture the weapons after she paid her a visit two years ago, causing “Ziqi” to flee. Thus, Zhilan surmises that Ziqi has gone onto another hiding place; likely somewhere peaceful. Nicky tells Zhilan of a place Pei-Ling spoke of, the ruins of an ancient temple in the Hong Kong mountains.

Meanwhile, at Dennis and Althea’s tea ceremony, Po Po hands the bride and groom the tea and they serve it to Jin and Mei-Li. Ryan’s phone then buzzes. It’s Nicky asking for Althea’s help “I need her help. Like hella bad.” Ryan tells her she’s in the middle of the tea ceremony and Nicky instructs him to have her sneak in and call her back soon. Dennis’ sister Chloe talks about how it sucks Nicky has “food poisoning” and can’t talk to Althea. She offers to be a distraction, owing Nicky for helping her back then. Chloe tips over a flower vase, causing a commotion. Ryan pulls Althea away telling her that “hella bad” was a code from when they were kids meaning that something terrible was going on. They surmise that she was warning them about something. They peek out the windows and see the SUVs.

Althea calls Nicky and Zhilan back. She asks for help finding the satellite. Althea hacks Gigaping, a common texting app overseas. Zhilan shows Nicky Biange blooms, flowers that bloomed outside The Forge and died when it was abandoned, telling Althea to search for the flowers. They end the call when Althea finds the location.

Elsewhere, Evan and the police officers pull up to the house. Jin and Pei-Ling barge in and ask if Ryan and Althea see what’s going on outside. The monks surround Zhilan. Nicky tells her that now that the threat on the Shens is neutralized, she’s not going anywhere. Zhilan claims she never needed her attachments to beat Nicky. A gong rings. intruders are swarming the monastery. However, it’s not Zhilan’s people, it’s Russell Tan’s.

The monks and Henry go to protect the monastery while Nicky and Zhilan gear up for a showdown. Armed men enter the room where Zhilan and Nicky are, throwing flashbangs and smoke bombs. They take the weapons while the women are disoriented. Zhilan manages to get up and drive away.

She and Tan’s men have gone to find Ziqi.

In the monks’ truck, they give chase. Nicky calls her family back and asks her to promise her that they will have a great time at Althea’s wedding. Tearfully telling her she loves them, the call cuts out. The rest of the Shens worriedly look on. Jin and Mei-Li urge Althea to get on with the wedding, trying to carry on Nicky’s wishes.

An obscured man confronts the sorcerer Ziqi at a place with the blossoms, indicating it’s the new Forge. She asks what’s happening and Mr. Tan, who she’s obviously familiar with, guides her to the weapons. He tells her that she will recharge the weapons, release Biange, which will in turn give him the power. The weapons then begin to glow green. Mr. Tan had found her months ago, telling her things could go the hard or easy way. Ziqi and Zhilan collapse and stumble.

In the truck, Nicky feels the energy as well.

Ziqi refuses to give up the energy. Russell says that he will take it if she doesn’t willingly relinquish it. Nicky and Henry exit the truck, running towards Ziqi, but not before Russell stabs Ziqi. Nicky holds her and Ziqi says that since the warrior is now there, she can let go. The weapons glow brighter and the energy splits; half of the green light flows into Nicky while the other half goes into Zhilan. A shockwave blows everyone back at the redirection of power.

Some time later, Nicky wakes up in a bed, with her phone buzzing. Evan is telling her that he missed her, and promises to finally introduce his girlfriend (referring to her as such) to D.A. Hughes. Unbeknownst to her, a figure in a black cloak is seen behind her.

Downstairs, Jin greets Nicky with a black eye. He brushes it off as an accident. Mei-Li comes in talking about a lawyer job. Nicky asks what day it is and when she got back from the monastery, which Mei-Li is confused about.

Zhilan for her part awakens to Kerwin asking her to stay with him. She says she has someplace to be and he says there’s no place more important for her to be. He tries to get her to stay but she insists on going.

Nicky meets Ryan who is late to work, but not at the clinic. He’s abandoned it for more lucrative work. Althea is chatting with Dennis’ mom and sister. She pulls Althea aside and asks her for help, explaining what happened with Biange. Althea has no idea what she’s talking about.

Then, at the community center, Henry doesn’t recognize Nicky. Nicky’s tired of being trapped in this bizarro world. She spots the hooded figure and starts chasing her.

Zhilan is now at the monastery, surrounded by the slaughtered monks. Pei-Ling appears and reveals herself to be the hooded figure. Zhilan asks why she’s been led to where she killed Pei-Ling, and tells Pei-Ling she was always trying to stop her concerning Biange. Pei-Ling claims she’s trying to reach Zhilan and doesn’t blame her for anything. Zhilan angrily demands to know Nicky’s whereabouts. Pei-ling tells her this isn’t about power, it’s about pain. She’s trying to use power to escape her pain, but there are other ways to do so like love. Pei-Ling implores her that it’s never too late to change. Zhilan still has a choice. But Zhilan says she’s made her choice.

Now Nicky is at the monastery with Pei-Ling, who shows her Guangli, The Forge’s original sorcerer, imbuing the weapons with Biange. Nicky asks for Pei-Ling’s help destroying Biange. Pei-Ling asks if she truly wants that. She tells Nicky the life she saw was a life without Biange.

Her shifu goes onto say that “biange is neither good nor evil. it can lead to great destruction, but also change. it is the spark of transformation. The world needs Biange … Being a warrior is not about wielding a weapon. It is about that desire for change”.

Pei-Ling then tells Nicky that’s what inspired her to jump in her truck all those years back. She tearfully apologizes for holding so much information back from Nicky, thinking they would have more time. Nicky realizes it’s really her shifu she’s talking to, not a hallucination. Pei-Ling tells her the world needs Biange and to look beyond the duality of good and evil and make her own choice.

Zhilan then appears just Pei-Ling disappears. The two rush towards one another, ready to clash. Suddenly, they wake up on the ground outside where they were blasted. They begin to fight, and a vicious battle ensues. Zhilan picks up one set of weapons while Nicky picks up another. As they clash, The weapons break and it quickly becomes apparent that the energy has left the weapons; with Zhilan and Nicky now being the vessels.

As Henry begins to wake, Mr Tan and his goons shuffle out of the scuffle. Picking up new weapons, metal meets metal once more. Henry tackles Zhilan, keeping her from striking Nicky. In turn, she slices his arm. Flashing back to her shifu’s words, Nicky declares she doesn’t want to wield or destroy Biange. As it came from the Earth and she’s going to send it back to the Earth, as it t doesn’t belong to any person.

Breaking Zhilan’s weapon and striking her, green smoke flies out. As Nicky releases the energy to the environment, because she's “doing the one thing [Zhilan] can’t: letting it go.” In the final move, Nicky flies through the air and strikes Zhilan, releasing a wave of green energy. The runes from touching The Sword of Liang Daiyu disappear off her hand. With Biange now gone from both of them. Nicky holds her at sword-point. Zhilan begs Nicky to kill her, citing she has nothing left. But that is not that kind of person Nicky is though. Instead, she walks away from Zhilan and goes towards Henry.

Darker now, the cops show up and put Zhilan in the back of a cop car. Henry and Nicky return the sword to the monastery and thank the monks. A memorial is then lit up for Pei-Ling.

Once Nicky returns home, a relieved Jin and Mei-Li hug her, while also questioning if it’s over. Nicky replies that they’re safe and Zhilan is not a threat, but that Biange and their birthright will always remain a part of their family.

Just as Dennis and Althea are about to leave for the Galapagos for their honeymoon, Althea gets a text that Nicky’s home “feeling better”. She admits that she wants to swing by. Dennis also offers to bring Nicky a slice of cake. As he walks away, Althea calls him back, telling him Nicky was actually in China. She tells Dennis he needs to know something about Nicky.

Ryan shows Nicky photos of the wedding, thanking her for the binder. As Nicky asks how it was “riding solo,” Ryan coyly claims he hooked up with one of the groomsmen. Telling him about fighting Zhilan, Nicky admits she flew again and that it wasn’t physics after all. She explains Biange wasn’t good or evil and that she sent it out into the world, dispersing it but not destroying it. Nicky tells him that she had to “give up the juice so no more flying,” but that she feels different.

At a restaurant, Evan meets Nadia the secretary from the DA’s office. He tells her that Russell Tan nearly killed Nicky a few days ago and that he’s buying up a lot of influential people, including D.A. Hughes. Claiming Nadia knows more than she’s letting on, he demands information with an intimidating glower on his face.

Mr. Tan talks to Kerwin, who’s unconscious but twitching, hooked up to a plethora of machines. He tells him that he tried to warn him about Zhilan. However, the whole thing made him see clearly. While Zhilan’s no longer a threat, Nicky doesn’t know that she has a cousin who he’s been keeping tabs on.

A young girl is seen at Mei-Xue’s gravestone. Now that the weapons are destroyed, and Biange is floating around freely, “she’s the key to everything.”

Nicky and Henry kiss outside, and then he asks after her family who is proud of her. She asks him how he is feeling after Zhilan sliced arm. He replies that he is doing better. He jokes that now they have matching scars. He then asks what’s next for her, and Nicky tells him the monks are safe, Zhilan’s in jail, the weapons are buried or destroyed, and Biange has been distributed out into the world.

As they make plans to get boba, Henry reveals how remembers her order now and they walk away, and a Biange bloom spouts out of the concrete.

Cast[]

Main[]

Recurring[]

Yvonne Chapman as Zhilan^[8]
Ludi Lin as Kerwin Tan^[9]^[10]
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

Co-Starring[]

Megan Hui as Biyu
Emily Tu as Hua
Steve Chang as The Man
Darryl B. King as Guanyu
Diane Garceau as Robed Figure
Doris Lum as Shen Aunt
Leanne Poon as Florist
Sarah Te Wong as Mei-Xue's Daughter

Trivia[]

Robert Berens and Christina M. Kim both felt it was important for Nicky to return to the monastery since it would be full circle from the Pilot. ^[11]
At the end of the episode it's revealed to the audience that Xue Mei has a daughter. Olivia Liang teased that this previously unknown cousin will be Nicky's foil for the next season and enemy. ^[12]
- This cousin is also part of two separate bloodlines: a warrior in Xue Mei's and a guardian (Unknown father) Bernes teased the following What does that mean? That there is someone who has basically fused these two mystical bloodlines. So, I think we’re setting up a very interesting foil for Nicky in season two.^[11]
Olivia also promised that her character's immediate family will be more involved in the mythology of their family “I know that Biange energy has definitely followed [Nicky] to San Francisco,” “Because she’s part of the bloodline of warriors, and the Shen siblings and Mama are also a part of this, I think they might get a little bit more involved with the magic and the mythology of it all.”^[11]