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Feb 20, 2024 · In the show, Liang plays Nicky Shen, who trains at a Shaolin monastery and returns to defend her home in San Francisco’s Chinatown from both street violence and supernatural forces. The cast is...
- Gretchen Smail
- Overview
- Biography
- Skills
- Appearances
Nicky Shen is the protagonist in The CW's Kung Fu. She is portrayed by Olivia Liang. A young Chinese-American woman who drops out of college, Nicky then goes on a life-changing journey to an isolated monastery in China, after a quarter-life crisis. When she returns to find her hometown overrun with crime and corruption, she uses her martial arts sk...
Pilot
For three years, Nicky, a one time Harvard University student has been living in a monastery in China's Yunnan Province, hiding from the matchmaking trip her mother sent her on. She stopped talking to her family when she realized that the “culture trip” was just an excuse to pair her off in an arranged marriage of her choosing. Not long after she ran away, she was rescued by Pei-Ling, who runs the all-female warrior team training at the monastery. Pei-Ling mentors Nicky, teaching her everything she needs to know about fighting. But eventually she urges Nicky to make peace with her family and return home. She explains that she too had a difficult family life and that she doesn’t want Nicky to make the same mistakes she did. That night, the monastery is lit on fire as raiders come after the warriors, but the women fight them off as Nicky desperately tries to get to Pei-Ling. As the fight rages, Pei-Ling faces Zhilan, the leader of the raiders and someone she seems to recognize. Zhilan incapacitates Pei-Ling and steals a mysterious sword from her. As Nicky finally reaches Pei-Ling, Zhilan stabs Pei-Ling and vanishes. Nicky sobs as Pei-Ling begs her to retrieve the sword and dies. Nicky pursues Zhilan, and the two fight. Nicky briefly holds the sword, but it makes a noise in her hand before Zhilan takes it back. As Nicky finds herself clinging to the edge of a cliff, Zhilan leaves her there and departs with the mythical sword. After searching for Zhilan in vain, Nicky returns to her home and estranged family in San Francisco Chinatown where her father Jin welcomes her with open arms. Unfortunately, Nicky is quick to notice that Jin is sporting a black eye. She is further shocked to discover that her older sister Althea is preparing to marry Dennis Soong, an old high school classmate. Nicky's brother Ryan and mother Mei-Li are both less than thrilled to see her back home, with Mei-Ling feeling especially resentful that Nicky chose to run away rather than to express her reservations about being set up for an arranged marriage. While Nicky storms out, Jin convinces his daughter not to run away to parts unknown again. Later, Nicky reconnects with her ex-boyfriend Evan Hartley, whom she broke up with because she at the time had been feeling lost and pressured under her mother's expectations. Nicky reveals that she is investigating a new Triad gang extending their operations into Chinatown, and hoping that Evan's connections as the city's Assistant District Attorney can help. Their reunion is interrupted by Ryan's new girlfriend Sabine, to which Nicky takes poorly as she confides in a vision of Pei-Ling who appears to console her and encourage her to reconcile with her family. Nicky's soul-searching comes to an abrupt end when she discovers Jin roughed up by a local mobster in a shakedown at his family restaurant. After taking Jin to the hospital to recover, Nicky approaches Ryan at his clinic and reconciles with him over a game of ping-pong, but not before meeting a handsome grad student named Henry. He eventually reveals to Nicky the ancient history of the sword and continues his research based on the burn scars on Nicky's hand from wielding it. As Nicky and her siblings begin asking local businesses for more information about their father's attackers, they are accosted by armed goons who are easily dispatched by Nicky. In the aftermath, Nicky and Mei-Li finally have it out, with Nicky revealing that it was Mei-Li that pressured her to break up with Evan and micro-managed her life until she traveled to China. Frustrated by the authorities inability to act, Ryan goes out on his own to take incriminating photos of the Triads at the docks, with Nicky rushing after him to save him. Nicky wows Ryan with her martial arts skills, dispatching the mobsters as the police arrive. With the mob now off their backs, the Shens happily celebrate Althea's marriage and Nicky and Mei-Li formally reconcile. In the end, Henry reveals to Nicky the fabled magical potential of the weapon that Zhilan now has in her possession. Nicky realizes she must defend her hometown from Zhilan as her sworn enemy who seeks to unlock the mythical weapon's powers.
Silence
Althea, Ryan, Mei-Li, and Jin cook Nicky a welcome home breakfast and surprise Nicky with their cheerfulness. All four immediately demand Nicky’s time, with Mei-Li already suggesting both an eligible bachelor and a law internship. Nicky tells her she’s not going to law school as she notices the smell of smoke in the kitchen as the chicken burns. She’s transported to the night Pei-Ling died, and she awakens terrified in her own bed. As it turns out, it was all a dream, including the nice breakfast. Nicky goes to the marina, where she intercepts Evan running his usual route. She tells him about her nightmare and asks if he has any leads on Zhilan. He jokes that all she gave him was a first name and an admittedly good and detailed sketch, and Nicky says she wishes she knew more. She further shares that in her dream, her family was happy, and Evan says maybe if she talked with them more now that she’s home, her relationship with them would improve. Back at the house, everyone is rushing around for wedding planning as Ryan tells Nicky he needs her to help out with Jin more now that she’s home. Everyone leaves for their errands, and Nicky is alone. Going to her room, Nicky meditates to remember more details about Zhilan. She remembers a distinctive necklace and sketches it, including a symbol of what looks like a crane. At the community center, Nicky finds Henry. She gives him the drawing of the necklace, and he recognizes the style of the art. They make plans to meet at the library later to investigate the lead further. She goes to leave, and Henry asks if she’s trained lately. She says she hasn’t been able to find her groove since returning, and Henry shares that he spent two years training in Beijing and also had a hard time coming home. He offers to train her at the park, which she accepts. Just then, she gets a text from Althea reminding her about her bridal fitting. Nicky sighs, knowing she won’t be able to train like wanted to. At the dress shop, Nicky tries on bridesmaid dresses as Althea tells a mysterious caller to stop contacting her. Nicky asks who it was, and Althea smoothly lies and says it was a wedding vendor. Althea flatters Nicky by saying she looks so good in the dress that she’s worried it will be a Pippa/Kate Middleton situation. As she looks at Nicky’s shoulder, she sees the scar from Nicky’s stab wound. Althea is shocked, saying that they all thought it was a fire at the monastery, not an attack. Nicky admits that she “left some parts out” as Althea pulls her into a hug. Nicky shares the story with Althea, who is incredulous that Nicky wants to put herself in danger again by going after Zhilan. Nicky, still hurting from reliving Zhilan’s attack, lashes out, saying not everyone can live in a “bridal fantasy world”. Althea gets serious, saying that a lot has changed in three years and that “believe it or not, my life is no fairytale” as she storms off. Nicky goes to the park alone, and as she starts her training, she flashes back to her time in China and the night Pei-Ling died. She replays her fight with Zhilan, and loses again. She goes to leave in frustration, but sees a man assaulting a woman nearby. She pulls the gun from his hand and easily beats him. She turns back to the woman, who grabs the discarded gun and runs. Nicky notices her wallet on the ground and picks it up as she watches the girl. Nicky looks at a picture of the monastery and flashes back to her training with Pei-Ling. Pei-Ling defeats her, and she tells Nicky that her fear was taking over. She notes that a “right action cannot flow from fear.” In the present, Nicky sadly puts the picture away. Staring at the wallet, she hears Pei-Ling’s voice tell her to help the girl. Nicky goes to the family restaurant, where Evan is eating his lunch. As it turns out, he’s been a regular there since Nicky left, telling her he actually had a better relationship with Mei-Li once they broke up. She tells Evan about the girl in the park. He offers to put her in contact with an officer who will take her statement, but Nicky is worried about involving the police. Evan leaves with his order as Henry texts Nicky. She goes to leave, and Jin sees her. He excitedly shows her that he saved a picture of their last game night together so they can pick up where they left off. They make a date for 8 p.m. as she leaves to meet Henry. At the library, both Nicky and Henry are running into a wall researching. Nicky shares what happened with the girl in the park and shows Henry the wallet. He recognizes that a band in the wallet belongs to a local homeless shelter, and when the detective Evan knows calls, Nicky doesn’t answer. She goes to the shelter herself and spots the girl, who runs from her. When Nicky corners the girl, she pulls the gun on Nicky. Nicky talks the girl down after a tense moment and takes the gun. The girl says her name is Ronda and that she thought Nicky was a cop. Ronda says the gun was meant to scare her mother’s controlling boyfriend Derek. Her mother was in an accident and has many health issues. Derek took over her mother’s appointments and medical bills along with her bank accounts, stealing from them both. When Ronda discovered this, he kicked her out. She wanted to scare him. Echoing Pei-Ling, Nicky tells Ronda that right action can’t flow from fear. She asks if Ronda is hungry. Althea is running her cake tasting with precision as Nicky gives Ronda some of the food. Ryan and Nicky joke about the rating system as Althea sends them a death glare. Ryan makes a remark about Nicky “hunting down an international assassin,” and Nicky realizes Althea told him about Zhilan. Althea protests that she had to tell Ryan and that her plan is unrealistic. Ronda sees the cake, and Althea gives her a piece on the condition that she take part in the rating system. Nicky tells them about Ronda’s situation, and Ryan tells Nicky about transitional housing she probably qualifies for. Nicky’s stuck on how to get Ronda and her mom out, and Althea says Nicky should use all the years she studied law to find a way to help the young girl . Nicky and Ronda go to Ronda’s apartment building, where Ronda tearfully reunites with her mother Carmen. Ronda begs her mother to leave with her, but Carmen says she can’t make it without Derek. Ronda says they can do it together and that Nicky has a plan to help them out. Nicky then tells them that they need to revoke Derek’s power of attorney, but before they can go further, Derek comes home early. Carmen stands up to Derek, and when Derek makes a move on Ronda, Nicky defends them by using her martial art moves on him. She also threatens him with legal action, saying she has a friend at the DA’s office aware of his crimes. He leaves in a huff, and Ronda and Carmen are relieved. At home that night, Nicky realizes she missed her game with her dad. He’s asleep on the couch, and her mom watches as Nicky puts a blanket over him. Mei-Li chastises her, saying Jin waited up for her. She also says he waited for her after she left, never losing hope she’d be back one day. Mei-Li then confronts her daughter by saying how she thinks Nicky doesn’t really want to be back. In the end, she just had nowhere else to go. Nicky can’t deny this, but then Ronda calls and the mother and daughter conversation abruptly ends. Derek drained their bank accounts before Carmen could revoke his power of attorney. Mei-Li tells Nicky to just go, and she reluctantly leaves. At the apartment, Carmen reveals that Derek is probably spending all their money on card games right now. Nicky calls Althea, asking her to hack Derek’s computer. Althea is able to help Nicky get into Derek’s computer by trial and error of common passwords he might have used. Nicky gets the address of the underground card game. Nicky then decides she’ll go get the money herself despite Althea’s protests. At the secret spot, Nicky forces her way in and accuses Derek of stealing. The man leading the game tells them to keep playing, smirking at Nicky and saying “my rules, darling.” Her plea goes unheard, so Nicky decides she’s done talking. She beats up the bouncers and tells Derek it’s over, ending her speech with a “my rules, darling” of her own. She walks out, money in hand. Back in her room that night, she meditates her way back to the monastery and tells Pei-Ling she misses her. Nicky tells Pei-Ling she was afraid to feel her grief, but now she feels better. Nicky says she doesn’t know what to do without her. Pei-Ling then tells her mindfulness will give her the clarity she is desperately seeking. The next morning, Nicky surprises Jin with a game. Mei-Li comes down the stairs to hear Nicky say she’s not going anywhere. Remembering Ryan asking her father to go for a check-up, Nicky makes their game conditional on him going for a check-up at the clinic. Nicky calls Evan later to thank him for his help, and he tells her they found out Zhilan is in Singapore. But more importantly, Zhilan is Pei-Ling’s sister. In the stacks at the library, Henry tells Nicky that he found the symbol. It’s a symbol for one of the families guarding each of the eight weapons, which makes Zhilan and Pei-Ling part of these guardians.
Patience
Nicky is finally able to see what Henry is capable of as the two spar, but Henry observes that Nicky is visibly distracted by the news that Zhilan has resurfaced in Singapore and is likely linked to the disappearance of Professor Chau due to his expertise on the mythical eight weapons she is on the hunt for. The sparring match is then awkwardly interrupted by Nicky's ex-boyfriend Evan, who confirms Zhilan kidnapped Chau by sharing CCTV footage of her approaching him forcefully in a parking garage. Back at the Shen family restaurant, Nicky tries to help with the family business, volunteering to help at a special event involving one of Nicky's classmates, though her family is wary of her involvement. Finding her brother Ryan too busy at work to patch things up properly, Nicky instead befriends one of his patients named Faye, trying to form a union for protection from a manipulative local factory for the fashion designer King Kwong. After investigating Chau's office back at his normal San Francisco-based university, Nicky returns to the community center but is shocked to learn that Faye mysteriously collapsed at work. Determined to help, Nicky vows to take point on creating the union for the factory. Accidentally barging into Ryan on a date, Nicky learns from Joe more about King Kwong and how he has been exploiting its workers for some time now. Althea takes Nicky into a fashion event thrown by designer Eddie Kwong and she informs him of her concerns over the treatment of the fashion line's factory workers. While at the event, Ryan calls Nicky with his diagnosis of Faye, revealing the chemicals in Kwong's clothing production are harmful. Confronting Kwong's right hand man, Brett, Nicky reveals she knows the chemicals that affected Faye aren't from the factory but from him deliberately poisoning her while he personally sabotaged her union efforts. Brett locks Nicky in a storage closet as he calls in a hitman to deal with her; recalling her training under Pei-Ling, Nicky breaks free and easily subdues the assassin. Using Kwong's hip, streaming tech, Nicky tricks Brett into confessing to his illegal activities, exposing him to the world and leading to his arrest. Shocked by what Brett did behind his back, Kwong helps Faye and gifts Nicky and Ryan with some free designer gear. Nicky narrowly avoids an emotional argument between her parents but dutifully picks up a shift at the restaurant to let Ryan go on a new date. Umbekownst to her that Evan has now launched a private investigation into Henry after learning he and Nicky broke into Chau's office.
Former powers
•Bian Ge energy: Nicky possessed half of Bian Ge energy and shared the other half with Zhilan, the energy enhanced her physical skills. •Levitation: Nicky was able to levitate. •Superhuman strength: Nicky possessed enhanced strength that allowed her to throw a person easily. •Enhanced durability: Nicky was capable of withstanding being thrown against a wall in a fight with Zhilan.
Mar 4, 2021 · In this take, created by Christina M. Kim, the story begins with heroine Nicky Shen (Liang), a young Chinese American woman who drops out of college after going through a quarter-life...
Apr 6, 2021 · The new version of Kung Fu centers around Nicky Shen as she returns to her home and her family in San Francisco after spending years training in a secluded monastery in China.
- Anne Easton
A young Chinese American woman, Nicky Shen, leaves college and makes a life-changing journey to a Shaolin monastery in China. She returns to her hometown and uses her martial arts skills to fight crime and corruption.
- (5.1K)
- 2021-04-07
- Action, Adventure, Drama
- Olivia Liang, Kheng Hua Tan, Eddie Liu
Apr 15, 2021 · Olivia Liang stars as Nicky Shen in new martial arts TV series Kung Fu. Photo: The CW via AP. Fame and celebrity. + FOLLOW. 1. Set in San Francisco’s Chinatown, the martial arts series follows...
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Apr 6, 2021 · In the action -adventure television series, Liang portrays Nicky Shen, a young Chinese-American woman who makes a life-changing decision to quit college and join a monastery in China to learn Shaolin kung fu.
