This new Netflix series is an absolute hoot—a sparkling mix of comedy, martial arts, and Chinese soap opera. Charles Sun (Justin Chien) is a Taipei gangster, the son of Jade Dragons leader, Big Sun (Johnny Kou), who as the series opens narrowly survives an assassination attempt. Believing his estranged mother, Eileen (a fantastic Michelle Yeoh), and brother Bruce (Sam Song Li) are in danger, Charles travels to their home in America to ensure their protection as he works to figure out who’s after this family.
Bruce was just 5 when he and his mother fled Taipei, and he’s been completely in the dark that his family is part of a Chinese Triad and that his older brother is an assassin, and watching the two brothers reconnect is part of the series’ fun. Bruce is a coddled mama’s boy and college student whose life has been utterly routine … until now. Meanwhile, Charles, who secretly likes to bake and watch soap operas, pines to get out of his murderous life of crime.
Stretched out in eight episodes, we really get to know these characters and their motivations, and Yeoh is the glue that holds the series together. I’ll binge this one again. (eight 47- to 69-min. episodes)
—Glen Starkey
