I apologize for the long delay between installments. If I'd been thinking clearly, I would have started the liveblog after finals week.
On the plus side, I'll be posting daily installments for the rest of the week in order to catch up to my self-imposed schedule.
We open with a brief recap of last episode before picking up where we left off: with Shendu being annoyed with Valmont because Tohru didn't get the talisman.
Can't argue with that.
We learn that Shendu promised Valmont riches in exchange for the talismans. Valmont reassures Shendu that they'll get the talisman back and make sure that Jackie never interferes with the Dark Hand again.
Shendu and Valmont's voice actors are wonderful in this scene. No yelling or hysterics. Just calm, controlled anger. It works very well to make both seem serious and menacing without making them seem cartoonish.
After the opening, we see the Chans at a Chinese restaurant. Jade points out that she just moved from China and asks if they can get TexMex instead. Uncle tells Jackie that the Rooster Talisman has tremendous power . . . while it's sitting on the table.
They're carrying it around with them instead of having Section 13 lock it up underground. And leaving it in plain view. Why don't you paint a big target on your chests while you're at it?
Uncle explains that the talismans are ancient magic based on the animals of the Chinese Zodiac, and that they were scattered throughout the world. Which explains why a Chinese talisman was in Bavaria.
Jade starts asking Jackie to teach her martial arts, kicking in the air. She ends up accidentally kicking a tray full of soup. In the chaos, a candle starts a small fire, Uncle and a waiter get doused with soup, and the talisman is launched into a bowl of soup.
I'm with Jade. Huh?
The food arrives, including the bowl with the talisman. Jade shovels food into her mouth, and Jackie chides her to chew her food. Jade drinks the rest of the soup in a huge gulp, swallowing the talisman in the process. She takes a fortune cookie, which tells her that "danger looms in your future." Uncle says that they must be cautious. Jackie scoffs at this. Within seconds, the Enforcers arrive.
Finn asks where the talisman is, and a fight starts. After failing to stop Jackie by hitting him with a chair, Finn does the sensible thing and pulls a gun. Jackie disarms him almost instantly and kicks him in the chest.
Chow comes at Jackie with some short staffs, lasting about three seconds. Ratso takes his tie off and comes after Jackie. Jackie just hits him with soup bowls. When Ratso lunges at Jackie, Jade trips him with a broom handle. Uncle takes the broom.
^_^
Uncle may not be able to take Tohru, but he can obviously hold his own.
The Enforcers decide that discretion is the better part of valor and retreat.
There is a wonderful touch during this scene. During the fight, Jackie doesn't seem very angry. The instant the gun appears, Jackie's expression becomes grim and incredibly ticked. And it's easy to guess why. Before, the Enforcers were just attacking him. But the gun is not only threatening Jackie, it is a threat to his family, who are nearby. Notably, the moment the gun is kicked away, Jackie's expression softens.
Jackie returns and can't find the talisman, assuming that the Enforcers had grabbed it during the fight. Jade says that they can catch the Enforcers, but Jackie tells her to stay with Uncle.
Jade tells Uncle she sees the restaurant manager. Uncle looks away for about three seconds. When he looks back, Jade has vanished.
Quit looking away! Her powers of teleportation only work when you aren't watching her!
Cut to Finn calling Valmont on a large video phone. Finn tells Valmont that they beat Jackie Chan but couldn't find the talisman. The surface of Shendu's statue form melts away, forming a device with four dragons on top of it, each facing in a different direction. He says that it will make them be able to see with "the eyes of a dragon." In other words, it's a talisman detector.
Cut to Jackie running, having just caught up with the Enforcers. The Enforcers get one look at Jackie and bolt. Jade is trailing Jackie, talking to herself.
I'm surprised she's attempting to justify this. It's not like she made excuses last episode when she disobeyed.
As she follows him, some Shadowkhan are watching from an alleyway. They hold up the Talisman Detector and one of the dragon heads glows, pointing to Jade.
Cut back to the Enforcers, who are in their car, desperately searching for the keys. They manage to drive off before Jackie catches up. Jade continues following Jackie, with Shadowkhan trailing behind her. She turns a corner, and is grabbed . . .
By Jackie.
While he's saying this, Shadowkhan arrive. Jade tries to get Jackie's attention, but he's too busy scolding her because what she's doing is dangerous. Jade grabs him and forcibly turns his head.
Jackie picks Jade up and bolts. Jade asks if he's going to fight them.
The Shadowkhan continue to give chase. Tohru walks into the scene, silently watching the proceedings.
Jackie assumes that he is the one being chased, so he puts Jade down and tells her to run in the other direction. The Shadowkhan follow Jade instead. This results in a chase scene where the Shadowkhan are chasing Jade, and Jackie is chasing the Shadowkhan.
Jade grabs a taped-up skateboard and helmet from some trash in an effort to outrun the Shadowkhan. She ends up gaining ground, but also careens at full speed down a steep hill. The Shadowkhan climb onto a truck to pursue, and Jackie grabs a shopping cart to follow.
Jackie manages to catch up with the Shadowkhan's truck, narrowly avoiding being hit by a car. The cart gets hits by a car in the process. I wonder if he still plans on bringing it back.
The Shadowkhan and Jackie fight, and the talisman detector falls off the truck. Tohru walks in from off screen and picks it up. Jade ends up on a bridge with some construction being done. She glanced back to watch Jackie fight. When she turns back around, she realizes she's on a collision course towards the construction supplies.
She ramps off the bridge, the skateboard falling . . . and she hangs suspended in the air. She stares down just long enough to realize that she isn't falling before scrambling through the air so she can grab a beam.
The truck with Jackie and the Shadowkhan arrives. The driver sees the fight on his roof and panics, causing the truck to tip over, dumping all the combatants. Jackie grabs onto the side, with a chain of Shadowkhan holding onto him.
The Shadowkhan at the bottom climbs the others like a ladder and gets to Jackie, inadvertently knocking his fellow Shadowkhan off in the process. They stretch their arms wide and glide downwards.
Cut to Tohru walking towards the bridge, and immediately cut back to the Chans. Jade tosses Jackie a rope. The Shadowkhan and Jackie scuffle a bit, and Jackie manages to get up first. Jade pushes the rope off the bridge to stop the Shadowkhan.
Jackie is puzzled about why they were chasing Jade.
Jackie tells her to stop fooling around, and Jade protests.
Since when is "butt" a bad word?
Jackie's lecture is cut short by Tohru grabbing his shoulder with some crunching sound effects. Jackie topples over unconscious. Maybe Tohru is part-Vulcan. Except that was more like a "nerve crush" than a "nerve pinch." Tohru demands that Jade give him the talisman, but she's confused, saying she doesn't have it.
Tohru grabs Jade. Cut to a warehouse. Tohru is on the phone, telling Valmont and Shendu that the tracker is pointing to Jade but she doesn't have the talisman.
Valmont tells Tohru to eliminate Jackie while he's at it. Cut to Jackie waking up handcuffed to some pipes.
Tohru arrives with the tracker, discovering that the talisman is in Jade's stomach. He pulls out a huge sword. Jackie yanks desperately at his handcuffs. Tohru goes to sharpen the sword, while Jade and Jackie talk.
Remember, kids: chew your food, or you might swallow a magic talisman and gain telekinesis.
Jade realizes that the talisman's magic was the reason for her Wile E. Coyote impersonation earlier and says she'll use the talisman to fly out.
During his rant, boxes and cans float around in the background. Jackie realizes that Jade can move things with her mind. Tohru comes back over and tells Jade to hold still.
Yeah, you wouldn't want the chopping the ten-year old girl's stomach open any messier than necessary.
Conveniently, there is a crate of fish directly above Tohru. Jade manages to drop it on his head, knocking him out. Jade says she now has the power within, and Jackie says it wasn't what he meant. Jade lifts Tohru's sword to cut the straps and free herself. Before she can go free Jackie, the other Enforcers arrive. Jackie hurls Jade up in the air, where she levitates above the Enforcers.
Finn goes to beat up Jackie while the others try to grab Jade, who floats just out of their reach. Jackie just dodges the blows and picks Finn's pocket to get the keys to the cuffs.
Finn really should have known better than to get within striking distance of Jackie. Then again, he lost his gun earlier, so maybe he thought hand-to-hand combat was his only option.
We get a scene of Jackie with two fish versus the Enforcers with a pipe, wrench and barrel. He naturally disarms two of them easily. Ratso turns to run, but runs into something and knocks himself out. Tohru wakes up with a scream of rage.
Jackie and Jade flee up some stairs. Jackie tells Jade to be quiet . . . and Tohru emerges from the elevator behind them.
Tohru grabs a crate one-handed and swings it at Jackie, narrowly missing him. Tohru throws the crate, closing the door and blocking the way.
Jackie tells Jade not to watch the fight. What? Is she supposed to hide her face in the corner? Because I'm pretty sure not paying attention puts her in more danger.
Tohru ends up tossing Jackie across the room. Jade attempts to kick Tohru while levitating, but he just glances at her and blows hard, knocking her backward. May I suggest a breath mint, Tohru?
Jackie dumps a barrel of fish to trip Tohru . . . which works but also ends up causing Tohru to headbutt Jackie. Jade tries to hurl a swordfish at Tohru's back, but he catches it. Tohru hurls the swordfish at Jackie.
Tohru wraps his arms around Jackie's neck and starts choking him. Jade starts looking desperately around for some way to help.
She levitates both Tohru and Jackie to the ceiling. Tohru drops Jackie in surprise. Jade is unable to hold Tohru for long and drops him. He falls through the floor, breaking through three floors before landing in the water below. Jackie falls through the floor as well, although he only falls one floor rather than all the way through. (If you freeze frame it, you can see Tohru briefly grabs Jackie's leg as he falls.)
Cut to Jackie telling Captain Black that Uncle is right, and the talisman is magic. Black is skeptical, using a tone that clearly says: "Great. Insanity runs in the family."
He reveals that Jackie's things were moved to Section 13 in order to keep Jackie safe from the Dark Hand. Black wanted to move Uncle as well, but Uncle refused because it would mess up his feng shui. We cut to Uncle. He's scattering some sort of powder and saying "good magic is stronger than bad magic."
Jade arrives after having her stomach pumped. Jade is thrilled when she sees her stuff has been moved to Section 13. She asks if this means she's a secret agent. Both Jackie and Black tell her no.
And with that, the episode ends.
The first two episodes were a nice set-up for the show. We know the basics of what the plot will be. We've been introduced to our main characters and have a fairly good idea of what they're like.
Both main villains — Valmont and Shendu — come across as serious and threatening. Shendu provides a nice mystery, since we know almost nothing about him, aside from his magical powers. It makes you wonder what else he can do.
The Enforcers are still unnamed — aside from Tohru — but they work well enough as goons. Tohru is a nice threat: he's slow and not as skilled as Jackie, but has more than enough muscle to make up for that.
The fight scenes would fit perfectly in a Jackie Chan movie, and they work extremely well in a cartoon. They're creative and a lot of fun to watch.
Trivia
- The show debuted in 2000, which is the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese Zodiac.
