Heartwarming / Kung Fu (1972)

• In the first episode, we see the memory of Caine successfully going through all the Secret Tests of Character to join the Shaolin Monastery and is the last boy standing in front of the head monk. The monk notes that Caine is only half-Chinese and the order has never inducted a child who was not pure Chinese. When he then says, "There's always a first time," you can't help but smile at such wisdom that transcends such prejudice for something better.
  • Also, the way that he passes the final Secret Test of Character? Tea is set down for the last few kids, but while they go for the drinks immediately, he respectfully waits for Master Kan to drink first.
  • In his last few moments, Master Po all but says that Caine is Like a Son to Me.
• Caine's friendship with the old man in the pilot episode.
• The burgeoning Slap-Slap-Kiss relationship of Kwai Chang and Nan-Chi is very sweet while it lasts.
• Master Kan's mingled pride and regret when Caine finally snatches the pebble and his quiet "time for you to leave," shows clearer than any words how much the Old Master has come to care about his young student.
• Similarly, Caine returns to Master Po's grave after he's killed by the nephew of the emperor, and Master Kan pardons him for taking a life. He even explicitly says that the pain of watching Kwai Chang leave forever is equal to the death of Master Po.
• Caine’s racist grandfather bitterly condemns him for his mother’s death in childbirth, to which Caine swears to starve himself outside the house until he’s acknowledged as family. He’s saved by the reverend he helped encourage to go on living after being blinded, who gives the grandfather a "The Reason You Suck" Speech that makes him relent. Making it all the sweeter is that the reverend is played by John Carradine, David's real life father.
• The episode "The Spirit Guide" is all about Nashibo, a young Native American who is praying for a spirit guide just when Caine shows up. He spends the rest of the episode a somewhat reluctant mentor to the boy, and after rescuing the boy's kidnapped mother, prepares to leave. Nashibo protests that Caine still hasn't shown him how to be a man.
  Caine: Nashibo. You are a man.
• In the episode "The Chalice," Caine and a Franciscan friar bond, partially because Caine, too, is a priest (albeit of a different order, and not that the friar knows that), but their Birds of a Feather nature is very clear to see.
• When they finally reunite, Kwai Chang and Danny make one heck of an awesome Sibling Team as they work to rescue Danny's family.
• Just about the only time we ever see Master Kan lose his composure is when young Caine is poisoned, and Kan runs to give him the antidote, literally shoving aside two guards.
• When Zeke is captured by Corbino's men, Caine throws aside his Martial Pacifist nature, bursts into the cabin, and proceeds to lay waste to the men inside without saying a word.
• The flashbacks during "In Uncertain Bondage" show Master Kan doing chores for a young Caine, explaining to him that "serving and being served are two folds of the same garment" and that by serving others, one is served oneself.
• At the end of one episode where he teams up with two itinerant musicians, it closes with Caine, John-O, and Trim playing an unlikely but beautiful combination of flute, jazz saxophone, and guitar as Raoul claps his hands in time to the music.
• In general, any time a sheriff in the West is a Reasonable Authority Figure, given how often they're racist and/or corrupt.

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