Kung Fu 1.01

Pilot

I watched Kung Fu when I was a kid, this would have been in the late 1970s or early 1980s. The show would have been in reruns by that point. No one pointed out to me then that the main character was Asian and the actor playing him was white, or if they did it did not register with me. I can clearly see now that the choice to cast David Carradine to play an Asian character is wrong or at best problematic. It has probably been more than 3 decades since I last watched an epiosde of Kung Fu. I watched this one because I wanted to see how or if it would hold up.

Caine is a priest from the Shaolin Temple in China. He was taken in as a young boy. He studied there for about a decade. He was forced to flee China after he killed a member of the royal family. In 1873, he surfaces in the United States.

Caine works on the railroad tracks that are being built to connect the east coast to the west. It isn't long before someone identifies him and sends word to representatives of the Chinese government. He is tied up but he escapes. He is recaptured. He escapes again. The representative of the Chinese government arrives. He is also a former Shaolin priest. Caine and the rep fight. Caine wins. Caine leaves.

I like the flashbacks throughout the episode. The flashbacks tell the story of how Caine was accepted at the Shaolin temple as a young boy and of his training up to the point where he left the temple. Finally, there is a flashback which shows the events that led him to flee China.

The fight at the end was a little hokey. I thought it was silly that both Caine and the rep changed into these colorful robes to fight.

This episode is okay but it didn't really do it for me. I see what they are trying to do. The man-on-the-run TV show was a bit of a trope in the 1970s. Kung Fu had been preceded by shows like The Fugitive and would be followed by shows like The Incredible Hulk. There are probably better episodes of Kung Fu than this one. It isn't awful it just feels a little like they are checking all the boxes and that the episode is lacking in any great moments or performances. Carradine's performance is just a little too subdued for me to get much of anything from it.