Kung Fu: Vanessa Yao Talks Mia's Mindset Ahead of "The Enclave"
This season of The CW's Kung Fu has seen some big shifts for Nicky Shen (Olivia Liang). She may have defeated Zhilan (Yvonne Chapman) at the end of the series' first season, but a new and potentially more dire threat emerged. Billionaire Russell Tan (Kee Chan) has his own plans for San Francisco—and they include Mia, Nicky's long-lost cousin who just so happens to be a hybrid of the Guardian and Warrior bloodlines, making her the key to his dark plans. Mia has begun to be incorporated into the Shen family over the course of the season while Nicky and her allies try to find a way to stop Tan for good, but recently the truth about just how dangerous Mia's hybrid status could has come to light and last week, Mia learned a devastating truth: Nicky hasn't been up front with her.
It's a betrayal of trust that comes at a difficult time with Nicky preparing to infiltrate a gathering of the world's elite to prevent Tan from acquiring an object he needs to carry out his plan and ahead of this week's episode, ComicBook.com sat down with Vanessa Yao, who pays Mia on Kung Fu, to talk about Mia's mindset and, according to Yao, this revelation has "ruined everything" for Mia.
"I feel like for Mia, trust is a huge thing. And for her to trust someone, it means a lot to her. And I think for her, Nicky had been that person that she felt like, 'Okay, I feel like I can rely on her now. I can rely on Nicky,' especially with what happened in episode seven with her mom and Nicky being there for her and shielding her from watching her mom die. So, I feel like that moment really meant a lot to her and it meant that I can finally trust someone again and I can rely on someone," Yao said. "So having that in mind, and then later on hearing that she's keeping something from her and she's not being completely straight, it really just, it just ruined everything. I think in her mind, it just, it brought her back to step one. And it just reminded her that in the end of the day, all she has is herself and she can't rely on anyone, and she's been fooled to think that someone would be straight with her and tell her the truth about everything. So, I think that was what was in her mind as she's going into episode nine."
Yao also explained that Zhilan's words in particular are sticking in Mia's mind heading into this week's episode, causing Mia to question the motives of her newfound family.
"And especially with Zhilan's line where she's like, 'This must feel nice to feel like they're accepting of you,'" Yao said. "I think that also made her question, 'What are they doing this for? Do they even like me? What's their intention?' I feel like that also put more doubt in her mind that this is maybe not what I should be doing, stuff like that."
"INFILTRATING THE ENCLAVE — After uncovering an item that Russell Tan (guest star Kee Chan) is after, Nicky (Olivia Liang) enlists her entire family to help infiltrate the Enclave, a secret gathering of the world's elite. Elsewhere, Nicky deals with the fallout of a secret she's kept from Mia (guest star Vanessa Yao). Tzi Ma, Kheng Hua Tan, Shannon Dang, Jon Prasida, Eddie Liu, Gavin Stenhouse and Yvonne Chapman also star. R.T. Thorne directed the episode written by Dan Hamamura (#209). Original airdate 5/11/2022. Every episode of KUNG FU will be available to stream on The CW App and CWTV.com the day after broadcast for free and without a subscription, log-in or authentication required."
Kung Fu airs Wednesdays at 9/8c after episodes of The Flash. "The Enclave" airs tonight, Wednesday, May 11th.