The February 15 episode of Kung Fu is called “Alias” and that’s really the best title for it as there are aspects reminiscent of the popular ABC series Alias from back in the day. This “Alias” airs on The CW after a new Flash, and it’s not Sydney Bristow going undercover; it’s Althea Shen, sister of Nicky and wife of Dennis, the best dressed character on The CW, as played by the fantastic Shannon Dang.
KSiteTV spoke with Shannon Dang about tonight’s episode and got some hints as to what we can expect to see. Be warned some minor spoilers are discussed within!
KSITETV’S CRAIG BYRNE: I’m going to start with the fun part: Can you talk about your disguise and the character Althea is pretending to be this week?
SHANNON DANG: Her name is Madeline Jung. Basically, in the previous episode, we see that Nicky goes to jail, and at the top of this week’s episode, we’ll see that she is on house arrest. She cannot go on the mission to fight Delta Security Endeavors. So when the Shooby Gang gets together and tries to figure out who is going to go on this mission, it is ultimately decided that Althea is best fit for this, because she knows tech, she knows the entrepreneur and business world, she’s a great liar, and she can schmooze these people.
She has to go undercover, so with the help of the Shooby Gang, they create an alias: Her name is Madeline Jung and she is the CEO of Icarus Strategies, which you will see that they just make up. It’s quite impressively vague and very legit. She has this wig and these fabulous glasses and in Althea fashion, of course, she has a full on outfit. It’s not very “Althea” [of a look], but, you know, she has to be fashionably dressed anywhere. And so, she heads into this party as Madeline Jung.
[Regarding the look] We did a few test shoots with different wigs and different looks, and we ultimately decided on this cute little pixie brown wig with bangs and clear glasses. Ot definitely made me feel like I was in Alias.
We know from the pictures and what you just said that Nicky is not in jail for very long. Are you able to talk about how she gets released for house arrest?
Nicky is not in jail very long, because she was able to make bail. It is very expensive, but so conveniently for the Shen family and Nicky, Dennis’ parents happen to have a lot of money. So that was kind of a like a “nudge, nudge, can you help us out” and the Soongs were so generous and nice to help out. It goes back to the heart of the story, which revolves around family, and these two families [are] wanting to blend together, to do what’s right and help each other out. So we got the bail money, so Nicky is on house arrest, which is I would say definitely an upgrade from jail.
What kind of a lawyer is Evan, though, if his negotiations as a lawyer result in Althea not being allowed to do what she does best, and Nicky not being able to do what she is good at, as a result of their release?
You know, probably not a good lawyer. [Laughs] I’m just kidding… you know, I am not well equipped in that area. But that is that is pretty funny. I know. We’ll have to think about that one.
There are some beautiful scenes this week between Althea and Nicky. Can you talk about getting to shoot those sister scenes with Olivia, and what is your favorite part about doing them?
I always love Nicky-Althea scenes. Olivia is such a great scene partner to work with, and I really think we do have that natural sister chemistry, so they’re always so easy for us. I think this scene in particular was really nice, because you can see that it pains Nicky… the fact that she can’t be out there fighting the mission. She’s so used to jumping in there headfirst, sacrificing herself and putting herself in danger, and she didn’t really realize how that makes her family feel.
Althea even mentions that: How many times has she been on the other side, doing the comms in her ear and doing the tech stuff, helping Nicky on her mission and letting her sister be out there in the forefront, in the action and potentially getting hurt, yet we always trust her. All Althea is asking for is trust in return. Now it’s her time to put herself out there. It’s her turn to offer her skills, and do what she can to help the family and save San Francisco. I think it’s a good learning opportunity for Nicky as well, to see that she’s right. It’s kind of like that mama bird that has to let her their baby bird fly, you know, and trust that they’re going to be okay.I think it’s a really sweet moment for the sisters.
Can you talk about the dynamic between Althea and Zhilan?
I think audiences have been waiting for this team up. On Twitter and Instagram, people would always be wanting and asking for that, so I think it’s fun that we finally get to see that. It’s an unlikely duo that no one would have thought of, but it works: Althea’s bubbly personality mixed with Zhilan and her stoicness and seriousness… I think it’s such a fun combo that people are going to be able to see, and I think it really does bring out a softer side to Zhilan that you’ll see in the episode.
Zhilan comes in to join Althea on the mission, and everything revolves around sisterhood: Zhilan is helping Nicky’s sister and Nicky is helping Zhilan with her sister [Pei-Ling] and it’s really cute. They get in on the action together. Zhilan might do more the heavy lifting as far as the action goes, but I think Althea definitely holds her own. It’s really fun to watch.
I heard the Suite Life thing that you did earlier this season with Kim Rhodes was your idea. So what was it like to do that? And did you laugh when you found out that her character’s name was Carrie?
Oh, my gosh. So yes, I grew up worshipping the Disney Channel, so when Olivia and I found out that Kim Rhodes was joining us, of course, we freaked out. And on the first day of working with Kim, I immediately told her how obsessed I was with The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, and I kind of unashamedly asked if we can reenact The Suite Life of Zack and Cody videos and make a clip. She was such a great sport with it. We ended up making a whole fun video that actually became very popular on the Internet. We called it “The Suite Life of Liv and Shan” and it was so cute. It was a full circle moment. I was like “ah! This is what dreams are made of.”
This season, you’ve gotten to work with certain people you might not have been able to work with as much before, like Vanessa Kai, for example. Is it fun to get that opportunity?
It’s so fun. I think what’s funny is, our cast so close in real life. Living up in Vancouver, we really are like second family to each other. But ironically, a lot of us never worked with each other for a couple seasons. For example, Vanessa Kai and Yvonne Chapman, they were very separated, and they worked mainly with Olivia playing Nicky. And so, the rest of us, as much as we were so close, we didn’t realize until Season 3, like “oh my gosh, I’ve never had a scene with you!” So, to have those moments and get to play off of each other… everything is so fun, and I think audiences are gonna really like to see all of these people and characters intertwining and mixing up together. Well,
Speaking of mixing up together, how much fun was it to film the episode where the girl attacked the Harmony Dumplings reopening?
I love when we get the opportunity to do comedic bits in episodes, That was such a one off… it kind of reminded me of “Clementine” in Season 2, where it was just wild and sometimes had nothing to do with the overall end goal, or the mission of defeating the overarching bad guys. It was just a one off episode where everyone was in on it, and we got to do something that was a little more out of the box. The audience just responds so well. The one – particularly that whole fight in the kitchen – was hilarious. I was so jealous that I wasn’t in it. I only came in at the end, when I hit her with the door, but watching that being filmed was hilarious. The lobster tanks, and seeing Harmony Dumplings get destroyed, and everyone laughing after they called “cut”… it was so fun.
How optimistic are you for Season 4, and if you do get renewed, what would you like to see for Althea?
I think we’re all feeling very optimistic about Season 4. I think regardless of what happens moving forward, we’ve all felt really fulfilled working on this show together. It’s more than just a television show for us. Again, Kung Fu was the first predominantly Asian American cast for a drama series on broadcast television. So that, in itself, feels like such an accomplishment, and a rewarding experience that we got to bring that into people’s homes. I think we all feel really happy and special about what we’ve created, and if there is a Season 4 – which we all hope that there is – I think it’s going to be a game changer. Things are going to be shaken up a bit. I don’t want to spoil too much, but the season finale will definitely be planting seeds for what to come in Season 4, and it is a whole different story than you what you would think. I think it’ll be a fun shift for everyone to see.
Why should people be tuning in on Wednesday night, other than the fact that the show is amazing?
I think that everyone should be tuning in Wednesday night because there’s something for everyone, I think. If you love action and martial arts, there’s something there. If you love the comedic bits and seeing the character relationship, there’s something there. Also, if you just love the Shen family, and which I think is the heart of our story, we really are getting to do a lot, and you continue to see this love that everyone has for each other. People should definitely tune in this week, because it’s fun, and it’s wild.
Kung Fu “Alias” airs at 9PM ET/PT TONIGHT (October 15) on The CW. Take a look at some photos here… the trailer can be found below.
