American Born Chinese (2023) s01e05 Episode Script

1
What happened to you, dude?
'Cause you just disappeared
for, like, four weeks.
I can explain everything.
So, after you left me with the
big, giant toilet paper bear,
my staff, the jīn gū bàng,
remember, was taken by Niu Mowang,
who was leading an uprising
against the Jade Emperor.
So I went back home with
my dad for a few hours,
even though it's, like,
much longer on Earth.
But it's okay.
I've returned to finish my
quest and find the Fourth Scroll.
Okay, that was a lot.
Yeah, and Oh, my auntie,
Guanyin, bought me a new cell phone.
Cool, right?
Hello, you didn't tell me
you invited a new friend.
How do you do? My name is Sun Wei-Chen.
Do you go to school with Jin?
Yeah, me and my auntie
just moved here recently.
Oh, and I like your home.
Stop!
And that's a pretty necklace.
This? This is very special.
I show you the companion piece.
- They have a companion piece.
- Oh.
These two pieces go together.
This is a green jade.
This is a orange jade.
- It's very old, very rare.
- Cool.
Can you teach my son some Chinese?
- He's terrible!
- Oh.
Sure, sure.
Hey, okay, let's let's get a move on.
I make you some tea, huh?
- I'm good. We're good. Thank you.
- Uh
Wow, look at all these toys.
Kugo Ren has so many friends here.
Wait, so, you're still
looking for the Fourth Scroll?
Yeah. My dad told me about a
scholar who might be able to help.
His name is Ji Gong. The "Mad Monk."
He was banished from Heaven
and now he lives on Earth.
Okay, that sounds promising.
Yeah.
Jin, you do magic?
Oh, yeah. Well, it's not
real magic like you can do.
It's just a dumb thing I bought
on the Internet when I was 12.
Show me.
Uh, okay, but it's kinda been a while,
so it might not be super spectacular.
- Okay.
- But, um
Let's see. Ah, here.
- Ready?
- Yeah.
And
Abracadabra!
- What?
- Uh-huh.
And then Ready?
Wait, how-how did you
do that? That's amazing.
It's magic. It's real magic.
But it's a hot dog.
It's also a flashlight.
That's not really magic.
Okay.
I'll learn this sausage man trick later.
We should go see this monk.
Okay. Although, I don't know.
If you got this guy who,
like, knows all this stuff,
do you really need me anymore?
You don't wanna help me?
No, it's just Uh I don't know.
I don't really see how I
fit into this whole thing.
Plus, I kinda have a biology
project that I have to do.
Come on, Jin. You're my guide.
I know that from my dream.
Right. Yeah, yeah, let's do this.
Although, I don't know,
can we come up with something a
little bit cooler than "guide"?
Servant?
Yeah, no, you're right. Guide's better.
Are you sure this is it?
It looks like a mini-mall.
It says "temple."
Come on. Let's go.
This place doesn't seem super busy.
- Could that be him?
- I don't know.
- Huh?
- Are you Ji Gong?
Larry.
Try the bar.
Oh. Hello.
Table 7 needs napkins.
I think he's drunk.
What makes you say that?
Oh, just, everything about him.
Hello?
What's up?
Oh, hi. We're looking for a
scholar whose name is Ji Gong.
More like Ji you gone. Eh?
- Get out of here!
- Okay.
Yeah, I don't think there's
any Chinese gods here.
Guess I'm not a super good guide.
Okay, I think I'm gonna go
work on my bio project now.
O-Oh, okay.
I mean, you've got your phone, right?
So, you know, just text
me if you find anything.
- Uh, yeah.
- See ya.
You seem very excited
about that project.
Yeah, I don't know. I guess
I just really love biology.
- Hey.
- Hey.
- Come on in. Yeah.
- Thanks.
- En garde!
- Sorry about that.
- No fair! You crossed the line.
- What? What does that mean?
Oh, you got me.
Okay, lower your weapons.
Real people coming through.
- Oh, Amelia. Please, avenge my death!
- Sorry.
- Hi, Dad.
- Hi.
- Hi. You must be Jin.
- Hi. Yeah.
Hey, Meels, I have a tray of
seltzers ready in the kitchen.
- Could you grab those?
- Yeah. I'll I'll be right back.
It's nice to meet you,
Mrs. and Mr. Taylor.
Oh, no, please call me Margie Ann.
Yeah. And I'm Dennis,
and this is Holden.
- Hi. Bye.
- Oh.
The whole block?
Sorry. Well, make yourself at home.
- I prepared a little snack.
- Oh.
Thank you so much.
- Is this
- Mm-hmm. Right there.
- Wow, is this from, like, a restaurant?
- No.
And I'm sorry I didn't
have time to prep more.
I have an open house coming
up, so been a little slammed.
This is Can I?
- Oh, please.
- Thank you so much.
- Pace yourself.
- Mmm.
Sorry, it's just really good cheese.
Thank you.
Who are you? What are you doing here?
I-I'm just looking for someone.
Well, you're not gonna find them.
Well, I didn't even say who.
No one's here. Not even me.
Okay, just Don't come closer.
Why? You scared?
No, it's your breath. Really bad.
Ji Gong?
Ji Gong.
Is this your disguise? A drunk bum?
Maybe.
Now tell me who you are!
My name is Sun Wei-Chen.
I think we're searching
for the same thing.
The Fourth Scroll?
You should give up now.
It's a waste of time.
Why?
A million miles I've traveled, and
it's all led me to this stupid town.
Where you can't even get a good pizza.
So it is here. Did a
crane speak to you too?
What? A crane?
- Uh, in your dreams.
- No.
All right, come over here.
Let me show you.
Come on.
This wasn't some dumb crane.
This was a lot of hard work.
This took a ton of research.
Look at these paintings.
What do you see?
Uh, colors.
"Uh, colors." No, you idiot.
This is everything you need to
know about the Fourth Scroll.
- Look, you moron.
- Okay.
Okay, fine. I'll explain it.
Long ago, Sun Wukong
guided a group of pilgrims
on a Journey to the West.
They achieved enlightenment,
and the wisdom of the sutras was
transcribed onto three scrolls.
Discipline, Discourse and Philosophy.
But, unbeknownst to many,
there was a fourth scroll
containing the Sutra of Power.
Makes the other scrolls
sound kinda dumb, right?
Anyway, the legend goes that the
Buddha destroyed the Fourth Scroll
and sprinkled its remains like
Parmesan on the earthly realm
as a way of dispersing
absolute power, or whatever.
A little dramatic if you ask me.
Over time, two families, once peaceful,
grew obsessed with
collecting its fragments
in the hopes of
controlling the territory.
Their selfishness led to resentment,
which led to deceit, which led to war.
I don't know if you know
this, but humans love war.
It's like all they ever do.
So, the Buddha made a proclamation.
Only when the warring
factions find harmony
will the ultimate power
of the sutra be revealed.
Thus, the Fourth Scroll could
be anywhere, or anything.
Could be a rock or a cloud.
A pendant.
I said anything, didn't I?
What are we gonna do? Sit around
all day and just name objects?
I gotta go. I gotta go.
Yeah. Thank you, thank you.
Wait, that's it?
How about a "Nice pictures,
man. Thanks for the info"?
Oh, yeah. Amazing
painting, yeah. Thank you.
I'll make sure my father know
that you help a lot. Thank you.
Who is your father?
The Monkey King. Sun Wukong.
Okay, "determining
your base metabolism."
"First, place two fingers on your wrist
and count the beats for six seconds.
Then multiply this by ten to
calculate your resting heart rate."
Okay.
- You ready?
- Yeah.
And go.
And stop.
All right, that would be
60 for me. What did you get?
I think I might have done it wrong.
Why? What did you get?
Like a hundred and something.
Yeah, I should probably do it again.
Maybe my parents stressed you out.
- They stressed me out.
- Your parents are great.
I feel like your dad
wanted to give me a hug.
Oh, he definitely did.
Well, I'm glad he didn't
'cause I ate a lot of cheese.
Um. Sorry, I gotta take this.
- Yeah. Go. Mm-hmm. -
I'm gonna be right back.
Hey, Meels, could you come
help me with the scanner?
It's making that beeping noise.
- Hello?
- Jin, hi. I have some good news.
Dude, I'm kind of in the
middle of something right now.
Oh, okay. I just want
you to know that
Just text it to me, like
a normal person, okay? Bye.
Oh, okay. Bye.
Mmm?
Jin says he'll be back soon.
That's okay. You can
wait here until then.
Here. Try it.
Thank you.
Hmm?
Mmm.
It's good.
I'll give you some to take home. Hmm?
Thank you.
Cool label.
You like my tea,
and you like my pendant.
Can I look at the pendant again?
Yes, let me go get it.
This orange jade is a family
heirloom on Jin's father's side.
This one is from my family's side.
- Oh.
- Look, look.
Mmm.
- Oh, you're back!
- Yeah. Hi.
Hello!
This is Wei-Chen, Jin's friend.
It's been a long time
since you brought that out.
I was just admiring it.
- Mmm.
- Mmm.
- These two jade necklaces are a pair.
- Mmm.
They have been in the
family for many generations.
Each side of our family
had conflicts before.
We lived in different places.
When we got married,
we hired someone to
encase these together.
Like this.
This represents us being one family.
You look nice.
Very nice.
Any news at the office?
Not yet. Um, okay.
Enjoy your Bible study, huh?
- Oh. Goodbye.
- Yeah.
Beyond repair ♪
Beyond repair ♪
Freddy? You home?
I'm here to return your
"Number One Spicy Hot Sauce."
It gave me the number twos.
Over here, Danny.
- Where?
- Here.
- Where are you?
- I'm right here.
Freddy, what are you doing in the wall?
I'm trying to get my beauty sleep.
You know this bed goes down, right?
Of course.
How else do you think I
get in and out every night?
Seems dangerous to sleep like that.
Why? What could go Wong?
Good night.
Oh, hi, Jin.
Oh, sorry. Holden always forgets
to turn the TV off
when he's done with it.
Oh, yeah. No worries.
You know what we should
watch? Amelia's play.
I think it's recorded on here somewhere.
- No, we really don't need to watch
- Oh, come You're so good in it, Meels.
- She is so talented.
- Mom!
I am not just saying that.
Uh, we should really go study actually.
Jin, would you like to watch this?
- Uh, yeah. Sure. Why not?
- Okay.
Oh, actually, you know what?
Um, I should probably go study.
Well, she might have been in the
chorus, but she deserved to be a lead.
Yeah.
Okay. I'll see you later, Margie Ann.
And it's recorded. So, any time.
The Lord asks for truth.
So here's the truth.
Your pastries were stale.
No, they were fresh.
They were definitely not fresh.
I just bought them!
Okay, let's focus.
Ephesians 4:15. "Speaking
the truth in love."
We're telling her the truth.
Her pastries were bad.
Oh, please.
I have something to say!
I wish my son was more like Wei-Chen.
- He's polite. And so handsome!
- Mmm.
I agree! So handsome!
Yeah, very true.
Who could that be?
Oh.
Maybe that's Jin.
Oh.
May I help you?
Good afternoon, excuse
me for bothering you.
Wei-Chen!
I've been looking for you.
I'm really sorry about that.
Uh No, don't worry about it.
Wait, uh Why are you sorry?
My mom. She can be annoying.
Oh, no, I I mean I thought
she was, like, really nice, actually.
Mmm. That's her superpower.
But she uses it for evil.
Is that you?
Yes.
Yeah.
So you're mad at your mom for,
um, like, saying too many nice things?
She thinks she's being positive
but she's really just being fake.
Yeah.
Yeah, my parents don't
really have that problem.
Like this morning, my mom told me
my earlobes were the wrong shape.
Honestly, I wish she'd just
say something harsh to me
every once in a while,
instead of just sugarcoating everything.
Yeah, I get that.
Like, here, say something
about my zit. I know you see it.
- What?
- My zit. Just say something but be honest.
I think your zit's perfect.
You are really terrible
at this, you know that?
You're supposed to say it looks
like a Hot Tamale or something.
- A Hot Tamale?
- Mm-hmm.
I should say your zit
looks like a Hot Tamale?
It doesn't look like a Hot Tamale.
Jin, sweetie. Would you
like to join us for fajitas?
- Yeah, love to.
- Yes, okay.
I should probably call my mom
- to let her know that I'm gonna stay.
- Yeah, go for it.
Hello?
Hey, Mom. Uh, yeah, I'm still
at the, uh, school thing.
I was just wondering if
maybe I could stay for dinner?
Your friend Wei-Chen came by.
- What?
- Yeah, yeah. And his uncle.
His uncle? Wait. Mom,
Wei-Chen doesn't have an uncle.
Yeah, he invited everyone out
for dinner at his restaurant.
Come meet us. I I'll
send you the address.
- They are very nice people, Jin.
- Wait Mom, who is this guy?
Don't be rude, okay?
Hello?
- Welcome.
- Yeah, I'm here for dinner.
- Go on in.
- Thanks.
I hear music, but I don't hear singing.
You're wasting the
best part of the song.
Are you okay?
Hey, hey. Hey.
Come sing, Mrs. Liu, it's your turn.
Jin, Jin.
- Hi.
- My sweet, handsome son, Jin.
- Mom, are you drunk?
- No, no. I'm not drunk.
I shared a beer with Mrs. Fan.
I shared a beer with myself.
Have you met Wei-Chen's uncle?
Mr. Gong. Mr. Gong.
This is my son. My handsome son, Jin.
- Hello, Jin.
- Huh?
Hi, yeah, we've met.
- Really? I don't think so.
- Yep. Over there.
- I never go over there.
- Okay.
Welcome to my restaurant.
Have something to eat.
Mmm. This song's so
good, I'm gonna sing it.
- Yeah!
- No, wait, Mom
Hey, loosen up, buddy.
- I need to explain.
- Okay.
Just Follow me.
Okay, so, uh, please explain.
Why did you bring everyone here?
Me? No, it's Ji Gong's idea.
The drunk busboy dude? That's Ji Gong?
Yeah, he say it's just a disguise,
but I think he's really drunk.
Okay, great.
Uh, he told me all
about the Fourth Scroll.
And I came to tell you,
but you weren't home.
- And he must have followed me.
- Right, that's the other thing.
Why would you go to my
house without telling me?
I tried, but you said
you were doing biology.
Ice-cold beer!
Who wants one?
Dad's here?
Yeah.
Let the couple sing!
Oh
- Repeat.
- Repeat what?
- Repeat "So good."
- I can't hear you.
Jin, listen to me. The Fourth Scroll.
I think it's here, and it has
something to do with your parents.
Sorry, what?
I think it might be
your mom's jade pendant.
You keep missing your cue!
My wife. She's always
so pushy!
If I don't push him, he doesn't move!
Of course I know how to move.
So you showed up at my house
and demanded to see my parents' jewelry?
I saw warring factions
in Ji Gong's painting.
Always fighting. Just like your parents.
That's your logic? You've
gotta be kidding me, right?
No, I'm serious.
They say their families
were at war for generations.
Ji Gong has searched
for the scroll for years.
- And he agrees, this might be it.
- Mmm. Okay, yeah. Great.
What Uh, Chinese Jack Sparrow
over there told you about it.
Definitely. He seems like a
reliable source of information.
I pushed him to ask for a promotion
and now he's going to get it!
I didn't get it.
What?
I didn't get the promotion.
Pat got the job.
Where is the ice?
Ice.
Christine.
Why are you mad?
Why aren't you mad?
Pat hasn't even been there one year.
I thought about it.
I'm just going to quit.
You want to quit?
How can you not discuss this with me?
How are we going to live?
We have savings.
Not enough for you to quit.
We only need enough for a few months.
Listen to me. There's
not enough in there.
Are you kidding me?
You must be drunk.
Where did our savings go?
I needed to purchase inventory.
For the green powder.
How much?
It was an investment!
How much?
Half.
I'm going home.
Okay, I'll see you later.
Some people can't hold
their karaoke, am I right?
All right. Next song.
I'm I'm sorry. This looks bad.
But this is necessary
to stop the uprising.
singing, ladies.
If the pendant contains the power
The pendant.
Wei-Chen.
Ji Gong!
Wei-Chen!
Ji Gong!
Oh, hey.
So that's your plan?
Distract everyone so you can
steal the pendant for yourself?
Yeah.
Wasn't that your plan too?
You don't understand.
The Jade Emperor and
my father need this.
You may not know this,
but a long time ago,
your father stole my job.
That's right.
I was supposed to be Great Sage!
I don't believe you.
I don't care if you believe me.
Because this right here,
this is my ticket home.
Thanks for the tip.
Oh, hey. Jin.
Hey!
I'm fine. I'm fine.
- We should do this more often.
- Mmm.
- Jin.
- Where've you been?
Abracadabra.
Did you steal my mom's pendant?
Uh, what? No.
Well, yes, uh, but I
stole it back from Ji Gong.
Okay, give it to me.
What?
No. I need this.
- Wei-Chen, give it to me.
- Hey!
This is important to me.
It's important to you? It's
important to my parents.
They just got into a
huge fight because of you.
I don't care who you are. I don't
care what's going on in Heaven.
You can't just come into our house
and take our things
and lie to their face.
I lied?
No, you lied.
You don't wanna be my guide. You
don't even wanna be my friend.
Wei-Chen, that's not what this is about.
That doesn't belong to you.
- Give it back.
- Hey!
- Jin, I I'm sorry. Are you okay?
- Stop!
Not what you were looking for?
Well, Mrs. Guardia, I'm sorry
to say, your fridge is broken.
I'll try to find you a replacement ASAP.
Thanks for trying, Jamie.
The fridge's been here
since I bought the place.
I'm surprised it's lasted this long.
Oh.
Here.
Before it goes bad.
Papas con chorizo. Your favorite.
Only when you make it. Thank you.
Oh, before I forget.
Here. I teach a Shakespeare
class at the junior college.
Next week, we're having
a student showcase.
Will you be performing?
No. No, I'm just behind the scenes.
Well, it's not for everyone.
Now, I have to get back to my show.
Sure thing, Mrs. Guardia.
- Have a nice day.
- Bye.
But this is so crazy. This you?
What could go Wong?