The theme of Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld is clearly that everyone should be allowed to choose their own path. On “A Night With the Stars,” Cheng (Greg Chun) achieves his greatest desire — to be reunited with his deceased daughter, Xiao Lan (Eleanor Lin). But he’s never stopped to consider what was best for Xiao Lan. He soon learns the perils of that mistake.
RELATED: Catch up with our recap of the previous Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld, “Everyone Wins”
The episode begins far in the past, shortly after Mr. Cheng’s daughter, Xiao Lan, died. He’s desperate to find a way to resurrect her, begging a snake woman herbalist to help him. As a last resort, she directs him to don a demon mask and strike a deal with a Mogui (Kenton Chen). Taking the hand of the Mogui seals his fate.
Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld, “A Night With the Stars”
In the present day, Xiao Lan awakens, her eyes glowing green with the light of the Great Beyond. Mr. Cheng greets her and returns one of her hair clips. She complains of feeling cold. He drapes the Yellow Emperor’s robes over her. She tells him that she shouldn’t be in the world of the living. He insists that she never should’ve died.
When he tries to take the robes back, she gets upset and the robes have given her the powers. She blasts Cheng back. Raising her eyes to the heavens, she demands to go back to the Great Beyond. A portal begins to open, but Cheng grabs the robes and disrupts the summoning. Xiao Lan screams in frustration and causes an explosion that knocks Kit (Woosung) flying. He lands on a car, his skin suit damaged.
RELATED: New Squid Game Season 2 Poster Makes Bold Statement: The Game Will Not Stop
Xiao Lan opens another portal in the road nearby. Two cars fall in, but when she looks through it, she says it’s not home and moves on, leaving the portal open. Several demons climb out.
The Demon Girl of Riverfork
At the football field, Jentry’s (Ali Wong) crying as Wheeler (Sean Allan Krill) accuses her of bringing destruction to the town, and the crowd chants angrily. Michael (AJ Beckles) runs out of the locker room and sees Xiao Lan flying towards the field.
She opens a huge portal, and a giant skeleton demon emerges. Michael shouts at the audience to get out, and they run to leave. Wheeler’s in a panic now and begs Jentry to save them. Stella (Cristina Milizia) and Michael run to Jentry. She points out that Xiao Lan was wearing the robes, which means something happened to Gugu (Lori Tan Chinn) if someone was able to steal them.
She starts to head out, but Michael grabs her hand. He and Stella are coming with her. They crawl through bushes and climb fences to get back to Gugu’s house in order to avoid all the demons in town. Xiao Lan is opening portals to every underworld, trying to get home.
RELATED: TV Review: Arcane Season 2 Act 1
Outside Gugu’s, Kit paces. Michael and Stella attack him but let him go when he says he’s there to help. Jentry figures out that he stole the robes and gave them to Cheng. He says he only did it so he could be human. That way, Jentry could love him back. Jentry opens the door and tells him to be gone when she returns, or she’ll treat him like any other demon that gets in her way.
Jentry takes Michael and Stella to Gugu’s study and arms them with the weapons there. Michael picks up a sword and flashes back to the vision where Jentry falls down dead. He drops the sword and finds a pike instead.
Zhongkui Helps Out
In the Zhong, Zhongkui (Sheng Wang) feeds the beast bast of Bixi. A portal opens in the sky, and Xiao Lan sticks her head in, sighs in frustration, and leaves. Zhongkui sticks his head out and sees all the demons roaming Riverfork.
He finds Gugu in her cell, about to blow open the back wall with an explosion spell. He drags her out and points at the portal in the sky. If Gugu can tell him how to fix it, she can have her freedom. She tells him they’re going to need help.
RELATED: TV Review: Arcane Season 2 Act 2
Zhongkui releases Ed (Bowen Yang) and the house ghosts from their barnacle shells. As they hug her, Gugu sees the barnacle cone that contains Iris (Crystal J. Huang). She promises her she’ll come back and free her.
Buffy and the Scooby Gang, They Are Not
Armed with magic scripts and Chinese weapons, Jentry, Stella, and Michael rush out of the house to fight the demons. It does not go well. Stella runs off chasing a demon, trying to attach a script to them. Michael gets dragged by a tentacled flying demon and then crashes into Jentry, breaking her arm.
Just when things are looking really bad, Ed arrives with invisible backup. The ghosts possess the demons. Gugu (in the body of a gigantic spider demon) reconciles with Jentry. Zhongkui arrives just as Cheng flies by, chasing Xiao Lan.
Cheng tries to restrain Xiao Lan, but her powers overwhelm him each time. A massive blast throws him into a gazebo where Gugu, Jentry and their squad find him. Jentry tells him she can talk Xiao Lan down but needs to know he won’t interfere. He agrees.
RELATED: Lady Gaga Is Dancing Into Wednesday Season 2 on Netflix
Climbing to the top of a water tower, Jentry talks to Xiao Lan. After dodging a few fireballs, she starts to get through to the little girl. She promises to help Xiao Lan get home. Xiao Lan takes her hand and lands on the platform. Once the robes fall from her shoulders, all the portals she opened around town close.
Sacrifice
Cheng appears behind Xiao Lan, congratulates Jentry and then throws her from the tower. Gugu catches her and goes after Cheng before he can assume the powers of the Yellow Emperor’s robes again. A scramble ensues with Ed and house ghosts in their demon hosts playing keep-away with the robes. Jentry gets the robes on and confronts Cheng. Cheng runs her through. Michael sees his vision come true.
Cheng approaches, pushing Michael aside. He reaches down to take the robes but picks up a Jentry skin suit instead, revealing he killed Kit.
The real Jentry, wearing the real robes, flies in and blasts Cheng. She rushes to Kit. With his final breath, he admits that everything he did was for himself, but this was for her.
RELATED: Don’t Move Spoiler Review
Jentry takes a step back and manifests the robes’ powers with her own twist. She battles Cheng as payback for losing her mother and father as well as for the years she’s suffered. Chaining the Mogui, she reaches in and pulls out Mr. Cheng, the man, separating him from the demon who has fed on his obsession all these centuries.
The Mogui, now just a tiny black imp of a thing, tries to escape, but Stella jumps up and nails it with a script, petrifying it. Zhongkui steps out of a portal with Xiao Lan. She runs to her father. He promises that he will endure every trial in Diyu so that he can be reunited with her in the Great Beyond.
Going Home
With everyone gathered together, Jentry kneels with Xiao Lan and draws her soul out. Gugu opens a portal to the Great Beyond, and Jentry releases Xiao Lan’s soul. As she departs, Xiao Lan thanks them for their help.
The house ghosts cover Cheng and Xiao Lan’s bodies and take them for burial. Jentry looks over to Kit’s body, left on the ground. She asks for a moment with him.
RELATED: Read our recaps of Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld
Alone with Kit’s body, she admits she was wrong about him and hopes his soul finds a place to be at peace. From behind her, a voice sympathizes. The Mogui tells her it knows where her mother is. If she lets it live, he’ll help her find Moonie (Lucy Liu), who has been wandering without her memories for years.
Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld is streaming now on Netflix.
- SEVERANCE Season Premiere Recap: (S02E01) Hello, Ms. Cobel - January 17, 2025
- TV Review: SEVERANCE Season 2 - January 13, 2025
- Jack Meets His Match in REACHER Season 3 Official Trailer - January 8, 2025
