JENTRY CHAU VS. THE UNDERWORLD Episode 5 Recap

Things get even more complicated on Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld Season 1 Episode 5, “Some Gui My Prince Will Come,” where we get a look into dreamboat Kit’s (Woosung) life as a Painted Skin demon sent by Mr. Cheng (Greg Chun) to ambush Jentry (Ali Wong).

A 7 am alarm goes off for both best guy bud Michael (AJ Beckles) and otherworldly Kit. While Michael showers and gets dressed, Kit showers and puts on a human skin. Otherwise, they prepare for school in parallel routines, including receiving a text from Jentry. Ready for the day, they head out their respective doors.

Michael and Jentry lean against each other in comfortable happiness. Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld 105 — Credit: Courtesy of Netflix

Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld, “Some Gui My Prince Will Come”

Michael sits down at the breakfast table that is loaded down with food. He tells his parents he won’t be going to football practice that day because he wants to go to the band tryouts. He explains that as much as he likes football, he loves the band. His parents ask him to put off the band dream for a year. There’s a University of Texas scout coming to football practice that day. When Michael hears that, he reconsiders. His parents are ecstatic.

Over at Kit’s house, two human-looking demons go through the motions of a typical morning. His “Host Mother” (Stephanie Sheh) serves him a plate of rats. Kit’s eyes glow briefly as he monitors the rats’ heartbeats. He quickly absorbs their qi and then takes a plate of waffles and blackened bacon to eat. The Host Mother scolds him that waffles have no qi. He reminds her that he needs to practice eating like a normal person. The Parents scoff at the idea of being normal.

Their eyes glow, and they speak in unison with Mr. Cheng’s voice, reminding him that he cannot be normal while Jentry Chau is alive. Cheng checks in on Kit, who reports that Jentry has lowered her guard around him. He plans to drain her qi and kill her soon. Cheng demands that he do it today. Kit asks for more time. Cheng wonders if he’s enjoying his masquerade too much, pointing out he’s doing this for a soul. Cheng needs Jentry’s powers to grant Kit a soul.

Kit sits with his back to the camera, facing two demons in human form. A deep pink light shines above them. Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld 105 — Credit: Courtesy of Netflix

Hook ’em, Horns!

Stella (Cristina Milizia) greets Michael at school with the news of the University of Texas scout coming to see him. When Michael tries to broach the idea he might not want to pursue football, Stella misreads the situation and assures him that she’ll come to UT as well for the pre-law program. She heads to class at the bell, leaving him with a kiss and a bag of homemade queso-flavored protein bars.

Kit finds Jentry and Ed (Bowen Yang) facing off with a gui at the back of the school. Ed isn’t able to overpower it and it heads into the school. Jentry tries to explain but Kit lets her off the hook, saying he gets why creepy demons are drawn to her. It’s flirty and Jentry blushes. Sitting down together, they bond over honey butter chips and the comeback of the NCT 127 boy band.

Kit manages to get close enough to lean in for a kiss and starts to drain Jentry’s qi, but Ed’s screaming draws her attention. She rushes off to help, and Kit sighs in frustration.

Who You Choose To Be

Michael enters the darkened music room for band tryouts. The gui sits at the piano, playing a single note over and over. Ed flies in to the rescue, screaming at Michael to film him in action. Jentry arrives, but Ed insists that he’s got things handled just before losing his grip on a tuba, which breaks the window and falls out. The gui escapes out the broken window. Jentry explains the gui is a nugui (Stephanie Sheh), a demon that was ignored when alive.

Michael tells her about the UT scout and how he might miss the tryouts because he needs to be at football practice. Jentry sympathizes with his conflict but reminds him he can choose his own path even if it isn’t in line with his parents’ or Stella’s plans. They share a tender moment before the bell rings.

No one wants to be Jentry’s lab partner until Kit comes over and offers to be her partner. She’s not too keen on dissecting the frog on the tray. As he does the dissection, they discuss the nature of souls. Jentry argues a soul is who you choose to be, whether you’re human or not.

Jentry turns a bit green as Kit removes the frog’s organs. They leave the room for some air and come across the nugui in the hall. Ed shows up and leads the nugui away, reminding Jentry to “Keep up the normal!”

Kit and Jentry get close to kissing again but Jentry stops it as she still feels like puking. She invites him to study with her in the library after school where they can write up the dissection lab report. Before returning to the class, she tells Kit she likes who he chooses to be.

Michael’s Choice

After school, Michael grabs his flute case and decides to go to band tryouts. However, when he steps into the music room, he falls through dimensions. Suddenly, he’s dressed in his football gear, swimming through a liquid environment, and watching through a partition as Jentry runs through a state fair with a bacon-wrapped corndog in her hand, wearing a cowboy hat. He can’t reach her. There’s a light high up on his side of the partition and he swims towards it.

He falls onto the ground of a library bathed in eerie light. Still in his football gear, he explores and sees Jentry kissing Kit. He runs the other way and his surroundings change again to a dusty and dark space. Stella’s in the distance. She turns towards him and he sees a creature behind her about to attack. He’s stuck to the ground and can’t move to help.

Michael wakes up in class where they’re watching a film on the ocean. Chet (Jonathan Melo) teases him that he’s missing out by sleeping through the lesson.

In the cafeteria, Ed and the nugui are communicating using alphabet cereal. So far, she’s told him she used to be a music teacher. Michael comes in and finds Kit at the lunch counter. The lunch lady (Cristina Milizia) gives Michael spaghetti and meatballs because that’s what he’s always ordered on practice days. When Michaels asks for Frito pie instead, she flips out at him for changing the order. Kit is indecisive and she gives him Frito pie, saying, “If you don’t choose, someone chooses for you.”

Both boys realize Jentry’s words about being who you choose to be ring true at that moment. They leave without taking lunches.

Music of the Soul

Michael texts Stella to meet him in the music room. He tells her he isn’t going to practice because he wants to try out for band. He begs her to listen to him play. She sits. He’s not good but she applauds and encourages him to pursue it in the off-season. He tells her he wants it to be off-season all the time. She’s shocked because she thought they were on the same page about their future plans. He explains he never made those plans. He just went along but now he’s choosing his own. When he suggests they might need to take a break, she dumps her five-year plan notebook in the trash and leaves.

In the library, Kit watches Jentry wait for him from a distance, through a bookshelf. He can see her qi beating through her. He composes several texts to her explaining why he can’t meet her today but keeps rewriting them. She finds him before he can send one.

Michael leaves the music room and texts Jentry that Stella broke up with him. Meanwhile, Kit’s trying to explain that he likes Jentry more than he expected to when he came to Riverfork. She takes that as a compliment. He tries to tell her that he’s not someone she should hang around. Michael walks into the library. Jentry encourages Kit to share his real self with her. She trusts him. As Michael approaches the alcove they’re sitting in, Jentry kisses Kit.

Choices

Michael sees the kiss and quickly hides out of sight. He leaves before they see him. Kit starts to drain Jentry’s qi and pushes her away, saying he can’t do this. She interprets this to mean he’s afraid she’ll burn him again if they become romantic. Crying, she tells him she understands and rushes off.

As Michael walks out of the school, he hears a beautiful flute melody. Inside the music room, Ed’s watching the nugui play the flute. A crowd has gathered outside the door in appreciation. Michael crumples up the band tryout flyer and leaves. He joins his team on the field for practice. His coach (Amuche Chuckudebelu) points out he’s late. Michael promises it’ll never happen again.

Painted Skin

Kit returns home and confronts the Host Parents. He tells Mr. Cheng through them that he refuses to harm Jentry because she’s the one person who sees the good in him. Mr. Cheng responds that Kit will change his mind eventually.

On the field, Michael finds himself without his gear, facing a giant portal in the ground. A demonic hand reaches out of the portal and descends on him. Michael wakes up screaming in his bed, glowing markings on his face. He tells himself it’s just a dream.

Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld is streaming now on Netflix.

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Diana Keng

Diana lives in Vancouver, BC, Canada, where she invests her time and energy in teaching, writing, parenting, and indulging her love of all Trek and a myriad of other fandoms. She is a lifelong fan of smart sci-fi and fantasy media, an upstanding citizen of the United Federation of Planets, and a supporter of AFC Richmond 'til she dies. Her guilty pleasures include female-led procedurals, old-school sitcoms, and Bluey. She teaches, knits, and dreams big. You can also find her writing at The Televixen, Women at Warp, TV Fanatic, and TV Goodness.

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