JENTRY CHAU VS. THE UNDERWORLD Season Finale Recap: (S01E13) Lock-In

A The Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld season finale is simply titled “Lock-In.” There’s nothing ambiguous about it. The last episode takes place in the Riverfork High school gym where Jentry’s (Ali Wong) friends have organized a lock-in fundraiser where everyone is literally locked in under morning.

Of course, Jentry can open portals to wherever she likes. And what they don’t know is that her mom, Moonie (Lucy Liu), is now possessed by the Mogui (Kenton Chen), having been coerced into signing a contract to steal Jentry’s powers for him. Moonie’s helping out as a parent chaperone. What could possibly go wrong?

Close up on Moonie in her Mogui form, a purple demon with five diamond shaped eye and a wide mouth of hexagonal teeth. Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld 113 — Image Credit: Courtesy of Netflix

Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld, “Lock-In”

While the kids are participating in karaoke and other activities in the school and Jentry considers sharing the plan to move back to Seoul with Stella (Cristina Milizia), Moonie sneaks outside and changes into her Mogui form. She summons Diyu demons and instructs them to make sure that Jentry doesn’t have the home advantage this time.

At home, Gugu (Lori Tan Chinn) gets up and finds the house ghosts in the kitchen. They all want to help but don’t know how. She’s starting to fade as she makes her way to Ox Head’s trident, still planted in the living room floor. Iris (Crystal J. Huang) floats by and looks over.

At the lock-in, Michael (AJ Beckles) and Alison (Stephanie Sheh) sing a duet. Stella shouts over the music to ask Jentry what she’d been saying about her mom. Jentry has to shout back to be heard but the music gets unplugged by accident and she announces that she’s moving to Korea to the whole room.

Gugu On the Move

As Gugu struggles to use her telekinesis on the trident, Iris arrives with a ceremonial sash she and Gugu stole back from a British occupier in Hong Kong in the 80s. Iris wraps it around Gugu’s wound. It gives her the support she needs to fly off with the trident.

At the school, the Diyu demons are forming a spell around the building. Inside, Michael finds Jentry in the music room where the jumbo games were stored. He asks about the move to Korea. They start arguing over their relationship and Michael reveals that he’s seen a future where they’re fighting demons together. This surprises Jentry. He says it gives him hope but he’s resigned to her leaving now. When he tries to leave, she grabs him and kisses him.

Jentry kisses a surprised-looking Michael. Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld 113 — Image Credit: Courtesy of Netflix

Outside, Gugu flies towards the school but is too late. The demons complete their spell around the building and teleport it to the Diyu. Moonie walks into the music room to find Jentry and Michael examining instruments. She asks Jentry to step out with her for a minute. After they leave, Michael sits down and calls up a vision.

Mog-Moonie

Moonie takes Jentry to Wheeler’s (Sean Allan Krill) panic room/office. She tells Jentry that she doesn’t think they can have a fresh start while Jentry still has the Yellow Emperor’s powers. Pulling out the transference cups and a scrap of the robes, she urges Jentry to transfer the powers to the scrap. Jentry reminds Moonie how dangerous it was the last time she transferred the powers to an item that the Mogui could steal. She refuses and tries to leave. Moonie activates the panic room’s security.

Moonie tries to convince Jentry that keeping the powers is what Gugu wants so she can control Jentry. Jentry doesn’t believe that anymore, tells her so, and opens a portal to return to the lock-in. The portal kicks her back into the room. Moonie transforms into her Mogui form. The Mog-Moonie grabs Jentry by the neck and lifts her into the air. It tells Jentry it’ll only release Moonie when Jentry’s given up her powers.

Michael runs into the hallway, calling Jentry’s name. He sees the Mog-Moonie with Jentry in the panic room on a security feed. Students start screaming and running as Diyu demons overrun the school. Michael grabs a fire extinguisher and fights back.

The Battle Begins

In the panic room, Jentry activates her powers. The Mog-Moonie acknowledges she could beat it again but feels certain she won’t want to harm Moonie.

In the gymnasium, demons attack the lock-in participants. Ed shapeshifts and fights back. Stella backs him up with a shrinking talisman. They can see the demons chanting the spell outside the building.

Jentry smashes the transference cups, refusing to give her powers to the Mog-Moonie. It reminds her it can still take the powers by ripping out her soul. Wheeler suddenly enters the panic room, begging Jentry to keep him safe. The Mog-Moonie grabs him. Jentry throws fire chains around the demon-mom and flings them across the room.

Outside the school, Ed and Stella creep up on the chanting demons. Stella uses her talisman scripts to incapacitate three of the four. The fourth one proves more challenging. It captures both Stella and Ed. And then suddenly, it’s sliced in half. Gugu’s arrived and Ox Head’s trident is deadly to demons.

The Mog-Moonie throws Jentry up against a locker. Michael hits it in the head with the fire extinguisher. Jentry yells at him to get to safety. The Mog-Moonie pursues him into the gymnasium. Using a tackle-pad, Michael pins the Mog-Moonie to the ground and tells Jentry to pull her mom out while he’s got it down. Jentry gets her chains around her mother but the Mogui breaks the chains and reabsorbs Moonie.

Portals Party

Jentry catches sight of the Mogui amidst its carnage and launches another attack. Michael joins in. While they’re fighting it, Gugu ends the last of the spell demons and the school returns to Riverfork. Because they are no longer in the Diyu, Jentry’s able to open portals again. The students band together and force the demons through the portals.

Jentry opens a large portal to the outside and tells Michael to get the students to safety. Once everyone’s through, Michael turns around to see the Mog-Moonie battling Jentry. He tries to get back to help but the portal closes just as Jentry is stabbed through the gut. The Mog-Moonie begins to draw her soul out of her body but Gugu’s sash flies in and breaks the hold it has on her. The sash winds around the Mog-Moonie and cocoons it.

The Mog-Moonie lies wrapped in Gugu's sash. — Image Credit: Courtesy of Netflix

Ed and Stella rush to Jentry. When Jentry sees Gugu, Gugu tries to convince her she’s fine. The Mog-Moonie calls her bluff and Gugu aims the trident at it. When it taunts her with the fact she can’t kill it without killing Moonie, it questions whether that’s what she wanted all along so she could keep Jentry. Gugu refutes that and flows into the demon where she frees Moonie’s consciousness from the Mogui‘s influence.

In the gym, the kids watch as a Gugu-possessed Moonie breaks free from the Mogui. The demon tries to slither away but Gugu pins it with the trident. Gugu wraps the sash around Jentry’s wound. She exits Moonie’s body. Moonie apologizes and hugs Jentry.

Goodbyes

Gugu notices the Mogui‘s escaped the trident. It tries to return to the Diyu through a portal but Jentry snares it with her chains and drags it back to the gym where she incinerates it.

Gugu’s lying on the ground now, fading quickly. Jentry tries to unwrap the sash to use it on her but she tells her not to try. She says her goodbyes. Jentry’s weeping and Gugu tries to comfort her by saying ghosts are just memories of a person. That gives Jentry an idea. She asks for Moonie’s shèn pearls. Gugu’s surprised Jentry wants her memories but gives them to the shèn pearls willingly. And then she fades away completely, leaving Jentry heartbroken.

Three Weeks Later

Using a portal between Riverfork and Seoul, Jentry, Moonie, and Ed begin moving into their new apartment. Her friends from both cities help with the move. Michael calls her back to Gugu’s house to ask if she wanted Gugu’s portrait moved as well. She says it can stay because she’ll be back and forth all the time.

Ed inserts himself between Michael and Jentry. — Image Credit: Courtesy of Netflix

Holding the shèn pearls, Jentry takes a moment to relive some of Gugu’s favorite memories of Jentry growing up. Jentry weeps over the pearls and they take on a different glow. The glow flies off and forms an image of Gugu placing a package in a nearby drawer. Jentry opens the drawer and finds a package containing a new locket. She puts it on and goes upstairs to pack some of the books in Gugu’s study.

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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