Created by Brad Falchuk and Byron Wu, “The Brothers Sun” features a terrific premise, an excellent cast, a funny first-rate pilot episode, and a ton of intriguing promise filled with a good mix of drama, action, and a twisted sense of humor An Asian American crime drama dramedy about family, “The Brothers Sun” centers on the Sun family, built on lies, broken up by duty, and protecting their legacy; the series anchors itself around Michelle Yeoh, who plays the matriarch Mama Sun, a big-name and Oscar-winner, obviously, but not necessarily the lead or heart of the series.
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“The Brothers Sun” stars out in Taiwan, where the head of an infamous Taiwanese triad crime family, Big Sun (Johnny Kou), is shot by a mysterious assassin. But before that, the gang of thugs sought out his eldest son, Charles “Chairleg” Sun (Justin Chien, handsome, charismatic, solid, poised for bigger and better things), a legendary killer in his own right who quickly dispenses the brutes that came after him. But it soon becomes evident when his father is shot in a surprise attack; the target was never Charles, instead using his father’s concern to flush him out of hiding out into the open.
With Dad in a coma, the Sun Triad empire is in doubt and on the ropes; Taipei’s deadliest societies and a new rising gang try to seize the moment of perceived vulnerability. Big Sun’s wise lieutenant (Zhan Wang) urges Charles to go to Los Angeles to reunite with Mama Sun (Yeoh) and get further instructions on how to proceed with their current dilemma. The rub really is the Sun family has been divided, on purpose, for decades as a protective strategic maneuver. So much so that Charles’ naive younger brother, Bruce (newcomer Sam Song Li), knows nothing about his brother, his family origin, or Triad family roots. Bruce is a studious, nerdy pre-med kid, and all Charles has ever known is violence and protecting the family empire.
What ensues is a huge cultural clash, a shock to the system, and an identity awakening when Bruce— who has been sheltered from the truth all his life—discovers his real roots, who his mother really is, that he has a brother and that his father is a legendary gang boss. Meanwhile, Charles has to acclimate to America, his still-pragmatic mother, whom he hasn’t seen in years, and a brother that he’s shocked to discover is essentially useless regarding their Triad legacy.
While Bruce tries to make sense of these whirlwind discoveries, and Charles and his mother try and move past what are now grand lies and freshly open wounds, the trio must navigate staying alive amongst all these newfound questions of identity. Because whatever mysterious organization planned the hit on their father—and they believe it’s the Sleepy Chan crime dynasty, but they’re also not 100% sure—they’ve also sent dozens of assassins to Los Angeles to kill them all.
Thus, “The Brother Sun” is almost like a wild family screaming match done simultaneously with action balletics, Bruce asking, “wtf Is going on?” which Charles dodges knives, swords, and bullets and tries to keep his inexperienced and innocent brother alive. Yeoh, is amusingly ruthless and matter-of-fact about it all, unemotional, cuthroat and super practical about cleaning up bodies in their living room while Bruce practically faints in disbelief.
The recurring cast is excellent, too: Highdee Kuan as Alexis, Charles’ love interest, an assistant D.A. and former friend in Taiwan, Bruce’s bumbling Korean friend TK (Joon Lee), and two of the Sun Triad assassins from Taiwan sent to help out Mama Sun and company, Jon Xue Zhang as Blood Boots, and, Jenny Yang as Xing. Rodney To and Alice Hewkin also co-star, with Madison Hu, as Bruce’s college love interest, being a super charming standout.
Yeoh’s part isn’t as big as it should be, but Justin Chien feels like an American Asian star in the making, and perhaps a few years earlier, he would have made great casting for Marvel’s Shang-Chi. Likewise, as the green and guileless Bruce, with designs on an improv career his mother disapproves of, Sam Song Li is a pleasant new comedic discovery and an actor who perfectly understands the tone and his specific role in this series (comedic relief essentially, but also the POV of the audience).
But like many series these days, “The Brothers Sun” feels like it might have been better suited to a movie format or a nice and tight 4-5 episode mini-series. The family texture is good stuff: old wounds, new ones to reconcile, open cuts made while on the run, and an inquisitive dynamic about what it means to be a family, warts, knives, and all. The series’ soul is really Charles and Bruce as they try to reconnect and discover what brotherhood and family mean to one another, even though both are grappling with unfamiliar realities and coming from two polar opposite perspectives.
There’s a strong balance of drama, action, and comedy, too, never too serious, never too absurd, and some action sequences may go on for too long, but they at least employ drama and humor as narrative engines to drive each set-piece fight. In fact, every zany, well-choreographed action sequence is more or less another ongoing conversation, a deeper exploration into “wtf have you gotten me into?” “How did this happen?” and “Who are these murderous killers trying to massacre us?”
It’s light and breezy and self-aware, understanding that you can explore issues of broken family dynamics, insecurities, and unbreakable bonds, but if you’re going to use this kind of wild premise, you cannot overdo it.
So while “The Brothers Sun” is entertaining and pleasurable, it does quickly run out of steam after four or five episodes; the mystery of what gang family is truly behind all this is not all that interesting, and the tightening nooses roped around all the characters and making them feel the squeeze of plot complications starts to feel really repetitive. Structurally, it works; both Bruce and Charles have their arcs and their love interests—and in the case of Charles, Alexis, as an assistant DA, is treading very thin ice by trying to do her job and assist a wanted man. But at eight episodes in length, “The Brothers Sun” just quickly seems to eventually out of gas, seemingly engineered for this many episodes because an algorithm said so, rather than what the story can really justify. Still, the black comedy works well enough while introducing us to a ton of new Asian American faces that we’ll surely see much more of in the future.
Frankly, it should be one and done, but don’t be surprised if everyone returns for more. “The Brothers Sun” is mostly diverting, and for something that could ostensibly be over-silly (and at times, it is a bit too ridiculous, but that’s also the fun of it), it has more meaningful meat on the bone than you might expect. Furthermore, as a vehicle to highlight the talents of writer, exec-producer, and co-showrunner Byron Wu, who wrote the pilot, the most amount of episodes and seems to have gotten the gig based on writing one acclaimed short, “The Getaway,” ‘Sun’ is strong enough that it should force us all to sit up and pay attention to what comes next. Family is messy and complicated, and “The Brothers Sun” certainly isn’t reinventing any new wheels, but it’s still a reasonably amusing series to kick off the new year with. [B-]
