Daniel Dae Kim Still Kicks Ass and Looks Pretty Doing It - By Megan Dawn
Spoilers for Butterfly on Prime Episode 1 Incoming because it was impossible
to avoid them.
Daniel Dae Kim is a name that most people know. The man has been very busy since
appearing on the scene in 1992. He has done movies and television, and so many of
both. Personally, I have always been more of tv girl. Maybe because the stories and
characters always seem to be better fleshed out as we get more time with them.
But that’s not the point.
I know Kim from his appearances on Unsolved Mysteries, All My Children, Beverly Hills
90210, Star Trek: Voyager, Charmed, Angel, Star Trek: Enterprise, Without A Trace,
Hawaii Five-0, She-Ra, and Star Wars: Visions. And I have seen a few of his movies.
He’s even done theatre, because he is just that talented.
He has played just about every role you could ever imagine. And he has done it all so
well.
Butterfly is his latest tv role. And, from the perspective of a person who does not
experience attraction in the same sense as most people, let me just point out that Kim is
just as pretty, now, as his first day in the business. Even if his hair is shorter.
The synopsis given for the show, on IMDb, is ‘When consequences of a decision from
his past come back to haunt him, a former intelligence operative finds himself pursued
by a sociopathic agent assigned to kill him.’ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26672404/
I have only watched the first episode, but that seems to be a fair description.
The episode opens in Seoul, South Korea and a party in a fancy building where a group
is singing karaoke. Here we are treated to Kim singing The Killers’ Mr. Brightside. This
accomplishes two things. It shows us that Kim is still absolutely adorable, and it reminds
me that this song exists. Soon, he stumbles off the stage and into a hallway. Surprise!
He’s not drunk – he’s on a mission.
But we don’t get to see what that is, yet.
Cut to a pregnant woman walking through the same fancy building with a woman that
works in the building and discussing a baby shower. As they walk past another fancy
party, the employee conveniently drops the information that one man is BFF’s with
Putin. I’m thinking this pregnant woman is not really here to plan a baby shower.
We see her manage to charm her way into the party and switch out the cell phone of the
man in question. Just after the switch, this phone rings, the man answers it, goes into convulsions, and dies. Just another lesson in never leaving your cell phone unattended,
kids.
The pregnant lady makes a get away, fails, and we get a few pretty cool chase and fight
scenes. Also, the pregnant lady is not pregnant. She’s a hit woman. I know, I know – not
a surprise. However, her identity swaps while on the move are so impressive they make
Megan Fox’s Teenage Mutant Nija Turtles change look weak.
Getting back to Kim, he has managed to make his way to a room where the Hit Lady’s
accomplice was working. Another fight ensures, this time accompanied by disco lights
and ABBA’s Dancing Queen. I didn’t know I needed to see Daniel Dae Kim in this
situation, yet here we are. And it is glorious.
I find myself anticipating when Hit Lady and Kim’s character come face to face. But the
show decides to make us wait for that. There is one more section of this story that
needs set up before we put start putting all the pieces together.
We cut to a warehouse that is headquarters of something called Caddis. There is a man
tied to a chair – beaten and bloodied – and guarded by two soldier looking dudes. It’s
giving some serious American Assassin vibes.
But the figure that enters the room is not Michael Keaton or Dylan O’Brien. Nope, this is
Piper Perabo – all decked out in a nice white suit and black heels and a long way from
Coyote Ugly. This version of Piper seems to be working against America and hates
peace. She gets the info she wants from the bloodied guy and has the soldiers execute
him, despite promising the man that wouldn’t happen.
I know, not exactly a shocking move there. But this is a spy thriller, and these kinds of
double crosses have to be expected.
Fifteen minutes into the show and we finally learn one of the characters’ names. Piper
and her very British son (Louis Landau) let us know that Hit Lady’s name is Rebecca
(Reina Hardesty) and one of their best agents. Given the fight we witnessed earlier, I
have no trouble believing this information.
Piper’s son, Oliver, seems to be jealous of Rebecca. Which would be understandable.
Perabo’s character talks about Rebecca like she’s the second coming and treats Oliver
like dirt on her shoe. She’s definitely not winning Mother of the Year.
Cutting back to Kim, we find him strolling through the streets of Seoul. Whoever picked
the music for this scene did a great job because I was on the edge of my seat waiting
for someone or something to interrupt this casual stroll. No one did. But we do get an
interesting phone call between Kim and his wife.
Twenty-one minutes in and we finally learn that Kim’s character is named David. Turns
out David knows Rebecca and the whole point to his trip to Seoul is to find her. Mission
accomplished… sort of. He is now awkwardly explaining this to his wife. Judging by the
conversation, I am going to guess that Rebecca is Davd’s daughter – whom he hasn’t
seen in 9 YEARS!!
David’s wife is concerned that Caddis will discover him, which would mean death for
them all. She questions if he really believes that Rebecca can be saved. And I’m
thinking all the moms in this show are soulless creatures.
David tells her to go to their safe house, and he’ll meet her there in a day. He ends the
call with “She’s my daughter. I can’t leave her again.”
Okay, that guess wasn’t a stretch, but I’m still pretty proud of myself for getting it. And I
am finding myself more and more interested in learning the back story of this family.
David makes his way to a restaurant owned by his friend, Yong Shik. There is a fun,
friendly sarcastic banter that makes my own sarcastic little soul very happy before the
friends take their conversation to the roof of the restaurant. Yong Shik drops the bomb
that Caddis is actually David’s company and THAT is a twist I did not see coming. David
gets more and more intriguing.
Rebecca and her team track David to a remote building. They enter, stealthily, but it
doesn’t matter. David is better than they are and he’s ready. He’s hiding in the attic and
rigs an explosion that takes out the two men that were dumb enough to go up those
stairs. He escapes the cabin, though how he managed to get through that tiny window is
beyond me.
Rebecca catches up with him and, forty-one minutes in, we get that father/daughter face
off I predicted about 30 minutes ago.
‘You’re alive?’ are the first words Rebecca says when she sees David. And there’s one
piece of the puzzle of why it’s been 9 years since they’ve seen each other. Immediately,
she’s voicing all the questions the rest of us have been thinking.
David refuses to give her the answers, right then. I’m not going to lie; I don’t hate that
move. Finally a character that knows not to play their hand too soon, even if there is a
gun in their face.
David does make the mistake of believing that Rebecca is willing to trust that he’ll tell
her everything after they get away. She gets the upper hand and knocks him out. David,
sweetie, you abandoned her when she was 14 years old – it’s going to take more than
promises to earn her trust.
While David is out, Rebecca calls Piper’s character, who we now know is named Juno.
In an epic facepalm moment, Rebecca tells Juno everything – including that David is
alive and with her. Call me crazy but telling the lady that is now running your father’s
company – and who thought he was dead – that he is alive may not be the best move.
As Juno is talking to Rebecca, she is texting someone. And I am screaming at my tv
telling Rebecca not to trust Juno.
A minute later, back at the building, David comes to and resumes trying to convince
Rebecca to come with him. Rebecca’s partner comes in the room, gun aimed and
ready, and pointed right at David. Now we know who Juno was texting while she was
talking to Rebecca. Girl, I told you not to trust Juno.
Whether it’s instinct or an actual desire to hear her dad’s side of the story, Rebecca
shoots her own partner in the head. Finding his phone, she sees the text from Juno that
simply says ‘Kill Him’ and her decision is made.
The episode ends with Rebecca and David making their escape together.
While the episode was not flawless, it was intriguing enough to make me want to keep
watching. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Will Rebecca prove trustworthy? Or, as her mother feared, is she past saving? What
exactly happened between David and Caddis? How did Juno end up in charge? Will
poor Oliver grow a spine and stand up to her? Will we see Yong Shik again? These are
all answers I need.
Prime dropped all 6 episodes on Wednesday. So in just 5 short streaming hours, I will
have them. Hopefully…