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This isn’t your mother’s family comedy. The Brothers Sun on Netflix is an action-comedy star vehicle for Michelle Yeoh that follows the Oscar winner as the troubled mother of a famed killer. The matriarch is conflicted between exposing the dirty details of the family’s profession and protecting her naive youngest son. Though, the answer becomes clear when a target is placed on the entire family’s back. Will everybody survive?
Opening Shot: Charles Sun (Justin Chien) is baking a cake in his high-rise apartment in Taiwan while watching The Great British Bake Off. As he flits around the kitchen, a group of armed masked men enter the apartment and a fight breaks out.
The Gist: Charles returns to Los Angeles, California to protect his mother and younger brother after learning that they are being targeted by a group of deadly assassins.
Eileen “Mama” Sun (Yeoh) has made a strenuous effort to keep her other son Bruce (Sam Song Li) unaware of the family’s business as famed Taiwan gangsters. Unlike Charles, Bruce is a naive and sheltered college student.
While Charles partakes in deadly fights around the world, Bruce’s biggest issue is secretly spending his 5K college tuition to take improv classes.
Over eight episodes, the family’s secrets spill as Eileen taps back into her former life and Bruce is thrust into several violent situations, despite his lack of training. Friends come and go, enemies are killed, and romantic interests are introduced as Bruce adjusts to his new life and Charles struggles with his relationship with his mother.
That said, episode one is relatively contained and focuses on Bruce and Charles meeting at a seedy nightclub where Bruce is selling drugs to help make up for his missing funds.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Netflix seems to have its hands in the cheesy, action-comedy genre because The Brothers Sun will remind you of the streamer’s 2022 show FUBAR, which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as an absent parent to a CIA operative. If you like those shows, then Cobra Kai and The Recruit might also tickle your fancy.
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Our Take: Show creators Bryon Wu and Brad Falchuk have accomplished an impressive feat with The Brothers Sun, showing that newbie Wu has a bright future ahead of him and Falchuk still has some tricks up his sleeve after his long runs with Ryan Murphy on Glee, American Horror Story, and 9-1-1.
Led by a predominately Asian cast and writing team, the series is excellently paced as it crafts a realistic family dynamic and throws the trio into rounds of unpredictable situations, which would come off as overstuffed if it wasn’t for the show’s solid base. The performances are effortless and memorable from Yeoh, Chien, and Song Li, and the large ensemble cast.
At the heart of the series are the two brothers, who have both spent their lives vying for attention, approval, and freedom, albeit in different ways. While the stakes are high, the script and humor are sharp as ever as Bruce’s boyish behavior breaks the hard exterior of those he comes across in his burgeoning life of crime.
Sex and Skin: Not in the first episode, but stick around because a few romances bloom.
Parting Shot: Bruce and Charles limp home after a showdown at the nightclub, and Bruce warns his brother, “We can’t come in like this because mom is gonna freak!” Charles yells through the house, “I found Bruce!” As the brothers round the corner, they see their mother preparing to dismember a dead body. “Charles, go get changed. We have to get rid of the body. Bruce, go to bed… you have a test tomorrow,” she says before impaling a man with a power drill.
Sleeper Star: Alice Hewkin pulls out all the tricks as May, a seasoned drug dealer with a quirky and eccentric attitude. The actor, who previously starred in several BBC works and the 2023 Hulu movie Rye Lane, toys the line between sexy, silly, and murderous in her role. Upon meeting Bruce, she proclaims that selling drugs is “her baby,” and proceeds to threaten him with an absurd monologue, in which she says, “When I hire you to sell them [drugs] for me, I’m handing you my baby. Do you understand how big of a responsibility that is? How upset I would be if you didn’t care for my baby in the right way… or god forbid, hurt it?” Excuse me? How am I turned on, scared, and also obsessed at the same time?
Most Pilot-y Line: When Charles catches Bruce poorly selling drugs at the nightclub and attempts to drag him out, he is stopped by a member of May’s team. The two are captured and threatened. Before the older brother launches an attack on the gang, he tells his brother, “Bruce, do me a favor… Don’t tell mom.” Sums up the entire show quite nicely.
Our Call: STREAM IT!! Falchuk and Wu managed to create a unique and addictive action-comedy that highlights veteran talent and a few fresh faces while seamlessly building the foundation of the complicated history between three very different people. Yeoh is pulled in many directions as a dotting, yet neglectful mother who opens herself up to being taught a few valuable lessons by her sons. The show has heart, kickass fighting sequences, and a healthy dose of drama. Queue it up!
