The two-part First Season finale centers around Chinese New Year. While “Part 1” teases magical creatures being kidnapped around the city, ending with the abduction of Everest, the first-half of the story is more about the various characters perusing their own interests. Yi (Chloe Bennet) obsesses with an upcoming musical performance and Jin (Tenzing Norgay Trainor) is distracted by a minor role in the parade. With no one else to join them, and believing the festival will hide the look of yeti, Peng (Ethan Loh) takes Everest on an eating tour through the city which eventually leads to the others searching for the pair only to find them as they are taken by Nian.
“Part Two” slowly works in all the other characters of the series as the dragon keeps all the creatures captured in a prison, Burnish (Alan Cumming) bands with Yi and Jin to find them, and when the dragon returns to the city even Nai Nai (Karen Huie) and Mei (Michelle Wong) jump in, finally becoming aware of Yi’s magical role. There’s a small subplot involving the theft and return of Yi’s violin which feels a bit confusing, and the plot ignores that several of the capture creatures could easily have slipped through the bars of the cage, but other than that the finale does quite a bit of work in bringing together several threads. With Yi showing some magical ability without the need of Everest’s fur, and her family (and the city) now aware of magical creatures, Season Two should see a bit of a shakeup to the show’s formula.
