Was Joseph Wiseman really desperate for work? Or were the producers really impressed by Wiseman's "Doctor No" and "The Twilight Zone" roles as a bad guy. Either way, having Wiseman play a pseudo-Chinese warlord seems pretty silly. They have Philip Ahn playing an Asian stage magician: why not have another Asian actor play Hon Chi Kai.
And yes, they gaslight it by having Hon Chi says that he's of mixed blood. But why not just cast an Asian actor in the first place? Cripes, they had Shatner a few weeks earlier? Wasn't Takei or even Keye Luke ('Whom Gods Destroy') available.
The rest of the plot is horribly stereotypical. Ahn's character and his granddaughter Dawn can't penetrate the secrecy of the Chinese community. But Tony gets some Chinese fortuneteller to set him up with Hon Chi just by paying her some money. And the fortuneteller is very "inscrutable Oriental".
The hallway lava trap is impressive, and clearly the episode's set piece. Tom fails to open the puzzle lock in time, but it doesn't mean much since we have no idea of his lock picking expertise and never find out later. Did he train as a magician with his grandfather Chao? Tony solves the puzzle later, because of hero's life-saving exception: earlier the wall halves retracted into the wall and Tom had to jump onto the puzzle lock, but the halves don't fully retract with Tony. So Tony doesn't do something dumb like jump out and grab the retracting puzzle lock.
Also, while the trap is impressive, why is it Hon Chi's only line of defense? Okay, he's got Sheng, but Tony (or Bixby's stuntman) pretty easily defeats the master martial artist. And why do Tony and Dawn stroll out at the end through the trapped hallway? Sure, they've got the Dragon. But Hon Chi isn't getting the Statue no matter what, so why would he care if it's destroyed in the lava or whatever. Cripes, Tony beats Hon's lava trap and his pet martial artist, and Hon folds like a cheap suit.
And then instead of Tony just giving Chao the Dragon, he makes the old sick man come up to his apartment and then goes through the rigmarole of producing it "magically". Tony's kind of a conceited jerk, isn't he? One imagines the first draft, when Chao is having his heart attack. "Tony, I've been waiting decades for the Dragon. Could you just give it to me?" "But I spent hours building this dragon-producing trick." "Hours?!? When you could have just handed it to me hours ago before I died like I am in the process of now? You POS!"
Joe Sirola gets a bit to do as Dominick besides answer the phone and go on about food. Jerry isn't in the episode for some reason, so they ended up giving Dominick a bit more to do. So there's that.
Overall, "Lost Dragon" is an okay episode, befouled by a few plot holes (how did Tom find Hon Chi's compound so easily, when Tony and Dawn use separate ruses to get there later?), and the inexplicable casting of Wiseman.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
And yes, they gaslight it by having Hon Chi says that he's of mixed blood. But why not just cast an Asian actor in the first place? Cripes, they had Shatner a few weeks earlier? Wasn't Takei or even Keye Luke ('Whom Gods Destroy') available.
The rest of the plot is horribly stereotypical. Ahn's character and his granddaughter Dawn can't penetrate the secrecy of the Chinese community. But Tony gets some Chinese fortuneteller to set him up with Hon Chi just by paying her some money. And the fortuneteller is very "inscrutable Oriental".
The hallway lava trap is impressive, and clearly the episode's set piece. Tom fails to open the puzzle lock in time, but it doesn't mean much since we have no idea of his lock picking expertise and never find out later. Did he train as a magician with his grandfather Chao? Tony solves the puzzle later, because of hero's life-saving exception: earlier the wall halves retracted into the wall and Tom had to jump onto the puzzle lock, but the halves don't fully retract with Tony. So Tony doesn't do something dumb like jump out and grab the retracting puzzle lock.
Also, while the trap is impressive, why is it Hon Chi's only line of defense? Okay, he's got Sheng, but Tony (or Bixby's stuntman) pretty easily defeats the master martial artist. And why do Tony and Dawn stroll out at the end through the trapped hallway? Sure, they've got the Dragon. But Hon Chi isn't getting the Statue no matter what, so why would he care if it's destroyed in the lava or whatever. Cripes, Tony beats Hon's lava trap and his pet martial artist, and Hon folds like a cheap suit.
And then instead of Tony just giving Chao the Dragon, he makes the old sick man come up to his apartment and then goes through the rigmarole of producing it "magically". Tony's kind of a conceited jerk, isn't he? One imagines the first draft, when Chao is having his heart attack. "Tony, I've been waiting decades for the Dragon. Could you just give it to me?" "But I spent hours building this dragon-producing trick." "Hours?!? When you could have just handed it to me hours ago before I died like I am in the process of now? You POS!"
Joe Sirola gets a bit to do as Dominick besides answer the phone and go on about food. Jerry isn't in the episode for some reason, so they ended up giving Dominick a bit more to do. So there's that.
Overall, "Lost Dragon" is an okay episode, befouled by a few plot holes (how did Tom find Hon Chi's compound so easily, when Tony and Dawn use separate ruses to get there later?), and the inexplicable casting of Wiseman.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?