The Concept

  Our story follows Tommy Kang, a third-generation martial artist and son of a Tae Kwon Do Grandmaster, who teaches at his father’s dojo. When his father passes away from cancer, slacker Tommy is forced to carry on the legacy of his father’s school and teachings. Accompanied by his childhood best friends, Biff and Millz, Tommy struggles with the burden of his family legacy while trying to find his own path through life.

  Tommy takes the easy way out and looks to sell the dojo and its trappings to his asshole uncle, Tek. Tek is a calculating businessman and a Grandmaster in his own right, but is a sellout who runs a franchise of several “McDojos,” and lords his success over his burnout nephew. Meanwhile Biff, forever the loyal employee, looks to improve the dojo in order to ensure its survival. Tommy, feeling guilty, leaves Biff in the dark about his desire to cash out and sell the school. As the prospect of selling looms, it becomes the impetus for Tommy to finally improve the school, though his friends don’t know that he’s doing so for selfish reasons.

  It is this possibility of trading his legacy for money that initially begins Tommy’s mission to become a better teacher and improve the reputation of the dojo at large, but once Biff discovers Tommy’s real motivations, the two best friends find themselves at odds with one another. Mediating the imminent conflict between the two friends, we have Millz, for whom Tommy and Biff are the only family she knows.

  Ultimately, Tommy’s journey is about the conflicts that arise between the family you’re born to and the family you collect.  We end the season on an emotional climax:  Tommy needs to meet his uncle Tek and make a choice about whether or not to sell, and neither Biff, Millz, nor even Tommy himself is sure of what choice he’ll make. Ultimately, he elects not to sell the school; however, when he returns home after refusing the offer, he finds that Millz has taken matters into her own hands.  In order to help relieve the tension of Tommy’s emotional burden, and also to remove the wedge from between her two best friends, Millz makes what appears to her to be the best decision for everyone—she burns the dojo to the ground for the insurance money.  The finale ends with Tommy realizing that his family legacy will exist with or without the school, and he finally gets to make a choice about what to do with his life on his own terms: he’s going to find his only other living relative--his estranged grandfather.

Main Characters

Raised in his father’s dojo, Tommy only knows one thing — that he hates his job. Tommy is a skilled martial artist who has never ventured beyond the school to find other work. His father’s expectations—that he stay put and eventually run the school--have kept Tommy from finding out what he wants for himself.  At the same time, because his mother died when he was so young, Tommy has always been, on some level, afraid to leave his father. Now that his father is gone, Tommy is left with two daunting tasks: running the family business and finding his own path.

Tommy figures it would be easiest to sell his father’s school to his Uncle Tek, even though he knows Tek’s true nature—a blowhard jerk.  To this end, Tommy finds himself doing the thing he hates most: teaching children. Although it take a while for them to get along, the kids eventually teach Tommy responsibility, and through their interactions Tommy begins to have a greater understanding of his father, learning that being in charge of the dojo is about more than just running a business.

Born Milagros Altagracia del Cerro Grande, the energetic Millz stands at about 5’ tall and is a young, Latina lesbian. Millz is a schemer who instigates many of the hijinks in which our three friends find themselves.  She is Tommy’s roommate, and she has been friends with Tommy and Biff since childhood. Forced to grow up fast, Millz is certainly the most street smart of our three friends. She is the 'id' of the group.

Because she has no real family of her own, Millz wholeheartedly looks to Tommy and Biff as her "found family," a theme echoed throughout the show. She is deeply loyal and would never do anything to intentionally hurt that family. Likewise, she views Grandmaster with nothing but admiration and respect. Like a child witnessing a divorce, she tries her absolute best to keep this family together. Still, she is reckless and excitable, and though she always works with the best of intentions, her actions are often met with negative consequences.

Like Tommy, Biff grew up in Grandmaster’s dojo. With no father figure of his own, Biff has taken on Grandmaster as a surrogate father. As a result, the two friends are like brothers.  Biff is a 6'5" black man, and in America that comes with its own set of cultural baggage. But Biff is a sensitive guy whose only desire is to maintain the legacy of the school and to honor his late Grandmaster.

Growing up resenting his own dysfunctional family, Biff never felt a meaningful connection to Black American culture, and has substituted it with his closeness to Tommy's family and Asian culture. Consequently, Biff absolutely despises Tommy’s Uncle Tek and views him as the antithesis of everything that Grandmaster represented. It deeply upsets Biff to believe that his adopted culture could be bought and sold in the way that Tek so proudly boasts about.

Episodes

Episode 1 — Pilot

Slacker martial arts instructor Tommy is late for work again, and arrives to be chided by his best friend and coworker, Biff. The two discuss Tommy’s laziness and why he doesn’t want to do his job. Tommy then learns that his cancer-stricken father is on the verge of being kicked out of the hospital for overdue medical bills. Distraught, Tommy turns to his friends for help. After a brief discussion with his scheming roommate Millz, the gang gets dragged by Millz to a fight club where Tommy must literally fight to raise the necessary funds. Tommy is drugged by the seedy club owner, Cockeye, but manages to pull through and defeat his opponent, the hulking Danny Boy. The gang leaves the fight club, counting their winnings, when Tommy receives a phone call that his father has died.

Episode 2 — Chinatown

Tommy learns that his only inheritance is his father’s dojo, much to his chagrin. He tries to sell the school to his conniving Uncle Tek, who challenges Tommy to improve the school before he buys it. Millz records a YouTube video with Tommy trashing Bruce Lee, and a Wing Chun school catches wind of the video, trashes the dojo, and challenges Tommy to a fight.

Episode 3 — Dojo After Dark

Tommy and Biff spend a Sunday making improvements to the school, but quickly give up. Realizing that they need additional revenue for the school, they visit Uncle Tek's school for business ideas. They see that he rents the dojo out for kids' parties. Tommy and Biff seek the help of Millz, who rents the space out for a party, but Tommy and Biff are shocked to learn it is a sex party.

Episode 4 — Showdown at the Y

Uncle Tek sends his sniveling second-in-command, Steven, to steal business from Tommy by teaching free martial arts classes at the local Y. When the gang discovers Steven’s operation, Tommy goes to beat some sense into his uncle’s henchman. Meanwhile, Biff introduces the gang to his new girlfriend, who we see is just a female version of Tommy.

Episode 5 — Substitute Sumo

Frustrated by the lack of respect from his students, and jealous of Biff’s positive rapport with them, Tommy hatches a scheme to paint himself in a better light, by bringing in a menacing guest instructor. He hires an imposing Sumo wrestler, but his plan backfires when the Sumo’s teaching methods appear to be entirely about cooking.

Episode 6 — Competition Day

Tommy is at the end of his rope with the school and pleads with his Uncle Tek to buy it from him. Though Tek is unwilling to buy Tommy’s dojo on the spot, he makes a deal with his nephew that if Tommy’s students can beat his students at the upcoming competition he will consider buying the dojo. Meanwhile, tension between Tommy and Biff reaches an all time high, as Biff disappears.

Episode 7 — Master Biff

With tensions mounting around Tommy's possible sale of the school, Biff takes a personal day and gains new perspective on his friendship with Tommy and his relationship to his adopted friends, family, and culture. Biff tries to make up for his absence on competition day, but his confrontation with Tommy reaches a fever pitch and comes to a violent confrontation.

Episode 8 — Flashback

This episode takes place in Summer 2001, a flashback to when Tommy and Biff were children attending Grandmaster’s dojo. Grandmaster struggles with financial troubles and the boys meet a new friend, Millz. Biff is coping with his father's recent incarceration, and Tommy gets a crush on a girl whose Chinese father teaches a competing martial art.

Episode 9 — Camp Doom

We return to the present at the hospital where Biff is recovering from the events of Episode 7. Tommy and Biff make up as Biff recovers from their confrontation. After the dojo's disastrous competition day, both friends have lost control of their students. They hatch a plan to win the students back, and Millz goes on a date with Malik's mom.

Episode 10 — Finale

Tommy weighs the responsibilities of the family he was born to with those of the family he has found in Biff and Millz, as he finally has to make a choice about whether or not to give up the school. Tek gets to finally pass judgment, and Millz finds a solution to everyone’s problems. . . by burning the dojo to the ground.

See More