Jentry Chau (Ali Wong) is living her best life until Gugu (Lori Tan Chinn), her great aunt brings her back to Texas. Jentry’s past in the State is flames and horror. Her future is a battle with Mogui (Kenton Chen), the spirit that wants her dead. And it’s her birthday.

Some shows hit the ground running. Jentry Chau hits it singing. The karaoke fuelled opening has a swagger the show never loses and Wu’s script sparks with witty dialogue and emotional honesty. Wong is great in the lead role, embodying the contradiction at the heart of the show. Jentry is incredibly powerful and terrified of that power and what it can do, struggling to untie the complex knots of guilt and shame and peer pressure her past, her adolescence and her gender have dumped on her. The show’s completely unafraid to go to some dark places and a good chunk of this episode is Gugu explaining to a young girl why she needs to murder a demon before it murders her. Nothing that’s happened to Jentry has happened by choice. But it has happened and as the episode finishes it’s clear her arc is about taking ownership of her legacy, her powers and her life. This is classic Buffy stuff, but rendered with a heady combination of exuberance and darkness.

It’s not just Jentry who faces that darkness either. Lori Tann Chinn as Gugu is both instantly lovable and a small grandma-shaped warrior who spends much of this episode persuading her niece to superpower a pair of weapons. She has some very surprising developments this episode and her arc is one of the ones I’m most excited about for the season. Bowen Yang too as Ed (and yes that name is deliberate), a hopping vampire henchman and her reluctant sidekick, gets some fun moments. He hates Jentry so much, but in the same way you would an annoying co-worker, because it’s the job. AJ Beckles is excellent too as Jentry’s not-quite-boyfriend-yet. Michael is kind and gentle and has very good reason to hate the girl who burned the town down when they were kids. He also has no idea it was Jentry, locking another level of trauma into the already densely packed show. Trauma all wrapped round the oil slick shiny, golden voice Mogui played by Kenton Chan with smooth fury. He’s an instant, real threat and closes the episode with a moment I didn’t see coming and I’m thrilled to see the show explore.

Verdict: Inventive, witty, honest, funny and dark, Jentry Chau is off to a hell of a start. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart