Review of The Brothers Sun

I’ve been on such a television Renaissance lately. There have been times where I don’t watch any shows for two years straight, but in 2023 and 2024 I’ve been on a roll. Whether they’re Korean dramas or limited series, I’ve been all over this.

That said, I am also a major Michelle Yeoh fangirl, so when I saw a television show with her was coming to Netflix, I jumped at the opportunity to sit down and actually watch it. I will watch anything she is in, if we’re going to be honest.

This was how I ended up watching all of The Brothers Sun over the course of two days. Granted, there aren’t many episodes to keep this going more than a week for me, but man I was obsessed with this show.

It’s such a shame there won’t be a season two. I was actually devastated when I saw that news roll out from Netflix.

Let’s get into the review!

When Bruce Sun’s brother comes back from Taiwan, he gets roped into a life of crime and gangsters.

Our main character in this show is Bruce Sun, who has no idea what his family actually does for a living at the start of this show. He goes to college, does college boy things, and awkwardly dreams of the day where he can pursue a career in stand up.

He lives in California with his mother, but everything changes when his brother Charles comes back to Los Angeles for a visit.

His frigid brother is carrying a ton of secrets with him, and it’s not long before Bruce discovers the truth: he comes from a family of renowned gangsters.

Turns out his missing father in Taiwan is the head of the gangster family too, and Charles came all the way out to Los Angeles after an attempted assassination on their father. Throughout the course of the series, we learn that their mother is next.

Bruce’s mother took him to LA in order to try and find a way out of a life of crime, especially when it comes to raising Bruce. However, her efforts proved to be futile, even when she manages to kill a man easily with the snap of her wrist.

It worked until now, but as he gets thrown into situations where people you come to care about violently die, and not knowing enough Mandarin screws you over, he has to learn how to adapt.

There are little pockets of humor throughout the action and serious moments in this show, which I can come to appreciate. Sometimes these kinds of genres don’t blend as well as one would like them to, leading to a show that falls flat tonally.

Each of the actors plays their roles so well throughout the series—they felt like real, living people to me, and that’s some of the best kind of acting for these shows.

Overall Thoughts

While this isn’t life changing cinema or television, I think this was so much fun overall. I absolutely adore seeing more Asian American shows out there in the world, and this one was an interesting way of straddling both worlds.

That said, it’s so sad again that this wasn’t renewed for a second season. I think we’re living in a world where businesses only see the numbers and invest in the things that they think are profitable.

Which is valid in some ways, but it’s also how we lose a lot of great art and stories. We need a balance.

Go watch this if you haven’t seen it already, but don’t get too attached.

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