Vanishing Son

I loved the show, it was like a modern day "Kung-Fu" but different. Russell Wong's character was well written, his cause clear and his story made sense. The episodes were precluded by half a story narrated by Russell Wong (I believe it started with someone else narrating them, then Wong took over that part too)and closed with the second half. The one I remember and use often was: Two monks are walking along a path, an old monk and a young monk. The trail takes them to a river where it is shallow enough for them to wade across. Standing by the river is a young woman crying. When the old monk asks her why she is crying, she tells him that she needs to cross the river but is afraid to because she doesn't know how to swim. The old monk tells the woman to get on his back and carries her across. Once he's on the other side, he lets her down and the monks continue on their way. The young monk appears to be distressed and after about an hour of this, the old monk turns to the young monk and asks what is troubling him. The young monk asks the old monk why he carried the woman across the river. The old monk looks at the young monk and says "I left the woman at the river, how is it that you are still carrying her?".

I love the show immensely; however, I hate it when it was canceled. The same company that produce the Xena TV show starring Lucy Lawless and the Hercules TV show starring Kevin Sorbo did not put the same kind of financial and political will into the Vanishing Son series.

That show could have been the biggest breakout career for Russell Wong and could have him gotten more TV roles and even appearing in the movies. The last time I saw Mr. Wong was on some short live TV show where was a guess star where he play a reporter on one show, and another show where he play a prosecutor. Another one show I saw him was on CSI where he was a Los Vegas Lieutenant working at the jail.

I remember watching the Vanishing Son movies in 1994 and then this series in early 1995. I was certain at the time that Russell Wong was on his way to superstardom, he was brilliant in this role. When the series abruptly ended, I was frankly shocked. Although Wong seems to have been fairly active to this day, his profile was never as high as it was with Vanishing Son. I managed to tape one episode that featured the great James Hong as a Chinatown Boss. The premise may not have been the most original, but it was quite entertaining at the time, though I suspect it might look terribly dated in 2022. I'm sure some of the episodes or the 1994 movies have popped up on YouTube by now, and I recommend watching them.

Worth noting is that Jan Hammer composed the music for this series, and he did a great job. That was one aspect that kept me interested in watching the series at the time.

Vanishing Son is a show I actually miss. It had its downfalls, like the fact the plot was the usual 'being chased by the police' story, but I thought the actors did a good job. Sadly, it was cancelled some years back. I wish I had thought to tape it before it was gone. It had original moments despite the cliche.