This past Friday, we caught an episode of Numb3rs with a storyline based in Chinatown. The Season 5 Episode 13 program was entitled “Trouble in Chinatown”. We saw a bunch of Asian American actors and actresses including Kelly Hu, Jennifer Chu (also in The Gene Generation), and Lanny Joon (recently on CSI).

Others spotted include:

Camille Chen as Zi-Zi

Jennifer Chu as Store Owner

Chyna Chuu as Lily

Tina Huang as Ni-Shu

Elizabeth Pan as Agent Kim Hsaio

Keone Young as Walter Yoon

Conan Lee as Jimmy Lin

Donald Li as Waiter #1

Here’s the recap of “Trouble in Chinatown”

The FBI works with immigration control enforcement (ICE) when one of their undercover Chinese agents goes missing from a sweatshop in Chinatown, just as a gang war erupts between the leader of a human trafficking/sweatshop ring, Jimmy Lim, and the leader of what is assumed to be a prostitution ring, Henry Yoon. David and Colby get caught in the middle of this feud when they witness Jimmy shoot Henry dead and are forced to fire on Jimmy, killing him and eliminating one of the few people that can help them understand exactly what sparked the gang war. With Charlie, Larry and Amita’s help, the team discovers that Henry and his brother Walter were not only running a prostitution ring, but also a ghost bride service for the families of Chinese men who died before getting married. Henry and Walter would provide young women to be buried alive with the deceased, and had been stealing undocumented girls away from Jimmy’s operation, prompting Jimmy to confront Henry. The psychic Simon Kraft (episode 217) returns in this episode and provides assistance in locating the missing ICE agent, but is ultimately run down and killed by a fleeing suspect.

You can see the full episode of Numb3rs – Trouble in Chinatown here.

These past few months we have seen highly rated shows on network TV have episodes set in an Asian American location. We have seen Asian Americans on House and CSI. Looks like a trend is developing here.

Numb3rs – Trouble in Chinatown promo