When gods and demons wage war, woe to the regular people who get caught in the middle. In this case, those regular people are Han Chieh and Yeh Tzu.
Years ago, Han made a terrible mistake, and it got his parents killed. Devastated, Han attempted to take his own life—only to find that the Crown Prince, a deity from the Celestial Realm, didn’t plan on letting him off that easy. To atone for his sins and save his parents from eternal damnation, Han is forced to serve as the Crown Prince’s warrior in the human world. If he can slay enough demons and ghosts, his parents will be reincarnated.
It’s this task that leads Han to Yeh Tzu, a young woman battling leukemia. Yeh is convinced that her house is haunted, and while Han initially blows her off, it doesn’t take him long to realize she’s no ordinary client. Most people can’t see the spirits that Han is dedicated to eliminating. Yeh, however, can see them just as well as he can.
Over the years, Han has resigned himself to working alone. But if he’s ever going to pay off his debt and save his parents, he may have to change his tune. There are a lot of ghosts out there, after all. Yeh may be exactly who he needs to set things right.
As you can probably guess, Agent From Above deals heavily with the supernatural, and not exactly in the biblical sense. The religious elements may be fantastical—no one’s suggesting that the Crown Prince exists or you should go worship him—but they’re clearly inspired by Buddhism and Chinese folklore. Characters worship small, Buddha-like statues and burn incense in reverence, and it’s not hard to guess where the promise of reincarnation comes from.
The show even spends some time in hell, which is shown as a barren land of fire and brimstone. Those unfortunate enough to end up there are subjected to endless torture; what we see isn’t necessarily violent, but it’s certainly disturbing. (Han’s parents, for example, are forced to eat hot coals for eternity.)
Since the plot focuses on the supernatural, you can expect ghosts and spirits at every turn. Characters also frequently refer to the spirits as “demons,” but they’re closer to your standard ghosts than biblical demons. Some aren’t very threatening, such as the ghost of a young man who becomes a sidekick to Han and Yeh, but others are more frightening. The spirit of a woman veiled in white causes a few jump scares, and she takes control of humans in a way that’s reminiscent of demonic possession.
Even setting the supernatural aside, though, Agent From Above is riddled with issues. Violence is frequent; Han uses both magical weapons and martial arts to dispatch spirits, though confrontations are not particularly bloody. Suicide is also a common theme, as several ghostly characters—not to mention Han himself—died by taking their own lives. Characters watch pornography and make suggestive references, and language occasionally pops up as well.
Agent From Above takes a fantastical spin on Chinese folklore, and in the process, it includes dicey themes such as reincarnation and demonic possession. Tread carefully or, like Han, you may realize too late that you’ve wandered in too deep.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at letters@pluggedin.com, or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out. )
Note: This review covers the episode in the original Mandarin with English subtitles. Language concerns may differ slightly in the English-language audio.
Han Chieh, a warrior who protects the human world from the forces of hell, meets Yeh Zhu, a college student who believes her house is haunted. The pair encounter plenty of ghosts, spirits and demons, some more menacing than others. The ghosts of Han’s old neighbors linger around his apartment, and Yeh is attacked by spirits who surge down the hallway in a fiery blaze. (Han protects her, and no one gets hurt.) Yeh sees a frightening woman dressed in white around her house and believes she’s being haunted, although Han discovers that the spirit is actually attached to a woman having an affair with Yeh’s father. When Han confronts the woman, the spirit possesses him.
In a flashback, Han visits hell, which is shown as a volcanic land of fire. Characters own small statues of the Crown Prince, a deity from the heavenly Celestial Realm, and burn incense in worship. The Crown Prince promises Han that if he atones for his sins, his parents will be brought back into the human world. References are made to occultists and mediums who can communicate with the spirit world.
Han and Yeh investigate reports of someone spying on women in the bathroom of an internet cafe, and they find that the culprit is the ghost of a young man. To draw him out, Han plays pornography on several computers at the cafe; the videos play in the background throughout the scene, and we hear graphic audio. The ghost emerges and tries to grope Yeh before Han stops him. Han has an advertisement of a woman in a bikini displayed on his wall. Multiple people assume Yeh is underage (she isn’t), and they scold Han, thinking that the two are in a relationship (they aren’t).
When Han catches the ghost at the internet cafe, he punches him repeatedly in the face and slams him against the floor. A few other martial arts battles take place as Han fights spirits, but none result in any blood or gore.
In a flashback, Han attempts to commit suicide by jumping off a building, but falls into hell instead. The ghost at the internet cafe admits that he took his own life after his girlfriend broke up with him.
Han smokes a cigarette. The f-word is used twice.
Lauren Cook is serving as a 2021 summer intern for the Parenting and Youth department at Focus on the Family. She is studying film and screenwriting at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. You can get her talking for hours about anything from Star Wars to her family to how Inception was the best movie of the 2010s. But more than anything, she’s passionate about showing how every form of art in some way reflects the Gospel. Coffee is a close second.
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