Shanghai Express (episode)

Information
"Shanghai Express" is the first episode of the short-lived show Martial Law. It first aired on September 26, 1998.

Summary
"Chinese detective Sammo Law arrives in Los Angeles to find a missing colleague, and teams up with two local cops in pursuit of an international mobster."

--DVD description

Synopsis
In the city of Shanghai, China, a rather portly man in plain clothing enters a garage where mechanics are working on cars. The man's name is Sammo Law, and he is a captain in the Shanghai police. Sammo asks the lead mechanic about the whereabouts of a gangster named Lee Hei. In response, the men attack Sammo, who soundly defeats them with incredible martial arts skills. Shoving a mechanic into a locker, Sammo again asks him about Lee Hei, and learns that Lee Hei has gone to Los Angeles, California.

Later, in a police station in Los Angeles--the San Vicente Division--a lieutenant is speaking with the two detectives who work with him. The lieutenant's name is Ben Winship. He tells the detectives--a woman named Dana Dixon and a man named Louis Malone--that Sammo will be coming to help them with their current case, as it appears Lee Hei is involved. Dana is not enthusiastic about having a stranger suddenly joining their unit.

Louis and Dana go to the airport to pick up Sammo, but they miss him because Dana saw a thief stealing a purse and went to stop him. A man offers Sammo a ride in his car instead. However, it turns out to be a ploy to rob Sammo. The driver and his accomplices, who have guns, take Sammo's money and abandon him by the side of the road.

Louis and Dana return to the station, where Lt. Winship is displeased to find that Sammo is not with them. He tells the detectives that they had better find Sammo--who, as it turns out, is right behind them, giving descriptions of the men who robbed him to another female officer. Louis and Dana finally introduce themselves to Sammo, and tell him that they will be working together on the case. They offer him a drink, and he requests Diet Coke.

Sammo tells his new colleagues that he is searching for one of his detectives, a young woman named Chen Pei Pei, as well as Lee Hei. Pei Pei had gone undercover and gotten close to Lee Hei, but Sammo lost contact with her. While they speak, they are interrupted by a large and unpleasant detective named Alex Portman, who is not impressed with Sammo. Louis tells Portman to go away, and he does. Louis then tells Sammo that they are going to go after a car thief named Ricky Harp, who might lead them to Lee Hei.

Meanwhile, Lee Hei is in his Los Angeles mansion. Suspecting that Ricky might give the police information, Lee Hei orders some men to assassinate him.

Louis, Dana, and Sammo break into Ricky's house, surprising him. Sammo wants to ask Ricky about Lee Hei, but Dana tells Sammo to wait outside. Sitting in a chair by Ricky's pool, Sammo sees a pair of gardeners headed towards the house. They are actually Lee Hei's assassins, sent to eliminate Ricky. They attack Sammo with spiked boots and hedge clippers, but he manages to defeat them.

Lee Hei is concerned when he hears that the police have Ricky in custody. He speaks with Pei Pei, who is working with him and his minions. He tells her that the Los Angeles police have teamed up with her former colleague, Sammo Law.

Later, in the station, Portman has challenged Sammo to a fight. He had heard about Sammo's fighting prowess, and tells Sammo that he can use any object in the room as a weapon against him. Sammo chooses a chalkboard eraser, and uses it to defeat Portman quite easily.

Afterwards, Louis shows Sammo the apartment which the department will be providing for him, which happens to be next door to Louis's apartment. Louis also tells Sammo that he is a former professional boxer, and asks if Sammo will teach him some martial arts someday, and Sammo agrees. They also meet a somewhat nervous landlady named Mrs. Pimner.

The next day, Louis takes Sammo to a game show called The Price is Right. After Sammo helps revive a woman who had fainted due to excitement, he is invited to be a contestant on the show, and here he wins some furniture for his apartment, as well as a jet ski.

Later, Ricky meets with some of Lee Hei's men at an outdoor coffee shop. Sammo, Dana and Louis--disguised as groundskeepers--were waiting for this. They try to confront the men, who flee. Sammo catches one of the men with a jump rope, but Ricky sneaks into a truck and drives away.

Ricky then goes to Lee Hei's house, though he had told the detectives earlier that he didn't know where this was. Lee Hei simply kills Ricky with a martial arts strike--to the dismay of Pei Pei, who had just entered the room. Lee Hei asks Pei Pei why she would question his authority, and why Sammo seems to be getting so close to their operation.

Soon, Winship and the detectives learn of Ricky's death, his body having been found in the river. An unknown woman was also killed, and Sammo fears it may have been Pei Pei.

Using information from Ricky's computer, the detectives learn that Lee Hei and his crew are going to try to leave with their stolen cars on a ship. Hiding behind some crates at the shipyard, Sammo, Louis, and Dana see Lee Hei get out of a car. They also see Pei Pei get out of the car, and Sammo is relieved to see she is alive.

Louis and Dana go to arrest Lee Hei, having no time to wait for backup. Just as Dana is about to arrest Lee Hei, Pei Pei manages to take Dana's gun and stop her. Lee Hei orders the detectives to be put into shipping containers, to be killed later. Seeing this, Sammo jumps into a car and drives towards Lee Hei's men, causing a distraction.

As Louis and Dana fight Lee Hei's men, Sammo finally corners Lee Hei and handcuffs him. Suddenly, Pei Pei appears behind Sammo. She orders Sammo, at gunpoint, to let Lee Hei go, and he does. Pei Pei drives Lee Hei away in a car, as Sammo re-joins Dana and Louis in fighting Lee Hei's henchmen. More police officers arrive and help the detectives arrest all of the defeated men.

Back at the station, the detectives learn that the woman who was killed earlier was Anita Harp, Ricky's wife. Sammo and the others resolve to continue to search for Lee Hei and Pei Pei. Lt. Winship tells the gang that Sammo's visit has been extended into a police-exchange program, and they will be sending one of their own officers to the Shanghai police. The person they send is a very unhappy Alex Portman.