I am – Hercules!!
A 6-hour action-suspense miniseries from “Alias” writer-producer Luke McMullen based on the young-adult novels by Carrie Asai, “Samurai Girl” is about a sheltered Japanese teen named Heaven who finds herself learning swordplay in San Francisco to avenge her brother’s Yakuza-engineered murder. (Thanks to an American tutor, Heaven speaks only perfect American English.) The title character is assayed by gorgeous Bay Area native Jamie Chung, who, bikini-clad, cavorted memorably on “The Real World: San Diego.”

The show exists in a bizarre ABC Family parallel universe in which nary a single drag queen can be spotted on the streets of San Francisco Halloween night. Entertainment Weekly gives it an “B-plus” and says:

… the winning Samurai has lots of action, and is generously peppered with comedic asides — especially from Kyle Labine's pining nerd, Otto — which all makes for a butt-kicking good time. …

The New York Times says:

… The 25-year-old Ms. Chung easily bridges the age gap with her 19-year-old character, but she’s not quite as credible as a naturally gifted swordswoman or, particularly, as a young Japanese who is new to American culture. She’s playing basically the same character — the quiet, hot, hard-working, somewhat blank Asian-American teenager — that she played in her best-known role to date: as herself in “The Real World: San Diego.” That probably won’t bother the young viewers who are the target audience for this show, though they may notice that two hours’ worth of story has been stretched to fill six hours. They also may notice a lack of humor, which the show strains for.

The Los Angeles Times says:

… By the end of the pilot, the expositional clunkiness seemed to have smoothed itself out. Like Heaven and her friends, "Samurai Girl" seems to know what it's doing and where it's going -- imagine a family-hour version of "The Sopranos," only with ninjas and Meadow on a righteous quest for truth. It's not perfect, but it certainly is different, so why not just enjoy the ride?

The San Francisco Chronicle says:

… the first two hours are decent … Chung may not be the next Meryl Streep, but she's a competent actress and an appealing TV presence. …

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram says:

… There are some well-staged action sequences, but they’re not quite kinetic enough for true action junkies and are too pummeling for the younger viewers at whom the gruel-thin drama seems to be aimed. …

Variety says:

… It's the sort of production rife with plenty of action but nothing that's remotely stirring … the fighting sequences would need to be staged more imaginatively to compensate for the various deficiencies, and frankly -- even with a few skewerings and a torture scene -- those shiny swords can do only so much damage on ABC Family. … if there's anything else on that's worth watching, Heaven can wait.

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… Loaded with adventure, drama and more than enough histrionics to please (or offend) the average viewer, ABC Family's new six-hour miniseries "Samurai Girl" doesn't stop for a minute in an all-out effort to entertain the senses. The intellect is another story altogether. …

8 p.m. Friday, Saturday & Sunday. ABC Family.

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