Martial Law (1998)
Martial Law is an American/Canadian crime drama that aired on CBS from 1998 to 2000, and was created by Carlton Cuse. The title character, Sammo Law, portrayed by Sammo Hung, was a Chinese law officer and martial arts expert who came to Los Angeles in search of a colleague and remains in the US. The show was a surprise hit, making Hung the only East Asian headlining a prime-time network series in the United States. At the time, Hung was not fluent in English, and he reportedly recited some of his dialogue phonetically. In many scenes, Hung did not speak at all, making Martial Law perhaps the only US television series in history that featured so little dialogue from the lead character.
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Episode 1 - Sammo Blammo
Release Date: 1999-09-25The MCU gets a new chief, Amy Dillon, after Winship retires. As soon as she takes up her appointment Sammo is kidnapped by a recently released thief and has a very complex bomb strapped to his chest. Daniel Darius, the thief, was part of a team who managed to steal over $50 million worth of art from an auction house. He was the only one who was caught and now he wants his share of the money. Problem is he has no idea who the rest of the team were and has only very brief descriptions of them. The MCU has only 8 hours to solve a 15 year old case before Sammo goes Blammo!
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Episode 2 - Thieves Among Thieves
Release Date: 1999-10-02Sammo and Tyrell are working undercover with some jewel thieves when they are attacked by another group of, heavily armed, thieves. They attack their own comrades and join the new gang so that they can find out who they are, and who they are working for. The new gang specialises in robbing other gangs of criminals which leaves Sammo and Tyrell in a dangerous situation. The MCU have no idea where their two fellow officers are or what they are up to.
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Episode 3 - This Shogun for Hire
Release Date: 1999-10-09A notorious Japanese assassin arrives in America, brought in by Gordon Ganza, a top ranking drug dealer. He is there to make sure that a deal with the Bolivians goes through by killing a public official that is causing them difficulties. Grace, who is working undercover in the Ganza organization, tries to get close to Nakamura so that she can find out who his target is and get that information back to Sammo & Terrell.
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Episode 4 - 24 Hours
Release Date: 1999-10-16Sammo and Tyrell are given the assignment of 'babysitting' a prisoner who has bee given permission to go to his sisters funeral. The prisoner is Alistair Temple, 'The Silver Phantom', a master criminal whi is known to be able to get in anywhere, get out of any restraints and should never, never be left unguarded! When the three of them get to the church they are ambushed and Temple is taken from Sammo and Tyrell. Can Sammo, Tyrell and Grace find Temple, uncover who took him and why and manage to do it all before the news of his escape gets out and ruins Amy's chance of promotion to Commander of Administrative Technical operations.
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Episode 5 - Ninety Million Reasons to Die
Release Date: 1999-10-23A visit to the bank reveals that $6 million dollars has been deposited in Sammo's account. He is still wondering what is going on as he leaves the bank and is immediately approached and kidnapped by some men. They want to know how he knows Alison and where she is? When he manages to escape he is determined to track down this girl before his captors do and find out exactly what is going on.
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Episode 6 - My Man Sammo
Release Date: 1999-10-30Sammo and Tyrell accidentally mess up an Interpol undercover operation when they arrest some arms dealers. Charlton McCallister, the Interpol agent, knows that the female arms dealer he was pretending to work for has a very big deal coming up. Amy volunteers to go undercover, even though she has no experience of that kind of work. At her first meeting McCallister gets shot and injured and she has to carry on without him. Sammo takes on the part of her butler/bodyguard so that they can try and find out exactly what is being sold and who is out to buy it.
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Episode 7 - Friendly Skies
Release Date: 1999-11-06Grace and Tyrell take a flight escorting some of the worst criminals known to a maximum-security prison. One of the guards pulls a gun on the pilot and forces him to fly below radar level and then releases the convicts. The leader is a man Grace helped put away for murder and he wants to get revenge on her almost as much as he wants to complete his plan for a major crime. The MCU start to discover what he is up to and find that his plan is more audacious then they could have imagined.
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Episode 8 - Call of the Wild
Release Date: 1999-11-13A mild mannered man, with no criminal record, walks into an office and kills the man inside. When Sammo catches up with him he nearly kills him as well, with martial arts skills. According to his wife he didn't even know any martial arts skills. Tyrell's ex turns up with stories about her becoming a werewolf on full moons and going out and stalking someone. Are there any connections between these two occurrences? The MCU soon begins to think there is and start investigating.
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Episode 9 - Blue Flu
Release Date: 1999-11-20A biological virus is unleashed in a police precinct and the whole station is quarantined. Sammo and Tyrell investigate a student who stole the virus from his university by injecting it into himself. While they try to find out where the virus and vaccine is, and who is behind the outbreak, Amy and Grace find themselves quarantined in the MCU precinct when it to is attacked.
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Episode 10 - Sammo Claus
Release Date: 1999-12-18A group of robbers, all dressed up as Santa, hold up a toy store and get away with all the new Armando toys that had just arrived. Amy discovers that they, along with shipments of toys at the two other stores that have been robbed in the last few days, all came from the same lot number. Surmising that the robbers are after something inside the toy rather than the toy itself they investigate the toy firm and stake out other stores to find out what the thieves are really after.
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Episode 11 - No Quarter
Release Date: 2000-01-08A corrupt councilman demotes Sammo and Terrell. Meanwhile, a gang war erupts, wrecking the plans of an L.A. mobster who wants to bring a pro-football team to L.A.
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Episode 12 - Scorpio Rising
Release Date: 2000-01-15The leaders of an international crime organization known as Scorpio threaten to kill executives of various worldwide companies unless they pay them $25 million. Meanwhile, a young pickpocket inadvertently steals a crucial item belonging to Scorpio that places her life in danger.
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Episode 13 - No Fare
Release Date: 2000-01-22Having not taken any time off for two years Sammo is told that he has to take a week off. It doesn't take him long to go stir crazy and he offers to help his neighbor, just out of hospital, by driving his cab for him. Meanwhile the rest of the MCU are involved in looking for a jewel thief and the murderer of a Marine Biologist.
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Episode 14 - Dog Day Afternoon
Release Date: 2000-02-05Sammo ends up looking after a dog after his owner is found murdered. While investigating the murder Sammo is attacked and the men try to grab Homer, the dog, in the process. The MCU team decides that there is more to this dog then first seems apparent and decide to find out as much as they can about it and his owner, Mason Talbot. They hope this will lead them to the reason for his death and who murdered him.
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Episode 15 - Deathfist Five: MCU
Release Date: 2000-02-12Jake Cord, international action star of the Deathfist movies, is assigned to follow Sammo and Tyrell. His latest Deathfist movie is going to involve the MCU and he wants to learn more about their work to make his film more authentic. The case Sammo and Tyrell are investigating is that of an arson attack at a judges' house. The arson was more than the normal matches and gasoline, there were traces of the fuel used in flame-throwers found at the site.
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Episode 16 - Honor Among Strangers (1)
Release Date: 2000-02-19An ex-army man, Cliff Eagleton, and his men, The Freedom Brigade, rob a bank equipped with fully automatic weapons and body armor. A Military Intelligence Officer, Lt. Garrett, reveals that he escaped from a court and killed a Texas Ranger. She also tells them that the guns they managed to capture at the robbery were supposed to have been scrapped at an Army base. Grace goes undercover at the base to find out why they were not scrapped and who on the base is involved. Sammo meanwhile teams up with Walker, a Texas Ranger, who is also after Eagleton.
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Episode 17 - Freefall
Release Date: 2000-02-26A new generation of spy satellite crashes down to earth in downtown LA. The FBI tells Amy that the only missing piece is extremely radioactive. If it is opened it could irradiate half the city. Involved in the bringing down of the satellite are the criminal cult Scorpio and their mysterious leader 'The One'. FBI agent Wick insists that Sammo and Grace are not to be allowed to participate in the case because they are both Chinese nationals and are probably Chinese spies. While this is going on Sammo is also trying to track down the whereabouts of his son, Lone Wei.
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Episode 18 - The Thrill is Gone
Release Date: 2000-03-11A new designer drug hits the street. It is called 'Thrill' and it breaks down your inhibitions and imbues you with a euphoric sense of invincibility. Sammo and Tyrell have to deal with a gang of 'Thrill junkies' when a traffic jam they are in is attacked. They stop the gang but Sammo's leg is broken in the process. He ends up in the same hospital as Ludlow Teale, the government's chief negotiator for the Middle East. Kyle Strode returns to town and Grace continues trying to get inside his organization so that she can find Lone Wei. The MCU investigations reveal that Scorpio has something to do with 'Thrill' and they plan a major operation to show it's potential.
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Episode 19 - Heartless
Release Date: 2000-04-22The Governor's daughter is waiting in hospital for a heart transplant. Sammo is an old friend of the Governor, they met when they were both in China, and Sammo's job in LA is down to him. The heart is stolen when the ambulance transporting it is attacked and the Governor soon receives the inevitable ransom call. If he doesn't sign pardons for three serial killers then his daughter will never see the heart. The governor decides that his daughter is worth more than his career and signs the pardons, hoping that Sammo and the MCU can catch the criminals before they start killing again!
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Episode 20 - In the Dark
Release Date: 2000-04-29Sammo and Tyrell go to a prison to pick up Anton Trimble, the highest ranking Scorpio member ever captured alive. Scorpio tries to rescue him and show off their new weapon at the same time. They use an EMP weapon to disable all the electronics in the prison and the surrounding area. Sammo and Tyrell escape with Anton and are chased by a group of Scorpio agents. Meanwhile Grace is trying to find a way to get into Scorpio via her links with Kyle Strode.
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Episode 21 - Final Conflict (1)
Release Date: 2000-05-06The MCU discover that Scorpio began in Shanghai and has a personal grudge against Sammo. 'The One' steps up his campaign to kill Sammo by first dealing with his friends and family. He already has his son as a member of Scorpio and next he kidnaps Amy and her fiancé and buries them alive in their limo. Sammo, Grace and Tyrell have to find out where Amy is before he targets the next one of them.
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Episode 22 - Final Conflict (2)
Release Date: 2000-05-13Scorpio implements its plan to control the world by causing a randomly picked plane to crash. They know that they can now effect any plane, anywhere in the world and the governments of the world will soon be at their control. Meanwhile the MCU tries to find out where 'The One' is running his operation from. Sammo has a chance to capture his son but decides to give him the chance to choose the right path and lets him go.