Grandson of the original Kwai Chang Caine of "Kung Fu," this Kwai Chang Caine (David Carradine) is a Shaolin priest like his grandfather. He believes himself to carry a stain of dishonor based on the original Caine's killing of the Royal Prince who murdered Master Po. It is this stain, which he and his descendants were destined to carry, that prompted Caine to demand to be able to protect the current royal heir Sing-Ling in "Redemption."
In the episode "Return of Sing-Ling," we learned that Caine lived in the Shaolin temple in Zhangzhou in China, and fled to the United States with his father when the Communists overran the temple. In "Gunfighters," it was revealed that his grandmother's name was Lilly, and his father's name Matthew. The history of Matthew Caine has been conflicting; a Shaolin priest in Zhangzhou in the early '40s, Matthew later joined up in the American Army as a medic, and served in France. He was also a scholar, specializing in antiquities, and apparently disappeared while on an expedition in the Himalayas in 1949. In "Warlord," he was apparently back in China, in his monk's robes, dispensing medicine to the sick, although he claimed in "Sacred Chalice of I-Ching" to have lost his memory in the Himalayas. He also claimed to have visited Caine's temple, and was told there that both Caine and Peter were dead, and thus he returned to France to be near the Chalice. In "Brotherhood of the Bell," Caine spoke of his mother for the first time, a beautiful woman named Su-Lin, who was kidnapped by the Sing Wah while she was pregnant with Caine's brother Damon. She was killed by the Sing Wah.
Kwai Chang Caine does not have a social security number, and does not know how to drive. Details of his life before he appeared in the city where his son Peter lives have been sketchy at best. He kept in his possession the journals of both his grandfather and his father, and wrote a journal of his own, all of which he turned over to his son in "Redemption." In addition, he wears a gold band with red gems, once the ring of his grandfather. He gave this ring to Peter, for Peter and his descendants. When Caine returned to the city after a six-month absence, Peter returned the ring to Caine for safekeeping.
Caine's Shaolin temple was located in Northern California, across the lake from the town of Braniff. The temple was unsuccessfully attacked by townspeople led by Vance Cavanaugh, but was later destroyed by mercenaries led by the renegade Shaolin, Tan.
Between 1978, when the temple was destroyed, and 1993, when he wandered into the city where Peter worked as a detective, little is known. He worked as a busboy cum dishwasher in a cafe in Chillicothe, TX in 1981. He was charged with attempted murder and resisting arrest in 1986 in Moab, Utah, but the charges were dropped. He has a bullet lodged in his ribs. At some point he became a expert at the Chinese gambling game, Pai Gow, and learned how to fix a car (as seen in "Goodbye Mr. Caine").
In the first season, he often hung out at a Chinese restaurant named "The Golden Dragon."
When he decided to stay in Chinatown, after the pilot, he rebuilt the burned-out brownstone, which became his Kung Fu academy (kwoon), where he taught classes. His living quarters were "above the shop." We saw very little of them. He relinquished the brownstone during "Redemption," and the kwoon was turned into a retail clothing store. When he returned after his six months away, he moved into a loft-type apartment above a shop (possibly a grocery store). We have seen his work-room, his work-out and meditation room, and the rooftop balcony. Peter often enters Caine's second season apartment via the fire escape.
Caine plays the flute and has three of them, a standard silver flute, and a smaller black flute, possibly wood, though it has keys like a modern flute, and a large bamboo one. In one of the flashbacks, we see him making the large bamboo flute. He plays as an aid to meditation, and not for music. He has revealed skills in carpentry, gambling, medicine (he's an apothecary), music (we see him play the piano in "The Bardo"), as well as kung fu. He does not call himself a kung fu master, but has shown proficiency at many very difficult specialized techniques, like chi kung, and the displacement of air.
Caine uses meditation to both clear his mind and reach out with it. While at the temple, he used meditation to locate a young girl who had disappeared (she was found in a corn field with a broken leg). In "Shaman," he used meditation to reach William Two-Feathers. He was also able to slip away from a sequestered jury room to Peter's precinct without anyone noticing, in order to pass Peter a message in "The Innocent."
We learned in "Redemption" that although Caine claimed to have spent the previous 15 years wandering and searching for the essence of his son, he had been in fact tracking down rumors about the heir to the Chinese Imperial throne. Both Lo Si and the criminal Tan had also been drawn to the city by the presence of the prince.
In "May I Walk With You," Peter learned that Caine has a regular routine, which included visiting Karen one morning a week, and rounds at County General Hospital with Dr. Sabourin.
In "Rite of Passage," Caine rose to the level of Shambhala master. In "Plague," Caine aided the new mayor in dealing with the mercenary holding the city in thrall, and worked with the medical community to develop an antidote to the poison. In "Citizen Caine," Caine agreed to run - and won - for city council to help combat unscrupulous developers.
Caine performed the wedding ceremony for Peter's snitch Donny Double D and his paramour, Lula. Although he no longer runs a kwoon, Caine continues to take on selected students, such as Ricki Nillson.
Caine's education spans a wide variety of sources; in addition to quoting from the Tao Te Ching, Caine has also been known to quote from Shakespeare, John Lennon, and Frank Zappa.
In "The Sacred Chalice of I-Ching," Caine was finally reunited with his missing father, Matthew Caine (David Carradine). A Shaolin priest and antiquities scholar, Matthew had disappeared years earlier, and Caine believed him dead. Caine's mother, Su-Lin, was killed by the Sing Wah.
In "Brotherhood of the Bell," Caine met his younger brother, Damon Caine (Wings Hauser), who had been raised by the Sing Wah. The opposite of everything Caine is, Damon was determined to sacrifice Kwai Chang, both a Shaolin priest and a Shamballah master, to gain control of a negative power nexus. With the help of a jade pendant that had belonged to their father, Caine managed to destroy the negative energy focus, and free himself from his brother. At the end of the episode, Damon appeared to have second thoughts about his lifestyle.
In the same episode, Caine discovered that he had another half- brother, Martin Bradshaw (Art Hindle). An illegitimate child born of a love- match between Matthew Caine and Boston Brahmin Marie Bradshaw, Martin spent time undercover with the Sing Wah, learning more about Kwai Chang Caine. He discovered his paternity while going through his mother's belongings, also locating the jade pendant that Caine later used to destroy the Sing Wah bell. At the end of "Brotherhood of the Bell," Martin travelled to France to meet his father.
And, as Peter Caine commented at the end of this episode, the Caine Family Tree was beginning to look like a creeping vine. (See the Caine Family Tree later in this FAQ.)
Kwai Chang Caine once lived in San Francisco, CA, where he lived with Serena and her daughter Maia (1964). She was lured from him by the crime lord Li Sung, who was descended from the royal nephew killed by the original Caine. After Laura's death, Caine received a letter from Serena detailing Maia's development, but Caine was unable to find her. Caine met Serena and Maia again in "Tournament," where he helped to free them from the prison of Li Sung's obsession.
He still wears a wedding band from his marriage to Laura Katherine Caine, who died in 1966 (see below). He used to make perfume for Laura from the Arabian jasmine flower. In "The Bardo," we learn that Caine's herbal medicines kept Laura alive longer than whatever disease she had should have allowed her. It is obvious in that episode that Caine still loves her deeply, and she promises him that there will be another time for the two of them.
In addition, he befriended a young waitress in Chillecothe, TX in 1981 ("Only the Strong Survive"), and at the closure of the incident with Kinasay, he remembers to send her the postcard she asked for when he left the area so many years earlier.
He took his son's partner, Mary Margaret Skalany, out to dinner at the end of "Rain's Only Friend." Although his devotion to his dead wife Laura continues, he is not above flirtation, and Skalany is a willing partner in tormenting Peter with this flirtation. In "Aspects of the Soul," Caine hints strongly to Peter that he is not celibate, but leaves his son wondering as he again escorts Skalany to dinner. The relationship developed further over future episodes, to the point where Peter became somewhat accepting of it, and Skalany was more open about her deepening feelings for Caine, and vice versa.
Other women in Caine's life include Rachel Lowrey (Kerri Keane) in "Temple." The widow of ex-Shaolin monk Michael Lowrey, Rachel had returned with her husband and son, Sam to Braniff, CA for Michael to die (of pancreatic cancer) near the temple he had loved. By the time Caine and Peter returned to the temple, Rachel and her son had become the victims of Vance Cavanaugh's tauntings. The Caines united to protect Rachel and Sam, helping her finish the shrine she had started in Michael's memory. When Cavanaugh was finally vanquished by Caine, the townspeople banded together to help Rachel complete her project and welcome her.
During his wanderings, Caine met Teresa Keller Becker (Jennifer Dale), with whom he apparently had a brief but heartfelt affair ("The Promise"). When he discovered the portrait she'd painted of him in a gallery, along with other paintings exhibiting her fear and grief, Caine returned to her to help her and her husband overcome the prejudices of the town, and capture a murderer.
He had a strong, loving friendship with attorney Anne Carter Pendleton (Carolyn Dunn), for whom he worked as a law clerk ("Eye Witness"). His affection for Anne clouded his judgment when she was murdered, and he blamed the wrong man for her death, until several years later, Peter forced him to face up to his own prejudices.
In "Dragonswing," we learned that Master Khan (Rob Moses) from the temple also lived in the same city, and worked as janitor at a local gym. He also appeared as a palace guard and trainer to the Emperor in "Redemption," and in several other episodes throughout the series, primarily in flashbacks to the temple. In "Redemption," Khan also tested Peter's abilities and courage, and found him acceptable.
Go To KF:TLC Character Biographies Part 2: Peter Caine
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