Jake goes home to America in exclusive “Tokyo Vice” clip

He didn't pick a great time to leave Japan, and “events unfolding on the ground in Tokyo impact Jake's visit on a real-time basis," says director Alan Poul.

Tokyo Vice is almost entirely set in the titular Japanese city. The ongoing second season of the ‘90s-set Max crime series (produced by Fifth Season and WOWOW) has even been able to go where few film and TV productions have gone before, thanks to the success of the first season. In EW’s exclusive preview of season 2 last year, director Alan Poul said that “the city literally opened up to us in terms of shooting,” including the ability to shut down streets to film outdoor set pieces.

But even with all that access, Tokyo Vice is taking a trip back to the United States in this week’s episode. Although he’s reluctant, protagonist Jake Adelstein (Ansel Elgort) feels the need to attend his dad's (Danny Burstein) 60th birthday party in Columbia, Mo. This homecoming is personal not just for Jake, but also for show creator J.T. Rogers.

“From the get-go, when I first starting writing season 1, I planned for Jake to go home to his — and my — hometown: Columbia, Mo.,” Rogers tells EW. “Having him experience being a fish of water there, he realizes how much he’s changed. It was so much fun to build that world for this episode, using images and callbacks from my own upbringing.”

Under normal circumstances, this party might be a relief for Jake — or even a way to demonstrate how much he’s accomplished abroad as a crime reporter for a top Japanese newspaper. But instead, he’s leaving Tokyo in the midst of ongoing upheaval. The murderous shoot-out at Club Polina that grievously injured yakuza boss Hitoshi Ishida (Shun Sagata) and killed suave customer Masahiro Ohno (Takayuki Suzuki) still has unanswered questions. That could have an impact on the Adelsteins’ party.

“Nothing ever goes as planned where Jake is concerned, so why should his visit home be any different?” Poul teases. “One of the fun aspects of the episode is watching how events unfolding on the ground in Tokyo impact Jake's visit on a real-time basis.”

Watch the exclusive clip from this week's episode above,

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Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.