Say what? Once-dead fiancé returns in 'Crouching Tiger 2'

Through all of 2000's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, warrior Meng Si Zhao was considered dead. Killed in battle years before.

End of story except for the mourning of the film's star warrior, his fiancée Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) — not to mention complications for any future romantic prospects.

Turns out, in the long-awaited sequel Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny (appearing simultaneously on Netflix and in IMAX theaters Friday),  Meng (played by Donnie Yen) is actually alive and admits to faking his own death.

Paging Dr. Phil. Cue awkward and shocking reunion.

Michelle Yeoh flies back to 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'

“I know, what's up with that?” asks Yeoh, laughing about the returned-from-the-dead storyline during a phone conversation from Hong Kong.

Onscreen, Yu takes the life-altering news stoically when Meng shows up to help her fight off an evil foe, Hades Dai (Jason Scott Lee).  But Yeoh and Yen discussed a variety of scenarios that could have played out in that first meeting.

“Donnie and I sort of took it to the extreme. Let's have her just smack the hell out of him. Let's have the two of them embarking on a slap fest. It's like, ‘How dare you do that!’ " says Yeoh. “We were killing ourselves laughing, thinking about what I would do to him.

“But it was clear that was the comedy version, Shu Lien would never do something like that,” says Yeoh. "That would be Michelle."

Meng had his reasons 20 years prior. He wanted to step out of the way, sensing his fiancée was in love with Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun Fat). Nice thought, but those two could never get together because of a warrior honor code — and Li died in battle in the original film (for real).

It all equals an untidy emotional situation in Crouching Tiger 2.

"I would freak out and have a meltdown" under those circumstances, says Natasha Liu Bordizzo, who plays the young warrior Snow Vase in the sequel.

Los Angeles psychologist Seth Meyers says even he has never dealt with a fiancé returning from the dead 20 years later.

“Most people would have a not-so-pleasant reaction to the news,” says Meyers. “Mending the relationship would require more than a therapist — perhaps a supernatural force. There is no real world in which that relationship can be repaired. There would be no trust, no real intimacy."

Donnie Yen is the 'Man' in Hong Kong action scene

But when you're martial arts warriors, "you move on very quickly to the next level. All of their lives are in danger and the big bad guy is charging through the gates," says Yeoh. "They had to resolve their issues real quick."

Yen did suggest one conciliatory move to Yeoh in rehearsals. Perhaps Meng should put his hand gingerly on Yu's shoulder? Yeoh threw that idea right back at him.

"I told him, 'You do that and you die,' " says Yeoh. "You've been pretending to be dead, suddenly you appear and you want to put your hand on my shoulder? That ain't gonna happen. Back off."