The Checklist: Warrior (S1 Ep6) “Chewed Up, Spit Out and Stepped On”
When the news broke late last month that Warrior, the show based on the writings of Bruce Lee, had already been renewed for a second season by Cinemax… I was elated.
To say I have been enjoying the series would be a major understatement and knowing I’d be able to enjoy it for a second season just added to my joy. And I thought I’d share some of my Warrior joy by putting the sixth episode of the first season entitled “Chewed Up, Spit Out and Stepped On” to the Checklist test…
#1 – Are the Blakes still unhappily ever after?
It was established in the very first episode that Mayor Samuel Blake and his wife Penelope do not have the happiest of marriages. Penelope (Joanna Vanderham) agreed to marry Samuel as a way to help her family and certainly doesn’t display any sort of sexual attraction to the man. For Samuel having a beautiful wife is great for his public image… but what the public doesn’t see is the Mayor’s regular trips to the Chinatown brothel.
While she may be repulsed by her husband, there is a definite attraction between Penelope and our main protagonist Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji)… it all started when Ah Sahm came to Penelope’s aid when she and her Chinese man servant were being harassed on the streets by some drunken Irish thugs… a fight broke out, Ah Sahm kicked some major ass and ended up getting thrown in jail for it. But his act of chivalry did not go unnoticed by Penelope and the sparks started to fly.
As the second half of season one begins, we see Ah Sahm and Penelope making love in her art studio (this scene helped keep the Skinemax tradition alive), meanwhile on the streets of Chinatown everyone is celebrating the Chinese New Year… so the opening segment jumps between shots of the colorful dragon being paraded through Chinatown while the drums are playing and the spectators are reveling and Ah Sahm and Penelope in the throes of passion and it all leads up to the climax of both scenes… the sexual one between Ah Sahm and Penelope and the stick of dynamite that explodes under the platform where the head of the Hop Wei tong, Father Jun (Perry Yung) was watching the parade. 1/1
#2 – Were there any quality fight scenes?
After the assassination attempt on his father, Young Jun (Jason Tobin) assumes control of the Hop Wei while his father recuperates… and when he finds out the assassination attempt was the product of an unholy alliance between the Fung Hai and Long Zii tongs… Young Jun makes the call to go into Fung Hai territory and scrap… and scrap they do!
Young Jun, Ah Sahm and Bolo (can I mention how awesome it is that they have a character named Bolo on the show and that Rich Ting does a great job as the Hop Wei enforcer) walk right into the Fung Hai casino with the dead bodies of the guys who planted the dynamite, Young Jun hits the line “Happy Fucking New Year” and then the blades are out and the fight is on!
This fight was so good, I’ve rewatched the scene twice and I would actually rank this as the second best fight of the season so far (I’d give the top spot to Ah Sahm’s fight in the jail cell at this point of the season).
Young Jun is quickly becoming my favorite character… the guy is tremendously loyal. With every episode his bond with Ah Sahm grows stronger, so he comes across as the type of guy you’d want as a friend. Plus he is just so damn cool, he’s banging chicks left and right, he walks around Chinatown like he owns the place… plus that hair! 2/2
#3 – Was there a Joe Taslim sighting on this episode?
During my first look at Warrior, I had some bad intel… I was of the belief that Joe Taslim’s character Li Yong was more of a recurring special guest type character than an actual regular member of the cast… then I watched every week and with the exception of Episode 5… Joe Taslim has appeared, albeit in small doses but he has appeared.
The same could be said here as Taslim’s Li Yong (a high ranking member of the Long Zii tong) is shown passing the stick of dynamite to the Fung Hai for the assassination of Father Jun. 3/3
#4 – Is Walter Buckley still the biggest weasel on the show?
Walter Buckley (Langley Kirkwood) is the Mayor’s right hand man… but he is also a major shit disturber. In “Chewed Up, Spit Out and Stepped On” we get a clear vision as to why Buckley is so intent on a full on tong war breaking out in Chinatown… he is doing it to help the political agenda of Senator Robert Crestwood… a man who wants to be President Robert Crestwood and man who has promised to take Buckley with him on that ride.
In episode 6, the seeds of war that Buckley has been planting all season start bearing fruit with the assassination attempt on Father Jun making the front page of the papers and the retaliation efforts of the Hop Wei are sure to continue to make that a part of the news cycle and further the Buckley/Crestwood agenda. 4/4
#5 – Did Big Bill’s downward spiral continue?
Officer “Big Bill” O’Hara (Kieran Bew) is one of the more interesting characters on the show. Here he is… a law man, who finds himself in a job he really doesn’t want (head of the Chinatown squad), doing things that a law man shouldn’t be doing (taking bribes, participating in illegal gambling, setting Ah Sahm up to be killed in his jail cell, etc.)
But Big Bill may have finally hit rock bottom in “Chewed Up, Spit Out and Stepped On” after incurring a huge gambling debt one night at the Fung Hai casino… Bill took one helluva beating from the Fung Hai’s hired gun/former cop Jack Damon. Damon gave Bill three weeks to pay up OR ELSE. Bill, not having that money to pay off his debt decides to set Damon up… Damon gets a beating 10 times worse than Bill took, but then Bill has to make the decision to either finish the job or wait for Damon to recuperate and come looking for revenge. Really pivotal moment for the Big Bill character. 5/5
Final Score: 5/5 (100%) Another perfect score for Warrior and well deserved. There are so many moving parts to the show and with only four episodes remaining in the first season… I have a feeling the rest of the season is going to be moving at a frenetic pace and I can’t wait.
