You Should Be Watching: Warrior (Season 1)
The first season of the Bruce Lee inspired series Warrior has come to an end, making this the perfect time to reflect on the season as a whole…
- Good First Impression: Warrior was my first exposure to the work of Andrew Koji, who plays Ah Sahm, the central character in the series. The audience gets to follow Ah Sahm’s journey from the moment he steps off the boat from China and arrives in San Francisco. Ah Sahm has to immediately deal with racist immigration officers and Irish laborers, who are protesting the Chinese people who are coming over and taking their jobs. Before he knows it, Ah Sahm finds himself recruited by the Hop Wei tong… which happens to be the rival tong to the Long Zi tong, which his sister is a major player in… the same sister Ah Sahm traveled to America to find and bring home to China. The conflict of interest for Ah Sahm makes navigating in the world of Chinatown challenging to say the least. To further complicate his life, Ah Sahm finds himself having an affair with the mayor’s wife. Whoever cast Andrew Koji for the role deserves a monetary bonus of some kind, because Koji is absolutely perfect as Ah Sahm. Koji has a quiet intensity about him which probably is why when it is time for him to turn it up a notch in the fight scenes it adds an extra level of drama to the proceedings.
- Kung Fu Fighting: Going back to the post I wrote on the first episode, “The Itchy Onion”, I stressed how important it was for a series that was inspired by Bruce Lee to have high quality martial arts action. Stunt coordinator Brett Chan deserves a standing ovation for his work on the series. Every episode is punctuated with at least one high quality fight scene thanks to Chan’s work and the talented group of actors and stunt performers at Chan’s disposal. I also like that we get a good mix of martial arts action from the Tong members and good old fashioned, bare knuckle street fighting from the police and the members of the Irish mob. I also commend Warrior for taking full advantage of their premium cable home and not shying away from the brutality and the blood in these fight scenes.
- Supporting Cast: I can rave about Andrew Koji’s performance all day long, but it wouldn’t mean much to the show if Koji did not have a strong ensemble cast to interact with. Let’s start with the ladies first… Dianne Doan plays Mai Ling, Ah Sahm’s sister and an ambitious woman who during the course of season one sees her power grow within the Long Zi tong. Doan plays the character very cold and calculating for the most part, but now and again there are hints of humanity that peek through, especially where her brother is concerned… Olivia Cheng plays Ah Toy, the madame of the brothel and another of Chinatown’s power brokers. Ah Toy sees the big picture and remains neutral in the Tong Wars as she wages her own personal war on those who choose to oppress and abuse the Chinese people… then there is Joanna Vanderham, who plays Penelope Blake… wife of the mayor and for a portion of season one, lover of Ah Sahm. Penelope is outspoken and empathizes with the Chinese people being treated like second class citizens, since as a woman she too is looked down upon by men like her husband… One character that always jumps off the screen for me is Jason Tobin’s Young Jun. The amount of swagger Young Jun has is immeasurable. Young Jun is Ah Sahm’s closest ally in the Hop Wei and being the son of the head of the Hop Wei tong, makes Young Jun a great ally to have… The most tragic character in the entire series is “Big” Bill O’Hara. O’Hara is the head of the Chinatown Squad for the San Francisco Police Department… he is also a man who finds out the hard way when you make one mistake they often snowball into other mistakes. Every time I thought things couldn’t get any worse for Bill, Warrior proved me wrong.
If I had to compare Warrior to any other show I have experienced in the past it would be Boardwalk Empire.
Like Boardwalk Empire, Warrior takes us back in time and gives us a glimpse of the criminal underworld, the politics that surround it and the compelling characters that find themselves living in this world.
But unlike Boardwalk Empire, Warrior has the kind of action that action junkies thrive on… and to its credit it is not just action for the sake of action or fight scenes for the sake of fight scenes… the action serves a purpose and furthers the storylines.
For those of you who have not checked out Warrior yet, I can’t recommend it enough.
For those of you who were loyal Warrior viewers, I recommend you checking out my Season One Awards below…
- Less Is More Award: Joe Taslim’s Li Yong isn’t a character you see a ton of in every episode, but that made his big moments in season one all the more special.
- Best Fight: For much of the season I felt the best fight on the show was Ah Sahm’s jail cell brawl… but then the season finale gave us Ah Sahm’s factory fight and that blew all other fights out of the water.
- Most Shocking Death: When they killed off Bolo (Rich Ting) I could not believe my eyes. Rest in Power big man!
- Unsung Hero: Hoon Lee’s character of Wang Chao is more often than not the straw that is stirring the drink… I have not given his character enough praise in my coverage of the series.
- Most Hated Character: Langley Kirkwood’s Walter Buckley… hands down.
- Best Set: The whole look of the show is to be commended. As I have said before it is so easy to find yourself immersed in the world that Warrior has created due to the vision and work of so many behind the scenes people… but Warrior really out did itself in episode 9 and the set used for the big fight between Ah Sahm and Li Yong… it was like a mix between Bloodsport and The Quest and it was awesome.
