Bullet Points: Warrior (S3 Ep6) “A Soft Heart Won’t Do You No Favors”
Episode 6 of Warrior Season 3 dropped earlier today and after having some time to digest it, I can safely say at this point it was my favorite episode of the season (and not just because Buckley doesn’t appear), let’s get to it…
- The Big Boss: Mai Ling (Dianne Doan) has set up her new Hop Wei business partners in an ice factory on her turf so they can continue their counterfeiting operation without fear of being caught. Not surprisingly, Young Jun (Jason Tobin) is not a fan of the arrangement and is not afraid to make his feelings known. The master strategist Mai Ling lets Young Jun vent his frustrations and then diverts his attention to the developing romance between her brother/his best friend Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji) and their ONLY printer Yan Mi. Planting the seed that it could lead to trouble in the future… With Father Jun back in Chinatown he tips off Young Jun about a potential deal to turn some of their counterfeit bills into silver, working with some Germans outside of Chinatown. This deal could help build up the Hop Wei coffers if/when Mai Ling stops playing nice… and that means we are getting Ah Sahm and Young Jun on the road and that never ends without chaos… plus, Father Jun is tagging along since he knows the Germans from past dealings with their father.
- Riding the Rails: The Hop Wei aren’t the only ones heading out of Chinatown. Last week’s episode ended with quite the cliffhanger as Secret Service Agent Lee (Tom Weston-Jones) and Wang Chao (Hoon Lee) found themselves on the wrong side of Happy Jack. In Episode 6, the two find themselves chained up in a boxcar heading to Georgia where Lee is still a wanted man… and the people who cut the deal with Happy Jack, Lee’s own cousins… but for good reason, because it was kin that Lee killed in Georgia that caused him to flee to San Francisco to start a new life. Now that they have their cousin, Lee’s family is looking to be his judge, jury and executioner… and since they don’t have pleasant plans for Chao, they become a common enemy for Lee and and Chao to rally against… but how long will that partnership last?
- Hitting the Road: The moment Ah Sahm, Young Jun and Father Jun arrive at the town that the Germans operate out of, there is tension in the air. To everyone’s credit they are able to hammer out a deal, the Germans even insist on the Hop Wei trio spending the night so they can enjoy some food, some alcohol and some women… this leads to one of Young Jun’s more memorable sexual escapades and while Young Jun is being dominated in the bedroom, Father Jun and Ah Sahm are able to chat and understand one another better. Things turn sour however later after Father Jun turns in and Ah Sahm and Young Jun are out in the town square, when they hear a commotion… a young Chinese boy is being beaten in the streets after he was accused of stealing. Ah Sahm steps in and things seem to settle down… until the next morning when they see the boy, dead tied up to a post on the way out of town with a sign labeling him a thief. Father Jun tries to convince Ah Sahm that it isn’t his fight and remind him that going back will most certainly end their deal… but that’s not Ah Sahm’s way… he goes back into town, with Young Jun right there to back up his friend… and reluctantly Father Jun grabs a shotgun from the stagecoach and joins in! The action that follows is exactly why I love Warrior so much, And to top it all off, Shannon Lee makes an appearance and joins in on the ass kicking!
With this episode dropping on the 50th Anniversary of the untimely death of Bruce Lee, it is fitting that a show based on a treatment he wrote has two tributes to him… obviously his daughter Shannon being a part of it and I am sure I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t help of think about The Big Boss when the Long Zi and the Hop Wei were in the ice factory at the start of the episode.
Now it is time to ask a few questions…
- Is Douglas Strickland the best villain in Warrior history?: Dylan Leary is the invited guest of Douglas Strickland III at a swanky affair being thrown by mayoral candidate Thayer. And it is there Leary and the rest of us get a further education on just how diabolical Strickland can be and it seems like he is just getting started.
- How is Big Bill doing?: I was hoping to find out what was next for Big Bill now that he is no longer a member of the SFPD… I guess we will find out in Episode 7.
- Will Zing return in Episode 7?: We are starting to run out of season and there’s still no sign of Dustin Nguyen’s Zing…. will Episode 7 be his return??
