[Warrior’s greatest strengths have always lied in its ability to
combine deft social commentary, such as the parallels between the
racist and xenophobic attitudes of 19th-century San Francisco and the
alarming spike in anti-Asian attacks during Covid ]
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PORTSIDE CULTURE

WARRIOR SEASON 3 REVIEW: GRITTY MARTIAL ARTS DRAMA IS BACK WITH A
VENGEANCE  
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Max Gao
June 27, 2023
AV Club
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_ Warrior’s greatest strengths have always lied in its ability to
combine deft social commentary, such as the parallels between the
racist and xenophobic attitudes of 19th-century San Francisco and the
alarming spike in anti-Asian attacks during Covid _

Andrew Koji, Photo: David Bloomer/Max

 

More than two and a half years after being unceremoniously canceled
on Cinemax
[[link removed]], _Warrior_
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martial-arts crime drama set during the brutal Tong Wars in late
19th-century San Francisco, has risen from the ashes and returned with
a vengeance for a long-awaited, jam-packed third season,
which premieres June 29 on Max
[[link removed]].
Picking up in the aftermath of the race riots between the Chinese and
the Irish that upended Chinatown, the latest chapter of the criminally
underrated series continues to offer incisive insights into the
Chinese American experience while bringing multiple conflicts, which
could change the perilous power balance in the city, to a head.

After playing a pivotal role in holding back the Irish onslaught in
the season-two finale, protagonist Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji)—who first
crossed the Pacific in search of his sister, only to be forced into
one of the Tongs and discover that she is part of a rival gang—finds
himself playing the role of a local legend in Chinatown, complete with
a massive new portrait painted on the side of a building. But all of
that attention does not preclude him from feeling the squeeze of a
heightened police presence in the area. With the cops enforcing a bevy
of cruel ordinances targeting Chinese workers and businesses, the
Tongs, as well as the larger Chinese immigrant population, are
becoming increasingly desperate and looking for new ways to
survive—and tensions are running high on all fronts.

REVIEWS [[link removed]]

Warrior

A-

SEASON

3

As the new leader of the Hop Wei, Young Jun (Jason Tobin) begins to
question not only his own ability to assume the mantle once occupied
by his domineering father (Perry Yung) but also the loyalty of his
right-hand man, Ah Sahm, whom he recently discovered is the estranged
brother of Mai Ling (Dianne Doan), the no-nonsense leader of the rival
Long Zii. While her subordinates worry about fighting in turf wars,
Mai Ling has set her sights on consolidating her power in Chinatown
and beyond. She is still in cahoots with Walter Buckley (Langley
Kirkwood), the acting mayor of San Francisco who has been keeping the
police off the back of the Long Zii. Speaking of the police, Sgt. Bill
O’Hara (Kieran Bew) isn’t as close to the chief’s job as he
thinks he is, and Richard Lee (Tom Weston-Jones) is still hellbent on
not returning to his post at the San Francisco Police Department, but
he can’t resist a call to investigate counterfeit bills that pop up
in Chinatown.

Despite the warnings of her lover Li Yong (Joe Taslim), whose own
loyalty and ability to protect her this season will be tested, Mai
Ling believes that she can use her allure as an Asian woman to join
the inner circles of white women and go into business with their
husbands. Ah Toy (Olivia Cheng), the madam of a Chinatown brothel who
was seriously injured at the end of last season before Mai Ling
unexpectedly came to her aid, continues to seek refuge with Nellie
Davenport (Miranda Raison), a widowed white woman who has become her
lover and offers asylum to Chinese migrants on her vineyard in Sonoma.
Much like the first season, in which Ah Sahm has an affair with
Penelope Blake (Joanna Vanderham), the stifled wife of the
now-deceased mayor, the latest batch of episodes offers an interesting
commentary on the limits of trying to align with whiteness in the
Western world for non-white immigrants. It also underlines the reality
that, despite speaking the same language and having the same needs and
wants to build a life for themselves, many of them are still
considered “less American” than their white counterparts. (In that
same vein, the show asks the question: “Who gets to decide who is
truly American?”)

[Andrew Koji, Olivia Cheng]

Andrew Koji, Olivia Cheng

Photo: David Bloomer/Max

_Warrior_’s greatest strengths have always lied in its ability to
combine deft social commentary, such as the parallels that could be
drawn between the racist and xenophobic attitudes of 19th-century San
Francisco in the show and the alarming spike in anti-Asian attacks
during the Covid-19 pandemic, with high-octane fight sequences, which
have only gotten better year after year. And while it could easily try
to paint the Chinese as the victims of this story, the show fleshes
out the motivations of the other warring factions—the shifty
politicians, the corrupt cops, the working-class Irish (led by Dean
Jagger’s Dylan Leary, who is back to being more of a gangster this
season)—to the point where viewers are at least forced to consider
where they are coming from and how the exploitation of the working
class has further intensified these attitudes. But given
that _Warrior_ has never shied away from showing the uglier parts of
American history to craft a compelling narrative, there is still
something particularly cathartic about watching the Chinese characters
fight back in real time and rail against those pervasive and
entrenched racist attitudes about their people. (The riots in the
season-two finale may be the first and last time we see any kind of
solidarity across Tongs, so it’s always a treat when they’re able
to team up against a common enemy who isn’t Chinese.)

Having starred in _Bullet Train_ and _Snake Eyes_ in between
seasons, Koji returns to the show with a cool and quiet confidence
that may just be a result of him feeling more comfortable in his own
skin as an actor. Along with Tobin and Taslim, Koji continues to bring
remarkable verve and effervescence to each of his fights that demand
full-body contact and commitment, and stunt coordinator Brett Chan
continues to find new ways and places for these characters to fight
while finding little beats in the fights to show their humanity and
motivations. Although Ah Toy does not pick up a sword as much this
season, Cheng continues to imbue the role with a mix of ferocity and
vulnerability in her fight scenes that makes her one of the show’s
most exciting and enigmatic characters, even if she feels more
underused and underserved this time around outside of her storyline
with Nellie.

Warrior Season 3 | Official Trailer | Max

Although the middle of the season loses some narrative steam and
frustratingly places less of an emphasis on the combative sibling
relationship between Ah Sahm and Mai Ling (which is one of the
cornerstones of the show and a major source of conflict between the
Tongs), the final episodes reset the power balance in Chinatown with
broken and newly formed alliances and a shockingly high body count. It
remains to be seen if the cast and writers will be given an
opportunity to explore that new power dynamic, particularly with the
show hurdling toward the egregious Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, but
one thing is for certain: _Warrior_ still knows how to pack a punch.

_WARRIOR_ SEASON THREE PREMIERES JUNE 29 ON MAX 

* warrior
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* max
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* Asian American history
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* discrimination
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* anti-Asian violence
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