Warrior, “The Itchy Onion, Review!

A picture of a woman is held in closeup.  The door to a aship oepns to the daylight and the man, Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji) holding it walks out, bearded in a black shirt with his possessions in his bag.  It is San Francisco, 1878 and the crowds head to Customs and Immigration.  There is some racist chants by people on the other side of the fence, one is holding up a sign, “Send Back The Chinese.”  The language is intense, but there is a warning at the beginning of the content.  The man eyes this chaos.  A well dressed man, Wang Chao (Hoon Lee), speaks in Chinese to the immigrants in behalf of their employer, Lao Ting. Ah Sahm eyes the shouting crowd and compares it to Wang Chao’s welcome message.  Immigration officers check their papers. One bearded officer insults one immigrant and throws him down.  The immigrant collects his fallen food in his pan, but Ah Sahm tells him to leave it.  The officer confronts the first man and strikes him.  He speaks in English to not hit him again, classic Bruce Lee!  Three immigration officers are angry at his insults.  He strikes the two officers down cold.  The bearded officer does not fare better.  We get the Western guitar with the opening of the show. The credits note executive producers Shannon Lee, Bruce Lee’s daughter, and Justin Lin.  As well as listing that it is “Based on the writings of Bruce Lee.” Then, the series creator, Jonathan Tropper, who wrote the episode. 

WARRIOR -- “The Itchy Onion” -- ANDREW KOJI, JASON TOBIN -- photo credit: Graham Bartholomew/Cinemax. 

Carriages move through the streets of San Francisco, in one of them, Ah Sahm rides with Wang Chao.  They speak in Chinese and the first man explains that he speaks English because his grandfather was American. Wang Chao speaks to three men playing pai gao and he tells him, it shifts to English, there is the insult of the man as an “onion,”  One of the players says “This onion is itchy” at his insult.  Ah Sahm is taken to a board room and he introduces himself as Ah Sahm.  The leader, Father Jun (Perry Yung), says if he is a fighter, then he will be needed in the war with the Tongs.  The boss gets angry at Ah Sahm leaving without bowing to him.  His son, Young Jun (Jason Tobin), who introduced Ah Sahm takes him for a walk and takes him to his room.  The night streets, a police officer, Sergeant O’Hara (Kieran Bew) sees a man who dies in the street, he sees two men attacking two others, he gives a warning and then strikes them down with his club.  A man, the mayor, Samuel Blake (Christian McKay), is given a shave and greets a woman in a pink dress, his wife, Penelope Blake (Joanna Vanderham) in the morning.  They are greeted by Walter Buckley (Langley Kirkwood) who informs them about the attack on the Chinese men.  She tries to join in the conversation, but dismissed by her husband.  Berkely explains the arrested men work for Merriweather.  The mayor meets Mr. Merriweather (Andre Jacobs) in his office.  He wants his bricklaying men free and leaves them. 

Sergeant O’Hara enters the office of the police chief and is told he is assigned to Chinatown.  He is worried about the risk.  The mayor’s official has assigned him.  At a trial is officer William Henry Lee (Tom Weston-Jones) who testifies.  Ah Sahm practices in his room at night.  The boss’ son is proud of the opium trade.  Ah Sahm aasks about the women and the son takes him to a prostitution house.  They are met by Ah Toy (Olivia Cheng) who takes Young Jun up stairs, Ah Sahm follows, she rings a bell and the prostitutes line up.  The boss’ son takes away two ladies.  Ah Sahm asks about a woman who crossed two years ago, Jao Jing.  Sergeant O’Hara is drinking in a bar.  He overhears a man talking about fighting in wars and losing jobs to the Chinese.  The racist leader wants a war.  Men are walking down a hall while Young Jun is busy with his prostitute.  The woman is killed.  They ask Young Jun if he asked about Jao Jing.  Ah Sahm answers and walks down the stairs to talke on the men.  He sits on one.  The defeated men take out axes.  A great fight scene.  Young Jun sees how Ah Sahm took them out.  Ah Toy meets Ah Sahm outside and warns him.  He thinks Ah Toy or someone who works for her contacted the men.  Ah Sahm asks again about Jao Jing.  She says another man was looking for her one year ago.  The bearded officer meets with officers and looks for volunteers.  One officer, Lee, volunteers from Georgia.  He gets in a struggle with another drunk officer.  Sergeant O’Hara hires him.  

WARRIOR -- “The Itchy Onion” -- HOON LEE -- photo credit: David Bloomer/Cinemax.

A brand is made on Ah Sahm’s arm and he is congradulated by other men.  Yoon Joon walks the streets with his men and Ah Sahm.  The other people in the market look down respectfully at them.  Then, we see the bearded officer, Sergeant O’Hara, and new team member who talk as they patrol.  The bearded officer says he fought in Gettysberg.  They meet with Wang Chao who takes them to the back streets to the back of a restaurant.  He shows them axes and other weapons.  Lee is hesitant to deal with a criminal.  The rowdy Irish leader meets with others and they are worried about the police officer.  Young Jun gets payment from a shop owner.  Ah Sahm notices something with two men with pony tails and follows them.  He watches a man throwing knives and is surprised by Young Jun who takes him away.  O’Hara is back at the bar and talks to the leader, Leary, who is worried about Lee.  There is a street brawl in the rain where two men are fighting.  Savage fists and ends with a bloody crunch!  Ah Sah walks up to several men and announces he is looking for Jao Jing.  Inside a room, he is seated in front of the men, the leader asks how he knows Jao Jing.  He faces Ah Sahm.  Their fight is called off by a woman in red (Dianne Doan).  

Ah Sahm smiles at the sight of Jao Jing.  He wants to take her home and says that Soong Ying killed their father.  She is angry at the abuse she suffered from Soong Ying.  Jao Jing says her name now is Mai Ling.  She sees the brand on his arm and sends him away.  The rival gang leader is prepared for bed and Mao Ying talks to him before undressing and joining him.  At a bar, Ah Sahm orders a drink, he talks to Wang Chao (Hoon Lee).  He asks about returning back home.  Ah Toy joins them.  Wang Chao leaves them.  Ah Toy knew about his sister and takes him away.  In her room, she offers him a pipe of herbs, and tells her Jao Jing is his sister.  She undresses and Ah Sahm takes off his shirt to join her.  It is Skin-e-max.   Mai Ling joins a man in a carriage.  Drunk men are killed by a woman in a robe.  Ah Sahm wakes up and practices.  The action is great, the adult language and Skin-e-max scenes seem like trying to be Game of Thrones.  This is of course it’s own thing not the prime time series that turned into Kung Fu.  The only downside is that there is a long time before character names are mentioned or seen and it is just a flood of characters that are not identified.  It is sorta like a Western, but misses the trappings of the frontier town, guns, and horses.  It is interesting, I hope there is more focus on the story, I think the only stand out is Officer Lee. I actually would have liked his character as the protagonist. Ah Sahm is difficult to empathize, he is an engima since his past is unclear, and what is his course now that he has found his sister?  

Three Onions out of Five! 

#Warrior, #AndrewKoji, #JasonTobin, #OliviaCheng