Over 50 years ago, Bruce Lee wrote a treatment for a show called Warrior, featuring a character named Ah Sahm using martial arts in the American Old West. He was unable to get past the pitch meeting with executives, who were apprehensive that television audiences were not ready for an Asian American lead. That vision was finally realized in 2019 when Warrior debuted on Cinemax. Lee’s daughter Shannon, along with Fast & Furious 6 director Justin Lin took the kung fu legend’s writings and paired with showrunner Jonathan Tropper (Banshee) to bring it to life. Audiences today are more than ready, and the series, which just completed its second season, is remarkable.
In 1878, Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji, Peaky Blinders) crosses the salt into San Francisco, searching for his sister Mai Ling (Dianne Doan, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), where he quickly finds himself scrapping. His serious fighting skills catch the eye of Chao (Hoon Lee, Banshee), who collects a fee for bringing him to the most powerful tong in Chinatown, where he impresses and becomes a hatchet man. From the first time we see Ah Sahm fight, the Bruce Lee influence is unmistakable and deliberate. He is arrogant, doesn’t conform to a particular style, and even copies famous mannerisms like tasting his own blood to show that he’s not phased. While Koji certainly isn’t making the mistake of trying to be Lee, he’s at least Lee adjacent, and he’s also a damn good actor.
Each fight is extraordinarily well choreographed by Brett Chan, no matter its scale, and the action sequences throughout the series can range from an intimate contest between two people, or a riot encompassing the entire town, as seen in the ambitious episode, “Enter the Dragon.” The martial arts seem to rival or surpass anything captured on screen before, and they don’t simply rely on quick cutaways or camera tricks. Often there seem to be many cameras filming simultaneously to capture multiple angles of one continuous shot, as well as depict other actions happening around the main focus.
Enough really can’t be said for the quality of the action set pieces, and there are several each season large enough to serve as the climactic finale to a film, but they are sporadic as the storyline calls for it. It’s not always limited to martial arts either, as a plethora of interesting characters inhabit the city and surrounding areas, which lends itself to all methods of violence, including good old-fashioned gunfights. One particular episode from the first season, “The Blood and the Shit,” stood out from the others, and for good reason. The episode finds Ah Sahm, the son of the Tong’s leader Father Jun (Perry Yung, John Wick: Chapter 2), and easily one of the most enjoyable characters of the series, Young Jun (Jason Tobin, Jasmine), who is Sahm’s closest friend in the Tong, stuck in a small frontier saloon that comes under siege by outlaws. It plays like a really well-executed western and advances the characters’ bond immensely.
Warrior truly features a massively talented ensemble cast, who all portray characters rich with depth, and are given ample screen time to remain integral to the story. While Ah Sahm is the unquestionable star, it’s his interactions with each of these people, all with their own motivations and convictions, which keeps the story from becoming one dimensional. His relationship with Mai Ling is complicated beyond reason and only rivaled by his with the Mayor’s (Christian McKay, Me and Orson Welles), wife Penelope Blake (Joanna Vanderham, The Runaway). Brothel owner and much more, Ah Toy (Olivia Cheng, Deadly Class) takes a backseat to no one in terms of complexity and skill, and Mai Ling’s lover and right-hand man, Li Yong (Joe Taslim, The Raid: Redemption), poses the most serious threat to Ah Sahm in combat. Their fight in “Chinese Boxing,” representing the interests of the Hop Wei and Long Zii tongs, is a thing of beauty, and brutality, that would undoubtedly have made Lee proud.
In terms of characters that seem doomed to suffer, the police officers assigned to Chinatown, Bill (Kieran Bew, Liar) and Lee (Tom Weston Jones, Copper), often find themselves in violent situations, usually caused by holes that Bill has dug himself into. Lee begins the show serving as a moral compass, but his gradual deterioration highlights the way that the city chews up and spits out anyone unwilling to get their hands dirty. Imposing Irishman Dylan Leary (Dean Jagger, Game of Thrones), fancies himself to be a man of principals, and spends his time standing up for his brethren whom have lost their jobs to the Chinese who are being brought in for cheaper labor. As such, he finds himself frequently at odds with Ah Sahm, even though they may share more similarities than he’d care to admit. These individuals described just scratch the surface of those influencing Chinatown, and this does little justice to describe their place in the politics, racism, and violence, or speak to the aptitudes of the actors that portray them brilliantly.
Okay, one more character must be mentioned — Hong (Chen Tang, Mulan), who joins the cast in season two and quite literally fights his way into becoming the annoying brother neither Ah Sahm nor Yung Jun knew they needed. His innocent demeanor and brutal honesty may seem entirely out of place for their cruel environment, but he gives the show the additional levity that it lacked, especially as the trio finds themselves more in need of it.
Tropper, coming off of success with his show Banshee, brings a lot of what worked with that series to Warrior, but it also seems to be highly influenced by what should be unarguably regarded as one of the better series today, Peaky Blinders. Both are period pieces where everyone is fighting for their position in the world, but it’s the intricate dialogue, high-stress plots, and eerie calm of their main character that set them apart. Combine that with the old Hollywood coolness of smoking cigarettes in sleek suites, inspired cinematography, and an ironically modern score, and you capture not just a flattering imitation, but something that capitalizes on what has shown to be a great model, and makes it its own. The only thing that ever seemed forced were gratuitous sex scenes that were prevalent in season one but then became much tamer as the show went on, perhaps due to the realization that the writing and action were enough to satisfy audiences.
The show’s audience is the big question that Warrior faces after its move to HBO Max following Cinemax’s decision to cease original content. While the series is effectively dead at the moment, perhaps becoming available on the streaming platform will gain it the notoriety and exposure necessary to see its resurrection a second time. It’s trajectory certainly lends itself to a long run, if the decision-makers see fit to give it the chance it has most certainly earned as nothing has been properly resolved. Let’s hope that Warrior can “be water” and find a way to adapt and continue.
