In as much as going outside Chinatown was interesting on Warrior Season 3 Episode 6, everything good happens there, and it was good to be back.
Father Jun’s life was in danger after he took a bullet in his abdomen. This turn of events had Ah Sahm feeling guilty for the role he played in it.
Father Jun’s return was like a prayer answered for Young Jun, who had not been doing a good job as the Hop Wei leader since his father’s departure. There was an unspoken understanding between them where Father Jun offered his counsel while Young Jun ran the tong.
And even more importantly, no matter what had transpired between them in the past, Father Jun was still Young Jun’s father, and the thought of losing one’s father is always scary.
Ah Sahm was climbing walls with guilt because if he’d only left well enough alone.
His confession to Yan Mi had him learn something that would put both of them in danger were Young Jun to find out about it.
Young Jun and Ah Sahm had this unspoken fear between them because Young Jun had always felt threatened by Ah Sahm. He knew he was never Father Jun’s first choice for Hop Wei leader, and with how strong and respected Ah Sahm was, staging a coup would be easy.
Somehow, there always was this looming idea that even if Young Jun was the one being called boss, Ah Sahm was the real boss, and no one would dare admit it.
That scared them both.
Young Jun had always been insecure, and with his father’s sanity up in the air, the little security he had mustered in the last few months evaporated, and he was back to the little boy who could never be good enough.
Young Jun: My father’s losing his fucking mind because my best friend had to play hero. Now we’re shoveling shit for his sister. Are you sensing a pattern here?
Hong: The last thing he wanted was to make a deal with Mai Ling. He did it to help you.
Young Jun: I suppose he’s fucking that printer girl to help me too, right? We’re supposed to be brothers. And now I gotta find out what he’s been up to from Mai Ling. It’s fucking bullshit. We have let too many goddamn fucking outsiders in. The Hope Wei has to come first. But Ah Sahm? I’m not sure believes that.
Hong: If we can get rich without dicing each other, and maybe this partnership isn’t so bad.
Young Jun: Sometimes I forget just how fresh you are, man. Peace never lasts. And when this deal with Mai Ling blows up, I’m going to need soldiers who are loyal to me. And when it comes to Ah Sahm.
Hong: He’d die for you, boss.
Young Jun: I’m not sure about that.
And when that happens, he usually lashes out. That came in the manner of voicing his distrust of Ah Sahm.
A racial war was brewing between the Irish and the Chinese after some men from both factions acted inflammatorily on Warrior Season 3 Episode 7.
One can say with one hundred percent certainty that the Irish started it. They had refused to work alongside the Chinese but were bold enough to steal what the Chinese had worked so hard for.
Two things that can make a man weak are hunger and disease. Hunger had arrived in the Irish camp, and the Chinese gained the upper hand.
With every dawn, tensions between the Irish and the Chinese were always heating up and nearing boiling point. There was one race war on Warrior Season 2, but that didn’t mean everything had been resolved.
It was temporary harmony for every camp to regroup and count their losses. That period was over.
As long as they both didn’t notice that they were quite similar in every way apart from skin tone, they would be warring till kingdom come.
We are weeks away from having the mayor who’s gonna ban Chinese labor once and for all. All the jobs are about to come our way. And who did that? Was it you? Going home and getting your ass kicked. Was it any of youse? I am the only one looking out for you lot. Day after day. Defending you against men who see you as thugs and hooligans. No better than the chinks, just more expensive.
Leary
Both groups were immigrants trying to improve their lives but were at the mercy of an exploitative nation. Powerful people would use their differences to keep them apart and weaken them.
In one of the tensest scenes ever, Leary and Ah Sahm managed to broker a peace agreement in their own hardheaded way, but that had an expiry date.
Ah Sahm: What the fuck are you doing here?
Leary: Relax, I’m not here for the fight.
Ah Sahm: Do I look worried?
Leary: Some of your boys attacked an Irishman as he minded his own business last night, beat him pretty badly.
Ah Sahm: Shit happens.
Leary: I’m trying to stop that shift from turning into a full blown riot. If your hand over those boys. We’ll call it even.
Ah Sahm: Sure. As soon as you give us the men who robbed one of our grocers.
Leary: Those lots already locked up.
Ah Sahm: Sounds like a no deal there.
Leary: My people are out for blood.
Ah Sahm: So what are they waiting for?
Leary: We both know what will happen if I let them go.
Ah Sahm: Since when do you care what happens in Chinatown?
Leary: I don’t. I care about what happens to my people. Your menn cross a line.
Ah Sahm: Kinda like you’re doing right now.
Leary: I’m just delivering a message. Keep the Chinese out of our fucking neighborhood.
Ah Sahm: I got some bad news for you. I don’t control China down.
Leary: There’s a 10 foot focking portrait on the wall. Says otherwise. I’ll keep my boys in if you keep yours out. Maybe between the two of us. We keep a bunch of people from ending up dead.
Ah Sahm: I’ll do what I can.
The dialogue in that scene was just perfect. But it served to show just how similar they all were. Both groups had protectors looking out for their interests who would use any means to keep them safe, even if that included breaking bones.
Leary had been on a winning streak since he met Douglas, but he had taken a hit when he met Chief Atwood.
Chief Atwood, for all his faults, had one upstanding thing about him. He regarded everyone as being similar under the law. Yes, he is very racist, but it might have gone all way.
Leary had gotten used to bullying the police using the might of the Irish workforce, but that trick had lost its charm.
San Fransisco police had been running the city like The Animal Farm, where some animals were more equal than others, and time was up.
Atwood was not my favorite person, but watching him put Leary in his proper position was thrilling. The balls on Leary to barge into a police chief’s office and demand offenders be released because they were white, and the Chinese were the ones offended. Baffling stuff, really.
Chief Atwood: I’m in the business of law and order. My predecessor might have turned a blind eye to your drunken thuggery, but it’s a new day.
Leary: You sure this is how you want to play this?
Chief Atwood: I’m dead fucking certain.
Big Bill was back in the workforce, starting from the bottom.
It was unclear where Warrior Season 3 was taking Big Bill’s story, but after his day of honest hard work, they might set him up to return to the police force with a fresh mindset.
Police work was hard and unrewarding, but bursting head beat being sore from toe to head any day. His wife was happy about it, but Big Bill was living in hell.
Warrior Season 3’s trailer had teased alliances, and they were here.
Mai Ling prepared for her wedding and gave out invitations in a manner that had many people surprised.
She had learned that all they had was each other, and the outside world might never accept them. She pretty much had Chinatown under her control, but the approach would be different this time. Instead of war, why not peace?
So she extended an olive branch by inviting Ah Sahm and Ah Toy to her wedding.
What was happening was what should have happened a long time ago — the Chinese united.
Li Yong delivered Father Jun unharmed to the Hop Wei, which was kind even if Young Jun didn’t say thank you, he appreciated.
Mai Ling settled a dispute between a madam and a pimp, preventing bloodshed.
Everything seemed very cordial in a manner never seen before.
This is the alliance we’ve been waiting for
Elsewhere, Lee was back in town, and the past events after his encounter with his aunt had shaken him up.
Killing three people in cold blood must have shocked him, and it was understandable he was so withdrawn. But what would he have done? Let them kill him?
Happy Jack got what he had coming, but it was shocking that Abigail did it.
The man was her brother! She must either love Lee very much or is unhinged. In both cases, Lee should be concerned.
In a shocking twist, Agent Mosley didn’t die. It finally made sense why San Francisco wasn’t crawling with federal law enforcement.
Seeing him alive and kicking was so satisfying because, as I stated in Warrior Season 3 Episode 4 review, he was fun to watch.
Now he had a personal vendetta, and, in his words, it didn’t feel like he was messing around.
“Gotta Be Crooked in a Crooked World” delivered another entertaining Warrior episode with one wishing for more. The second half of the season has been becoming quite entertaining.
What did you think? Will the Tongs find common ground and unite against those wanting to do their people wrong?
Hit the comments section.
Denis Kimathi is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. He has watched more dramas and comedies than he cares to remember. Catch him on social media obsessing over [excellent] past, current, and upcoming shows or going off about the politics of representation on TV. Follow him on Twitter.