Warrior: The Blood and the Sh*t

May 8, 2019 2:49 PM - Season 1, Episode 5

Transporting precious cargo via stagecoach through the Sierra Nevada, Ah Sahm and Young Jun are forced to spend the night with three strangers at a frontier saloon in the middle of nowhere. The detour turns perilous when a notorious outlaw, Harlan French, shows up with his henchmen, looking for a lucrative payday.

Hostilities Ignite When Two Kung-Fu Masters Walk Into a Bar in the Old West -- Cinemax’s brutal drama takes on the classic saloon shootout through the lens of Chinese Americans. (Hanh Nguyen for Indie Wire)

the episode takes a detour from the rest of the season by having Hop Wei members Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji) and Young Jun (Jason Tobin) travel outside of the familiarity of San Francisco’s Chinatown on a stagecoach through the Sierra Nevada. When they’re forced to spend the night with strangers at a frontier saloon in the middle of nowhere, things heat up when a notorious outlaw arrives on the scene.

Directed by Kevin Tancharoen (“Agents of SHIELD,” “The Flash,” “Iron Fist”), the episode builds to a violent climax that mixes Old West gunplay and badass kung-fu. The episode also includes guest star C.S. Lee as Lu, a Chinese immigrant who’s made the saloon his life.

“Just as an Asian American, it’s incredible to be on a set where I had a moment to look around and be like, ‘Oh my god, most of these actors are Asian,’” said Tancharoen. “That’s crazy. I’m not used to that.

posted by filthy light thief (5 comments total)

This was a fantastic episode.

I'm not usually a fan of "bottle" episodes, but this one was done so well I'm finding that maybe I've been wrong the whole time. The short relationship between Young Jun and the Cherokee girl was really well done. I liked the guy from Dexter as the bar owner and his wife(?) were both great actors. I felt a serious dislike for the guy who played the outlaw leader, which is usually an indication that he did a good job.

I'm enjoying the show so far, and am impatiently waiting for each episode to come out. Glad to hear that they got renewed for a second season.
posted by Sphinx at 6:00 PM on May 9, 2019 [1 favorite]

Agreed -- this was a fantastic episode. I'd go so far as to say I'd rather watch Ah Sahm and Young Jun just wander the earth and get into adventures than go back to the drama and intrigue of SF Chinatown.
posted by bradf at 10:43 AM on May 10, 2019 [2 favorites]

Too cool!

I liked the 'riding into the sunset' homage, but I had to double check to make sure there were a few more episodes left.

Fun to see guy from Dexter (CS Lee ) with a totally different personality profile than Vince Masuka.
posted by porpoise at 2:08 PM on May 12, 2019

Oh, and I guess technically they're riding into a sunrise.
posted by porpoise at 3:21 PM on May 12, 2019

Well that was a throat-rippin' good time.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:25 PM on May 13, 2019