By Jana Monji
In the penultimate episode of Season 1, the Warrior will find out just who he is after a death match of Chinese Boxing. Ah Sahm’s relationship with the mayor’s wife, Penelope (Joanna Vanderham), will become an open secret and Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji) will begin to find purpose as hallucinatory flashbacks reveal Ah Sahm and Mai Ling’s (Dianne Doan) past.
The episode begins with Penelope’s father, Byron Mercer (Jacques Bessenger) making a deal with the thuggish Irish labor leader Dylan Leary (Dean Jagger). Mercer wants eight men per shift for three shifts of a certain job; Leary insists on 12. They agree on 10. That means six more people than Mercer actually budgeted for. One imagines, that for each task, similar deals are being made.
Another businessman, Wang Chao (Hoon Lee) is setting up a venue for fighting. Without electrical lights in that era, he’ll be using a ring of fire hung above a boxing platform. At opposite ends of the boxing ring are raised platforms for the tong leaders of the Hop Wei and the Long Zii.
In the last episode, the Hop Wei and the Long Zi tongs were convinced to settle their differences by having a death match between their chosen representatives. Mai Ling’s lover, Li Yong (Joe Taslim) will be representing the Long Zii. A broken-hearted Ah Sahm had no choice and will be representing the Hop Wei.
On the night of the match, Sergeant Bill O’Hara (Kieran Bew) and Richard Lee (Tom Weston-Jones) are patrolling the empty streets of Chinatown, wondering where everyone is. They see a single man scurrying through the streets and following him, they find a street fair and , in a large room, a boxing ring is set up with spectators betting. Wang Chao assures them that this is “just some neighborhood entertainment.” It is just a “prize fight” and “everything peaceful” because “people want to have a good time” even though all the tongs are there.
When Ah Sahm and Yong Li enter the ring as priests give their blessings, O’Hara recognizes Ah Sahm and places a bet on him. Yet when the fighting starts, O’Hara tells Lee, “I don’t know what the hell kind of boxing this is but if they can all fight like this, we’re in some deep shit.” Then he notices that Penelope is in the crowd.
Just as it looks like Ah Sahm will win, Ah Sahm waits too long to take the sash and a wounded Yong Li gets up and hits Ah Sahm hard, leaving him woozy. Yong Li looks to Mai Ling as he prepares to break Ah Sahm’s neck, but Lee and O’Hara realize what is happening. Lee rushes the ring, but O’Hara shoots his gun in the air. The fight stops and the crowd panics. Penelope falls to the ground and O’Hara protects her and helps her out onto the empty streets of Chinatown.
The badly beaten Ah Sahm is cared for by Ah Toy back in her private quarters because Father Jun (Perry Yung) says, “We have no use for him any more.” The Hop Wei will now allow the Long Zii to enter the opium trade, but Father Jun is waiting for Mai Ling and the Long Zii to make a mistake.
Back at the victorious Long Zii headquarters, Mai Ling leads a meeting with the council, but finds that Zhang (Ash Lee) deeply opposes her. Zhang reminds the council that “This is absurd. She single handedly started a war with the Hop Wei and endangered every single person in this tong.” While Mai Ling claims that all was done with the approval of Long Zii, Zhang replies, “You manipulated him. Long Zii lost his senses when she climbed into his bed and yours (Yong Li).”
Mai Ling slyly replies, “I understand you’re angry” and questions if the Long Zii members are having problems taking orders from a woman. She understands “what I need is a demonstration” or “some kind of proof that I won’t allow someone to disrespect me in my own house.” She uses the gun rigged to her arm to suddenly shoot Zhang in the forehead. She then coolly continues, “I see a great and prosperous future for the Long Zii so I ask this council, do I have your support.”
During this episode, we don’t see Mai Ling attempt to reach out to Ah Sahm. While Ah Toy and Lai (Jenny Umbhau), helps nurse Ah Sahm back to health, we’re reminded that using opium was the general practice of the time to relieve pain. Penelope visits him while he is still feverish and barely conscious.
In his mind, Ah Sahm journeys back into the past when soon after his grandfather’s death, the young Ah Sahm (Kieran Tamondong) was fighting people bigger than himself. His concerned sister, Xiaolin (Nicole Law), brings a fighting monk, Sifu Li Qiang (James Lew), who tells young Ah Sahm, “You can’t fight if you can’t breathe.” Ah Sahm begins to train with the Sifu.
Later, the adult Ah Sahm struggles to stand and “breathe” in a martial arts way but is helped back to bed by Ah Toy who tells Ah Sahm the difference between Yong Li and Ah Sahm was Yong Li “was fighting for something he believed in. He had purpose. You didn’t. There are 25 thousand Chinese living in this city and more coming every day. We’re promised a better life; we’re treated like dogs. Someone has to start fighting back.” She admits that she fights back, but isn’t ready to show Ah Sahm how. She also warns, “You know, the tongs were at peace for a long time before Mai Ling married Long Zii” and she reminds Ah Sahm, “She was prepared to let you die. You need to accept she’s not the sister you came to save any more. Who she is is dangerous for Chinatown and for you.”
Mai Ling is getting support from Walter Buckley (Langley Kirkwood) who has anti-Chinese legislation on his mind. Buckley visits Mercer saying he needs to talk about “economics.” Buckley claims that the contract award is only for the “first purchase order” and that a “dark horse” candidate has provided a bid that is 15 percent lower. Mercer guesses the other bidder is cutting costs by using Chinese labor. Yet later when confronted by the mayor, Buckley admits to the mayor there was no other bidder.
In the last episode, the murder of two local white businessmen has been blamed on the Chinese because swords were used. O’Hara and Lee question Wang Chao, trying to find out who sells swords in Chinatown yet they get no information because according to Wang Chao, no one in Chinatown sells swords. When asked for a piece of Southern wisdom, Lee says, “A guilty fox hunts its own hole.” Lee professes not to understand what that means but it’s similar to saying a suspect returns to the scene of a crime.
After parting ways with O’Hara Lee is attacked by three men from the Fung Hai led by Zing (Dustin Nguyen) who then flips a tile (tian or sky/heaven) on the inert body of Lee who is not dead, but badly beaten up.
Before we were asked to discern the foxes from the tigers. Now the fox seems to be Bill O’Hara, although so many of our characters are guilty of something.
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