Warrior Season 3 Episode 9 Review: All of Death is Going Home
Denis Kimathi
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As events unfold, the hope of seeing the Tongs united keeps dimming.
There was a major shift in the narrative on Warrior Season 3 Episode 9 as many characters made moves, shifting the story in an entirely new direction.
Warrior Season 3 teased alliances, but what unfolded here could not be further from that assessment.
We'll begin at the beginning, and that's with Lai at Douglas's place.
I thought that Lai was working with Ah Toy to bring down Douglas, but after she attacked him, I quickly realized how wrong I was.
A sword fight ensued that saw Douglas emerge on top, which didn't sit well. How was a businessman who spends most of his time in meetings and raining holy hell on people stronger than a martial art expert who was like a killing machine?
We had never seen Douglas in a sword fight before, so we had no prior knowledge about his skills and had to take what was offered. It seemed unrealistic that he bested her, but maybe due to his age, he had more experience. And that's a huge maybe.
Mayor Blake offered Big Bill the job of the new Chief of Police, and boo!
No one was more disappointed when Bill was passed over for chief than I was on Warrior Season 3 Episode 2, and I hoped he might get the opportunity again, but this was not how I figured it would go.
He basically bullied his way into the job, and those few weeks away had made him an entirely different person. He might not be the honest man we had come to depend on, which isn't very reassuring.
The only hope is that he turns out to be the good old Bill and continues doing good, especially in Chinatown. That'll save many lives.
Also, Atwood should return for payback, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
Ah Sahm made a radical choice and toyed with the idea of running away with Yan Mi, and oh, was that so stupid of him.
It would finally give Young Jun the excuse he'd been looking for to hunt Ah Sahm down, and it's doubtful there is a place Ah Sahm could run to where they won't find him.
If Lee hid from his Aunt Violet, Ah Sahm could hide from the Hop Wei. The outside world is unkind to the Chinese, so he could run to so many places.
Mai Ling, Father Jun, and Ah Toy tried it and returned with their tails tucked between their legs.
I can't tell you that what's out there is better. It wasn't for me. Maybe it's time to find out for yourself.
Ah Toy
The whole Ah Sahm and Yan Mi thing came out of nowhere. Maybe it's how love is, but it was also a clutch for Ah Sahm.
He'd been looking for an excuse to get out of the tong and secure his independence, and Yan Mi was an excellent reason for it.
He might love her or not. But he was done for based on how he looked at her at Mai Ling's wedding on Warrior Season 3 Episode 8.
In his rush to decide, he made a bad decision and trusted the last person anyone should trust in Chinatown. Wang Chao will always look out for Wang Chao.
He gave up his plans, and Chao didn't hesitate to reveal them at the earliest opportunity. I wondered when Happy Jack's people would come for revenge, and that day arrived.
The bigger they are, the harder they fall. The mighty Long Zii Tong was crumbling under Mai Ling.
In a few days, she went from having the most powerful tong in Chinatown to being the weakest. Killing the elders and Kong Pak was a significant blunder. It drove even the most loyal Li Yong away.
Mai Ling was isolated. Anyone could come after her; knowing how the tong mind thinks, they already were.
So long that tong union.
If Young Jun had not been preoccupied with Father Jun, he might have ambushed Mai Ling.
Father Jun had become the emotional anchor for Young Jun in his last few days on earth. That, coupled with the life they had shared before we joined them in the first season, was enough to make Young Jun unstable.
Father Jun will be missed. He was one of the few characters in the show who was openly honest. He would tell it to you like it was, and these kinds of people are hard to come by.
There's an old fable that speaks eloquently to our collective grief today. It tells us that great wisdom only comes from great struggle. And were he here, Father June would tell me to skip the damn story and get to the point in much more colorful language.
Wang Chao
He had the wisdom of an elder and the mouth of a child.
Hong's boyfriend broke up with him in other sad developments, which was confusing.
This relationship had zero bearing on Hong's life (apart from making him very happy), and the confusion was about why it happened in the first place.
After spending most of the second season as a newcomer to Chinatown, it was a reasonable expectation that Warrior Season 3 would flesh Hong out as a character, and getting him into a relationship was the first step.
Yet he spent most of the season laughing at Young Jun's horrible jokes and saying, "Yes, boss."
The relationship ended just like that, without any impact on the storyline. I would have preferred something like Ah Sahm and Yan Mi and how it changed the show's direction.
Sometimes we see people for who they are based on how they treat others. And even after watching Douglas ruin other lives, Leary thought he was special.
And then he met the same fate.
Douglas was as gluttonous as they come, and his walking back the promise he made was unsurprising.
Leary: My People need jobs now!
Douglas: Your people do half the work for twice the pay. I don't want the Chinese here any more than you do. But while they are here, you better believe I'm gonna make a dollar off of it. Now, if you finished waving your banner for the Emerald Isle, let's have a drink. Talk about your future.
Leary: I trusted you, and you fucked me.
But he had underestimated Leary and the lengths Leary would go to for his people. Douglas never got to meet the thug, and he was about to.
Douglas: You really think a man like you can ever stop a man like me?
Leary: Men like me are the only ones who can stop men like you. You've got all that money and all your connections, but when my boots are on your fucking chest, you'll break like anyone else.
Douglas: The gangster emerges.
Leary: You've never met the gangster.
Leary whooped his own people's asses; what is other people to him? It was a pleasure.
Unknowingly, Douglas had made a monster. He'd taught Leary the tricks of the trade, and Leary was already equipped with his tricks.
Someone will lose, and it won't be Leary. The men Douglas had sent on Warrior Season 3 Episode 8 would attest to it if they could speak.
Hong, Ah Sahm, and Young Jun shared a drink, and it felt like the end of something old and the beginning of something new. Ah Sahm was looking to cut himself out of the Hop Wei. But that was not a restaurant where one can walk in and out.
Especially given what Ah Sahm and Yan Mi had done.
Young Jun: By the way, Hong has a boyfriend. You will not remain on the edit.
Ah Sahm: No shit!
Hong: Well, not anymore.
Young Jun: The fuck are you talking about? What happened?
Hong: I brought my work home with me.
Young Jun: Well, fuck him then.
I found the open discussion about Hong's relationship surprising. Was China open to queer relationships, or was that modernized for the audience?
Was something lost in translation where Cantonese has gender-neutral terms for lovers?
"All of Death Is Going Home" was somewhat disappointing as far as the story was concerned but entertaining nonetheless. When is Warrior not entertaining?
What did you think of the episode? Let us know in the comments section.
Denis Kimathi was 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 X.
