Warrior (2019)- TV Series Review

The best way I can describe Warrior is as a kung-fu Western. The show revolves around San Francisco’s Tong Wars during the late 1870s, and the inner workings of Chinatown’s gangs at war with each other and a city that hates them.

Warrior follows Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji), a Chinese martial arts prodigy who immigrated to San Francisco in search of his sister. After proving he can fight, he becomes a hatchetman for the Hop Wei, one of Chinatown’s most powerful crime families, only to discover his sister (Dianne Doan) is married to the leader of the Long Zii, an opposing gang. 

Warrior was based on the writings of Bruce Lee and is executive produced by his daughter, Shannon Lee. The series has Jonathan Tropper, known for his work on Banshee, This Is Where I Leave You, and See, as showrunner. The show first aired on Cinemax and was canceled after its second season, only to be saved by HBO Max.

The strongest point of this series was the fight scenes, which started off great and only got better as the show progressed.  It also did a great job establishing the setting of San Francisco in the late 1800s and the tension between the groups of people. The racism Chinese people had to endure during this time really surprised me. When we learn about racism, it was mostly centered on African Americans’ struggle, but as presented in the show, they were far from the only people to be discriminated against. Despite this, getting to see Ah Sahm knock some racists on their butts was definitely satisfying.

I will admit the first season started off a little slow. This is understandable given the need to establish all the different factions and characters. But once that was done and the story got rolling, I really enjoyed it. One thing to also mention is that this show is extremely mature, with bloody fights, drugs and nudity.

 
I don’t hear much about this show but it was surprisingly good. Overall, I’d rate it 4/5 stars. If you’re looking for something new and are a fan of martial arts movies, I’d recommended giving it a shot. The first two seasons of Warrior are available to stream on HBO Max and you can watch the first episode free on HBO Max’s YouTube channel. Unfortunately, showrunner Jonathan Tropper said we won’t expect season 3 until 2023, but even so, Warrior is worth the watch.

Check out the season 1 trailer below.