Warrior

[Drunk Monk]

Honestly, I liked S2 the most because of its frequent nods to actual history. It gave me a lot to write about.

[Greg]

Boobs can be historical, too, you know.

Or is that hysterical?

[Drunk Monk]

Good question.

I should clarify. S2 is not completely bereft of boobs. There’s jist less of them and they aren’t as in your face.

I’ve been cherry picking eps and rewatching. It’s holding up well on the second viewing for me.

[Greg]

Caught a couple more episodes. Everyone is getting ready for the Tong war. But it can't get here soon enough. The whole thing is very soapy. And the thing about soaps is the storylines never conclude. That thought makes me fearful.

I also never get the feel we are in San Francisco. The whole Chinatown looks like some run of the mill backlot somewhere. And I did check. This was filmed in South Africa. Good fights from the number two henchmen.

[Greg]

The money saving episode where most of the cast gets the week off from filming and the show takes place in a saloon in the middle of nowhere. Or the alternate explanation is this is the outside the writer's room script that shows are required to use because of WGA guidelines. Either way, a strange episode away from town in Grass Valley near Nevada. Ah Sahm and Young Jun get to bring back a body. Bad guys come to rob them and the rest of the people in the stage coach. Big shoot out and battle at the end.

[Drunk Monk]

That’s e5, right? I think they do an out-of-Chinatown ep every season.

After it was first cancelled, and then reincarnated, they had to rebuild all the sets all over again in S. Africa. 

The show picks up for me in s2. That’s when I started interviewing & writing about it, so I overanalyzed it, which was fun for me in an academic way. S1 was all about world building and Bruce Lee homage fights. S2 gets more historical fictiony.

[Greg]

I have finished Season 1. It was okay. I will watch S2 to see where we go. The one thing that bugs me (and I'm probably the only one it bugs) is that for a show set in San Francisco, we never see the water.

[Greg]

Okay. Season 2 seems to be shot much better. The whole palette is richer somehow. Maybe they brought in a new DP.

I like the mongols or their leader Zing (I think it's Zing. Tattoos on the face) He's got a lot of charisma. And in Ep 03 which I saw last night brought in a new guy who has an awesome fight scene in the alley while Young Jun and Ah Sahm watch.

The show is growing on me.

[Drunk Monk]

Season 2 is when it gets good. 

Chen is a great character, an LGBTQ inclusive nod. He adds a lot of chemistry to Young Jun and Ah Sam.

Zing is Dustin Nguyen, a venerated Asian actor. He was part of 21 Jump Street and VIP (VIP was a guilty pleasure - Pam Anderson as a dumb blonde investigator)