5 best episodes of Warrior, a show you should watch on Netflix now
By Dan Selcke
3. Episode 310, "A Window of F*cking Opportunity"
Okay, y'know when I said just a second ago that there was no coming back for Ah Sahm and Mai Ling after she ordered him killed? Well, that was true for the next season and a half, but in the season 3 finale — possibly the last-ever episode of the show — both characters reach their lowest ebb and find that they're all they have.
This may be the most emotional episode of Warrior. When the Hop Wei decide to make a move against Mai Ling and the Long Zii, Ah Sahm finds, at long last, that whatever differencs he has with his sister, he's not willing to help kill her, or let anyone else do it. This leads to a nasty close-quarters brawl with his best friends Young Jun and Hong. With his help, Mai Ling just barely survives the attack on her compound, and ends the episode weeping in the arms of her bloodied brother, who calls her by her original name, Xiaojing, for the first time in ages. It's gloriously pitiful.
The only bad thing about this episode is that it promises more to come, but Max ended up canceling the show so we may never see it. C'mon, Netflix views...
2. Episode 209, "Enter the Dragon"
If the season 3 finale finds our characters at their nadirs, "Enter the Dragon" in season 2 finds them coming together. It might be the most uplifting episode of the show.
The characters on Warrior spend a lot of time fighting each other, but ultimately, that's because fighting the powerful forces outside Chinatown is untenable; as Chinese immigrants and the children of Chinese immigrants, they are not wanted in a country that is happy to use their labor but resents their presence. This comes home to roost as an angry mob invades Chinatown, forcing the Hop Wei and Long Zii to set aside their differences and protect their home.
The episode is produced on a razor's edge of tension; we fear for characters on both sides of the conflict as everyone is put in danger. "Enter the Dragon" (the title of the episode refers to the Bruce Lee movie of the same name, an important nod given that Warrior is based on an idea for a TV show that Lee had before his death) also features some of the finest action and fight scenes sequences from the whole run of the show.