Some of the statues and their locations have a case of foreshadowing to what will happen to some of the events in Sleeping Dogs, the snake statue was found during the mission where Ming was killed for skimming on the drug deals (Snake in the Grass). Dogeyes was butchered into dog meat where the Dog Jade Statue lies. All very foreboding indeed.
When you run into the guy who gives you the Freerunning missions, he just seems like a typical example of Stoners Are Funny when he mentions the last guy who accepted the job "may have been eaten by a cat". Then the DLC is released, and it suddenly seems rather foreshadowing...
One of the key points made in the triad trope page is that screwing over or greatly dishonoring the traditions and code of the Triad brotherhood is punishable by death from hundreds of cuts. Given how Big Smile Lee expresses much disdain for tradition and attempts to take over the Dragonhead position for the Sun On Yee through extreme violence and murder, his death through the ice crusher is rather suitable for his transgressions.
Peggy wants you to steal a black orchid for her wedding because having one would guarantee that a couple will stay together for as long as they live. The key words there are "as long as they live," which in this case turns out to be "not even long enough to have exchanged vows," as the wedding is assaulted almost immediately after it commences.
At the end of the game Broken-Nose Jiang and Pockmark see Wei meet with Inspector Teng. Rather than enact the typical Triad response to undercover cops they find, she decides to leave Wei alone. This is why Jiang survived to take control of Sun On Yee: She knows when to let sleeping dogs lie.
Considering the fate of Johnny Ratface, Dogeyes, Big Smile Lee, and others who have crossed Wei, she's very wise to not try to go after him.
The game gives you directions to your next destination, or you can program in your own destination... probably because Wei Shen is using the GPS in the car he is driving (or his phone, if on foot).
In addition to the dragon and eagle tattoos on his chest and the serpent tattoo on his belly, Wei sports a tattoo of the Chinese deity Guan Yu on his left shoulder — a patron of brotherhood and thus worshipped by both the Hong Kong police and the triads.
Unlike most other wide open sandbox games, there is no way to keep cars you steal off the street. Then you realize that Wei is supposed to be a cop, not a criminal. While laws saying that a police officer can legally commandeer a civilian vehicle do exist (although such situations are extremely rare), it would be morally wrong for the officer to keep the vehicle for himself under any circumstances.
A little knowledge of the 36 Oaths of the Triads reveals that Dogeyes, Big Smile Lee, Sonny Wo, and others were breaking them left and right, and not abiding by any of them... which neatly explains Lee's outburst of "Fuck tradition!" in one cutscene, as he does not care about the oaths or the rules that they would normally bind him to. While Wei also breaks some of these oaths, he abides by many more of them (notably, he respects the women, family, and relationships of the other Sun On Yee members and doesn't wreck homes), neatly reflecting his moral conflict as The Mole but also showing that he ultimately has a noble character.
When you first drive Sandra and Vivienne around Sandra recounts how she once met Sonny as a teenager and insultingly rejected Sonny's offer to make her a star in exchange for watching her have sex with an old man. Vivienne nervously asks if Sonny had any idea who she was, which Sandra casually brushes off. At first it might sound like Vivienne is simply wondering how Sonny would be so rude to the daughter of a rich business man but when you think about it Vivienne was actually worried that Sonny might use his Triad connections to get revenge on Sandra - probably involving rape and his pornography industry.
Later during the second date with Sandra it's implied that she's the daughter of Two-Chin, so Vivienne might be surprised that Sonny would say something like that to the daughter of one of the top Red Poles in the Sun On Yee.
It doesn't seem likely considering that someone like Two-Chin couldn't possibly keep his work a secret, and it should also be noted that there are other apartments in the same compound Two-Chin lives in (in fact his mansion is further separated within the compound by another gate) so Sandra may simply live in one of those buildings unaffiliated with him. But Vivienne doesn't seem to know for sure if she has any gangster connections or not.
The reason Wei was assigned the infiltration mission was because the previous officer, Charles Ho, had been uncovered and tortured to death. We know that they first considered Wei before choosing a local officer over concerns for Wei's extreme behavior. One of Ho's reports suggests that because Winston's gang is so low level, he's hit a wall in his investigation and another report by Ho ended with the question of whether there were still officers ready to protect him. Given that we know that Pendrew was fully willing to sell Wei out to Big Smile Lee it is very possible that he decided to reveal Ho himself just so Ho would be killed and they'd have no choice but to recruit Wei.
The ability to perform Action Hijacks is very useful and cool to watch. However, Wei should consider himself very lucky that nobody he encounters ever locks their doors, or own cars that are supposed to do that when the drivers shifts out of park. Mostly likely, this falls under Willing Suspension of Disbelief and Rule of Cool, though.
In Year of the Snake Wei is demoted for his violent recklessness during the main game. What were they thinking putting someone they thought was a violent thug out to roam the streets as a beat cop?
The point was to limit his power and prevent him from causing such an extreme amount of collateral damage as the player is capable of in game. A beat cop, ostensibly, doesn't get things like a tool designed for breaking into cars, or the keys to squad cars, which limits him almost entirely to his own devices if he really wanted to cause that much mayhem.
Makes you wonder if the HKPF can make Wei be a uniformed officer since he's "from" the US and is with the San Francisco Police.
Possibly the beat duty was a condition for allowing him to stay in HK, since the game not-so-subtly implies Wei Shen would be in shit up to his ears if he ever went back to the States?
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