History Awesome / Warrior2019

* Li Yong and Ah Sahm duke it out over the Long Zii and Hop Wei share of the opium trade - the two beat each other into mincemeat, using everything technique they know and pushing themselves to their absolute limits, with Li Yong at one point looking for all the world like he willed himself back to life after taking a particularly nasty blow from Ah Sahm. Bill and Lee, who happen to be in the audience, are suitably impressed:

* The brief teaser we get of Ah Sahm vs Leary. Ah Sahm kicks the collective asses of his men and Leary gives him a run for his moneyh. The two end up in a standstill that gets interrupted by the arrival of the police. But it's clearly not over. Leary just found what could very be his ArchEnemy.

* Leary is in top form in this episode - after Strickland tries to renege on his promies to employ more Irish in his construction business Leary retaliates by blowing up a bridge he'd built, [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech verbally tearing Strickland a new one]] and then ''brutally'' dispatching five of the latter's goons sent to teach him a lesson. Even by the series' liberal standards the gore and brutality are pretty shocking, and Leary caps the fight off with a BattleCry that's downright bestial.

** In TheStinger half a dozen or so Long Zii soldiers confront Li Yong... and promptly drop their gang colors, acknowledging him without a word as the one they truly want to follow. The last shot of the episode is Li Yong and his guard of honor strolling throuhg Chinatown as if they own the place, which they well might at this point.

** For her part Mai Ling finally sheds her FauxActionGirl status, blasting all the Hop Wei goons coming after her with her revolver like a 19th century DistaffCounterpart to John Wick; she takes several wounds in the process, and is left a shivering sobbing mess once it is over, but it just goes to show she has yet again that she has NervesOfSteel to match her brother.
** Non-action one for Dylan Leary who, in the wake of his falling out with Strickland, shows that he's actually learned a thing or twelve about playing the political game after all by bullying his way into becoming a "partner" to another wealthy industrialist who clearly doesn't like it but doesn't want to pass up the chance to gain the city contracts Leary's connection to Buckley can potentially bring him. He might not be quite in TheChessmaster territory, but Mr. Leary is clearly proceeding in the right direction.

* Leary is in top form in this episode, first [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech verbally tearing Strickland a new one]] and then ''brutally'' dispatching five of the latter's goons sent to teach him a lesson. Even by the series' liberal standards the gore and brutality are pretty shocking, and Leary caps the fight off with a BattleCry that's downright bestial.
-->''Strickland:'' At last, the gangster emerges.
-->''Leary:'' [[BadassBoast You haven't met the gangster.]]

** Non-action one for Dylan Leary who, in the wake of his falling out with Strickland, shows that he's actually learned a thing or twelve about playing the political game after all by bullying his way into becoming a "partner" to another wealthy industrialist who clearly doesn't like it but doesn't want to pass up the chance to gain the city contracts Leary can potentially bring him. He might not be quite in TheChessmaster territory, but Mr. Leary is clearly proceeding in the right direction

--> '''Leary:''' Now there's [[FightingIrish an Irishman]].

* Loathsome prick he might be, but Buckley's WoundedGazelleGambit to get one over Penny impressively showcases his resourcefulness, unpredicatbility, and just [[TheUnfettered how far he'll go]] to crush his opponents.

* When the rest of the gang is dead, the treacherous coach driver who alerted the outlaws in the first place shows up and tries to gun down Young Jun and the Indigenous woman from the bar who saved him moments prior. Before he can do anything though, he takes a bullet through the neck. Then the BadassPreacher steps through the doorway, pistol in hand, having snuck around front.

* The BadassPreacher's prayer/RousingSpeech. "May the Devil cut the [[PrecisionFStrike fucking]] toes off our fucking foes, so that we may know them by their limping." Not quite what Billie had in mind when she asked them to bless their upcoming defence from Harlan French's outlaws, but he still gets [[SureLetsGoWithThat a round of hearty amens.]]

** Two of said passengers are a very prim-and-proper married couple... except that the wife proves herself to be a crack shot with a rifle, and apparently has no particular qualms about blowing the bad guys away. Crosses into a SugarWiki/FunnyMoments when the husband goes slack-jawed upon witnessing his wife's skill and she just kind of shrugs it off:
-->We've all gout our secrets.

* Ah Sahmtakes out Dolph Jagger (played by the former UFC MW champ Michael Bisping) [[CurbStompBattle with a single kick]]. The show actually goes to some lengths to show that, for all that he's a JerkAss with a big mouth, Jagger is very much ''not'' a pushover - in fact Vega outright tells Ah Sahm that if the fight goes on for too long Jagger's size and strength will tell - which just makes it much more impressive.

* The judge presiding overAh Sahm's trial for the events of the previous episode scuttles Buckley and Leary's plan to have Ah Sahm swing for murders commited by Ah Toy by flatly refusing to indict Ah Sahm just because he's Chinese; when the two guys who got their asses whooped by our hero fail to turn up in court (having been, uh... persuaded not to make an appearance), he lets Ah Sahm go as there is no case to be made against him. After several episodes of various whites abusing the Chinese [[ForTheEvulz just because]], this [[OneSceneWonder minor character]] is a welcome breath of fresh air.

* The Long Zii are setting up an opium den in the Hop Wei territory; cue Ah Sahm swaggering in, making a few smart-aleck remarks to the tune of "you guys took a wrong turn somewhere" and then opening a jumbo-sized can of whoopass; all ''before the opening credits even roll''.

!! Season 1
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/salty_ass.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"Long Zii can kiss my salty ass."]]
----

!! Season 2
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mv5byza2mjdlmzqtndc5nc00mtk3lwi5zgutyzyxyti4njzlmwi1xkeyxkfqcgdeqxz3zxnszxk_v1.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The moment you never realized you were waiting for.]]
----

'''Ah Sahm''': [[SurprisinglyGoodEnglish I hope so.]]

* The judge presiding overAh Sahm's trial for the events of the previous episode scuttles Buckley and Leary's plan to have Ah Sahm swing for murders commited by Ah Toy by flatly refusing to indict Ah Sahm just because he's Chinese; when the two guys who got their asses whooped by our hero fail to turn up in court (having been, uh... persuaded not to make an appearance), he lets Ah Sahm go as there is no case to be made against him. After several episodes of various whites abusing the Chinese just because this [[OneSceneWonder minor character]] is a welcome breath of fresh air.

[[AC:If To A Man With A Hammer, Everything Looks Like A Nail]]

** On a meta level, episodes 7 and 8 are a bit slower-paced than was the norm for the series, with more focus on characters and politics; not that they were ''bad'', far from it, but eventually you can't help but wonder what happened to all the awesome fight scenes... and then episode 9 came along, and the pay-off was more than worth the build-up. Well played, writing team, well played.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[FightingWithChucks The moment you never realized you were waiting for.]]]]

* Leary vs. two Hop Wei hatchetmen guarding the secret opium stash at Mercer Steel. The hatchetmen are tough, skilled, and armed with, well, [[AnAxeToGrind hatchets]], yet Leary still makes relatively short work of them. At one point he gets slashed in the neck and all it accomplishes is ''pissing him off''.