To a Man with a Hammer, Everything Looks Like a Nail

**To a Man with a Hammer, Everything Looks Like a Nail** is the sixth episode of the second season of the original martial arts crime drama *Warrior* and the sixteenth episode overall. It premiered on November 6, 2020. The series has since been acquired by Max.

## Synopsis

Ah Sahm, Young Jun, and Hong travel with Vega to Rooker's Mill, a U.S.-Mexico border town owned by Elijah Rooker, the wealthy host of a lucrative fight tournament that Ah Sahm is determined to win. As he learns more about Vega, Ah Sahm draws the attention of another fighter, Dolph, and later, Rooker himself.

## Plot

Ah Sahm, Young Jun, Hong, and Vega travel to Rooker's Mill, a border town near Mexico, to fight in a tournament hosted by Elijah Rooker, who has this tournament every year, for which people come from all over the country for a cash prize of $2,500.

Ah Sahm, Young Jun, and Hong are taken to their room, where Young Jun inquires about the nature of Ah Sahm's relationship with Vega, which he claims is strictly professional.

Ah Sahm heads to the tavern, where he gets into a verbal encounter with another fighter named Dolph Jagger, which turns physical when Ah Sahm threatens to break his arm. Fortunately, Vega intervenes and prevents the altercation from escalating. She then tells Ah Sahm to stay inside the gates until the tournament is over, whilst she heads into town to handle some business.

The following day, Ah Sahm, Young Jun, and Hong reconvene with Vega, who informs Ah Sahm that he won't be fighting until tomorrow.

Elijah Rooker arrives with his wife Marisol to thank them for coming. He came out west 20 years ago looking to make his mark, and when he settled on this land, it wasn't much to look at, but he saw an opportunity to make his fortune. About 100 years ago, the gun replaced the sword as the civilized man's weapon of choice. Without gunpowder, there would be no America. But the intimacy and honesty of hand-to-hand combat was lost in doing so. And he started this tournament to celebrate that. He and his wife are also celebrating their anniversary as well. He's been on the border of Mexico for so long that he left his previous wife for a Mexican, he remarks.

The tournament begins, and the first fight is between Dolph and another fighter, who Mr. Jagger makes quick work of, taking down his opponent with little effort and snapping his neck to gain the victory.

Vega wanders off from the crowd, and Ah Sahm follows behind her. She tells him that everything he sees, even where they're standing, used to be Mexico, long before they decided it was California. Vega then asks Ah Sahm about his past. He reveals that he grew up in China. His sister came to America a few years before him, and he came to find her and bring her home, but she wasn't interested. Vega also has a sister, and like with Ah Sahm and Mai Ling, they're all that's left of their family. Ah Sahm and Vega are both strangers to the land. They're just barely tolerated and everything is taken from them, such as their rights, land, and money. All they truly have are the people they love. Ah Sahm tries to kiss Vega, but she pulls away.

The next day, the tournament continues and Dolph Jagger wins yet another fight and advances in the tournament.

Ah Sahm is next up to compete against Dolph in the tournament. Young Jun reminds him just how much they need the money, and Vega encourages Ah Sahm to use his speed to finish Dolph as fast as possible. Ah Sahm enters the pit with Dolph and the fight between the two commences. Dolph charges at Ah Sahm, who defeats him with a single kick. From there, the battles continue and Ah Sahm advances in the tournament with each passing fight, gaining victory after victory. After his final fight for the day, Ah Sahm is approached by Smits, who works for Mr. Rooker, who was very impressed with Ah Sahm's performance and has invited both Ah Sahm and Vega to join him and his wife for lunch at the main house.

Hong notices a few guys plotting against Ah Sahm and goes after them instead, using the chain he wears around his neck to even the odds against his three attackers, who he had little difficulty subduing.

Ah Sahm walks Vega to her room. He intends to leave, but she invites him inside and they have sex.

Hong returns to the table, where Young Jun sits with a Mexican prostitute. He asks Hong to hang back while he takes her to the room. He does so gladly, brandishing the brand-new cowboy boots he stole off the feet of one of Dolph Jagger's goons.

When Ah Sahm wins tomorrow, Vega was thinking that he didn't necessarily have to go back. He'd have money and options, but Ah Sahm insists that he's loyal to the tong, though Vega isn't so sure that it's a two-way street. Ah Sahm doesn't even know where'd he'd go. Perhaps back home, Vega suggests, but there's nothing left back in China for Ah Sahm. Whereas with Vega, she thinks about home every day.

As planned, Ah Sahm and Vega have lunch with Elijah, who has encountered many of fighters, but none with Ah Sahm's level of skill, who studied the martial arts of monks — Gung fu. Rooker believes that Ah Sahm is too good of a fighter to be fighting at the Barbary Coast and asks how long did Ah Sahm have to train to get as good as he did. He could use a man of Ah Sahm's skills to stay with him and teach some of his men. While Ah Sahm appreciates the offer, he isn't interested. Vega then points out the very interesting and unique pistol that Rooker carries. He claims it's a one of a kind, made for him by Juan de la Estacion, the master gunsmith of Northern Mexico. When Vega asks how it feels, he hands her the gun, but not before Smits unloads the bullets. With the gun in hand, Vega reveals that she saw a gun just like that one. Her family was from this area, back when it was still Mexico. And then Americans came, insisting that they sell the land that had been in her family for generations. Her father refused to sell, but there was one man who wouldn't take no for an answer. He and his men slaughtered their farmhands and children while they slept. Then they forced her father to his knees at gunpoint and made him sign the deed of sale. Then this man shot him in the head right in front of his two daughters with the very same gun. That man was Rooker. Ah Sahm quickly comes to realize what Vega has planned and restrains Smits whilst Vega takes the bullet she's wearing around her neck, loads the gun, and shoots Rooker in the head.

Ah Sahm and Vega come running out of the main house and tell Young Jun and Hong that they need to leave, but before they can escape, Smits come yelling out that they killed Rooker and puts a $2,000 bounty on whoever kills them. Ah Sahm, Young Jun, Hong, and Vega are attacked on all fronts and fend off their attackers, but they are outnumbered and cornered. However, rather than killing them, Marisol convinces Rooker to have the four of them arrested and taken to Sacramento for trial.

On their way to Sacramento, Vega tries to plead her case with Ah Sahm, but he's too frustrated to hear her out, pointing out that she used him. Suddenly, the gated carriage comes to a halt and they are released from their irons. A second carriage pulls up moments later with Rooker's wife, Marisol, inside. As it turns out, she's Vega's sister and they staged all this to avenge their family. Vega explains that Rooker's Mill was her father's land until Rooker murdered their father and claimed it as his own. In killing him, they took back their home, as Marisol will inherit the land. Marisol then hands Ah Sahm the prize money. As Ah Sahm is saying goodbye to Vega, she is shot by Smits, who is then killed by Young Jun, who throws a knife in Smits throat. As blood comes pooling out of Vega's mouth, she asks if he would've stayed in Mexico with her. He assures her that he would have. And with her final words, she tells Ah Sahm that it's okay and that at least one of them gets to go home. Later that evening, they hold a memorial for Vega.

Ah Sahm, Young Jun, and Hong return to Chinatown, where Father Jun and the tong await after learning the truth.

## Cast

* Olivia Cheng as Ah Toy
* Jason Tobin as Young Jun
* Dianne Doan as Mai Ling
* Kieran Bew as Bill O'Hara
* Dean Jagger as Dylan Leary
* Joanna Vanderham as Penelope Blake
* Tom Weston-Jones as Richard Lee
* Hoon Lee as Wang Chao
* Langley Kirkwood as Walter Buckley
* Christian McKay as Samuel Blake
* Perry Yung as Father Jun
* Dustin Nguyen as Zing
* Céline Buckens as Sophie Mercer
* Miranda Raison as Nellie Davenport
* Chen Tang as Hong
* Maria-Elena Laas as Rosalita Vega
* Joe Taslim as Li Yong
* Michael Bisping as Dolph Jagger
* María Elisa Camargo as Marisol Rooker
* Christos Vasilopoulos as Smits
* Roger Thomas as Lead Marshall Gantt
* Miles Kleinsmidt as Rooker's Guard
* Steven A. Davis as Cowboy
* Stuart Williamson as Lackey
* Riaz Solker as Hombre
* Cassidy Nicholson as Servant Girl
* Richard September as Ref
* Sara Reagon as Courtesan Ana

## Trivia

* The episode title was spoken by Ah Sahm to Young Jun in reference to his relationship with Vega.

## Gallery

### Videos

Warrior - Season 2 Episode 6 Preview - CinemaxWarrior - Inside Episode S2 Episode 6 - Cinemax