Anything Short of a Blow to the Head

**Anything Short of a Blow to the Head** is the second episode of the third season of Max's original martial arts crime drama *Warrior* and the twenty-second episode overall. It premiered June 29, 2023.

## Synopsis

As Ah Sahm and Young Jun struggle to produce authentic bills, they get valuable printing advice from an unexpected source.

## Plot

Secret Service Agents Mosely and Donaldson stop two men on a dirt road to inquire about their cargo, which they claim to have no knowledge of. They welcome the agents to check, but when Donaldson nears the wagon, the passenger opens fire, killing Donaldson, before he himself is shot and killed by Mosely, who then shoots the driver in the hand, but leaves him alive so he can resume questioning. With the driver unconscious, Mosely goes to the wagon, where he finds counterfeit money.

Mosely returns to the dock with the driver. However, all that remains are several dead bodies. Someone has absconded with the printing press along with the plates for the bills. Whilst the driver claims not to know what happen to the plates, he does reveal that when he was at the dock last, he saw a Chinese guy.

Ah Sahm and Young Jun have brought in some of the younger guys to run the printing press, but their work is sloppy and unconvincing, leading Chao to suggest they bring in a professional, but Young Jun is reluctant to bring in outsiders. Ah Sahm suggests bringing in someone local, who they can control. Young Jun relents and puts Ah Sahm in control of finding the right printer.

The San Francisco Police Department conducts a raid on a local Chinatown building, led by Chief Atwood, who claims they are in violation of the Cubic Air Ordinance. Bill watches in disbelief as Atwood and his men aggressively and violently attack the tenants, putting Bill at odds with the new chief, who orders Stone to beat the residents.

Buckley and Stewart discuss his mayoral opponent, Franklin Thayer, who has a good deal of support among the industrialists. Stewart then reveals that the state attorney for Mayor Blake has been questioning some expenses. Buckley's custodianship over the Blake estate is predicated on his oversight and justification of all expenditure. Buckley replies that Mayor Blake would've wanted for him to keep his legacy alive, as would his wife had she not fallen ill, which should be justification enough. Stewart can sell that so long as Penelope doesn't recover any time soon, especially since they need every dime of Blake's fortune to mount a winning campaign against Thayer. Buckley then heads downstairs for a press conference to discuss Chief Atwood's successful raid in Chinatown.

Two bounty hunters enter the bar in search of Lee. They attempt to pay Abigail off for his whereabouts, but she instead opens fire, shooting and killing the first man, at which point, Lee enters and attacks the second man. Whilst he and Lee wrestled on the ground, Abigail jumps in his back, allowing Lee the opportunity to stab him in the neck with a broken glass bottle. With both bounty hunters dead, Abigail goes searching for Happy Jack to help dispose of the bodies.

Mai Ling sits down with Kong Pak to discuss the Hop Wei. He agrees with Li Yong that Mai Ling is being too aggressive. Young Jun isn't half the leader his father was and under his leadership, the Hop Wei's fortune has suffered, with them growing more desperate every day. His advice would be to allow them to bleed out slowly on their own. Kong Pak recalls how his mother used to say: "Have patience, and the grass will be milk soon enough," though he doesn't really know what it means.

Leary meets with Merriweather, who reveals that the men Leary recommended has given him nothing but trouble by starting fights and taunting the Chinese, the culprit's primarily being the Donahue boys, who beat up two skilled laborers today, causing hours to be lost. Leary promises to rectify the issue and confronts the Donahues, telling them that the money Merriweather lost will come out of their pockets. He orders them to keep their mouths shut and do their jobs, but they refuse to work alongside the Chinese, and so Leary kicks the two of them out and gives a warning to the rest of his men that there are others willing to work if they don't.

Chief Atwood confronts Bill about his hesitance to fall in line. Should his insubordination persist, Bill will be relieved of his duties.

Agent Mosely arrives at the police station, where he introduces himself to Atwood and asks to see the personnel files of his Chinatown Squad, because he's going to need their assistance, as well as an office and holding cell. When Atwood refuses to comply, Mosely reveals he only came in as a courtesy. In fact, he's already taken a holding cell and office. Empowered by the President of the United States, Atwood will render any assistance he asks for or else Mosely will have him working out of the basement whilst he takes over Atwood's office.

Ah Sahm enters the print shop and asks for Yichèn's help with their printing press. If he can make it work, it'll clear his debt. However, Yichèn claims he can't help, as each machine is different, and he wouldn't know where to start. Zimo offers Ah Sahm to use their machine, but he says it wouldn't work and exits. Once Ah Sahm is gone, Yichèn scolds Zimo for opening their shop up to gangsters, which was his entire reasoning for crossing the salt. He refuses to work for them, as they only bring trouble. Yan Mi agrees, but Zimo dismisses her input and tells her to make dinner. She smacks him in the back of the head and warns him against talking to her like that.

Hong accompanies Young Jun to a gambling spot, where he locks eyes with a nightclub singer named Marcel, whose voice mesmerizes Hong until Young Jun calls him away.

While helping dispose of the bodies, Happy Jack asks Abigail if she knows the men. She claims she doesn't and that they're likely from out of town. Fortunately, Happy Jack knows a guy who pays good money for fresh corpses, no questions asked. He then tells Lee that if someone ever tries to rob him at his place again to just let them, because no one will care about the defense of a black woman shooting a white man. Abigail's late husband and Jack's brother got killed for less. Jack doesn't like Lee, or the fact that he lives at the bar or that he's with Abigail, though Lee isn't concerned and makes his way inside, at which point, Happy Jack discovers Lee's $500 wanted poster inside of the pockets of the dead men.

Lee regrets having killed the men, but if Abigail hadn't pulled the trigger, he'd be on his way back to Georgia. They didn't have much of a choice, but Lee fears more bounty hunters will come. He wants to get out of town, but they have no place to go. Besides, she doubts there's anywhere else a black woman such as herself could run a bar the way she does and make the money she does. She then proceeds to undress and ask Lee if she's worth the risk, which she is, as Lee proceeds to kiss her.

While reading the duck newspaper, which doesn't go unnoticed by Li Yong, Mai Ling reveals that Muchen reached out for a meeting, which comes as a surprise, as the Three Brothers is one of the last tongs to resist joining them, though this was never a huge loss as far as Li Yong was concerned, reasoning that they lack discipline and honor. Mai Ling argues that once Muchen answers to them, he'll change, but as Li Yong recalls, Zing didn't. Nevertheless, Mai Ling tells Li Yong to take the meeting and to bring Kong Pak.

Ah Sahm and Ah Toy take a stroll through Chinatown and discuss their current predicament. Their people are surviving, but just barely. As for Ah Toy, she's not sure if she'll ever pick up a sword again. Out in Sonoma, away from the troubles of Chinatown, Ah Toy Believes that she may be able to build an actual life with Nellie.

Leary demands that Buckley deliver on what he promised and outlaw Chinese labor, but he can't until after the election. Leary isn't convinced and reminds Buckley that he needs the Irish vote to win. Unfortunately for the both of them, Thayer supports Chinese labor, and should Buckley lose, the Irish lose too, meaning they're in this together and that Leary has to trust him in the meantime. He exclaims that Buckley can't be trusted as he's a politician, to which Buckley replies that Leary is too.

Ah Sahm returns to headquarters to find Yan Mi awaiting. While her father doesn't want to get mixed in with gangsters, she's willing to help fix their printing press in exchange for her father's debt being cleared.

After looking over the printing press, Yan Mi reveals that it's not broken, rather they're using it wrong and have no idea how to fine tune it for the bills they're trying to print; she quickly deduces they're making counterfeit money. She knows what they need and where to get it, but she'll only help if they promise to leave her father's shop alone, forever. Young Jun agrees to her terms and tells Ah Sahm and Hong to take her to get what she needs.

Leary meets with Mr. Pierce to discuss a possible business proposition. He works in railroad infrastructure, all of which require steel. Unfortunately, there's only so many manufacturers that can supply him with the quality he requires, and one of his competitors is using his considerable power to strong-arm these manufacturers into making him their sole client. Pierce would simply like for Leary to pay him a visit and convince him to play fair. Leary is offended, suspecting that he's only seen as a thug for hire. Pierce replies that he'll need working men to build his track, but he can't hire them if there's nothing to build.

Bill tells Lucy that he wants them back, but she refuses to come home until everything is settled and Bill is out of Chinatown. Bill exclaims that he's trying to make things right and that the job was his until Buckley intervened. Lucy understands that he's trying, but she will return home no sooner than he leaves Chinatown. On his way out, Horace approaches Bill and offers him a job at his cement factory. Bill suspects Lucy put him up to this, which admittedly, she did. In either case, Horace tells Bill that the offer stands.

Bill joins Leary at the Banshee, where they drink over their troubles. Leary is confronted by Conor Donahue, who refuses to work with the Chinese any further. He challenges Leary To fight. Not only does he accept, he fights both Conor and his brother Garrett simultaneously. The Donahues put up a fight, but they are ultimately out-powered and out-skilled by Leary.

Nellie receives a surprise visit from Douglas Strickland, an old friend whose comes to purchase her wine. He offers to buy her out entirely, revealing that the federal government wishes to build a railroad up the coast of California, and a survey identified her valley as being the ideal route. He would at least like to see her profit from this inevitability by paying her fair market value before the state declares eminent domain and forces her to take pennies on the dollar. Strickland was awarded the contract a few weeks ago and wanted to inform her personally. She encourages him to find another route, as her land is not for sale, and she has a room full of lawyers who will make that clear to any challengers. And so, Strickland makes his departure, but on his way out, he notices Nellie in close quarters and holding hands with Ah Toy.

As agreed, Yan Mi begins printing out money for the Hop Wei. She presents Ah Sahm and Young Jun with the final product, which are practically identical to real money.

Buckley holds a conference with the public to discuss their Chinese dilemma. If elected, he intends to honor Mayor Blake's legacy of American jobs for American workers and to keep their women and children safe from foreign invaders. Thayer argues that they should focus less on what's wrong with the city, and more on what's right, that being the American family. Like them, he believes in the American family and points to his own family. They deserve a mayor who will fight for their family as hard as he does his own. Stewart tells Buckley that people like a family man and Buckley has to get out there if he wants to get the people on his side, however, the close quarters contact sends him into a state of panic until he is approached by a woman named Catherine Archer, who volunteered for Councilman Waithe, promoting his educational policies. She encourages Buckley to stay the course and offers to help his cause in whatever way she can. She gives Buckley her card and cleans his jacket so that he may greet the public appropriately.

Mai Ling attends the reception at Eliza's home and tells her story to those in attendance. Being forced into marriage and being chained to his bedside for days was an experience she'll never forget. A part of her died back then, but that part was weak, and when it died, she became stronger. After seeing the ladies out, Eliza gives Mai Ling a tour of the house. They arrive at her sizable dressing room, where Eliza reveals that her husband works for the bank of California. They have so many occasions to attend, so he allows her certain indulgences. Mai Ling is amazed by Eliza's dress collection, and so Eliza gifts her a pink evening dress and welcomes her to try it on.

Li Yong and Kong Pak meet with Muchen as planned. Rather than allow the Long Zii to absorb them, Muchen proposes to acknowledge the Long Zii's take-over of all Three Brothers businesses, but in exchange, they maintain their name and control of all enforcement and collections in their territory. Kong Pak quickly discovers it is a set-up and saves Li Yong from being stabbed by a spear. Li Yong and Kong Pak proceed to take out the Three Brothers tong. Kong Pak disarms Muchen and holds him against the wall, giving him one last chance to surrender to Mai Ling and the Long Zii. When he refuses, Kong Pak kills Muchen.

Lee confronts Mosely for following him, only to discover that he's a Secret Service agent. He reveals that it took him four months to track the plates to San Francisco, and two more to locate the operators and transport routes from print to distribution. Unfortunately, by the time he caught up with them, the plates were gone and the operators dead. The sole survivor told him that his boss had been buying guns from the Chinese, and so Mosely sought out Lee for further assistance. Mosely knows that Lee quit the Chinatown Squad, but should he agree to help Mosely navigate the terrain, he can clean up Lee's mess in Georgia.

## 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
* Tom Weston-Jones as Richard Lee
* Hoon Lee as Wang Chao
* Langley Kirkwood as Walter Buckley
* Miranda Raison as Nellie Davenport
* Chen Tang as Hong
* Chelsea Muirhead as Yan Mi
* Adam Rayner as Douglas Strickland III
* Mark Dacascos as Kong Pak
* Joe Taslim as Li Yong
* Nat Ramabulana as Happy Jack
* Neels Clasen as Chief Atwood
* Telly Leung as Marcel
* Robert Hobbs as Stone
* Nicholas Pauling as Harrison
* Sean-Marco Vorster as Stewart Gumm
* Colin Moss as Thayer
* Emily Child as Lucy O'Hara
* Gaosi Raditholo as Abigail
* Dominique Maher as Catherine Archer
* Jenny Umbhau as Lai
* Brett Chan as Muchen
* Milton Schorr as Officer Graham
* Gary Young as Yichèn
* Angelo Chen as Zimo
* Jazzara Jaslyn as Eliza Pendleton
* André Jacobs as Merriweather
* Kevin Otto as Horace Clark
* Lindsey Macsymon as Maggie Clark
* Matthew Vey as Conor Donahue
* Ross Van Der Walt as Garrett Donahue
* Steven Stead as Leonard Pierce
* Jandre le Roux as Shaw
* Josh Stoddard as Donaldson
* Russ McCarroll as Sam Baker
* Daniel Newton as Randall Kenney
* Trevor Frost as Henchman
* Claire Glover as Frannie
* Jemma Kahn as Society Matron
* Greg Parvess as McTaggart
* Lance Elliot as Richards

## Trivia

* The episode title was spoken by Bill to Horace in reference to Horace asking Bill to quit the force.

## Gallery

### Videos

The Official Warrior Podcast Ep. 2 - Max-2

## References

1. ↑ Season 3 Directors - imgur
2. ↑ Episode Title - Instagram