A lot of stuff was done in this finale. I feel like this entire season was merely a prelude. It never felt like anything was happening. But I have a feeling that will change in the second season. I don't quite know what to expect from it. The only thing that I read that to do with it was from a comment from someone, and I think it was mentioned that the budget was clearly increased in the second season. If anything, all I'm expecting when I begin diving into the second season is that the supposed bigger budget will be very obvious. I feel like a lot of things in this episode were there as an introduction. Those things were probably there because this was the finale; there had to be crumbs to catch your attention because they'll be important aspects in the second season.
It seems like Bill has taken up the role that Jack Damon had. I liked the poetic justice against Jack, even after killing him, that Bill did by using his white mountain analogy to intimidate Jonas into paying up. I assume that Bill will do that with everyone else that he'll probably be shown to collect money from. It was cheesy, I'll admit, but I'll admit that it was a little cool, too. I'm not sure whether Jonas will be important in the second season, but I think he's a cop. The deadline Bill gave him for the rest of the money was two weeks; the policeman special that Jack gave Bill was also two weeks. One week is the normal deadline.
I was taken aback and a little confused when Zing didn't want money from Bill, the money that he owed. But what Zing did, instead, makes sense. The Fung Hai need someone that isn't Chinese to go out and collect money from people outside of Chinatown that have debts to them to pay. At first, I thought the reason why Zing didn't want Bill's money was because that was back when Pai was the leader. And then, I thought the increased raids on the tongs was what Zing wanted from Bill; until the scene with Bill and Jonas. You know, to make problems for every tong, especially the Long Zii. Zing could've asked that of Bill, too; two birds with one stone. I'm aware that Bill was described to be under Zing's thumb in the second season, from something to do with the second season back when this season was airing; or when it finished. So, that's something that I'm expecting to be focused on in the second season.
There was a lot of emphasis on leadership throughout the season: Zing becoming the new leader of the Fung Hai, Buckley being the true mastermind, so to speak, instead of the Mayor, Mai Ling becoming the new leader of the Long Zii, Penelope seemingly being the one in charge of her father's business, and Young Jun going behind Father Jun's back and bringing back Ah Sahm into the fold, seemingly looking to take over the Hop Wei and be the new leader. I probably missed some other examples of the emphasis on leadership that's been showed throughout the season. It's interesting. In this episode, specifically, there seemed to be a parallel to do with women being leaders; Mai Ling is in charge of the Long Zii, and Penelope seems to have risen to a position of power. All of those aspects; Zing = new Fung Hai leader, Mai Ling = new Long Zii leader, Buckley being the one to look out for instead of the Mayor - he has the true power, Penelope at the head of the cable car track construction, and Young Jun seemingly after the position of being the new leader of the Hop Wei because he thinks that his father changed and is different because of the dynamite assassination attempt; seem like aspects that will definitely be hugely focused on in the second season.
We learned a little bit about Chao's past. Originally, back with that scene in Ah Toy's brothel with him and a girl and when we were shown his back and that he has scars on his back, I thought that meant he's a good fighter, a literal fighter, and that he got those scars because he's been in countless of fights. Now, upon the revelation that he was once a slave, those scars may have resulted from that. But, regardless of whether he got those scars from countless life-or-death battles that he survived and lived to see another day or if he got them from his 11 years as a slave, I still think that he's an actual fighter. He's too much of a mysterious character and the sort of character that's always a wild card, there's no way he doesn't know how to fight, and there's no way he's not a very good fighter. I'm sticking by that theory of mine. And I may be looking too much into it, but I feel like Chao saying that the reason he still isn't in Cuba as a slave is that he knows he's not a slave is a subtle confirmation or suggestion that he could be aware of Ah Toy's desire to fight back and that he's helping her with that. I feel like he's a secret partner to the efforts made to adhere to Ah Toy's desire of fighting back, and I feel like that will be a huge twist and reveal at some point in the second season.
I think Buckley and Leary will be focused on in the second season. My initial thought was that they'll end up teaming up and that Leary will start playing smarter instead of being a "common thug," in Buckley's words. That seems very likely to me. Buckley is smart; he's looking at the bigger picture, and he's very calm and collected. He knows that Penelope was at the arena where Ah Sahm and Li Yong fought. He knows that Leary set that guy's house on fire a few episodes ago and that Leary had him and his family leave San Francisco. And I'm assuming by when he said, "backroom beatings," he was referring to Leary's one-on-one matches behind The Banshee. If that's what he meant by that, he knows about that as well. And he's responsible for why Mai Ling can even have the opium; and to then, try and get into the opium business. He's a dangerous player. But with someone like Leary in his corner, he could become much more dangerous than he's been in this season. Or where that scene with the both of them left off, it could mean that they'll be at odds and against each other, and that will be what's focused on in the second season, as far as the both of them are concerned.
The fight sequence in the factory was great. Personally, my favorite fight sequence was the one in the previous episode. The fight between Ah Sahm and Li Yong was very intense and well-choreographed. And while the factory fight sequence in this episode was just as good, I just preferred the one in the previous episode. I really liked the use of the short stick, dual short sticks, and one long stick. Those three utilizations really added to the entire fight sequence, and I think they were homages to Bruce Lee, too. I hope we get to see and learn more of Ah Sahm's past in the second season. Don't get me wrong, the fight sequence in this episode was great, but it also required a little suspension of disbelief because we haven't seen Ah Sahm being taught how to fight with such weapons; we're just supposed to ignore that. Hell, even Ah Sahm's general fighting skills require some suspension of disbelief because all we were shown was his master teaching him Tai Chi and telling him that he can't fight if he can't breathe.
The scene with Ah Toy and Ah Sahm before the ending was surprising. I wasn't expecting there to be a dungeon or basement in Ah Toy's brothel. I'll ignore the fact that Ah Sahm was able to drag those two grown, adult men with him all the way to her brothel without too much resistance when the last we saw of him was getting spotted by a policeman and getting chased by him. I'm guessing that the dialogue between them in that scene is important. My impression is that Ah Sahm will keep an eye out for instances where Chinese people are being attacked or hurt, and he'll capture the ones responsible for it and bring them to Ah Toy. He may start hunting people down and kill them, as Ah Toy did with Morgan and Davis. I imagine that plot thread will be prominent in the second season and that the vigilante activity will mostly be against the Irish, specifically Leary's men and Leary himself. I'm expecting that the parties fighting against each other in the second season will be the Hop Wei vs. The Fung Hai and the Long Zii, the Long Zii vs. The Fung Hai, Ah Sahm and Ah Toy vs. Leary and his men, and possibly Leary and his men vs. The tongs. I know that Leary and Ah Sahm will get their rematch in the finale of S2 based on the thumbnail used for it on IMDb.
The previous episode was slow like the one before it but was more enjoyable and engaging than the one before it, and this episode was likewise enjoyable, and I don't know why. But both were written by Jonathan Tropper, so maybe that's why. Still, this episode felt incomplete. This entire season has felt incomplete. There have been multiple plot threads, of course, and they were developed and progressed over the course of the season. The speed at which that was done with pretty much every single one was slow and a little bit tedious, but they were developed and progressed. Now, this episode, in particular, the finale of the season, was different. I'm aware that this finale focused a lot on setting up the next season; I get that. But that doesn't really mean much to me.
Nevertheless, this finale still managed to entertain me. I do think it was more enjoyable than the episode before the previous one. All I know about the second season is that there was filming done in South Africa. I'm not sure where this season was filmed. Most of the locations in this season looked like set pieces, except maybe the self-contained episode in Nevada; and the flashback scenes of Ah Sahm's family's farm, so I don't know to what extent the filming in South Africa means for the second season; but I am expecting there to be a noticeable difference with the way everything looks; both budget-wise and with filming having been done in South Africa. I'm interested to see what the next season has in store.
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