Jennifer McClearen

Warrior is a martial arts period drama/action show about Chinese immigrants in San Francisco in the 1870s during the decline of the gold rush. The cast is predominantly of Asian descent and the creators do a fantastic job of creating rich and relatable characters. The women are even well-written, which is atypical of this genre. The show deftly depicts the historical anti-Chinese racism of the era while being certain to illustrate these connections with contemporary anti-Asian rhetoric. You can feel the weight of oppression on the characters, but they push back through martial arts in ways that feel very cathartic, in ways that Blaxploitation films were also able to do. On top of all this, the martial arts sequences are some of the most beautifully choreographed fight scenes I’ve seen in film or television. The show was inspired by the writings of Bruce Lee and his daughter, Shannon Lee, is one of the producers. I’m obviously a huge fan of Warrior and I hope the show gets picked up somewhere for a third season.