REVIEW: ‘Warrior’ Season 3 Episode 3 — “No Time for F*cking Chemistry”

A romance-forward episode, Warrior Season 3 Episode 3, “No Time for F*cking Chemistry,” recenters the season on Chinatown. While there are moments for Leary and Lee, the core of this episode is behind the closed doors of Mai Ling (Dianne Doan), Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji), Ah Toy, and Hong (Chen Tang). We look at Mai Ling’s relationship with the socialites in the Pond and Li Yong’s concern for her. We see Ah Sahm’s chemistry with his money laundering printer, Yan Mi (Chelsea Muirhead). Ah Toy (Olivia Cheng) and Nellie (Miranda Raison) are pushing back together as their winery comes under threat from Strickland’s railroad. And finally, we see Hong’s budding romance with a singer in a club who offers him an escape from his violent life in the Tong.

Chao’s duplicity remains a focal dynamic of Warrior but also a window for the audience to see movement from the both sides, Chinatown and the Pond (the area of predominantly white people around Chinatown). However, this is reflective of the overall theme that is becoming more and more clear in Warrior Season 3: reach beyond Chinatown in order to survive. This is the throughline, and the growing danger and exhaustion each character is facing weighs on the entire episode, even in its softer moments. But those tender elements of love that these characters deserve are what sets this episode apart from the last two we’ve seen.

Warrior Season 3 Episode 3 is about the love that is growing and the connections forming between characters, even if they’re not all based on truth or living in a specter of doom. While the chemistry between Ah Sahm and Yan Mi begins to come to a head with flirtation that is endearing and palpable. It’s the queer romances in this episode that steal the focus in the best way.

First, we see Hong (Chen Tang) throw caution to the wind and sleep with the singer of a club he first went to with Young Jun. While the intimacy on-screen is good to see handled the same way the series has shown for straight couples, it’s not the physical intimacy that is the most important element of this encounter. It’s aftward. Hong is comfortable, he’s vulnerable, and despite his rough life in the Hop Wei, he gets to be tender. Speaking to an artist who doesn’t have the same hang-ups as he does, Hong is able to see a world that is different than the one he chose for himself. The tenderness and understanding between the two men is emotional and showcases that the rough edge for survival doesn’t actually have to exist behind closed doors.

Next, we see how Ah Toy has worked to reshape how she sees herself, with no sword involved. The same is said for the women in their employ. Nellie and Ah Toy love each other and understand each other in their small quips and more overtly romantic moments. They’re reflections for each other that offer understanding and a future even as Strickland is pinching their lives.

In Warrior Season 3 Episode 3, the title comes into play in a big way. “No Time for F*cking Chemistry” becomes a reality in the episode’s finale as Nellie and Ah Toy’s life is blown wide open. An unsettling sequence that feels like it lasts too long shows the women of the winery under fire. They’re being hurt. They’re being driven out, and in that violence, both Ah Toy and Lai (Jenny Umbhau) have to turn back to violence. It’s a crushing reality that these women will never be free, but they will try as hard as they can.

Released in three episodes altogether, Warrior Episode 3 drops the emotional hammer on its audience. From one of the most loving episodes to one that is unsettling to watch, I want to stop watching Ah Toy and Lai going through trauma, but as we are only a third way through the season, I’m sure there is more to come.

Warrior is available now on MAX (formerly HBO Max) and Netflix.