Cinemax's Bruce Lee-inspired martial arts Western Warrior is no Deadwood, but it's still impressive

The Hollywood Reporter

"Imagine Deadwood with the town on the brink of a civil war," says Daniel Fienberg. "Now imagine that, into that floridly verbose fray, enters Caine from Kung Fu. Now imagine that, as the heavens intended, Caine was being played by Bruce Le.  That's something resembling the conceit of Warrior...Boasting Justin Lin among its executive producers, but disappointingly not among its directors, Warrior only rarely lives up to the lofty heights of that conceit, but since the full realization of that conceit would be the greatest show in the history of television, it's an unfair standard to hold anything to. Through its first six episodes, Warrior is frequently fun, occasionally audacious and always representationally interesting, which is enough to work through its slow patches and to excuse that one half of the show is vastly better executed than the other half."

ALSO:

• Warrior is a good time, satisfying anyone who appreciates intricate fight choreography that emphasizes the physicality of its actors
• It's fascinating to see the notion of whiteness as a provisional condition addressed on American TV
• It feels like the creators are forcibly merging a fun martial arts action series with a serious Peak TV period drama
• Warrior makes a great companion piece with PBS American Experience documentary The Chinese Exclusion Act