'Warrior' Season 2 Episode 4: Sophie Mercer wants to prove a point to sister Penny, will Leary pay the price?
'Warrior' Season 2 Episode 4 begins with Sophie Mercer (Celine Buckens) inviting her date to the Irish pub that her lover Leary (Dean Jagger) visits often, and enjoys seeing the man squirm under the watchful eyes of loud, bashful men. He tries to show off how he plays a rough sport such as rugby at Yale but that only gives Sophie another idea.
She takes this man who seems uncomfortable enough while drinking a beer to watch a fight at the pits and enjoys how fascinated he seems by the idea of not having a referee for a fight. Yes, it is a brilliant nod to how privilege works, and contrasting it with another white community that has to struggle and fight for an everyday meal is brilliant, but the best thing is when Leary enters the scene and speaks about how much he has come to love violence and inflicting pain he feels is better than sex. He says so Sophie's date, who doesn't appreciate the candor at all, but Sophie, on the other hand, seems quite smitten.
She ends up staying the night with Leary and this is not something that her sister hasn't noticed. In fact, later in the episode, when her sister Penny (Joanna Vanderham) who also happens to be the wife of the Mayor, and runs the Mercer Steel factor in Chinatown with the help of the Hop Wei town gets into an argument with her, the two of them knock down each other's choices. Not that either of them is any better, but when sisters get into an argument, both aim for the spot that would hurt the most. Penny tells Sophie that no one is taking her seriously just because she believes that hanging out at an Irish bar would make her one of the working class and Sophie, in turn, knocks Penny's high and mighty ways of running the factory.
Sophie, as the younger sister suddenly feels the need to prove a point to her sister that she is old enough, that her choices matter and her decision has weight. However, Sophie believes that the best way to do this is to go to Leary with the information about the tunnel that allows access to her sister's factory which would let Leary target the factory without going toe-to-toe with the Hop Wei. Her only demand is that she accompany him.
Initially, he doesn't let her have her way, but when she asks if she must be Irish to be the right thing, it reminds us how much racism has been ingrained within her to believe that her sister's factory deserves to be bombed because she gives preference to a race that is not her own. The best part about 'Warrior' is the stunning display of commentary such as this, but without it being underlined or highlighted.
The subtlety makes the conversation more powerful and that's why when Sophie believes with a conviction that she is right, it is satisfying to watch her break down when she realizes the gravity of what she has done. Not only did she almost kill Leary by taking him to space where he knew was dangerous, but she has also hurt the tad bit of independence that her sister had struggled to win from her Mayor husband. With her financial independence down the drain, Penny is a victim too and Sophie might have realized all of this, but just a tad bit too late. Considering how Leary has also messed with Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji) and the Hop Wei, he has now put a target on his own back to satisfy Sophie. Is it worth it? The man had clearly explained how involving his emotions in business has never been a good idea. Yet, he did exactly that alluding to the fact that he may not scrape through safely this time.
'Warrior' Season 2 episodes will be aired on Cinemax every Friday at 10 pm ET.
