Prizefighters, Circus Freaks & Gangsters

This is the one with treachery & an explodey ending. Just watch the show and then enjoy our digging into the “what is going on!” Sorry - I’m moving.  I’m out of time. But look up _The Religion_ by Tim Willocks to understand European Feudal Bushido… and siege warfare You have the Googles.   As always - you can reach us on the internets. Jamie Lewis ( plagueofstrength.com & IG @plagueofstren...

Doctors, Courtesans, Archery (and yes the English bowmen used the Yew Tree!) Tricky Bureaucracy - I tell ya, this show has it all. If there's one thing to learn, that husband is not out of the way until you see the body.  No presumptive closes with those people. But also, if you get motion sick - you CAN be too rich in feudal Japan. Once again - a lot is going down in the Kantō, in Osaka, in the B...

Shōgun Episode 2!  Check out this intro sequence - Game of Thrones, but make it Japan.  This is the problem with hereditary rulership positions.  Power can only change with a death.  And no matter how hard everyone keeps trying to make it otherwise, death is messy!  And for the number of times this happens, it seems like no one is willing to make it not chaos.  I mean honestly - has the regent sys...

Shogun - The Mini Series - The Reboot How, you ask, can we justify leaping all the way back to the 17th Century in a 19th Century podcast?  Tune in and find out. But also - the perils & hilarity of reading the source material are revealed. Who'd face blind? Why do the Japanese interiors look so cool? Find out who has the best beard! They're aren't many fights - but there's plenty of all the ot...

All beautiful things must come to an end - but PLEASE not this one! Somehow we are at the last Warrior episode in existence as of the end of 2023! And all sorts of things are left hanging - but more importantly, the board is cleared of all the useless pieces.  Printer Girl Yan Mi catches a train Li Yong no longer has a friend or a wife Ah Sahm has had to choose Tong Brother or Blood Sister and we...

So much happened in this episode... and it was just a warm up! Lai will never learn - never. Yan Mi shows that she just might learn - and act. Mai Ling is just gonna Mai Ling...  Leary has his note book out - but might be ready to write a conclusion Chao has a plan!  OK that's not new. Young Jun is faced with making a choice... with no backsies Ah Sahm is gonna have to choose the dock or the ship ...

Things begin to really Get OUT of HAND! There's a heavily armed wedding There's an innauguration There's a blood bath There's hallucinations There's a jail cell cage fight And  There's a "train your competition" - yes that's a death threat Look this episode is chock full - and it's just a warmup for the even more unhinged rest of the season.  So strap on your roller skates (which were popular by 1...

This is the episode where people seem to think they are owed. Pimp guy thinks Ah Toy owes him his prostitutes back, Some dad thinks Leary owes him getting his stupid sons outta jail, Happy Jack thinks Abby owes him her attention and space and the best one... Mai Ling thinks everyone owes her coming to her wedding. While the rest of the people are pretty wrong, Mai Ling has the clout or at least is...

Well it is about time this show went properly poly-glot. Finally MORE languages in what was an absolute babble of a city. Portuguese, Italian, Chinese (multiple dialects, but mainly Cantonese) along with Spanish and English and German. We finally get German. As well as someone completely hopped up on cocaine. (The particular alkyloid was isolated in 1959 for a German PhD project - I bet that was o...

This is one of those episodes where everyone gets a very bent version of what they wanted all along. Power - but not that way. Friendship, but whoops! it is not. A chance to go out in a blaze of glory, but thwarted - but in the good way. And of course, setting up the perfect trap that... traps you. An episode full of twists and turns - and a certain amount of smacking oneself in the face. Outsmart...

What happens when everyone gets to lean into their worst instincts? You set up all the crises! Young Jun's gonna spit in the eye of authority, Mai Ling's gonna be the one asking for approval and Buckley is going to allow a woman to hold his hand. In otherwords, everything is about to go off the rails and it's all going to go gorgeously wrong. I mean if you are here for a scrap. So buckle up - and...

Sometimes there can be too much of a good thing. ANd this time it was recording this episode. I don't want to talk about it. In the meantime - counterfeiting money is not good for a happy life, and you should really work on that relationship with your sibs. It could go bad. Jamie Lewis ( plagueofstrength.com & IG @plagueofstrength) & Greta Hardin (The History of American Food podcast &...

Oh - you think you've seen all the ways to fight? You ain't seen nothin' yet. It's time to break out the MEAN GIRLS! Jamie Lewis ( plagueofstrength.com & IG @plagueofstrength) & Greta Hardin (The History of American Food podcast & @THoAFood all over) Look for us weekly and on Instagram & Threads: @pcgpodcast

And Season 3 of Warrior is BACK! If Season 2 went graphic novel, Season 3 seems to be going simply GRAPHIC as in the "this changes your rating to NC-17" Right out of the gate Ah Sahm seems a little more unhinged, Mai Ling seems a little more murder-y, Wang Chao is tempting death that much more, Lee has more brain bruises, Buckley is that much more power hungry and Leary is that much more an Irish...

America - we know what's up. And we are not afraid to America-splain to you about how your country/culture works. That's right, we are just that good. Or bad. Or something. This is the FUN Mummy movie from 1999 - not the gritty reboot from 2017. So pop the popcorn and get ready for things to get a little silly. While Greta enjoys the comic book nonsense of it all, Jamie is skeptical that anything...

100 Years after Gangs of New York - and we are BACK to the Naked City with 8 million stories (to steal from the 1948 film - The Naked City) Are things any better? Do you want to call the cops now? Is anyone more sober now? (Doesn't seem that way) Are there just as many ways to die? While there are definitely more rats, there's also running water - so win some, lose some. While the last film had a...

Welcome to our Second Movie Break! What is wrong with us? For a movie that made us this angry and dissapointed - we sure spent a lot of time talking about it. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is that kid with every advantage and so much potential... that even when it's clear they're not going to make the team of become a doctor, you still can't let it go. And like so many others - we look at what...

What have we learned about Buckley? He's a twisty dude. What has Penny learned bout dealing with Buckley? Not a dang thing. But Mai Ling, because SHE isn't particulary straight forward might have a handle on the whole thing. But all of that is cute and all - what this REALLY is all about is the Hero's Journey. So jump in, buckle up, and hang on. And we have both a cliff hanger and some surprise en...

What are the odds? Episode 25 on December 25th - I certainly didn't see it coming. But if you ever wanted to know about the connection between Bill Murray, 1980's rat infested New York, the Muppets, Vampires, PT Barnum and Christmas, this is the place to be! So snuggle up with your most troubled Santa memories and watch the world change as we look at 19th century Christmas and how it's making out...

This week we start out as a TikTok POV video - but rapidly pulls out into lots and lots of fights So many fights that China Town is no longer left standing. We get the team ups we've been waiting for. Ah Sahm and Li Yong get to fight back to back. We also get the appearance of the nunchuck - and the disappearance of Ah Sahm's shirt. Ah Toy and Mai Ling get a team up too - though it's needles not k...

All the wars this episode - the Hop Wei has finished the war with the Fung Hai, we see flashbacks in the American Civil War in federally manadated sepia tone, and the smaller action between fought between Young Jun and Father Jun. But really, it's all about chaos Buckley can't wait to unleash in San Francisco now that he holds the mayor's power in his hands (insert manaical laughter here) Help us...

We are out of the movie and back in the "real world" - whatever that means in this case. I mean, c'mon look at Mai Ling's wardrobe these days. But Young Jun & Ah Sahm have discovered that just getting the money back by winning the fight festival was only the first step. Now they have to deal with Dad! Everyone else is facing that moment of truth - how will they handle it? Penny's backed into a...

Hot Damn! It's the Season 2 Movie! And we nearly died of sheer glee. Seriously ... all the fight styles, witty banter, sweet tailoring, shoe appreciation, the cheesiest sex scene outside of a Velveeta fetish, all in service of a Revenge Quest! It has all the Eater Eggs for those fans of Enter the Dragon (the Bruce Lee love is real) - and just the motivation the rest of us need to go track it down...

This is an ANGRY EMOTIONAL EPISODE! OK. Enough with the ALL CAPS - but honestly, we are here for the cool fights on the stairs. It has hands, guns, knives, swords and even indoor arrows! The lines and set ups from all the 80’s movies (and a few from even earlier…) all the fun clichés are here. And it all ends with slo-mo pit fighting in the rain and a sibling throw down. Honestly - what more do yo...

When are the talking episodes good? When they are like THIS! The tributes to story tropes & the turning them on their head. And a director (Loni Peristere) who is SO good at faces. We get "you made me a murderer", "the using 1 guy to go on a secret date with another", "crime lord checking out the drug operation", "locker room badness" & the "come for me - miss me!" And of course, Hong cont...