Deadly Deflections - Sleeping Dogs - Part 2

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In this episode, we wonder if the Golden Koi could possibly pass a health inspection,

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and somebody steals Wei's flower pot?

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But I think he's got bigger things to worry about.

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Thank you for coming back from our replay reviews. My name is Leah.

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And my name is Cathy.

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We are two friends who are here to replay, review, and analyze your favorite video games.

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And since Cathy has never seen the games before, it helps me view them through her fresh eyes,

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almost like I'm discovering them again for the first time.

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We hope it'll be a similar experience for you.

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So it starts out kind of intense in this part, episode.

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Wei is called to the restaurant the Golden Koi, wherein interrogation is waiting for him.

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They suspect that he's a rat after Popstar was arrested.

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But Wei manages to pass the blame to this guy Ming, who is then murdered instead.

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On one hand, they're probably all criminals, so I don't feel bad.

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I mean, they got into this mess. They kind of knew that death was always on the line.

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But on the other hand, if I was that guy, I would be really mad because I'm thrown under the bus

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for something I didn't do. Like, if I were to die, it better be for a crime I actually did.

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But I'm also wondering how much is Wei going to feel bad once he's done with everything?

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And we'll get to see more about that.

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Yeah, this is like the first...

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Not guilt.

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He has to survive. Otherwise it's over.

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Survivor mode.

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Honestly, Conroy is pretty smart. He's the one that pieced this together.

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Like, oh, Wei shows up now Popstar is arrested. He's actually pretty smart.

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He's actually pretty smart. Unfortunately, Winston's hatred of dogeyes is just too intense,

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and Wei plays on that, which is ultimately what leads to Ming getting shot in the face.

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Also, in this scene when Wei is sort of pleading with them and deflecting it to Ming,

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I don't know if you picked up on the way they were all looking around at each other,

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and clearly not sure what to think, who to trust.

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That just really highlights the current dysfunction.

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I think the distrust runs a lot deeper than we initially suspected or realized.

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And a quick sneak preview is down the line. We'll understand that hierarchy is very important.

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Yet this situation right now, it's not very clear.

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Unlike Yakuza, where it's pretty clear by families, it's getting pretty messy at this level.

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Wei goes to sleep, I guess. And then the next morning, he wakes up at his apartment.

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I was gonna say, he wakes up to all the stress of what happened. It's like a flashback.

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And we also, is this the first time we get to see the picture at his nightstand,

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where it's just his mom and his sister with him?

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Maybe. But it definitely is highlighted.

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And what's missing is his dad. So I'm wondering what happened to his dad.

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Maybe his dad died because of the triads, and that's why he's willing to do this type of work,

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this undercover work.

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It's a good question, because last episode, we were wondering if what Raymond was referencing as

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the triads' history with his family, if that was just his sister, or if there's more to it.

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After waking up from this tortured sleep, he heads out to do another job for Tang.

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But as he leaves his apartment, there's two NPC ladies having a chat. And one of them says,

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Why would I steal a flower pot?

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And it took me until this rewatch to hear that.

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And I have so many questions. I feel like this needs to be a side, a sub story.

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Why would these ladies know? I can't imagine Wei talking to these people about,

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hey, did you see my flower pot? Or Wei even caring?

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It's such a detail. Like, talk about detail. What a detail to have in this game.

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Anyway, not really much else to summarize in this scene. Just Wei and Tang start putting a plan

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together to take down a murderous street racer. And that was pretty much all I had for scene one.

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Did you have anything else about that?

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No, but I just thought it was kind of comical. His super, super quick encounter with Tang was like,

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Yep, yep, okay, done. And that was it.

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Yeah, all business.

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And here, I thought there was going to be some kind of romantic plot that's going to go

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on with this game. And this is their type of encounter.

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So Raymond asks Wei to bug the golden koi. And after he picks up the bug gear, it gets swiped.

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And my first question is why and who? Who stole this? And is it anyone with any connection?

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Or is it just some random guy that waits for someone to walk out of the tech shop?

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It seems pointless.

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Maybe it's a filler kind of thing just to kind of get you used to some controls or the story.

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I don't know.

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Yeah, I question it. Although during the chase at eight minutes, 50 seconds, the guy just shoves

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this poor lady over the bridge. He had plenty of room to get by. But no, over she goes.

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After getting the bug back, Wei proceeds to place it at the golden koi. And as he's doing so,

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we hear Conroy and Winston talking. And it seems that Conroy still doesn't quite trust Wei,

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but Winston's not so worried.

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I feel like Winston's going to get himself killed at this point with how much trust he's putting in

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Wei. I'm also wondering what their history is. Like, how many times has he been right about this

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and how many times has Winston's going to be right about trusting versus not trusting certain people?

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Because we established it is pretty messy. And trust is a messy kind of relationship. So

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is that going to cause some kind of civil war?

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Yeah, I think the police just picked the perfect time to try to get back in.

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Because if Winston wasn't so preoccupied with dog eyes, I think he would maybe listen to Conroy

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a bit more. All right, moving right along to scene three. So Tiffany, the lady from the karaoke,

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calls Wei to ask for help and he arrives at the club where she tells him that one of dog eyes goons,

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Charlie Pang, pawned a gun off on her. So he takes it for her and Wei calls Raymond,

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who tells him to meet him at this location. But when he gets there, there's no Raymond,

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but there is Pendrew. And then Pendrew uses the gun to stage an existing crime scene,

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but like making it look better, I guess, so they can pin this all on Charlie Pang.

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I have a lot of questions. First of all, how did Pendrew knew to be there, but Raymond not

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being there? Is Raymond telling Pendrew? Is Pendrew eavesdropping on their conversation?

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How did you know how to meet him? But Raymond didn't show up. And what was that excuse? Or

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was Pendrew pretending to be Raymond and saying that, hey, let's meet up there. But it was Pendrew

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all along. The next question I have is, why is Pendrew having Wei so upset?

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Why did Wei stage all this? It's almost, well, I mean, yes, you're right that it already happened.

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So is he like tampering with evidence? And why is Wei just going along and not asking questions?

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You're just trying to protect and bring justice, yet you're pretty much framing someone else.

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And is that really justice? It's iffy going through your questions. My guess is,

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since Pendrew is Raymond's superior, Raymond told Pendrew what was happening. And Pendrew's like,

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you stay back. I'm going to meet him. Although Raymond knew the location. Now that I'm saying this.

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So maybe Pendrew was there at the same time as the call and was like, oh, tell him to go here.

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I don't know. It seems weird that Raymond knew this place, but then Pendrew shows up. So yeah,

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that is questionable. And then it seems like Pendrew is just cutting corners instead of actually

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doing his job. And maybe he's having Wei do it to sort of, number one, keep his own hands clean,

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but also maybe having some leverage over Wei if necessary at some point. But all in all,

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questionable. I hope he becomes suspicious because that's not right. And Wei should know

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better than to tamper with evidence. Back to helping Tang, Wei is tailing Hot Shot,

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the street racer and his friend Naz, who we saw at the intro of the game. At the very beginning,

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he was part of that drug deal that went down. And we soon find out that he's an informant.

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And then we also do hear that he's with the 18K, I think, which is the rival gang. And they're

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talking about killing Wei, I think. This is getting pretty dangerous for him. So in scene four,

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Dog Eyes has attacked Winston's mother's restaurant, the Golden Koi, and to retaliate,

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they hit Dog Eyes' sweatshop. Winston wants to kill the head of the operation, C.O.A., but Wei

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convinces him to take him alive to stay on the chairman's good side. It seems like Wei is still

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being tested and Connery wants him to kill somebody. And we kill plenty of people, so no problem there.

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Wei does capture C.O.A. who tells him that he gets paid by Dog Eyes, but the product goes to

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someone named Big Smile Lee. What kind of name is Big Smile Lee? I'm curious how when they're like,

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oh, we're short again, you got to find your own gun. If that using other people's weapons is going

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to backfire or help him in the future when he might be framed for something like the police,

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when Pendrew turns on him, there's going to be some kind of tie back between the evidence he's

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using that's part of the criminal and himself or making sure that he stays in the clear that he's

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not committing murder. I don't know, just something about that made me feel weird.

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Ruthie Well, and it's funny that they don't give him a gun, but they want him to kill somebody

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as a proof of loyalty, but they're making it hard for him by not giving him a gun. So I feel like

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that's sort of Conroy trying to put Wei in a corner a little bit. So after getting C.O.A. to the

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garage, Conroy says that he was wrong about Wei. And it seems like he's passed off Conroy's test

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now and no one suspects him anymore. But I love how at the end of the scene, Conroy says,

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you showed your true colors, but then it shows the cop car right behind Wei.

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Ruthie Oh, I didn't catch that.

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Conroy Mm hmm.

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Ruthie Oh, that's well done. Well done on them.

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Conroy Right.

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Ruthie Towards the end of that scene, we also see him having another nightmare again. And it's

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talking about just everything that happens and it's really a good indicator that he's starting to

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get PTSD. I don't know if he's always had it or if it's because of this operation. But if he doesn't

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have a coping mechanism, he might accidentally let something slip with the Triad or the other

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way around with the police officer that maybe he did something he shouldn't have let them know.

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And he accidentally tells Pendrew or Raymond and it's going to get him in trouble. So I predict

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that Tang or Raymond is going to help him cope or when something bad happens that they're going

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to be there to have us back. It's definitely a very high stress situation for him. And he can't

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really say anything to anyone or else he risks outing himself and he's already had his life

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threatened at least three times. So yeah, you can understand why he maybe doesn't sleep so well.

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Okay, so back to Winston. He's on the phone with the chairman Uncle Poe. And it sounds like he

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wants to meet Wei. So he and Winston head out. On their way out, Conroy says something to Winston.

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And it seems obvious Winston is even more on edge than normal because he totally bites

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Conroy's head off. I think he knows he probably screwed up somewhere along the line. But he really

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trusts Wei. And it's just before after his speech with Wei that they're talking about their true

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blood. It just foreshadows that at some point Wei is going to betray Winston. It's inevitable

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because one's a police officer, one's a criminal. But it also might trigger Wei feeling guilty that

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you have this guy who is willing to bat for you and you're trying to protect his family if he dies.

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That's what he's asking him. And it's going to haunt Wei. He's going to get way more nightmares

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at the spring. This conversation that they have in the car answers a big question for me because

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I'm always wondering, why does he not listen to Conroy? Why does he take to Wei so much?

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But he basically says that no one else in the gang is really fit to lead. They're more just

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muscle but Wei's got more of the know how. And Winston seems like he's really counting on Wei

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to sort of take over. So I think that answers the question of why he's not really listening to

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Conroy, even though he should be. In this conversation, we also learn that Big Smiley,

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the one that's backing Dog Eyes, he has a lot of power. He deals drugs, prostitution, porn. He even

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sells women across the border. So extensive resume he's got here probably brings a lot of money

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into the gang. But once we get to Uncle Poe, he clearly takes an interest in Wei and gives him

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what he says is a lucrative assignment, helping some guy named Roland Ho collect debts.

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Well, Uncle Poe definitely knows more than whatever he's leading on. One way is like trying to give

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the credit back to Winston just to protect him. There's no way Uncle Poe believes Wei. He's just

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going to let it slide. So I feel like the chairman at some point is going to pick Wei over Winston

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and therefore cause that rift in their brotherhood. Or the chairman is just going to kill off Winston

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and then give Wei his place. You can definitely tell he's smart. And he knows what's going on.

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It seems like thankfully, Winston only really got a slap on the wrist. But it sounds like he had more

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things assigned to him to keep him busy. So because of all these new assignments, Winston

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is too busy to do his wedding stuff and asks Wei to help out with that. Before we get there though,

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Wei helps Roland. And this is when Roland says, the quote that you mentioned earlier,

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hierarchy is the only thing anyone cares about.

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Nicole The hierarchy right now is probably Uncle Poe is high up there. How is Uncle Poe getting all

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this information? Like how does that all flow upwards? And are people always hungry to step

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in? Is it that Winston has his position at a very shaky situation and Wei could easily either replace

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or take his place and then cause some more civil war? It's just the information, the way it flows up.

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Nicole I feel like Wei's gonna somehow jump high up.

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Nicole Yeah, keeping Siwa alive. I think Uncle Poe for sure, like you hinted, knows that was Wei's

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idea. Which if they hadn't, I think there would have been issues. So I think Uncle Poe has reason

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to sort of skip over Winston. So helping Roland, we're trying to collect a debt from this woman

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and we hijack her car with her in it. She yells, I'm sorry and jumps out of the car.

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There's no way she's okay.

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Siwa We have to clarify how we get to this woman is that I had a replay because I thought you got

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into a car accident and you just flew out of the car and somehow you clung onto the yellow car.

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But no, it's pretty intentional. But still, it's like, my goodness, you could just like pull and

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stop and say you fly out of the car and you dangle off the top of the car. I would be freaked out if

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I was her. Nicole But I love that Wei says, I wasn't gonna do anything that bad after she jumps out of

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the car. Like, I don't know if she survived that, to be honest. I was not going slow.

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Raymond asks Wei to meet him and he's pissed about the massacre and says that Wei should have turned

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Siwa over to them, at least. Wei's quote in response is that would have put the entire operation

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at risk. The headbutting has gotten to a new level in this meeting.

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Nicole It seems that Raymond's focusing his energy on the wrong spot. Raymond should be

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questioning why Wei did all of Pendrew's dirty work. And instead, he's not talking about that.

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He's talking about other things. And I can't tell if Raymond's just trying to protect Wei or if

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he's trying to continue to take credit. Nicole Yeah, Wei's quote is like, we're supposed to

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be doing whatever it takes. But then Raymond says you crossed the line. So I think maybe that's the

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balance that Raymond is trying to keep is how do you weigh doing whatever it takes versus crossing

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the line. And I think that's where the two of them are really butting heads and not understanding

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each other. And then we have Pendrew in the background pulling strings and not helping the

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situation at all. Nicole I want to know Raymond's backstory. I'm wondering if he was in the same

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position where he was an undercover cop. And that's what happened to him is that he did whatever it

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took. And it probably came at the price of his loved one or something like that. And that's why

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he's not willing to have Wei follow his footsteps where he crosses the line just to think that is

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for the greater good when it's not. There are case files that we can read. I don't know if there's

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any about Raymond, but I'll look maybe that's something that we can look at in the summary

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episode. But I agree, I want to know more about Raymond. And speaking of Raymond, he threatens

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to shut down the whole undercover operation and says you are dangerous. Do you think he's right?

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Nicole I think so. I don't know. I feel like any person in his position would do the same thing so

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they would all be dangerous. So it's not really about Wei at this point. I feel like it's about

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his position of being an undercover cop. Nicole Well, and I don't understand why he's mad at

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Wei about the massacre because Dog Eyes attacked first, and then Winston retaliated. And what was

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Wei supposed to do? He managed to keep someone alive. He's not gonna be able to stop Winston

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from attacking them altogether. So what was he supposed to do? Call in the cops? Well, that's

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suspicious. So I guess I don't really understand why Waymond is so upset. But I do think that

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Wei certainly has the potential to be dangerous. Wei did get to meet the chairman. It gives the

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cops a leg up. So maybe Raymond will lighten up a little bit. Nicole I feel like the ending of that

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push and pull where they're constantly using Wei to do things as a weapon, yet they don't want him

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to do. It's that like, I want you to do whatever it takes, but not like that. I want you to do it

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this way. But obviously, our way hasn't worked. Otherwise, we would have had all these people

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arrested. So I feel like Wei is just going to be constantly getting whiplash between directions

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between Pendrew, Tang, Raymond, and whatever, Uncle Po, and Winston. That's just going to be

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an overall theme that he's constantly being told to do this and do that. And they're conflicting

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priorities. We have the triad showing trust in Wei, whereas Raymond isn't. So how is that

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going to help Raymond? It's already getting messy. It's only part two. Your driving has

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gotten a lot better since part one. It depends on the car. And I will say the racing, I feel like

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the controls are somehow better. I really can't figure out the driving controls in this game.

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They don't make sense. I will die on that hill. Let's do Audacity on one, three, two, one.

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Thank you for listening. And don't forget to send in any questions, comments, or game suggestions.

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You can find all our contact info on our website, replayreviewspod.com, or contact us directly

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through our site. Do we completely miss something? Are we way off the mark? Or you just want us to

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take a deeper look at anything from the game? We'll tackle any topics you all want to hear in our

00:20:58
season wrap up episode. We also have a Reddit where we discuss anything we're curious about.

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Go take a look and let us know what you're thinking. Our theme music is Condemned by

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