Summary
Chief of War takes it easy in Episode 3, establishing a one-year-later status quo and introducing new characters and threats.
After the second episode built to a surprising climax that separated the core cast, Chief of War has to establish a new status quo in Episode 3, “City of Flowers”. It takes its time doing so, easing up on the epic action in favour of more intimate character drama and plotting. From this vantage, I can more or less see where we’re going with all this, with a relatively solid idea of who the good guys and bad guys are going to be. History isn’t typically that morally simplistic, but when it’s a choice between indigenous people trying to mind their own business and conquering kings killing off innocents for no reason, not to mention racist colonizers hoping to plunder natural resources and massacre the natives, there isn’t much competition.
This episode picks up a year after Ka’iana’s departure from Hawai’i, and a lot has changed since then, while some things — namely Kehekili’s barbaric takeover of O’ahu, guided by “visions” — have stayed more or less the same. To compensate, the plot has branched off into three knotty strands, all distinct but ultimately interrelated. We’ll start with Kahekili’s conquest, since that is informing the drama everywhere else.
Despite O’ahu not having been put to the torch as easily as expected, it’s really only a matter of time. The few remaining chiefs are being isolated and forced to bend the knee one by one, and their plots to poison their way to freedom backfire when Kahekili forces the remaining chief’s wife to imbibe the poison meant for him just for kicks. At this point, the campaign has become a sadistic tour, with Kahekili using any excuse to exert his will over the locals and consolidate more and more power for himself.
The general expectation is that he won’t stop there, which means the other territories will be next. This is the belief of Hawai’i, anyway, which is where Ka’ahumanu and the remainder of Ka’iana’s family have settled. Kahekili’s conquest is particularly problematic for Hawai’i since their current chief is on his last legs and has overlooked his own son, Keoua, in the line of succession. Instead, he has chosen the warrior Kamehameha to succeed him. It’s only very lightly suggested in Chief of War Episode 3, but this is bound to cause some problems down the line.
But Kamehameha knows what he’s doing. His experience in battle means that he knows the true obstacles that Hawai’i will be faced with when Kahekili sails to their shores, and it won’t be weaponry or warriors, but food. As if proving his readiness to rule, Kamehameha not only expresses to the chief that his first act of leadership would be to bolster food storage, but reveals he has already been doing so all across the island. Sometimes, you just have to take matters into your own hands.
It’s to Kamehameha Moku pledged Ka’ahumanu. He already has several wives, but what’s one more? Moku is adamant that Kamehameha will need Ka’ahumanu’s counsel in the coming battles, but she’s less convinced because the prophettess implied pretty strongly that she would be unable to bear his children. Since that’s the primary job of a chief’s wife, she reckons she’ll become surplus to requirements sooner rather than later. Moku tells her to keep this to herself, presumably thinking that if he has to personally watch Kamehameha mount his daughter during the wedding ceremony, it ought to amount to something meaningful.
Luciane Buchanan in Chief of War | Image via Apple TV+
The only hope for Hawai’i is likely to be Ka’iana, who finds himself in Zamboanga, a Spanish colony and port in the Spanish East Indies (now the Philippines), with a newfound obsession for firearms. Through a fellow outcast, Tony, who’s ostracised because he’s Black, Ka’iana has learned some English and how to load and fire a musket, which are both skills likely to come in handy in the near future. But Ka’iana has by no means forgotten his purpose. He’s biding his time until he can get home and right the wrong of helping Kahekili secure power. Some of this is played for laughs — Ka’iana rocking into port in his full Maui war chief regalia and trying to purchase a load of guns with a small handful of change, for instance — but Momoa’s performance is so utterly sincere that anyone who dared to laugh would promptly have their head smushed into a nearby table.
Allies are thin on the ground in Zamboanga, but Ka’iana finds one quickly enough — a fellow Hawaiian the locals call “Vai”, who has spent a long time cooking up a plan to open Hawai’i up to trade by agreeing to sell valuable sandalwood to the Europeans, with Ka’iana being the middleman brokering the deal with the native chiefs. Ka’iana isn’t keen on this idea since he thinks it’s selling out, but Vai, who has spent long enough mingling with the colonizers, knows that it’s either this compromise or full-blown subjugation. Either way, the greed of the Paleskins — not to mention their guns — will eventually overpower native pride.
Unbeknownst to Ka’iana and Vai, a deeply unpleasant chap by the name of Marley has already pitched the ship’s captain, Metcalf, on the idea of conquering the Pacific Islands to control the lucrative trade routes; Tony stumbles on this plot and gets violently assaulted and knocked out for his trouble, with Marley intending to sell him “back to where he belongs”. As I said, he isn’t a very nice man. And given Ka’iana knows nothing of his aims, he may well end up leading him back to Hawai’i, where he’ll be fighting a war on two separate fronts.
Chief of War Episode 3 is clearly a vital component of the much larger story this show is telling, and its lack of action shouldn’t be lamented, but instead appreciated. The battle lines have been drawn, the muskets have been loaded, and the marriages have been consummated. From here on out, there are plenty more important fights to be had.
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