I believe Tokyo Vice is a very underrated series and not because it has a low rating, reason why is because not many people knows about it or talks about but, at times it can be a bit slow as any other police / journalist tv series who are after the bad guys but then it picks up very quickly.
On season one for me it was always Jake, Samantha and Sato the main characters but on season two things have change a bit but always with Jake in the middle of the storm, Samantha has turn into a disposable character with her moments but not as focus as in first season, Sato has probably remain at the top three but now Tozawa and Katagari next to Jake all the time.
Episode eight was every exiting to watch with a lot of retaliation specially at Chihara-Kai ever since Hayama took over after their Oyabun death, the monster that Tozawa has turn in after he came back is expanding rapidly starting to control not only the streets but high power inside the government and probably the US embassy.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2887954/
- Platform: MAX
Episode starts with a Yakuza arrest in the the US while they were having a good time in Hawaii, after they got busted its not known if they are part of Tozawa clan, this arrest seem very random without much details like Yakuza overall is expanding in the US without limits, similar to the wave of violence that is happening in Japan at the moment with Tozawa just watching from the distance like he is promoting all this without been directly involve.
Jake return from the US early because he found evidence that can tie Tozawa to a case of corruption, how he got to the US and got a liver transplant along with many other charges, Katagiri is now pushing Jake to publish but Meisho won't allow it mainly because he doesn't have much proof and besides it seems someone inside is working for Tozawa ever since the evidence tape at Meisho burn down, video tape that involve the Transport Minister in a murder case.
Samantha as usual hits rock bottom again but she is not alone this time, Sato is back with her out of nothing and it sucks because he was always there for her and only after her club got shut down and she needed a shoulder to cry she let in Sato knowing one of her models was going out with him, what a bitch. Sato also needs a shoulder and some support because he was thrown out of Chihara Kai after Hayama took over, to make things worst his brother join Chihara Kai and most likely will be abuse or end up dead very quick, Sato is looking for a way to get his brother back, there is a lot of revenge going on in this episode because Sato does get what he is looking for and what his Oyabun Ishida wanted all the time if he ever died.
Jake came early to Japan, at Meisho there were a lot of people mad at him after his last tantrum before he left, the reason he left; brought them some gift and try to make amends although Tin Tin deserve it after acting like a cry baby when he got played by the Minister and blame Jake for it. That story about the Yakuza bust just came up at Meisho, Trendy and Jake are assign to it and this could serve as a piggy back for Jake so he can keep digging although he already got his answers, now he has to some how connect them to hard prove to publish, once again he gets shut down by the corrupt system who latter on will slap everyone on their faces.
Jake's boss, Emi; has been instructed to investigate the Meisho current director Baku after the video tape evidence burn down, they are suspecting that Baku is working for Tozawa because if they had publish that story it would connect the Minister of Transport and Tozawa to a murder case and some one would have talk to safe their ass, specially Minister of Transport who already told the truth of what was going on between him and Tozawa after one night Katagiri got tired of playing by the rules and went down ninja style into his place, treating to cut his finger off. After all Tin Tin did found and old article from Tozawa home town where Baku interview him directly so this is a start, some how Baku and Tozawa know each other.
There is constant humor into this series specially coming from Tozawa, the guy is constantly making fun of people because he can basically do what ever the fuck he wants, this time comes into the room after his wife was trying to sneak around a deal with the Transport Minister behind his back but Tozawa has eyes and ears every where so he got there to remember the Minister of certain video tape that could come back at any moment and destroy his career, he does not want a Transport Minister, he needs the Minister of Justice on his side.
Tozawa again displaying his power, Katagiri new boss Nagata was making a lot of progress busting Yakuza left and right, now getting closer to Tozawa thanks to Jake and Katagiri but the moment she got too close to the sun her wings burn down, there is a new Justice Minister, Nagata gets replaced, Jake had a meeting with Yabuki, Tozawa's right hand; to let him know if he continues with his story they going to kill him.
Sato getting back to Chihara Kai does not surprise me I really though he would eventually but how Tozawa start to control everything and kill Ishida shows a lot of power out of him right now, when he left he was very ill and didn't have this much power on the government and the streets but after killing Ishida and taking over his Wife's family organization he got stronger than ever been able to pull strings everywhere and cover things up so he doesn't get involve, even showing up at the police station to proof his innocence, its just ridiculous.
Question at hand is, will Sato retaliate and go after Tozawa? will Jake work with him? its going to be war in the streets and Tozawa has a lot of enemies after him, also those who work for him like Baku and the new Justice Minister are been secretly investigated, there are a lot of twist to this series although it looks very basic from the outside, I give Episode 8 a 7.5/10.
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